Parental Child Abductions

Posted By Menduni Martindill || 19-Jul-2012

Last year, Time Magazine wrote an issue on child abductions following divorce cases. The issue stated that Japan had become a "haven" for child abductions, since the country did not sign the Hague Convention on the Prevention of Child Abduction, which is a signed agreement to return children to the country from which they were taken.

The issue told the sad story of a man whose Japanese ex-wife kidnapped their kids from his home in Tennessee and moved them to Japan. Two years have passed since then, and the man has still not seen his two children. In another story, a Brazilian woman married an American and took their 4 year old son on a two week vacation to Brazil, but refused to return to the U.S. The case received a lot of attention in the United States and even was featured on a documentary.

A parental child abduction is the most common form of abduction and occurs when one parent does not have authorized custody of a child. Over 600,000 international child abductions involving violations of custody occur annually and according to the U.S. Department of Justice more than 350,000 family abductions occur in the United States each year, which is equal to almost 1,000 per day.

Some reasons why a parent will kidnap their children include: a disagreement with a custody order, fear that the other parent will harm the children, or to take revenge against one's ex-partner. When a child is kidnapped and taken out of state, the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act applies, which mandates states to follow the state's custody order in which the parent and child were residents.

Some factors also put you and your child more at risk, which include: your ex-partner has threatened to abduct your children, your ex-partner is a citizen of another country, your ex-partner has friends/family living out of state or abroad, your ex-partner has a history of domestic violence or child abuse, your ex-partner has a prior criminal record. If your ex-spouse is harming your children, it is better to get an Order for Protection (OFP) or a restraining order, than to violate your custody order. Talk to a divorce attorney today to learn more about custody issues and keeping your children safe!