News 12 at 6 o'clock, February 5, 2010

AUGUSTA, Ga.---A father is pleading for the safe return of his children, and now a multi-state search is underway.

Police say their mother disappeared with them while they were visiting. She does not have legal custody.

It's a case of missing children that's getting some national attention. A local father takes his children to visit their mother, but returns to find all of them gone.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is helping investigators with the case.

Aristo Burnette says he earned full custody of the three young kids a few years back, but never thought a weekend trip to see their mother could end like this.

For Aristo Burnette, looking at the poster with the three children on it is not easy.

"I miss them very very much. I thought I'd never ever see the day where my own children would come up missing," says Burnette.

Even though he has full custody, in November Burnette took the 3, 4, and 5 year olds to visit their mother in Spartenburg. When he went to pick them up, everything changed.

"This go round, they wasn't there. I called and grandmother was like, they're not here. They're gone," adds Burnette.

Investigators say they are actively searching for the mother, Dartasia Brooks. They're working leads in Baltimore and New York.

"There was no signs or symptoms that she was attempting to run with them," says Burnette.

For Burnette, it's been ten weeks of sleepless nights.

"I'm always wondering about my kids, wondering is they safe, is they eating or where they're staying at," he says.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is also getting involved. They're passing out fliers in several states.

Burnette says there's a double standard when it comes to parental rights. "If it was me, I would have been all over the news, all on gas stations cameras. I would have been found by now. And I just want the same respect," says Burnette.

Burnette says the children were taken away from their mother by DFCS about two years ago. Now he regrets giving her a second chance.

"I know they're always asking about me, you know, because I'm the only thing they do know," he says.

"Come home, come home. I love you and I miss you," he pleads.

Richmond County investigators tell News 12 they have issued warrants for Dartasia Brooks. Right now she's wanted for three counts of interstate interference of custody.