A family photo of Liam McCarty, now age 8.

THE DALLES, Ore. - An international tug of war has an 8-year-old boy trapped in an Italian orphanage.

Right now, there's a boy named Liam who is an American citizen but living in Italy. For years he has been in an orphanage, despite having a father and an Oregon grandfather who want him back home here in the states.

For Liam McCarty, the story went like this: He was abducted to Italy by his mother, then taken away from her when Italian courts deemed her mentally unstable. Instead of giving Liam back to his American father, the Italian courts placed the boy in an orphanage. Liam has been at that orphanage for the past 2 1/2 years.

Liam's grandfather, Kenneth McCarty is a former engineer with Boeing who has retired to the Columbia River town of The Dalles. He said he has done "all he can" to try to bring his grandson back to America. But there is only so much that a man in The Dalles can do from half a world away.

McCarty said his heart is heavy with regret over the grandson he never got to know: "That's what grandparents are for, to spoil the kids," he said. "I would love to do that."

He had talked on the phone with Liam but, by the time McCarty tried arranging to see him, Liam's parents - who lived in New York - had divorced. Liam's mother ignored a court ruling in 2007 and took the boy to Italy. She is now on the FBI's list of parental kidnappers.

Italian authorities later deemed Liam's mother unfit to parent - and placed him in the orphanage in Rome.

It is a battle against bureaucracy for the local man and his son, Liam's father Michael, as they fight against international red tape. Michael has help with the Web site SaveLiam.org, an effort to raise funds for continued legal efforts. Those legal actions included fighting accusations Liam's mother made that Michael had sexually abused his son. Those accusations were cleared by American courts.

"I just don't know why they are doing this to him," Michael McCarty told KATU.

Meanwhile, for Kenneth McCarty, "I miss, I miss the opportunity to know him," he said, choking up. (Watch the attached video for the full exchange.)

He said he just doesn't understand why the Italian system won't budge.

"We've been beating our heads against a wall for two years now," he said. "It's like an immovable object."

The grandfather said he has depleted his savings, and mortgaged his modest home in The Dalles, to help his son pay roughly $60,000 of a legal bill that extends far beyond that.

He said that Italy is continuing to stonewall, and is hoping American officials will intervene. He's afraid that if regaining custody doesn't happen soon, that the window they have for repairing what has been broken will close forever.

"The best of all possible worlds," Kenneth McCarty said, "would be for the father to get custody, and restore the relationship."

An Italian judge is set to rule on this case soon.

The McCartys said they are hopeful that any sort of emotional damage Liam has suffered could be repaired rather quickly. At least that's what the child psychologists familiar with the case said should happen.

Kenneth and Michael McCarty, meanwhile, can only hope for the best.

What happened when Anna started making calls on their behalf? Find out in the second and final part of this series.