Parental kidnapping up 50 percent last year

April 13, 2013

Source: The Portugal News

The president of the Portuguese Association for Missing Children (APCD) has revealed that the number of cases of parental kidnapping in Portugal increased last year by 50 percent and described the situation as “worrying” due to a lack of mechanisms that are quick enough to tackle the problem.

 

Speaking to Lusa News Agency Patrícia Cipriano explained that statistics regarding missing children in Portugal and in Europe are “unreliable and not even close to reality” as figures often include several disappearances of the same child.
Because of this situation the APCD began counting the number of disappearances in Portugal.

“We discovered that, in 2012, there was an increase of around 50 percent in the number of cases, for example, of parental abduction (cases where one parent keeps a child from the other)”, Ms. Cipriano said during the inauguration of the association’s new Lisbon headquarters.

This is a matter that “rather worries” the association, because “Portugal does not have mechanisms that are quick enough to deal with this situation”, she stressed.
“We have very serious situations that have nothing to do with the economic crisis, or with the fact there is a marriage then a divorce between people of different nationalities”,

Patrícia Cipriano explained, adding: “what is happening is that people have a feeling of impunity with regard to this type of behaviour.”
Many times, when a father or a mother wants to hurt the other, they will do so by “using their children as instruments”: “We have witnessed situations that are very problematic and sad” and which have had “very serious” consequences for the child, she recalled.

In some cases children had been ‘missing’ from the age of five until 15, and developed “serious symptoms of being very emotionally affected; they have panic attacks, sleep poorly and wet their beds late on.”
“It is sad, essentially, that there are no authorities in Portugal that clearly understand these phenomena”, the head of the APCD lamented.
She further added that there are situations in which “the courts have come to a complete standstill, they can’t resolve it and they don’t act in the child’s best interest, I don’t know if that is because of a lack of training or in some cases just a lack of common sense.”
The new headquarters aim to serve a region in which a growing number of disappearances is registered year-on-year; Lisbon and Vale do Tejo.
It is also open for members of the public to report cases of children being abused or sexually exploited.
Quoting figures from the GNR police, Patrícia Cipriano recalled that in 2012, 251 children under the age of 18 were reported missing in Lisbon and 114 reports of sexual abuse involving minors under the age of 16 were also taken.
On top of that, every year between 1,500 and 2,000 cases of missing children are investigated by the PJ police.
“Evidently, in many cases these incidents are not real disappearances, but occurrences”, Ms. Cirpriano explained, elaborating that if one child runs away from an institution ten times, that counts as ten separate incidents.

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United States – Parental Child Abduction Statistics 2012

January 25, 2013

Source: U.S State Dept.

Unreported cases of abduction are forecasted to be between 100% and 125% of reported cases. These cases continue to increase due to a flux of immigration migration and both documented (legal) and undocumented (illegal) residents not being aware that they can turn to their government for assistance.

2012 Outgoing case statistics

2012 Incoming case statistics

2011 Outgoing case statistics

2011 Incoming case statistics 

2010 Outgoing case statistics

2010 Incoming case statistics

2012 report on compliance with the 1980 Hague convention on the civil aspects of international child abduction

United Kingdom: 

New figures reveal that the number of parental child abduction cases dealt with by the Foreign Office has risen by 88% in under a decade.

In the last year alone the Foreign Office’s Child Abduction Section fielded an average of four calls per day to its specialist advice line, more than half of which were new cases .

The Foreign Office says that that the statistics could be just the tip of the iceberg because many cases go unreported as parents seek custody of their children through foreign courts.

Research commissioned by the Foreign Office shows that half the UK population believes the government can intervene to order the return of a child to the UK if he or she has been abducted by a parent. However, the reality is that whilst help is available, parental child abduction cases can take years to resolve.

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20 Years Later, Man Wanted in Parental Abduction is Back in St.Thomas

January 22, 2013

Source: AM980

A 51-year-old man is now in custody of St.Thomas Police, 20 years after a warrant was issued for his arrest in connection with an alleged case of parental abduction.

A warrant was issued for Benham Slim back in 1993 after Police say he fled to Beirut, Lebanon with his three little girls – aged 2, 6, and 7 - and had no plans on returning to Canada.

Four years later, in 1997, Slim was arrested at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, but was released on bail after promising to return the children, and appear before the courts the following year.

Slim did neither, and an additional warrant was issued for his arrest.

In early 2003, 10 years after they disappeared, all three girls were re-united with their mother who had since moved to Texas.

Slim, however, remained at large.

He wasn’t picked up until late October of last year by Police in Detroit where he’s remained in custody while Police in St.Thomas and the Crown Attorney’s office began the extradition process.

Just recently, the 51-year-old waived extradition to Canada and has now arrived back in St.Thomas to face parental abduction charges from 1993, as well as charges related to skipping the country back in 1998.

 

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Law Firm backs new international child abduction campaign -”Latest child abduction figures come as no surprise.

January 17, 2013

Source:bournemouthchamber.org.uk

A NEW campaign highlighting a big rise in the number of children abducted and taken abroad by an estranged parent has been backed by Chamber members Ellis Jones Solicitors. A total of 512 cases involving 84 different countries were reported to British authorities in 2011/2012, according to data from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO). That compares with 272 in 51 countries in 2003/2004, an increase of 88 per cent in eight years.

It is illegal for a parent to take a child overseas without permission from others with parental responsibility. However 24 per cent of Britons are unaware it is a crime, according to separate FCO research. The research revealed that although 74 per cent of people thought fathers were most likely to abduct their children, statistics from the charity Reunite International suggested 70 per cent of their cases concerned mothers taking a child.

The FCO has now launched a national campaign to highlight the issue. Katie Taft, a solicitor with Ellis Jones who specialises in child abduction work, said the national increase in cases was borne out by her own experiences.
The Dorset and New Forest law firm is a member of the International Child Abduction and Contact Unit specialist panel and a recognised expert, regularly representing both mothers and fathers to secure the prompt return of their child or children.

Katie said: “We’ve seen an increased workload over the last few years which is to be expected given the rise in the number of families with parents who originate from different countries. Therefore, the latest FCO figures really come as no surprise. Currently we’re handing a number of cases of this nature across the South of England. “Child abduction causes a huge amount of distress and we welcome the FCO’s decision to launch a national campaign to highlight the issue.

“It’s important that this subject is kept in the public spotlight and that parents think twice before causing significant distress to their children, and other members of the family, by even contemplating abducting a child,” Katie added.

Parents, or those with parental responsibility, who fear their child has been or is at risk of being abducted can contact Katie or Sean McNally on 01202 636223. Alternatively the International Child Abduction and Contact Unit can be reached on 020 7911 7047/7045 from 10am to 4pm.

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Parental Abduction – Documentary Special: Anatomy of a kidnapping

January 3, 2013

Source: abc.net

An agreement between countries drawn up in The Hague is meant to prevent kids from being bounced around the world. Japan, though, stands out from the pack and for all the wrong reasons.

The government there is accused of being too slow to stop its citizens from taking their own children, without the approval of one parent, back to Japan.

For the first time, Sarah Dingle’s investigation takes us inside the mind of an abductor in the anatomy of a kidnapping.SARAH DINGLE: Eric Kalmus says it’s time to let go. 

Listen to the whole interview here: http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/news/audio/pm/201212/20121224-rcaffdocos-kidnapping.mp3

ERIC KALMUS: I’m in a very good spot. I have a wonderful family. I need to give them the amount of energy that I was giving Amy. I’m still here, she’s still in my heart, I still love her. Any day that she picks up the phone and calls me, I’ll gladly go meet her wherever she is.

But yeah, I think I’ve allowed it to not be in my hands any more.

I’m better now. It doesn’t hurt like it used to. It doesn’t hurt like it used to.

Also read: Expert: Parental abduction never in child’s best interest

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Parental child abductions have ‘risen by 88% in a decade’

December 12, 2012

Source: ITV

• Cases of parental child abduction have risen 88% in just under a decade (2003-2012), the FCO have said.
• 24% of Britons are unaware parental child abduction is a crime.
• The FCO’s child abduction section received an average of four calls a day between October 2011 and September 2012.

• The FCO also pointed out that parents may suffer severe financial difficulties as they fight for custody of their child through foreign courts.
• Further illustrating public misunderstanding, nearly three quarters of those surveyed (74%) thought fathers were more likely to abduct children.

• But, according to statistics from the Reunite International Child Abduction Centre, 70% of the charity’s cases concern mothers taking the child.
• There are skewed opinions over where children were taken – 71% thought parents most commonly abduct their children to the Middle East, India or Pakistan.

A worldwide problem

Parental child abduction – where a parent takes a child without the permission of those with parental responsibility – is now a worldwide issue. In 2003/04 we worked on cases in 51 countries; now cases relate to 84 different countries, showing just how widespread the problem has become.

We also fear that these statistics are just the tip of the iceberg; many cases go unreported as parents seek custody of their children through foreign courts.

Raising awareness

Public understanding of parental child abduction is alarmingly low.

The research we commissioned shows that half the UK population believes the government can intervene to order the return of a child to the UK if he or she has been abducted by a parent.

The reality is that whilst help is available, parental child abduction cases can take years to resolve. This has significant impact on those concerned and there is the strong possibility that the child may never be returned.

It is also much harder to return a child from a country that has not signed the 1980 Hague Convention, an international agreement between certain countries which aims to ensure the return of a child who has been abducted by a parent.

Legal and financial reality

Despite parental child abduction being against the law, a quarter (24%) of people do not think, or are unaware, that it’s a crime for a parent to take their child overseas without the consent of others with parental responsibility.

When asked which parent they thought was more likely to abduct a child, three quarters (74%) of people thought it was fathers.  Yet according to statistics from the Reunite International Child Abduction Centre, 70% of the charity’s cases concern mothers taking the child.

As well as this emotional distress, both parents may often face severe financial difficulties as they fight for custody of their child through foreign courts. The statistics show that people tend to underestimate just how much getting a child back costs, including legal fees overseas and in the UK which may continue to mount up even after  the child is returned to this country.

There also seems to be a lack of awareness about who pays the costs of resolving a parental child abduction case involving a non-Hague country. Sixty-two per cent either didn’t know or responded with the wrong answer, and only 38% answered correctly by saying it was the parents who would pay, not the UK Government.

The expert view

Daisy Organ, head of the Foreign Offfice Child Abduction Section said:

“The increase in parental child abduction cases is a major cause for concern, particularly in the lead up to the school holidays; we know that before or during school holidays is one of the most common times for a child to be abducted. We hope that this campaign will help inform and educate the UK public and encourage parents thinking of abducting their child to think twice before they cause significant distress to themselves and their family. “

Alison Shalaby, Chief Executive of Reunite, said:

“It is important to remember that parental child abduction is not faith or country specific. 71% of the UK public thought that parents most commonly abduct their children to the Middle East, India and Pakistan but it can happen to anyone, from any background. Countries where children are abducted to can range from Australia, to France, to Thailand.

“We have seen a 20% increase in calls made to our helpline in the first half of 2012 compared to 2011  and a 67% increase in the number of children who have been abducted by a parent to a non-Hague country between 2001 and 2011.

“This issue is not going away and with a 47% increase in the number of child abduction cases Reunite has worked on between 2001 and 2011, we are urging parents to think twice before they abduct their child or seek help if they think their child is at risk.”

Contact information

If you are concerned, or if your child has been abducted, you can call the FCO’s Child Abduction Section on 0207 008 0878 or visithttp://www.fco.gov.uk/childabduction, or Reunite on 0116 2556 234.

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Turkey: 736 files regarding international child abduction cases seen in 11 years

July 22, 2012

Source: todayszaman.com

A total of 736 files regarding international parental child abduction cases were processed between 2000 and 2011 in Turkey, according to recent data from the Justice Ministry.

The data provides detailed information about the procedure followed in international parental child abduction incidents in Turkey. Firstly, requests for legal assistance made from other countries by individuals claiming that their children have been abducted and brought into Turkey or have been wrongfully detained in the country are thoroughly examined by the Justice Ministry, and following the examination, the relevant files are sent to the chief public prosecutor’s office in the location where the child is believed to be residing.

In these cases of parental abduction, if the parent who has taken the child without the other parent’s consent refuses to return the child to their country of habitual residence, an official lawsuit is launched against them.

Turkey is party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. It signed the Hague convention on Jan. 21, 1998, and the convention entered the Turkish domestic code on Feb. 15, 2000, when it was published in Turkey’s Official Gazette. From the time it was published to the end of 2011, 128 requests for legal assistance regarding child abduction cases in Turkey were made to other countries, while 618 requests for legal assistance were made to Turkey.

The data also showed that the return of foreign criminals to their home countries is being carried out in line with the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters. Criminals are sent to their home countries after a thorough examination of the relevant documents by the Justice Ministry. The data noted that 53 criminals from 16 countries were returned to Turkey in 2011. Of these 53 criminals, 17 were sent back from Germany, while eight were sent back from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC). Furthermore, the number of criminals caught in Turkey and subsequently deported in 2011 was eight. Most were deported to Germany and the US.

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International child flee cases on increase

Source: BBC

Cases of a parent fleeing with their children to a different country are on the increase, a report has said.

 

Head of International Family Justice for England and Wales, Lord Justice Thorpe, said most instances involved eastern European countries.

His office dealt with 180 cases last year compared with 27 in 2007.

The Office of the Head of International Family Justice intervenes in disputes over children, such as custody, when the parents are in different countries.

 

It helps judges and lawyers when cases have stalled because two countries’ legal systems are involved and when international conventions on children’s rights are being flouted by overseas courts.

The International Family Justice annual report said there were 27 cases in 2007, 92 in 2010 and 180 in 2011.

Lord Justice Thorpe said: “The tendency of dangerous parents to bolt when social services are exercising legitimate protective powers is all too common.

“We are seeing a rising number of these types of cases being referred to the office, mostly involving eastern European countries.”

Makeshift shelter

The senior judge said that with almost two-thirds of children born in London in 2010 having a foreign parent there was “the potential for significant future growth” in cases.

Sharon Cooke from the international child abduction charity, Reunite, said the increasing ease of travel was a factor in the rise in case numbers.

“People are relocating, their jobs take them abroad and therefore the chances of meeting different people are greater,” she said.

“There’s a mixed national marriage and they decide to relocate back to England perhaps, or back to another country and unfortunately the relationship may fail and then one party brings the child to another country.”

As an example the report cited the case of two children brought unlawfully from Poland and found living in a makeshift shelter near live railway tracks in England.

They came to the UK with their father and uncle despite social services in Poland having a care order for the children.

In this case a breakdown in communications between English and Polish social services meant it was disputed whether or how the children should be returned to Poland.

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Father gets son back after 9-year search

Source: Royalgazette

After nearly a decade of searching, Giovanni Burrows finally has his son back.

Following a court hearing in Jacksonville, Florida, yesterday afternoon, Mr Burrows said he was confident the courts would find in his favour, but added that the financial impact of the prolonged search will cause lingering challenges.

“I just knew this was what was going to happen,” he said. “One battle is now finally over, but there’s now another struggle that has just begun.”

The court decision brought an end to a nine-year search and several hearings about the future of 14-year-old Jasai Swan-Burrows.

Mr Burrows won full custody of Jasai from his ex-wife, Kim Sakena Swan, in 2001.

Ms Swan fled the country with Jasai in 2003, when he was five years old.

Since then, Mr Burrows has dedicated himself to tracking down his son and bringing him back to Bermuda. Every time he thought the search was nearing an end, he struck another roadblock.

Mr Burrows and US authorities tracked Ms Swan down in St Petersburg, Florida last May.

However she and Jasai disappeared on May 11, just before a hearing was scheduled to take place.

According to Clearwater police Jasai asked a caretaker to go to the bathroom and instead met with his mother and fled.

“It seems like every year we would get close, but then something would happen. I would fly to Florida, and they would be gone,” Mr Burrows said.

“We knew they were still in Florida. They really couldn’t go anywhere else, but they kept getting tipped off.”

The search ended Thursday when Ms Swan was arrested in Jacksonville and charged with interference with child custody and parental abduction.

Both Jasai and his younger sister, who was born in the United States, were taken by the authorities.

Mr Burrows flew to Jacksonville for an emergency hearing on Sunday. He hoped to pick up his son and return to the Island, but that was not to be the hearing was adjourned. A second hearing was scheduled for Monday but that too was set back.

Prior to yesterday’s hearing, Mr Burrows said: “Every time I think ‘It’s happening again’. Every day my son disappears again.

“I’m wearing the same clothes I came up here in. All that’s happening now is my debt is growing bigger, but it’s all right. I would go into a million dollars in debt if it meant I would have my son back.”

He said he had no doubt the courts would return his son to him, but after years of hard work and near misses, he found it hard to get excited about the court’s impending decision.

“I have told myself that this is not over until the plane lands in Bermuda,” he said.

Mr Burrows said he has spoken to his son everyday since he arrived in Florida.

“He said he didn’t want to come back to Bermuda without his sister, or without knowing that she was coming soon, so I’ve been doing everything I can to make sure that happens,” he said. “He loves his sister, so I have to do what I can.”

Once back in Bermuda, Mr Burrows has to deal with the bills he has racked up in his nine-year search. Between the flights to and from Florida and the cost of the prolonged legal battle, he has spent about $500,000.

Even yesterday he was unsure as to how he was going afford to get back to Bermuda. His best option was to rent a car and drive with Jasai to Miami in hopes of getting less expensive airfare for his teenage son.

“I have maxed out all my credit cards; I have sold possessions,” he said. “The bank is helping me pay my lawyer, who was kind enough to offer me a reduced rate, but that’s something I will have to pay back.

“I’m renting a place that has a loft for my son, but that’s up for sale now so they could make us move out. All I want is for my son to be happy and stable.

“I’ve sent a letter to the Premier, to the Government, asking if they might be able to help me buy some sort of house, a fixer-upper, so I can have a stable home for my son.”

He hoped others might be able to learn from what happened to him, he added. Since his story has come out others in similar situations have come to him asking for advice.

“One man contacted me on Facebook in pretty much the same situation so I told him who he should contact and what he needed to do,” he said. “I felt a little jealous because he was able to get his son back a week later while I’ve been working for ten years, but it felt good to know that I helped someone.”

The long search

2001: Giovanni Burrows is granted full custody of his son, Jasai Swan-Burrows. Jasai’s mother, Kim Sakena Swan, is allowed to see their son on weekends.
January 18, 2003: Ms Swan leaves Bermuda on a flight to Atlanta, taking five-year-old Jasai with her. She lists Stone Mountain, Georgia, as her intended final destination on her departure card.
September 2006: Mr Burrows moves to the United States to search for his son, spending a year speaking with media outlets, the British Consulate and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The search leads Mr Burrows to St Petersburg, Florida, but all he found was an empty residence with pictures and other paraphernalia left behind. He eventually returns to Bermuda empty-handed.
May 2011: Authorities find Ms Swan and Jasai, now 13 years old, living in a homeless hostel in St Petersburg. Mr Burrows flies to Florida and, for the first time in more than eight years, gets to spend time with his son.
May 11, 2011: A hearing is held in Clearwater to return Jasai to Bermuda. However just before the hearing, Jasai leaves his caretaker and secretly meets and leaves with his mother.
February 2, 2012: Ms Swan is arrested in Jacksonville, Florida, and charged with interference with child custody and parental abduction.
February 7, 2012:Jacksonville courts return Jasai to Mr Burrows, allowing him to return to Bermuda.

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Parental Child Abduction: American Father Fights to Bring Children Home From Egypt

Source: abcnews

Colin Bower said he still remembers the shock and horror he felt during a phone call he received in August of 2009. A male caller informed him that his children had been taken to Egypt, Bower says, and that if he made any attempts to contact authorities, he would never see them again.

He was supposed to pick up his two boys, Noor and Ramsay, 9 and 7 at the time, from a scheduled visit in Boston with their mother, Mirvat El Nady, Bower says. A U.S. judge had granted him sole legal custody after the couple’s divorce in 2008, and El Nady, a British and Egyptian citizen, had limited visitation. Those restrictions, Bower says, along with findings in the divorce proceedings raising doubts about her truthfulness, angered El Nady and prompted the kidnapping.

Bower, a financial consultant from Boston, said he later learned that El Nady had taken the children to John F. Kennedy airport in New York, purchased one-way tickets to Cairo with cash, and allegedly used Egyptian passports with false identities to get the boys past security and onto an EgyptAir flight.

Bower has sued the airline, alleging they failed to pick up on serious red flags: the boys’ surnames did not match their mother’s and the boys’ passports had no U.S. entry visas. Barry Pollack, who is representing Bower in the case, says EgyptAir should have safeguards in place for potential abduction cases.

“Airlines have every right to require the parents to show dual parental consent forms to prove that the adult has the right to take that child overseas,” Pollack told ABC News.

EgyptAir declined to comment specifically on the lawsuit. Just last month, lawyers for the airline filed a motion asking that the suit be dismissed. Regarding parental consent forms, their motion argues that EgyptAir is only required to review passports and that “airlines simply do not have the manpower required to track down and contact non-traveling parents to discuss their children’s travel.”

The motion for dismissal also cited a recent report on international child abductions by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The report, which says the annual number of cases of abductions reported has tripled since 2000, suggests that airlines “do not have the authority to verify or enforce court and custody orders in an effort to prevent international parental child abductions.”

Instead, the report states, that responsibility belongs to the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security. Bower says that’s letting airlines off the hook.

“The GAO report clearly represents the interests of the airlines, not the safety of the passengers or their children,” Bower said. “This should absolutely terrify every parent.”

In response to an email from ABC News, the GAO said, “The report does not state that airlines have no responsibility to check identifications, nor was it intended to suggest that airlines are prohibited from requesting verified or certified copies of custody orders in order to prevent child abductions. …The report makes a general statement which was intended to reflect the distinction between the role and authority of the courts, law enforcement officials, federal agencies, and private sector entities such as the airlines.”

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