The one-year old has been missing since May, and is the subject of a bitter custody battle between his parents and his maternal grandmother, Kim Huong Tran.
“I don’t know if he’s died or alive,” the boy’s grandmother Kim Huong Tran told A Current Affair.
The boy, Vinh, was born in June last year to Hoang Thanh Le and Tran’s daughter, Lyn Kim Do, who is 21 and has an intellectual disability.
Six weeks after the baby was born, Do and Vinh moved back home so Tran could help with the new baby.
But in February this year, Do returned to Le, leaving baby Vinh with his grandmother.
In March, the couple asked if Vinh could return to live with them, and a court order was granted for Vinh to live with his father.
She did not return the boy.
Then in April this year, the parents “snatched” the baby from Tran during a doctor’s visit, grabbing him from her arms and running out to a waiting car before speeding away.
That was the last time Tran saw her grandson.
Ten days after the child’s abduction, another court order granted Tran custody of the boy, however, the couple did not return him.
On May 12, Le posted on Facebook a message saying that he, Do and Vinh are safe.
On 20 May, Le and Do were arrested, but there was no sign of baby Vinh at their home.
The couple said they had given the baby away to a woman called Kathy Nguyen, who they met at a coffee shop the day before. They reportedly told police they gave Nguyen $200 to care for the boy.
The couple were then imprisoned for allegedly failing to comply with court orders and are accused of withholding information about their son’s whereabouts.
Thanh has another post on Facebook saying the couple lost touch with Nguyen while in custody.
“I believe the child is safe because the child was passed on to Kathy by the biological mother. Myself as the biological father of the child also feel that the child is more safe with Kathy,” he said.
But the court doesn’t agree.
Police have been unable to locate Nguyen, or even to confirm she exists. They have also been unable to find Vinh, prompting federal police to make the rare decision to seek help from the public.
Vinh may be in Cabramatta, Bankstown, Liverpool, West Wyalong, Temora or Wagga Wagga, according to NSW police.
“I want him to be safe home with me and I care for him for the rest of my life,” Tran told A Current Affair.
“I love him so much. He very special in my family. They live with me since he’s born, so I just really worry. I just miss him so much.”
