Parental Abduction: May 25 – National Missing Children Awareness Day

Statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice help shed light on the problem.

Missing children

•An estimated 797,500 children were reported missing each year.

•More than than 2,000 children are reported missing every day, but thankfully the vast majority of them are recovered quickly.

Non-family abductions

•An estimated 58,200 children were taken in one year by someone outside the family
•An estimated 115 children experienced a stereotypical kidnapping, the rarest type of abduction potentially posing great risk of serious harm.

Family abductions

•An estimated 203,900 children were victims of family abduction, where the child was taken by a noncustodial parent.

•24 percent of these abductions lasted one week to less than one month.

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One key to ABP World Group`s successful recovery and re-unification of your loved one is to use all necessary means available

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MORE SUPPORT FOR PARENTS LEFT BEHIND BY INTERNATIONAL CHILD ABDUCTION

Source: Japan Children`s rights network

Australian parents dealing with the abduction of their child from Australia can access free legal assistance via a new national service which opened today.

Attorney-General Nicola Roxon said that the service will provide practical support to parents in distressing circumstances.

“We want to make it as straightforward as possible for parents to get the assistance they need when dealing with the abduction of their children from Australia,” Ms Roxon said.

“The Hague Convention on international child abduction, to which Australia is a signatory, provides a strong mechanism for lawfully seeking the return of abducted children to Australia.

“However, accessing information about the Convention and knowing how to apply to meet its requirements can be daunting for many parents during one of the most stressful and difficult times of their lives.”

The new legal assistance service will complement the counselling and mediation service already provided by International Social Services (ISS) Australia and funded by the Attorney-General’s Department.

The Government’s new funding agreement with ISS will provide a national service to help parents prepare and lodge applications from Australia for the return of, or access to, children under the Convention, and will also address key recommendations from the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee report into international child abduction to and from Australia, tabled on 31 October 2011.

“This service will now provide a one stop shop offering legal and counselling assistance for Australian families affected by the abduction of their child from Australia,” Ms Roxon said.

“With the assistance of International Social Services, Australian parents will be able to apply directly to the Attorney-General’s Department, as the Australian Central Authority – and the national contact – for the Hague Convention.”

ISS can be contacted Toll free on 1300 657 843 or through their websitewww.iss.org.au .

Further information about the Hague Convention is available on the Attorney-General’s Department website www.ag.gov.au/childabduction .

The Australian Central Authority can be contacted on 1800 100 480 or via email CentralAuthority@ag.gov.au .

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One key to ABP World Group`s successful recovery and re-unification of your loved one is to use all necessary means available

Contact us here: Mail

Join the Facebook Group: International Parental Child Abduction

NOTE: We are always available 24/7

U.S Phone Number: (646) 502-7443

UK Phone Number: 020 3239 0013 –

Or you can call our 24h Emergency phone number: +47 45504271

Child Abduction Prevention

CHILD ABDUCTION PREVENTION The following information is from The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention In light of the high profile abductions of several children, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) encourages families not to panic. Instead, parents need to empower themselves with information that can help protect their children. CHILD ABDUCTION: STATISTICS Parental abductions and runaway cases make up the majority of missing children in the United States. In 2002 there were about 797,500 children reported missing, or nearly 2,185 per day. The vast majority of these cases were recovered quickly; however, the parent or guardian was concerned enough to contact law enforcement and they placed the child into the FBI’s National Crime Information Center – a computerized national database of criminal justice information. It is available to Federal, state and local law enforcement and other criminal justice agencies. Each year there are about 3,000 to 5,000 non-family abductions reported to police, most of which are short term sexually-motivated cases. About 200 to 300 of these cases, or 6 percent, make up the most serious cases where the child was murdered, ransomed or taken with the intent to keep. The NCMEC analyzed more than 4200 attempted abductions from February 2005 to March 2010 and found that 38% of attempted abductions occur while a child is walking alone to or from school, riding the school bus or riding a bicycle; 37 % of attempted abductions occur between the hours of 2:00pm through 7:00pm on a weekday; 43% of attempted abductions involve children between the ages of 10 and 14; 72% of attempted abduction victims are female; 68 % of attempted abductions involve the suspect driving a vehicle. Research shows that of the 58,000 non-family abductions each year 63% involved a friend, long-term acquaintaince, neighbor, caretaker, baby sitter or person of authority; only 37% involved a stranger. SAFETY TIPS FOR PARENTS: Be sure to go over the rules with your children about whose homes they can visit when you’re not there and discuss the boundaries of where they can and can’t go in the neighborhood. Always listen to your children and keep the lines of communication open. Teach your children to get out of dangerous or uncomfortable situations right away, and practice role-playing and basic safety skills with them. Teach your children in whose car they may ride. Children should be cautioned never to approach any vehicle, occupied or not, unless accompanied by a parent or trusted adult. Make sure children know their names, address, telephone numbers and how to use the telephone. Choose babysitters with care. Obtain references from family, friends and neighbors. SAFETY TIPS FOR CHILDREN: Always check first with your parents or the person in charge before you go anywhere or do anything. Always take a friend when you play or go somewhere. Don’t be tricked by adults who offer you special treats or gifts or ask you for help. Don’t be afraid to say no and get away from any situation that makes you feel uncomfortable or confused. Trust your feelings. Don’t get into a car or go near a car with someone in it unless you are with your parents or a trusted adult. Never take a ride from someone without checking first with your parents. Never go into a public restroom by yourself. Never go alone to the mall, movies, video arcades or parks. Stay safe when you’re home alone by keeping the door locked. Do not open the door for or talk to anyone who stops by unless the person is a trusted family friend or relative. INTERNATIONAL PARENTAL ABDUCTION In situations where parents have not resolved the issue of child custody, and one of the parents has ties to another country, there is the risk that that parent might take the child with them to a foreign country. Parents who are in this situation can find useful information about international parental abduction in “A Family Resource Guide on International Parental Kidnapping” published by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. For more information please visit www.missingkids.com or call NCMEC’s toll-free hotline at 1-800-843-5678. Published by: ABP World Group International Child Recovery Services Follow our updates on Twitter and Facebook

Children Reported Abducted in CA Usually Taken by Parents or Relatives

Written by: Holstrom, Sissung, Marks & Anderson, APLC

According to a report in the Contra Costa Times, 97 percent of child abductions reported in California are parental and family abductions. The recent discovery of a girl abducted by her mother from the San Francisco Bay area 15 years ago has given hope to other parents in similar situations.

Dean Click’s daughter, Jessica, was abducted by her mother in 1995 when the girl was 8 years old. She is now 22 and lives in another state apart from her mother. Dean Click has said he wants his daughter to know that he always wanted to see her. He hopes they can reunite, but he’s also apprehensive about what she thinks of him after all the years away.

Unfortunately, discovering children who were abducted by their parents becomes much more unlikely as time goes by. Justice Department Data cited by The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) states that only 6 percent of children abducted by parents are found if they are still missing 6 months after being reported abducted. For children reported abducted by relatives and missing for over 10 years, the NCMEC reports that between 1990 and 2009, only 0.9 percent were found.

Nevertheless, the discovery of Jessica has renewed the hope of another San Francisco Bay area man whose ex-wife left town with their two children after a child-custody battle in 1997. Michael Stratton still lives in the same Walnut Creek house he lived in when his kids, Zachary and Chelsea, then 9 and 6, were taken by their mother Elizabeth Stratton. He hopes that one day the kids will try to find him. He believes his children are victims and will have suffered the negative impact of having grown up without their father.

Michael Stratton believes his ex-wife took the children because she lost primary custody to him. During the custody battle, she repeatedly accused Michael of molesting the children, which he denied. Several law enforcement agencies investigated the molestation claims, but found no evidence to support the allegations.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children believes the case of Dean Click’s daughter proves that children taken by relatives are still out there somewhere and there’s hope they will be found. Wendy Hill was found and arrested after a tip came in to the NCMEC. The tip was passed on to the police department of Walnut Creek who enlisted the help of the FBI.

ABP World Group abducted children recovery

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