Canada: International Child Abductions: A Manual for Parents

September 18, 2012

Source: Canadian foreign affairs 

Introduction

Child abductions are difficult and complex when they occur within Canada. When they involve other countries, they are even more so. Provincial/territorial and federal governments cooperate closely in assisting parents affected by such abductions. These cases involve Canadian children who have been wrongfully removed from Canada, or who have been prevented from returning home by one of their parents. There are hundreds of active cases.

Each international child abduction is unique. It is important, therefore, that you, the parent left behind, work closely with officials to improve the chances that you can be reunited with your child. You must be directly involved in the search and the anticipated return of your child. This is a bewildering and often prolonged experience. The objective of this manual, therefore, is to help you understand the process and to direct you to appropriate sources of help.

The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction—known as the Hague Convention—is the main international treaty that can assist parents whose children have been abducted to another country. As of January 2012, approximately 87 countries have adopted the Convention, including Canada. It offers considerable assistance in the case of children abducted to signatory countries, and over 400 Canadian children have been returned under its arrangements.

Prevention

Vulnerability

Your child is most vulnerable to abduction when your relationship with the other parent is broken or troubled. The vulnerability is magnified if the other parent has close family in, or other ties, with another country.

This vulnerability may be increased in situations where permission is granted for a child to visit or travel to another country. In many cases, abduction or custody issues arise when the child is prevented from returning to Canada. These cases may not be considered as abductions under the criminal laws of other countries concerned or of Canada. Rather, they may give rise to custody or wrongful retention issues. You should bear these factors in mind when you are contemplating travel for either yourself or your child.

In some countries, children must obtain the permission of their father and women must obtain the permission of their husbands in order to travel. If you are planning to visit another country where you are unfamiliar with the laws and customs as they relate to children and women, you should acquire a thorough knowledge of them before making final arrangements for the trip. You can begin by calling Consular Services in Ottawa.

As well, if you are separated or divorced, or if there is a court order with respect to custodial arrangements for your child, you should discuss your planned visit with a Canadian lawyer experienced in such matters. In some instances, it might also be necessary to discuss your situation with a lawyer in the country you will be visiting. Consular officials can provide you with a list of lawyers in foreign countries who may be able to assist.

If at any time you believe your child may be in danger of being abducted, you should discuss the matter with your local police, your lawyer, Consular Services and other organizations that may be able to provide you with assistance and advice. Remember that it is easier to prevent an abduction than it is to recover a child after an abduction has taken place. Do not ignore your fears. Act upon them and seek assistance.

Precautions and Preparations

If you have any reason to believe that your child could be abducted to or retained in another country against your wishes, you should ensure that you have detailed information about your child (including travel documents), as well as about the other parent and his or her family, friends and business associates both in Canada and in other countries. You should take colour photographs of your child every six months. A checklist of such information is given in the section Information and Document Checklist. Further, you should teach your child how to use the telephone and practise how to make long-distance collect calls. Special attention should be given to teaching a child how to make collect calls from a pay phone.

There is often a revenge motive involved in child abductions, and abducting parents may try to convince their children that the other parent no longer wants or loves them. Therefore, it is important for you to impress upon your child that you do indeed love him or her, and that you would in no circumstances want your child to leave you.

Custody

The laws of Canadian provinces and territories generally provide for both parents to have equal legal custody of a child, as long as there is no custody order and the child is living with them. This is the law in many other countries as well. If you are considering separation or divorce, if you are already separated or divorced, or if you were never legally married to the other parent, you should discuss custodial arrangements with your lawyer. Only your lawyer can provide you with advice appropriate to your specific circumstances.

A well-written custody order is important when dealing with parental child abductions, especially if the other parent is a landed immigrant or a Canadian citizen with ties to, or citizenship of, another country. Even if your Canadian custody order would not be officially recognized in the country to which your child could be abducted, it will serve as a formal statement of your custodial rights in subsequent discussions and proceedings. Your lawyer can advise you on what is appropriate for your situation. The custody order might include some or all of the following:

• sole or joint custody;
• access rights;
• court-ordered supervised access;
• prohibition on travel without the permission of both parents or the court, and surrender of all travel documentation for a child by the non-custodial parent;
• deposit of passport/travel documents issued in the name of the child with the court;
• if travel is permitted to a country that is a party to the Hague Convention, a statement whereby both parents agree that the terms of the Convention and/or of the Canadian Criminal Act would apply in the event of an abduction or wrongful retention; and
• if one of the parents does not have Canadian citizenship or has dual citizenship, provisions for a bond to be posted in the event of the child travelling to another country, which would be forfeited to the other parent in case of abduction or wrongful retention.

You should obtain several certified copies of the custody order. A copy should be given to your child’s school and other authorities who may be acting in loco parentis. Further, the school should be advised as to who has authority to collect or take charge of your child.

Canadian Passports

Canadian government regulations permit the issuance of a passport to a child under 16 years of age if the applicant is the parent, the custodial parent or the legal guardian. Effective December 11, 2001, Canadian children must have their own passport. The practice of adding a child’s name to a parent’s passport is no longer permitted. If parents are separated or divorced, a child will not be issued with a passport unless the application is supported by evidence that the issuance of the passport is not contrary to the terms of a custody order or a separation agreement.

If you fear the abduction of your child, you may notify any passport issuing office in Canada (or the nearest Canadian embassy or consulate if you are abroad) to have your child’s name placed on Passport Canada’s System Lookout List, which puts officials on alert if they recieve a passport application in your child’s name. Before your child’s name is included on this list, you will be asked to provide the names and birth dates of both parents and the child, as well as copies of any custody-related documents.

The address for the central Passport Canada office is given in the section Directory of Assistance. There are also 29 regional Passport Canada offices across Canada. Consult the federal government section of your telephone directory for the one nearest you.

Dual Nationality

Many international child abductions involve parents and children who have citizenship of other countries in addition to Canada. Dual nationality is permissible under Canadian law. The fact that the abducting parent may carry another passport could create additional difficulty for you and Canadian authorities in preventing an abduction. The Government of Canada cannot prevent diplomatic or consular offices of other countries in Canada or elsewhere from providing passport services to Canadian children who are also citizens of those countries.

You or your lawyer can request that a foreign diplomatic or consular office not provide passport services for your child. To do so, you should provide the foreign diplomatic or consular office with a written request, along with a certified copy of any court orders dealing with custody of or foreign travel by your child. In the letter you can inform the foreign government office that you have also sent a copy of your request to Consular Services. If your child has only Canadian citizenship, you can ask the foreign government office not to issue a visa (if one is required for entry) in the child’s Canadian passport. There is no requirement for other countries to comply with such requests, but many countries do so voluntarily in the interest of preventing international child abductions.

Search and Recovery 

General Advice

The discovery that one’s child is missing is a traumatic experience. It is important that you stay calm and seek assistance from family, friends and appropriate professionals. Report your child’s disappearance to the police and to Consular Services, and consult with your lawyer.

A determined abducting parent can make the search for and recovery of a missing child an extremely complex process. It is very difficult even when the abductor is still in Canada. When the abductor leaves Canada, the process becomes far more complicated. Search and recovery efforts can be prolonged and are often unsuccessful. Therefore, you should not have unrealistic expectations of results, or expect results in a matter of days or, in some instances, months. You should be well organized in this process, establishing reasonable goals and expectations. These may include:

• seeking to obtain early confirmation of where your child is located;
• seeking to obtain early confirmation of the well-being of your child;
• becoming informed about your legal situation both in Canada and in the country where your child is located;
• understanding the limitations and constraints that may affect the return of your child to Canada;
• learning about the legal process; and
• understanding the potential financial implications for you and other members of your family in the search and recovery process.

It is crucial that you be reachable at all times, in case someone tries to communicate with you about your missing child.

If you do not have a custody order, consult with your lawyer on the need for one. In cases where the Hague Convention applies, a custody order “after the fact” may not be necessary. However, for abductions to countries not party to the Hague Convention, a Canadian custody order is important.

One of the most important things you can do in the early stages of an international child abduction is to establish friendly contact with the relatives and friends of the other parent, both in Canada and abroad. The fastest and most effective way to resolve international child abductions is for the abducting parent to return the child to Canada voluntarily. While there may be good reasons for you to believe that this approach won’t work, it is important that the effort be made. The section Other Actions contains more information on this.

You may want to contact a local or national non-governmental organization that provides advice and assistance to parents whose children have been abducted. Such organizations can be of considerable help to you and can put you in touch with other parents who have gone or are going through the same turmoil. A list of some of these organizations is given in the section Directory of Assistance.

However, the first and most important element is to determine exactly where your child is. Recovery actions cannot be taken until your child’s location is known. The following agencies can assist you in finding and recovering your child.

The Local Police

As soon as you suspect that your child has been abducted, contact your local police department immediately. The sooner the police network can begin to search and investigate, the better.

When you contact the local police, give them a copy of any custody order as well as photographs and descriptions of your child and the abducting parent. You should also provide any other information that may lead to the quick discovery of the location of your child. A checklist of such information is provided in the section Information and Document Checklist.

Ask the local police to enter the information in the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) computer system, so that all police forces in Canada will have access to it. Also request that the information be entered in the United States National Crime Information Center (NCIC) computer system.

If you believe that your child has been or may be taken out of the country, request that the local police immediately contact the National Missing Children Services of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Also contact Consular Services.

Your local police may initiate some of the following, or seek your assistance in doing so:

• review with you and other authorities whether criminal charges should be laid against the abducting parent;
• notify your child’s school authorities of the abduction, and ask that they advise you or your lawyer in the event that there is a request for school records; you may need to provide the school authorities with a certified copy of your custody order;
• review credit cards that the abducting parent may have and request records of purchases;
• obtain copies of records of long-distance calls that the abducting parent may have made prior to the abduction;
• suggest to the RCMP or local police the publication of an Interpol circular;
• if your child has chronic medical problems or is on regular medication, contact the physician and/or hospital that treated your child and ask for their cooperation should there be a request for information concerning your child; here, too, you may need to provide a certified copy of your custody order; and
• if there are common credit cards or joint bank accounts, check your liability for transactions made by the abducting parent and take appropriate action.

The Canadian Government’s “Our Missing Children” Program

This program involves four federal government departments: the RCMP, the Canada Border Services Agency, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada and the Department of Justice. The program’s objective is to locate and return missing and abducted children.

Following a request from the local police, customs officers can immediately have a border alert distributed to the member countries of the International Customs Union. The RCMP component, the National Missing Children Services, is associated with the global police network Interpol, through which it will assist any Canadian police agency in coordinating investigations abroad.

Among the services offered through the RCMP’s National Missing Children Services is theTravel Reunification Program, which is designed to help parents or guardians who cannot afford to pay the cost of having an abducted child returned to Canada. To qualify for the travel assistance offered by the program, the following guidelines must be met:

• The request for assistance must come from the investigating police department, the provincial/territorial central authority or Consular Services.
• The requesting agency is responsible for assessing the financial status of the family and determining if free transportation and accommodation should be provided.
• The service is available only to return a child abducted by a parent.
• A parent or guardian will not be sent overseas unless all legal steps have been taken for the return of the child to Canada and the local authorities are cooperating in the return.

The Media

Publicity can be both helpful and detrimental in international child abductions. It is important, therefore, that you discuss the matter of publicity with your local police and/or your lawyer. You should discuss the matter with Consular Services as well. In some countries, publicity could affect the willingness or ability of local authorities to assist in the return of your child. It may also cause the abducting parent to go into hiding and, in so doing, create further stress and danger for your child.

Search Agencies

A number of private organizations will carry out search activities on your behalf for a fee and/or expenses. You should obtain advice and guidance from professionals, including the local police and non-governmental organizations (see the section Directory of Assistancefor addresses), before engaging such agencies to act on your behalf. If you do decide to engage such an organization, it is important to have your lawyer involved in any negotiations to protect your financial interests and to ensure that the proposed activities do not further complicate the search for and recovery of your child.

The Hague Convention

More than 30 years ago, the international community recognized the need for cooperation between countries to find a means to prevent and resolve cases of parental international child abductions. In 1976, the Hague Conference on Private International Law, an international organization based in the Netherlands, accepted a Canadian proposal to alleviate some of these problems. Canada, along with some 30 other countries, actively participated in the negotiations that led to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. Canada was the second country to ratify the Convention, which came into force on December 1, 1983. Canadian involvement in the negotiation and ratification process was coordinated closely with provincial and territorial governments. The Convention applies throughout Canada and in approximately 87 other countries.

Objectives

The objectives of the Hague Convention are:

• to secure the prompt return of a child wrongfully removed to or retained in any contracting state, to the environment from which the child was removed; and
• to ensure that the rights of custody and of access under the law of one contracting state are effectively respected in other contracting states.

Requirements

The Convention can be of help to you if the following requirements are met:

• Your child was habitually resident in Canada immediately prior to the removal or retention.
• The wrongful removal was in breach of rights of custody or rights of
  access or retention within the meaning of the Hague Convention.
• At the time of the abduction or retention, the Convention applied between Canada and the country to which your child has been taken and/or, in some cases, is travelling through.
• Your child is under 16 years of age.

Application for the Return of a Child

1. What to Do First

If your child has been abducted to or is being retained in a country other than Canada and you are aware of the location, you should contact the office of your provincial or territorial Attorney General and/or Minister of Justice. These departments have special sections designated as the central authority for your province or territory, which are responsible for the administration of the Hague Convention. The federal Department of Justice is also a central authority and provides assistance to the provinces and territories. A list of all the Canadian central authorities is contained in the sectionDirectory of Assistance. The central authority can provide you with information on the countries that are signatories to the Hague Convention, and can advise you on how to proceed with an application.

As of January 2012, the Convention applied between Canada and the following countries:

Argentina, Australia, Austria, the Bahamas, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Chile, China (Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions only), Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark (except the Faroe Islands and Greenland), Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France (for the whole of the French Republic), Georgia, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia (known as Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in UN and other international bodies), Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Turkmenistan, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (including Isle of Man, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Montserrat, Bermuda), the United States of America, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe.

In some instances, the Convention may not apply to dependent territories of these countries. It is, therefore, important to verify whether the Convention will apply to your situation. The number of countries to which the Convention applies continues to increase. The website for the Hague Convention provides an up-to-date listing.

The relevant central authorities in Canada and in the foreign country will do some or all of the following to assist you:

• provide you with information on how to proceed with an application under the Hague Convention;
• provide up-to-date information on the participating countries;
• seek to discover the whereabouts of a child who has been wrongfully removed or retained;
• prevent further harm to such a child by taking provisional measures;
• secure the voluntary return of the child; and
• provide or facilitate the provision of legal aid and advice, including the participation of legal counsel and advisors.

2. How to Apply

Your provincial/territorial central authority will provide you with a copy of the Convention-approved application form and other information about issues under the Convention. The application will require the following:

• information on your identity, the identity and date of birth of the child and the identity of the person alleged to have removed or retained the child;
• all available information concerning the whereabouts of the child and the identity of the person with whom the child is presumed to be;
• a statement of the grounds proving your right to have the child returned; you must prove the wrongful removal or retention of the child and your custody rights that existed at the time of the wrongful removal or retention;
• supporting documents, such as a certified copy of the judgement or agreement granting you custody or access rights, where such a document is applicable; and
• a statement giving the foreign central authority the right to act on your behalf.

In addition to providing supporting documents in the official language of your choice (English or French), you may be required to provide translations in the official language of the country concerned.

3. Procedure in a Foreign Country

The Canadian central authority will transmit your application to the central authority of the country concerned. In turn, the foreign central authority will submit your application to its appropriate judicial authority. If the return of your child cannot be arranged voluntarily, a court hearing may take place. At the hearing, your rights may be represented by a lawyer acting on behalf of the foreign central authority or by someone you have engaged privately. The other parent can have legal representation at the hearing and can contest your application.

If the conditions contained in the Hague Convention are met, and none of the exceptions apply, the decision should be to order the return of the child. However, any decision can be appealed to higher courts in accordance with the judicial process of the country concerned, or there could be delays by the police in implementing a court decision in your favour. The Hague Convention calls for fast action in recovering a child, first seeking the voluntary return of the child by the abducting parent. If this fails and legal procedures are initiated, it can take many weeks before a decision is finalized. If a decision is not reached within six weeks of the date on the application, the Canadian central authority concerned may request a statement explaining the delay. The final disposition can take considerable time, depending on the nature of the legal proceedings involved, including appeals.

The Hague Convention contains a number of exceptions that could affect the decision by the court in the foreign country. Some of the main ones are:

• The other parent proves that you were not exercising custody rights when the child was abducted/retained, or that you consented to the child’s removal or later acquiesced to it.
• There is a grave risk that the child would be exposed to physical or psychological harm or would otherwise be placed in an intolerable situation if he or she were returned.
• The child objects to being returned and is old enough and mature enough to have his or her views taken into account.

If the central authority in the country that received your Hague Convention application has reason to believe that the child has been taken to yet another country, it may cease the proceedings or dismiss the application and transfer it to the country concerned.

Costs

Central authorities do not impose charges for the application. There could be costs associated with court proceedings and legal counsel. Some countries will provide legal services free of charge; in other countries you may be entitled to legal aid; and in others it may be necessary for you to engage your own lawyer.

It is not essential that you travel to the country handling your Hague Convention application, but this may be desirable in some cases. If your application is successful, it would simplify matters if you, as the custodial parent, could be present to accompany the child on his or her return to Canada. You will be responsible for the travel costs involved in having your child returned to Canada. Refer to the section Search and Recovery for details on the RCMP’s Travel Reunification Program, which may be able to provide assistance in having the child returned to Canada.

Assistance in the Exercise of Access Rights

If you are having difficulties in exercising your access rights, your provincial/territorial central authority can also process an application under the Hague Convention for organizing or securing the effective exercise of those rights. In so doing, the central authorities are promoting a second goal of the Convention, which is to promote the peaceful enjoyment of access rights. You should contact your provincial/territorial central authority if you are experiencing such difficulties.

Other Actions

In the event that your child has been abducted to a country that is not a party to the Hague Convention, it is possible for you to take other actions both in Canada and abroad that could lead to the return of your child. (Some of these actions may also be relevant if the abduction has been to a Hague Convention country.) In Canada, the civil justice system can be used to reinforce your custody rights and, if appropriate, the criminal justice system can be used to initiate criminal action against the abductor. It may be possible to take similar actions in the other country. As every situation is unique, it is important for you to seek legal and other professional advice and guidance before taking specific action.

Using the Civil Justice System

Once you have obtained a custody order from the appropriate Canadian court, the next step is to decide whether you wish to use the justice system in the country to which your child has been abducted.

Consular Services can provide you with general information on the legal system of that country, customs and practices of that country related to parental rights, and the experience of other people in seeking to use that country’s justice system to have an abducted child returned.

Consular officers in Ottawa and overseas can provide advice and guidance on the laws of a foreign country or on what might be the most appropriate action to take. However, for authoritative information, you will need to retain a lawyer in that country who is knowledgeable and experienced in dealing with custody cases involving foreigners. Canadian officials in Ottawa and at Canadian government offices abroad can provide you with a list of lawyers who speak English or French, who may be experienced in parental child abduction or family law and who may have represented Canadians in circumstances similar to yours. However, as this lawyer will be working for you, it is most important that you, and only you, make the selection. If you decide to undertake legal action in the other country, it may be necessary for you to be there in person at some stage of the proceedings.

Lawyers’ fees vary widely from country to country and could be in excess of what would be paid in Canada. Therefore, you should be very direct when making arrangements for legal representation in another country: ensure that the arrangements are in writing and that you fully understand what the lawyer will and will not do, when it will be done and at what cost. If necessary, Canadian consular officials can maintain contact with your lawyer to obtain status reports and to verify that your rights, as provided for by the laws of that country, are respected.

Your lawyer will advise you on the information and documentation that will be required in order to represent you within that country’s justice system. In addition to providing a certified copy of your custody order, it may be necessary to supply copies of your marriage and/or separation or divorce documents, along with copies of the relevant provincial/territorial and federal laws relating to custody and child abductions. Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada in Ottawa can authenticate these documents before they are sent. For information, contact the Authentication and Service of Documents Section, tel.: 613-995-0119; fax: 613-944-7078. Your Canadian lawyer can assist you in gathering this material and having it delivered to your lawyer in the foreign country.

A custody order issued by a Canadian court has no automatic binding legal force beyond the borders of Canada. Nevertheless, there may be procedures and laws in place in the foreign country to have that order recognized and enforced there. In addition, such an order could be persuasive in support of any legal action that you undertake. Courts in other countries, like those in Canada, must decide child custody cases on the basis of their own domestic laws. This may give an advantage to the person who has abducted your child, if the abduction is to the country of his or her other nationality or origin. You could also be disadvantaged if the country has a legal tradition in deciding custody cases on the basis of gender and/or religious belief. If custody is given to the abducting parent in another country, you should make every effort to have the court specify your access rights. Some countries, even if they award custody to you or provide for access for you, will not permit the child to leave without the consent of the other parent.

Your chances of having your Canadian custody order recognized and enforced in another country are subject to all these factors and conditions. While it may appear that the deck is stacked against you, it is important to accept that recourse to the courts of another country may be the only hope for the safe return of your child. Each country is unique, and it is up to you to decide whether to proceed with legal action.

Using the Criminal Justice System

Parental abduction is a criminal offence under sections 281, 282 and 283 of the Canadian Criminal Code. In many situations, the criminal justice system can prove to be a very useful instrument in locating and recovering a child, especially when the person suspected of perpetrating the abduction has not yet left Canadian soil.

Since the administration of criminal justice is a provincial/territorial responsibility, criminal justice may be administered in a slightly different way from one province/territory to another. Thus, in the abduction of children, some provinces/territories require authorization from the Crown Attorney before proceedings can be set in motion, while in others proceedings can be initiated by the police themselves.

Use of the Criminal Code makes it easier for the police to search for and locate a child. An arrest warrant is generally issued, often improving cooperation among police forces both nationally and internationally. If necessary, an extradition request may be made if there is an extradition treaty with the country in which the alleged abductor is located.

Extradition

Extradition may be worth considering in some cases of international abduction, but may be of no value in others. There is no guarantee that the child will be returned by foreign authorities even if they should permit the extradition of the alleged abductor. When threatened with extradition, some abducting parents have hidden the child or have gone into hiding themselves with the child.

In addition, not all countries regard child abduction by one of the parents as a criminal act. Consular Services can provide information on the criminal justice system in the country in question, and on whether it is likely to cooperate in parental child abduction cases.

Other reasons why extradition is not frequently used in connection with parental child abductions include:

• Very few extradition treaties between Canada and other countries include parental child abduction or custodial interference as extraditable offences. In recent treaties, efforts have been made to include the concept of “dual criminality” as the basis for extradition. However, this requires that parental child abduction be considered a crime in both the countries that have signed the treaty.
• Many civil law countries – in contrast with common law countries such as Canada (with the exception of the province of Quebec), Australia , the United States and the United Kingdom – will not extradite their own nationals. Nearly all the countries of Latin America and Europe are civil law countries. Experience has shown that foreign governments are often unwilling to extradite anyone for parental child abduction.

While it is important to report the abduction of your child to the police as soon as possible, your complaint will not necessarily result in child abduction charges. Whether at the level of the police, the Crown Attorney’s office or the federal Department of Justice, which is responsible for extradition questions, such decisions are made in accordance with the particular circumstances of each situation and the possible repercussions on the return of the child. Protection of the child is the primary objective.

For the police and the Crown Attorney to do the optimum job in dealing with your complaint, it is essential that you provide all the information available to you at the time of the complaint and any new information that subsequently arises. Based on this information, the best possible decisions can be made in the interests of you and your child.

Communication and Compromise

As the foregoing information illustrates, legal approaches to dealing with international child abductions can be prolonged and expensive and are often inconclusive. Before pursuing legal solutions, you should carefully consider and explore alternative approaches, such as negotiation with the abducting parent. In some cases, it may be possible to have relatives or friends of the abductor assist you in establishing contact and help to promote a compromise. As well, community or religious leaders may be willing to intervene on your behalf.

Such actions might not produce immediate results but could reduce tensions, promote the welfare of your child and increase the chances of your being able to visit the child and participate in some way in decisions affecting his or her well-being. Sometimes, compromise and reconciliation will be the only solution.

Information on the Welfare of Your Child

If your child has been found and it is not possible for you to establish direct communication, Canadian consular officials in the country concerned can try on your behalf to obtain assurances from the relevant authorities on the well-being of your child. If local authorities are not available or competent, consular officials can try to make arrangements to visit the child. If they succeed, they should be able to update you on the health, living conditions, and schooling of the child. Sometimes, consular officials are also able to deliver letters and photographs to your child and send you the same in return. If the abducting parent will not permit such a visit, the Canadian government office abroad can request the assistance of the local authorities, either to arrange such a visit or to have a local social worker involved.

If information on possible abuse or neglect of your child becomes available to consular officials, the matter will be discussed, with your permission, with local child welfare and law enforcement officers, possibly through the offices of ISSC. They, along with the local Canadian government office abroad, can ask local authorities to become involved and ensure that the child is protected.

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Child Abduction to Thailand

Phuket Boy Ricardo Among Rising Number of Abductions

By Chutima Sidasathian,Phuketwan Friday, July 1, 2011

PHUKET: Figures show the number of British children abducted by a parent and taken abroad is increasing, with Thailand a favored destination. Pakistan and India rank first and third in numerical terms, sandwiching Thailand. The Foreign Office said that 161 children had been taken over the past 12 months to countries that are outside an international treaty designed to ensure the return of wrongfully removed minors.

On Phuket, parental abduction is known to be an issue. The most prominent case has been the twice-abducted Ricardo Choosaneh, a nine-year-old first taken by his Thai mother from his father in the Netherlands, then taken from Phuket by his foster mother earlier this year. His mother, Sumetra Choosaneh, told Phuketwan in an interview in Bangkok in March that she planned to go to Europe to regain her boy – but through the courts this time.

Khun Sumetra and her family say that the father has never been a good provider and continues to use possession of the boy as a means to extract money from others and to gain government housing in the Netherlands. Britain’s Foreign Office admitted that true figures on abductions are likely to be much higher because many cases go unreported. AFP reported that although Pakistan, Thailand and India topped the list of nations involved, there were cases in another 94 countries that are outside the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

Foreign Office minister Jeremy Browne told the news agency: ”Finding a solution can be especially difficult if a child has been taken to a non-Hague country as there are no international systems in place to help you. This is why prevention is so important.” The Phuket case of young Ricardo has brought international attention, with a television show in the Netherlands encouraging support from viewers for the boy’s father, Michael Roland van Alphen. However, Khun Sumetra and her family maintain that Phuket-born Ricardo, abducted twice in the space of nine months, should never have been snatched on the second occasion by foster mother Kimberley Ching-Yong because the boy’s future is brighter on Phuket.

Only a court, having listened carefully to both sides, can settle the matter with the best interests of the child to the fore. As Sharon Cooke, advice line manager for Reunite International Child Abduction Centre, told AFP: ”The psychological impact on children can be traumatic and for the left-behind parent, the shock and loss are unbearable, particularly if they don’t know where their child is.”

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Increase In Parental Child Abduction From UK

8:26am UK, Wednesday June 29, 2011

The numer of abductions of British children by parents who then take them abroad has risen by 10% in the past year – prompting a campaign to combat the problem.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said the latest figures show one British child is taken every two days – a total of 161 in 2010/11.

The number taken to countries that have not signed up to an international treaty designed to ensure the return of minors who are wrongfully removed from the UK was up from 146 and 105 in the previous two years.

And it is feared the numbers may be even higher because of those that go unreported.

Countries that have not signed up to the 1980 Hague Convention are not compelled to abide by a UK court order.

The most obvious warning sign is a break down in a relationship but other signs may include a sudden interest in getting a passport or copy birth certificate for the child; a parent expressing a wish to holiday alone with the child.

FCO minister Jeremy Browne hopes the campaign will help people understand what they can do if they think their child may be at risk.

“The latest figures suggest the problem affects people from all walks of life and not just certain types of families or particular countries,” Mr Browne said.

“Finding a solution can be especially difficult if a child has been taken to a non-Hague country as there are no international systems in place to help you.

“This is why prevention is so important. The FCO will do whatever we can to provide advice and support but our role is limited, not least because we cannot interfere in the laws of another country.”

Evidence shows many abductions happen around school holidays when a parent refuses to return a child following a visit to the parent’s home country.

The problem has become widespread, with figures last year showing the FCO handled cases in 97 “non-Hague” countries ranging from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.

The message will be passed through websites Mumsnet and the Fatherhood Institute to spread the prevention message and make people aware of the support it can provide.

Sharon Cooke, from Reunite International Child Abduction Centre, said while sometimes there were no warning signs, there were things people could look for which might indicate their child was at risk.

“The most obvious warning sign is a breakdown in a relationship,” she said.

FCO minister Jeremy Browne is backing the scheme

“Other signs may include a sudden interest in getting a passport or copy birth certificate for the child; a parent expressing a wish to holiday alone with the child; a change in circumstances such as leaving employment or redundancy, selling a house or giving up tenancy.

“There may also be a sudden change in contact arrangements or constant difficulty in being able to see the child.”

She added: “There’s often a perception – fuelled by a number of high profile cases – that it’s about fathers abducting their children.

“However, statistics show it is mainly mothers – either intentionally or unintentionally.

“The psychological impact on children can be traumatic and for the left-behind parent, the shock and loss are unbearable, particularly if they don’t know where their child is.”

:: Anyone worried their child might be at risk, or whose child has been abducted, can call the Child Abduction Section at the Foreign Office on 0207 008 0878.

People can also log on to the FCO’s website or contact Reunite on 0116 2556 234.

Published by: ABP World Group International Child Recovery Services

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Lesbians’ Child Custody Battle Turns Into International Manhunt

Monday, June 27, 2011
By JOHN CURRAN and FILADELFO ALEMAN, Associated Press

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – Lisa Miller’s path from lesbian in committed relationship to international fugitive started in 2003.

She broke up with her partner, Janet Jenkins, renounced homosexuality and became an evangelical Christian before disappearing in 2009 with the daughter she had with Jenkins.

Now, what started as a custody battle over little Isabella Miller-Jenkins has turned into a global manhunt, with indications that Mennonite pastors and other faith-based supporters may have helped hide the two in Nicaragua and are now coming to the aid of one who the FBI says helped Miller.

Eager to keep the girl away from Jenkins and what they consider a dangerous and immoral lifestyle, they liken their roles to that of underground helpers aiding runaway slaves.

“God’s Holy Law never recognizes a gay marriage,” said Pablo Yoder, a Mennonite pastor in Nicaragua, in an email message to The Associated Press. “Thus, the Nicaraguan Brotherhood felt it right and good to help Lisa not only free herself from the so called civil marriage and lesbian lifestyle, but especially to protect her nine year old daughter from being abducted and handed over to an active lesbian and a whole-hearted activist.”

As the gay marriage movement gains momentum in the U.S. with impending legal recognition of the relationships in New York state, the case is a reminder of the obstacles and opposition that same-sex couples and their families can face.

The saga began in 2000, when Miller and Jenkins were joined in a civil union in Vermont. Two years later, Miller gave birth to the girl, through artificial insemination. The couple split in 2003, with Miller renouncing her homosexuality and becoming a Baptist, then a Mennonite.

Miller was originally granted custody of the girl, but her defiance of visitation schedules led courts in Vermont and Virginia to rule in favor of Jenkins, culminating in a judge’s 2009 decision to award custody to Jenkins.

After Miller and the girl failed to show for a court-ordered custody swap on Jan. 1, 2010, to hand the girl over to Jenkins, the hunt was on. A federal arrest warrant was issued for Miller, and her daughter’s name was added to the missing by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

But they were long gone: In 2009, two months before the judge ordered the custody change, Miller and the girl flew to Central America and took up residence for an unknown amount of time in Nicaragua before vanishing again.

So says the FBI, which revealed in April that it had arrested Nicaraguan missionary Timothy David “Timo” Miller and charged him with abetting an international kidnapping by helping arrange travel and lodging for the two. He is awaiting trial.

According to the FBI, Timo Miller — no relation to Lisa Miller — arranged to fly Miller and her daughter from Canada to Augusto C. Sandino International Airport in Managua.

He’d never met her until they arrived at the airport, according to Loyal Martin, a friend of Timo Miller’s.

Timo Miller has pleaded not guilty and is free on $25,000 bail, awaiting trial. His attorney, federal public defender Steven Barth, won’t discuss the case. Another lawyer for Timo Miller, Jeffrey Conrad, of Lancaster, Pa., didn’t respond to a request for comment.

“Tim believes there is a higher law than the laws of any country that all people, including himself, are accountable to,” said Martin, 40, of Philadelphia, N.Y., who attended Miller’s first court appearance.

In an April 1 affidavit outlining the charge against Timo Miller, FBI agent Dana Kaegel noted the involvement of various religious groups and people involved — in some fashion — with Miller.

At a minimum, she appears to have had the support in the Mennonite community outside the capital of Managua.

Yoder, who works the remote village of Waslala, 161 miles from Managua, told The Associated Press she celebrated her daughter’s birthday in his house last year. He wouldn’t say more.

“She came here to have a good time, and we allowed her to celebrate her daughter’s birthday in my house because of the love we have for the girl,” Pablo Yoder said.

Yoder, who is mentioned in the FBI’s affidavit over an email exchange with Timo Miller planning the party, told the AP in an interview he couldn’t remember how long she stayed. She slept at the house of another pastor, according to Yoder, who would not name that person for fear it would lead to questioning by police.

Members of the church made a pact not to reveal any details to protect Timothy David Miller.

“We want to remain silent because we do not know whether it would cause him problems,” Yoder said. “The moment may arrive when we are going to want to talk, when we deem it necessary to tell Nicaragua the true story.”

Nicaraguan police haven’t questioned Yoder and other members of his church, he said in an interview last month.

“They know we are not involved in this matter,” said Yoder, who likens the help given to Lisa Miller to aid given by Mennonites and Quakers to the aid abolitionists gave runaway slaves.

Richard Huber, of Myerstown, Pa., a friend of Timo Miller’s who agreed to assume custody of him after his first court appearance, sees Timo Miller’s actions as faith-based.

“Choosing to heed God’s law over man’s would be an accurate way of putting it,” he said in an email message.

Miller may have gotten help from others drawn to her predicament for religious reasons.

The lawyer for Miller’s ex-partner, Janet Jenkins, told the FBI she got a call in June 2010 from someone — she won’t say who — who told her that Lisa Miller and the girl had stayed in a beach house in coastal San Juan del Sur, about 68 miles south of Managua.

The house is owned by Philip Zodhiates, the father of Liberty University law school administrative assistant Victoria Hyden, according to the FBI. Jenkins’ attorney, Sarah Star, told the FBI that the caller told her Zodhiates had asked his daughter to put out a request for supplies for Lisa Miller.

Located in Lynchburg, Va., Liberty University was founded by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell. An affiliate of the university, conservative Christian law firm Liberty Counsel, formerly represented Miller in her court case in Vermont over custody of the girl.

Law school dean Mathew Staver — who leads Liberty Counsel — has said Zodhiates isn’t affiliated with either.

“From our perspective, she just dropped off the face of the Earth. We haven’t heard from her or from anyone who said they’ve heard from her,” Staver said of Lisa Miller.

Miller, 42, is wanted by the FBI and Interpol, which recently requested the help of Nicaraguan police in the search. U.S. Embassy officials in Nicaragua said they don’t know where she is.

“We have clues, but we do not want to reveal them so as not to hinder our investigation,” Fernando Borge, spokesman for the Nicaraguan national police, told the AP last month. “We can’t say either, at the moment, whether she is or is not in the country.”

A security guard at the hotel Royal Chateau in San Juan del Sur, Juan Garcia, told the AP last month he remembered seeing Miller and her daughter seated along the waterfront.

Back in Vermont, Jenkins waits for word on their whereabouts, a break in the case — or both.

“It is hard to understand how anyone could consider a childhood on the run better and more stable than one surrounded by family, with two parents and two sets of grandparents who can provide love and support,” Jenkins, who declined to be interviewed for this story, said in an email.

Timo Miller, meanwhile, awaits trial on the abetting count, which could send him to prison for three years. For now, he and his wife and their four children are staying in Pennsylvania, with Huber.

Supporters have rallied to Timo Miller’s his side. At his April 25 court appearance in federal court in Burlington, Vt., dozens of supporters turned out.

More than $30,000 has been raised for his legal defense fund, and donors have provided he and his family with a minivan and an apartment, according to http://www.timomiller.org, the Timothy Miller Family Support Network’s website.

“When Isabella was about 18 months old, Lisa Miller realized the emptiness of her lesbian lifestyle, and her mother’s instinct alerted her to the danger that lifestyle posed for her young daughter. She chose to leave that lifestyle, repented of her immoral ways, and began a new life,” according to the website.

Star calls Miller’s actions kidnapping. She doesn’t buy the idea of civil disobedience.

“My understanding is that civil disobedience is an act of defiance against a government. Janet Jenkins is not the government, she is a mother who is worried sick about her daughter.”

——

Associated Press correspondent Filadelfo Aleman reported from Nicaragua.

Published by: ABP World Group International Child Recovery Services

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Parental Kidnapping – What to Do When the Other Parent Will Not Return the Child

I hope you never need this article. Very rarely does it happen, but there are times that one parent goes off the deep end and decides that the Orders of the Court are not meant for them.

Children are taken out of school, hidden at relatives’ homes, and secreted from the “custodial” parent. (In this context custodial means the parent who should have that child during that time frame or the parent with the majority contact time.)

The first step is to make sure that the current Order is clear and specific enough to be enforceable. Whether law enforcement will assist when one parent violates a court ordered contact schedule has a lot to do with how clearly written it is. Even with the most clearly written order there are times that law enforcement will not want to get involved. This is when the Court needs to be contacted. Emergency Motions are some of the most overused motions around.

Judges hate them because 1) everyone wants to call every bad situation an emergency and domestic cases are nothing but bad situations and 2) because they are being asked to make decisions without letting the other side tell their story. If there is a remedy for the violation (if that parent should not have had this two weeks of summer, but the judge could take other time away from the offender without harm to the child) short of asking the Judge to take the child via police, that is the road to go down. Judges can punish violations with Orders for attorneys fees, extra time for the other parent, moving to supervised or having other parameters or limitations…without having to traumatize a child with a ride in a police car.

If there is no remedy that will truly keep the child safe, in the event of escalating obvious mental health issues and increasingly bold violations..the Court can enter a Pick Up Order. This court order will describe the child and the parent who has them wrongfully, and it will authorize the police to pick the child up. The Order should be drafted to include all the places the child could reasonably be, with the most obvious listed first.

The Order may indicate that law enforcement is authorized to enter a home in order to find the child, and that they can do this at any hour. Without this provision, most law enforcement agencies are going to “stake out” a home only. If the person has taken the child to other locations, it may be necessary to hire a PI to attempt to find them and then call in law enforcement to pick up the child..many police agencies are just too overworked to spend days or even hours trying to hunt up parents who have stolen their children.

Ultimately, there are remedies in these situations, but the process can take a while and can be scary in the meantime. It is important to understand that long term, the parents who follow court orders, who show respect to the Judge’s determinations and work within the system will long term get much better results. Once a parent pushes things to the point of requiring this type of action, they have usually lost the Judge’s trust and are working against themselves.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3651962

Published by: ABP World Group International Child Recovery Services

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Abducted to The Philippines – Parental Child Abduction

The Philippines is not a party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction
Hundreds of American parents face a similar plight, fighting from within the United States to bring home children they say were kidnapped and taken abroad by the other parent. The U.S. State Department is handling roughly 1,000 international parental kidnapping cases, including seven that involve children taken to the Philippines.

Many parents left behind face linguistic, cultural, geographical and legal barriers. Often, the spouse is a citizen, or can become a citizen, of the country to which he or she has fled and is entitled to that country’s protection.

The Philippines sees parental kidnapping as a custody dispute, not a crime. And the country isn’t party to the international treaty that created a process for resolving such disputes.

The Philippine government says it cooperates with U.S. law enforcement and consular officials to locate children alleged to have been abducted and check on their welfare. The officials also can help negotiate a return. But in many cases, the decision on whether the children should be sent back to the parent in the United States falls to the courts.

You should contact your local police station if your child has been taken overseas without your consent or if you fear your child will be abducted

There are 3 broad categories of child abduction:

• Abduction – where a child is taken overseas without the other parent’s consent – this may be a criminal offense.
• Wrongful retention – where a child has been retained in a foreign country following an overseas trip
• Threat of abduction – where there is a risk that a child will be taken overseas

Note:

The Philippines is not a party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, nor are there any international or bilateral treaties in force between the Philippines and the United States dealing with international parental child abduction. Therefore, there is no treaty remedy by which the left behind parent would be able to pursue recovery of the child/ren should they be abducted to or wrongfully retained in the Philippines. Once in the Philippines, the child/ren would be completely subject to Philippine law for all matters including custody.

Published by: ABP World Group International Child Recovery Services

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Plan to sign Hague Convention welcome but children’s best interests should come first

Source: The Mainichi Daily News
Japan’s new policy of signing the Hague Convention that stipulates the treatment of children from failed international marriages in custody disputes has been approved by Cabinet ministers, with Prime Minister Naoto Kan planning to announce the decision at a G8 Summit set to take place in France on May 26 and 27.

Officially called the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction or the Hague Abduction Convention, the treaty went into effect in 1983, and counts 84 countries, primarily in the West, as its signatories.

According to the Hague Convention, if a child is removed from their country of habitual residence and a parent petitions for the child’s return to that country, the government of the country to where the child has been taken has the responsibility of cooperating with the child’s return and in negotiations for talks between the respective parents’ parties.

Japan has been facing increasing pressure from Western nations to sign the treaty because of a significant number of cases in which Japanese mothers removed their children from other countries and returned to Japan. The Japanese Foreign Ministry has set up opportunities for periodic consultation with parties from both the U.S. and France — citizens of which Japan nationals have shown to have a great number of custody disputes — and have consulted on a total of 130 individual cross-border custody cases.

In some cases, bringing a child back to Japan without consent from the other parent has resulted in parents facing charges of abduction. That many such parents claim to be victims of domestic violence complicates these cases even further, and such allegations of abuse make the argument that joining the convention raises concerns for the protection of Japanese citizens and goes against the child’s interests understandable.

Meanwhile, Japanese partners whose children have been removed from Japan have pushed for Japan to sign the treaty, with hopes that it would help resolve their own custody disputes.

The Hague Convention includes special exemptions, including one that states that a child does not have to be returned to their country of habitual residence in cases where doing so would pose a great risk of physical or emotional pain for them. This exemption is key.

According to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, of the approximately 800 cases of child custody suits around the world in which a parent is seeking the child’s return, the abovementioned exemption has been permitted in 30 percent of cases — ruling that the children did not have to be returned.

These special cases include those in which there remain the chances of a mother becoming a victim of domestic violence if she and her child were to return to their country of habitual residence; or if the child were to return on their own but would suffer if separated from the mother; or in cases in which the child cannot be expected to receive sufficient care upon return. From these cases, it is apparent that courts of various countries around the world are taking a relatively flexible approach to the convention.

Signing the convention and searching for solutions based on internationally-recognized rules is an unavoidable path for Japan. Yet, we must protect our citizens based on the actual nature of each case in a way that adheres with the treaty.

Whether or not a child brought to Japan should be returned to their previous country of residence will be decided by Japanese courts based on the law. The government is set to add a provision to its Hague-Convention bill indicating that in cases that involve allegations of child abuse or of domestic violence by one partner against another, the child can be stopped from being returned to their country of habitual residence.

One of the major factors at the base of cross-border custody disputes is the difference in how custody is perceived. Joint custody is common in many of the convention’s signatory nations, with children often going back and forth between their divorced parents. In Japan, however, sole custody is more common, and is often granted to the mother.

As the number of international marriages continues to rise, we must think about what really constitutes our children’s best interests.

Published by: ABP World Group International Child Recovery Services

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We Recover Internationally Abducted Children

We can bring your child back !

International Child Abduction is tragically a global epidemic.

Leading experts believe that due to the rapid growth in multi-national marriages and relationships, the number of children born from parents of different countries will continue to expand. Similar to all relationships, a significant portion of these marriages or partnerships will end in divorce. All too often, one of the separating parents of the child of the relationship will seek to abduct the child to a country other than where the child has lived. This is called ‘International Parental Child Abduction’, and though there are various civil remedies available to targeted parents who have had their child abducted, the challenges they face are grave, and include first and foremost, locating where the child is located.

Unfortunately for the majority of targeted parents, the financial burden for recovery and litigation falls on their shoulders. With tens of thousands of children parentally abducted each year, the reality is too many of these children never come home. ABP World Group is dedicated to assisting parents in need of assistance in locating, rescuing, and safely bringing home your abducted child.

Our intelligence and investigation abilities combined with our ability to dispatch personnel to most locations in the world offer a safe and strategic solution to protecting your most important asset: your child.

Areas of expertise:

Parental abduction.

Missing children.

Kidnappings.

Runaway children.

Reunification Counseling.

Unfortunately in this day and time parental kidnapping happens and we are here to help you trough this difficult period. We are aware parental child abduction can be difficult to resolve, but we use professional operatives with the skills and expertise to help find a resolution.

One key to ABP World Group’s successful recovery and re-unification of your loved one is to use all necessary means available including, but not limited to:

Electronic Forensic Foot printing Investigations

Intelligence Gathering

Information Specialists/Skip Tracing

Evidence Procurement

Interview/Evaluation

Surveillance Special Ops

Non-Combatant Evacuation Ops

Domestic Support

International Operations

Maritime/Land/Air transport

Published by: ABP World Group International Child Recovery Services

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International Child Abduction / Parental Kidnapping – Recovery Services

International Child Abduction is tragically a global epidemic.

Leading experts believe that due to the rapid growth in multi-national marriages and relationships, the number of children born from parents of different countries will continue to expand. Similar to all relationships, a significant portion of these marriages or partnerships will end in divorce. All too often, one of the separating parents of the child of the relationship will seek to abduct the child to a country other than where the child has lived.

This is called ‘International Parental Child Abduction’, and though there are various civil remedies available to targeted parents who have had their child abducted, the challenges they face are grave, and include first and foremost, locating where the child is located. Unfortunately for the majority of targeted parents, the financial burden for recovery and litigation falls on their shoulders. With tens of thousands of children parentally abducted each year, the reality is too many of these children never come home. ABP World Group is dedicated to assisting parents in need of assistance in locating, rescuing, and safely bringing home your abducted child.

Our intelligence and investigation abilities combined with our ability to dispatch personnel to most locations in the world offer a safe and strategic solution to protecting your most important asset: your child.

Areas of expertise:

Parental abduction

Missing children

Kidnappings

Counter Kidnapping

Anti Kidnapping

Runaway children

Reunification Counseling

Unfortunately in this day and time parental kidnapping happens and we are here to help you trough this difficult period. We are aware parental child abduction can be difficult to resolve, but we use professional operatives with the skills and expertise to help find a resolution.

One key to ABP World Group’s successful recovery and re-unification of your loved one is to use all necessary means available including, but not limited to:

Electronic Forensic Foot printing Investigations

Intelligence Gathering

Information Specialists/Skip Tracing

Evidence Procurement

Interview/Evaluation

Surveillance Special Ops

Non-Combatant Evacuation Ops

Domestic Support

International Operations

Maritime/Land/Air transport

Visit our website here: www.abpworld.com

Published by: ABP World Group International Child Recovery Services

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Custody Laws – Violating the Custody Order Through Parental Kidnapping

If you are lucky to have your child back after he or she was kidnapped by your ex-spouse, you will now have to deal with another nightmare: the resulting trauma on your child.

The effects of parental kidnapping are emotionally, developmentally and psychologically devastating on children who in a moment were stolen away from their entire world of familiarity. Parents stealing children after a high conflict custody battle is not uncommon. Surprisingly more than 50 percent of these kidnappings take place during a scheduled visitation after which the child is not returned.

Taking a child away and concealing his or her location to the custodial parent in violation of a visitation order is a crime and a form of child abuse. Parental abduction has permanent ramifications in the victim’s life. The emotional effects on the abducted child can be as harmful as those of sexual abuse or neglect. After such an experience, children tend to be more timid, clingy, and relate poorly to others.

In her presentation to the United Nations Convention on Child Rights titled “Parental Child Abduction is Child Abuse”, Dr. Nancy Faulkner identified nine of the many harmful effects parental abduction can have on a child:

• Reactive Attachment Disorder
• Learned Helplessness
• Fear and Phobias
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
• Guilt
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• Parental Alienation
• Separation Anxiety and Fear of Abandonment
• Grief

If you have been in a prolonged and highly conflictive custody and visitation battle, you must rigorously adhere to the guidelines in the order. The same is applicable to your ex-spouse. He or she must abide to the time share percentages and visitation calendar conformed in the order. Many custodial parents are so drained after a custody dispute that they avoid having to go to court in order to enforce or modify the order. However, it is your obligation to watch over your child’s health, safety and welfare. A parent who regularly fails to comply with the visitation schedule or percentages of time share is not acting right. He or she is acting in contempt of the court. He or she is been disrespectful to you, to your child, and to our legal system. This parent is not a good role model for your child, and in fact, he or she might turn out to be a bad influence for your kid.

Repetitive violations to the custody and visitation order mean that you must go back to court to have the order enforced. The parent who regularly fails to comply with the visitation schedule is relating in an erratic and unhealthy manner with your child. This type of conduct should be addressed and penalized from the very start, in order to avoid a more serious violation, such as your child being kidnapped by your ex-spouse.

Find out about the custody laws that will impact your case, and learn how to get the custody order you want.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Caleb_Jonsun

Published by: ABP World Group International Child Recovery Services

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