Kid magicians Kadan and Brooklyn Rockett made an impression on America's Got Talent viewers back in 2016, although the Season 11 semifinalists ultimately didn't come out on top. Now, a little over four years after the sibling duo tried to for the top prize on America's Got Talent, Kadan and Brooklyn are in the news for a more unfortunate reason. They were arrested in Louisiana as part of a custody battle.
Brooklyn and Kadan Rockett, who were 8- and 10-years-old respectively when they auditioned for America's Got Talent with their magic act, were arrested last week in Farmerville, Louisiana after they refused to return to their mother even after police showed up to take them to her, according to TMZ. Law enforcement reportedly had paperwork to authorize the transfer of the kids to their mother. Video shows the siblings telling officers that they're scared to go to her, but the encounter ended with an officer reading them their Miranda rights and handcuffing 15-year-old Kadan while 13-year-old Brooklyn burst into tears.
The custody battle that resulted in the arrest is seemingly a direct result of a Missouri court order from 2019 that determined Brooklyn and Kadan Rockett would live with their mother in Louisiana. They had reportedly been living with their father for years in California, but had traveled to Louisiana for their grandmother's funeral. The siblings were apparently held overnight at a detention center in Monroe, Louisiana for a court hearing the following day, and the result was Brooklyn and Kadan being released back into the custody of their father following the hearing.
The Rockett siblings reportedly had a similar run-in with police in October 2019 in Missouri, with a custody battle ongoing since the Rockett parents divorced back in 2010, several years before Brooklyn and Kadan made their America's Got Talent run in the tumultuous Season 11. In the video of the arrest, Kadan said that he was "more scared of her" than having something on his record, and Brooklyn said that she was "afraid of what she's going to do to us," after which the police officer began reading them their rights.
They were reportedly arrested because their mother knew where they were due to their arrival in Louisiana to attend the funeral. Although Brooklyn and Kadan Rockett's mother has evidently not made a public statement regarding the situation at this time, dad Bart Rockett took to Facebook on November 20 with a post from the Green Oaks Detention center in Monroe, featuring a picture of him with his kids as well as this message:
My 'babies' are FREE and SAFE!!!! I am not allowed to post any court details at this time because of a gag order but I can tell you they are free and safe!!! (and very very very happy and hungry right now!!!! ) Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the prayers and support!!!! We can never say thanks enough. I have tears in my eyes trying to type this. It appears this lengthy nightmare may just be over.
Although Bart Rockett didn't share many details beyond that he has reunited with his kids after they were held in detention, the message indicates that Brooklyn and Kadan Rockett are considerably happier to be with their father. Only time will tell if the custody battle is indeed over, but hopefully the teenagers won't have to go through the ordeal of an arrest again.
