Parental abduction of children to Russia

Source: Jewish Tribune

On Thursday, 28 July 2011, the Russian Federation deposited its instrument of accession to the Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The Convention will enter into force for the Russian Federation on 1 October 2011.  This means that for the first time ever, if a parent abducts her child to Russia, the parent left behind may be able to successfully apply to a Russian court to have the child returned and do so on a reasonably expedited basis.

Up until now, no Russian court would do so since under Russian law, even a child born in Canada to a Russian parent was deemed to be ‘Russian’ no matter how old that child may be.  In many cases, abducted children would be snatched from their Canadian homes, their schools, friends, relatives and the parent left behind in Ontario. The typical scenario occurs during a planned vacation when a Russian born mother announces she is leaving for a brief vacation with a child to visit her family in  Moscow or St. Petersburg.  Once there the mother (or father) announces that she (or he)  is not returning.  Moreover, she immediately obtains a court order from a Russian court for custody. A Canadian lawyer might then obtain a Canadian court order for custody in Canada and an Order for the return of the child, contact the RCMP and even retain a lawyer in the Russian Federation.  However, in the past, obtaining such a court Order in Ontario was useless as it would not be enforced by any Russian domestic court since the child would be considered Russian, no matter how many years he or she lived in Canada, and even if the child was born in Toronto.  It was only useful in the event the child ever left Russia since it could be enforced by the international police, INTERPOL.

If a parental abduction now takes place the parent in Canada should retain a competent Family Law lawyer in Ontario.  He or she would then call the Ontario Government at (416) 240-2484 to enforce the Hague Convention Treaty for the international abduction of children   The Ontario Government would contact the Russian Government which would notify the appropriate court in Russia.  The lawyer in Ontario would retain a lawyer in Russia to make the court application to return the children in accordance with the Hague Convention and help draft the court documents.   A parent “left behind” normally only has one year from the date of the abduction to file an application for the return of a child, but there are exceptions to the rule. There are also “defenses” to such an application.  For instance, if the child is old enough and insists that he or she does not wish to return to Canada or if the parent who left with the child  can prove that there was violence, the foreign Courts may possibly not enforce the Hague Convention. But these are defenses that do not normally succeed because in international family law such issues should be decided where the child normally resides.

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Parental Abduction – How bad can it be?

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.

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It’s parental kidnapping season

Holiday season signals an increase in cases of child abduction

Incidents of international parental child abduction – where a child is taken overseas without the other parent’s consent or contrary to a court order – are expected to peak over the summer, according to the FCO’s Child Abduction Section.

In many cases, parents pretend they are going on holiday with their child to their country of origin and then fail to return.

Worryingly, it is also common for parents not to realise that they have committed a child abduction offence. Research recently commissioned by the FCO* showed that a third of people didn’t know that if you take your child abroad without the permission of the other parent, this may be considered abduction under UK law.

“International parental child abduction, whether intentional or not, can cause huge distress to families.

“If a parent wishes to take their child to live in a new country they will normally need either the permission of the other parent or the British courts. Cases of parental child abduction increase in the summer holiday period. We urge parents who are worried to get specialist legal advice and contact our Child Abduction Section and the charity Reunite which can provide them with information to try to prevent an abduction from happening in the first place, or to try to resolve disputes if a child has already been taken overseas.

“We also see cases where British nationals simply return to the UK with their child after their relationship breaks down whilst living abroad – this is still likely to be considered abduction. A parent will normally require the consent of the other parent and possibly permission from the courts of the country concerned. It is important that a parent obtains legal advice before taking any action.”

If you are worried that your child may be abducted overseas you should:

• Seek advice from a  family lawyer and  request a Prohibited Steps Order (or equivalent depending on where you  live in the UK) prohibiting your child from being taken out of the UK
• In the event of an imminent abduction (in the next 24-48 hours), contact the police who may be able to issue an All Ports Alert to try to prevent a child from leaving the UK.  The police in England and Wales do not need a court order before instituting a port alert.  Police in Scotland do need a court order.
• Ensure that you keep their child’s passport in a safe place and contact the Identity and Passport Service (and relevant local embassy if your child has dual nationality) to request that another passport is not issued without your permission
• Contact the Child Abduction Section at the Foreign Office on 0207 008 0878
  
• Contact the Reunite International Child Abduction Centre on 0116 2556 234

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The Impact of Parental Child Abduction

An abducting parent views the child’s needs as secondary to the parental agenda which is to provoke, agitate, control, attack or psychologically torture the other parent.

It is generally accepted that children are emotionally impacted by divorce. Children of troubled abductor parents bear an even greater burden. “The needs of the troubled parent override the developmental needs of the child, with the result that the child becomes psychologically depleted and their own emotional and social progress is crippled”

 

In custody disputes and abductions, the extended support systems of the parents can become part of the dispute scenario, — leading to a type of “tribal warfare” (Johnston & Campbell, 1988). Believing primarily one side of the abduction story, — family, friends, and professionals may lose their objectivity. As a result, protective concerns expressed by the abandoned parent may be viewed as undue criticism, interference, and histrionics. Thus, the abandoned parent may be ineffectual in relieving the trauma imposed on an innocent child by the parental abduction.

Generally the abductor does not even speak of the abandoned parent and waits patiently for time to erase probing questions, like “When can we see mom (dad) again?”. “These children become hostages … it remains beyond their comprehension that a parent who really cares and loves them cannot discover their whereabouts” (Clawar & Rivlin, p. 115).

Impact of Parental Child Abduction

Children who have been psychologically violated and maltreated through the act of abduction, are more likely to exhibit a variety of psychological and social handicaps. These handicaps make them vulnerable to detrimental outside influences (Rand, 1997). Huntington (1982) lists some of the deleterious effects of parental child abduction on the child victim:

1. Depression;
2. Loss of community;
3. Loss of stability, security, and trust;
4. Excessive fearfulness, even of ordinary occurrences;
5. Loneliness;
6. Anger;
7. Helplessness;
8. Disruption in identity formation; and
9. Fear of abandonment.

Many of these untoward effects can be subsumed under the problems relevant to Reactive Attachment Disorder, the diagnostic categories in the following section, and the sections on fear, of abandonment, learned helplessness, and guilt, that follow.

Reactive Attachment Disorder.

Attachment is the deep and enduring connection established between a child and caregiver in the first few years of life. It profoundly influences every component of the human condition, — mind, body, emotions, relationships, and values. Children lacking secure attachments with caregivers often become angry, oppositional, antisocial, and may grow up to be parents who are incapable of establishing this crucial foundation with their own children (Levy & Orlans, 1999).

Children who lack permanence in their lives often develop a “one-day-at-a-time” perspective of life, which effects appropriate development of the cognitive-behavioral chain — thoughts, feelings, actions, choices, and outcomes. “They think, ‘I’ve been moved so many times, I’ll just be moved again. So why should I care?'” (ACE, 1999).

Stringer (1999) and other experts on attachment disorder concur that the highest risk occurs during the first few years of life. This disorder is classified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) as Reactive Attachment Disorder. According to Stringer, common causes of attachment problems are:

1. Sudden or traumatic separation from primary caretaker
   (through death, illness hospitalization of caretaker, or removal of child);
2. Physical, emotional, or sexual abuse;
3. Neglect (of physical or emotional needs);
4. Frequent moves and/or placements;
5. Inconsistent or inadequate care at home or in day care
   (care must include holding, talking, nurturing, as well as meeting basic physical needs); and
6. Chronic depression of primary caretaker.

It is evident that these causality factors would place at high risk children who are subjected to similar conditions in the circumstances of parental kidnapping.

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Abducted Children – We can bring them back

Time is a very important factor if a child is missing. Immediate access to current information about the missing child is critical. Although nobody hopes to be in such a situation where this information is needed, parents have to keep in mind that child abduction can occur anytime, anywhere, to any child. Therefore, parents must have the resources and knowledge about their children ready, so they can take action if their children become missing.

The goal of ABP World Group international child recovery services is to locate, negotiate and recover your missing child. We can dispatch personnel to most locations in the world; we specialize in locating missing children up to ages 18.

Areas of expertise: Parental abduction, Missing children, Kidnappings,
Runaway children and Counselling.

Unfortunately in this day and time parental kidnapping happens and we are here to help you trough this difficult time.
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

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ITALY – Italian Child Abduction Alert System (ICAAS)

Source: formez.eu

The project aims at realizing a “quick alert” system in the case of child abduction.
 
Actions:

• Definition of the protocol to ensure that once the case of child abduction has been communicated to the police, the alert mechanism is promptly launched through a study of the procedures already in force in other EU countries, the analysis of the resources available to all Bodies involved and the evaluation of their competences.
• Definition of a central authority at national level with the clear responsibility for directing and coordinating available techniques and human resources.
• Management of a joint web portal including two main areas: a public area for memorizing the alarm information and an area limited to the bodies responsible for starting up the procedure on transmission via radio (TV / Radio / mobile telephone companies and others).
• Coordination between all security forces and the competent authorities, the national network of the Public Administration, civil society and NGOs.
• Judicial and security system which deals with child disappearance.
• Definition of the Protocol and Bodies involved in the alert procedures.
• Memoranda with media and Bodies involved in the communication phase.
• Realization of the portal.

On 8 March 2011 in Rome the ceremony to undersign the Agreement as regards the establishment of an Italian “Child Abduction Alert” system will take place, which shall allow for the utmost diffusion, among the population, of the information useful for localizing abducted children in the very short term.
The event will open with the welcome address by the Vice Director General for Public Security – Central Head of the Criminal Police, Prefect Francesco Cirillo, and will continue with the presentation of the project by the Head of the Service for Police Force International Cooperation, Gen. B. Guardia di Finanza, Francesco Lisi. The event will be closed with a press conference to be held after the undersigning of the Agreement.
The Project funded by the European Commission, has been the result of a profitable partnership between Police Forces, institutions and private bodies, of which the Central Direction of the Italian Criminal Police has been the leading structure.

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Law Firms Sued For Aiding Parental Abduction

Source: Lawdiva`s Blog

Two New Jersey law firms are fighting lawsuits brought by Peter Innes, the father of Victoria Innes who was abducted by her mother Marie Carrascosa and spirited off to Spain in 2005.

Innes and Carrascosa were married in 1999 in Spain but lived in the US. Victoria was born in 2000 and the marriage ended in 2004. Victoria held dual Spanish/American citizenship.

Ms. Carrascosa, a Spanish national and a lawyer in Spain, ignored the parties’ parenting agreement that Victoria remain in the US and brought Victoria to her maternal grandparents in Spain. Ms. Carrascosa later returned to New Jersey. Mr. Innes then obtained a court order from a New Jersey judge who ordered her to return the abducted child to New Jersey. Mr. Innes was also granted custody of Victoria by the US court.

Ms. Carrascosa went into hiding for a time but eventually was tried for contempt of a court order and interfering with custody and sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Yes, you read that right! In British Columbia abducting parents get a mild slap on the wrist. I can only remember a small handful of cases where any incarceration was ordered, which can only speak to the degree of seriousness our courts ascribe to this heinous offence.

Meanwhile, back in Spain, the Spanish court awarded Ms. Carrascosa custody of her daughter and refused to order Victoria’s return to America. Judges from Spain and New Jersey met at the Hague Court in Holland to try to resolve this now high-profile international dispute, but to no avail.

So why have the lawyers been sued? Ms. Carrascosa’s first lawyer was ordered by the court to hold Victoria’s passport to impede her ability to travel with her mother. When Ms. Carrascosa discharged her first lawyer, she couriered the passport to the new lawyer, who apparently had no idea that the passport was not to be given to her client.

Mr. Innes determined that when his wife absconded with their daughter, they left using Victoria’s passport.

The lawyers are, of course, blaming each other for the debacle and a trial is scheduled for 2010.

I can understand why Peter Innes is taking these actions against his wife’s lawyers. If Ms. Carrascosa travelled with her daughter’s passport in hand, someone has to be held accountable. In my experience, the only way Mr. Innes will see his child again is if Ms. Carrascosa finds jail unpleasant enough.

Lawdiva aka Georgialee Lang

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Abducted to Poland

THEIR marriage had become marred by arguments, but when his wife wanted to travel overseas after her grandmother died, Dimitrios Laskos did not object.

Neither did he oppose her taking their 11-month-old son Panagiotis to her native Poland for a few weeks. But when she did not return for his first birthday, Mr Laskos became concerned. Two years later, he is still waiting.

This week, a Polish court is to decide whether Panagiotis, an Australian citizen, should be returned to Sydney.

Since he was taken by his mother, Panagiotis has been renamed Piotr and been baptised a Catholic even though the couple had agreed on a Greek-Orthodox baptism. Mr Laskos has only seen him for a few minutes. ”For Greeks always the first son of the family is very important,” he explains.

Imagine the outrage, says Mr Laskos, if a Greek or Lebanese father abducted his child and changed his name and religion. ”Always the fathers are the victims. They give too much power to the woman in this country. Why don’t they make [it] a crime, this situation?”

Under the Hague Convention on child abduction, which Australia and Poland have signed, the removal of a child is wrong if it breaches custody orders or parenting was exercised jointly. But it is no crime in Australia to remove your child where no orders exist.

When the convention was drawn up in 1980, 70 per cent of child abductions were committed by fathers, said Waldemar Drexler, the lawyer for Mr Laskos’s wife, Malgorzata Muchowska.

Now 87 per cent of abducted children are taken by mothers, says the federal Attorney-General’s Department, which helps parents enforce the convention. A spokesman said there was no plan to make child abduction a crime.

In the first 11 months of this year 88 children were abducted from Australia, and 77 were taken from their usual residence to Australia.

Mr Drexler, who thinks the convention is outdated, says: ”The mothers are taking the children overseas to the country where they lived before. We can’t say the child suffers harm because the child is more in touch with the mother who spends much more time with the child.”

The battle over Panagiotis has been nasty with both sides accusing each other of lying to the Polish court. Mr Laskos says his wife made false accusations that he had mistreated her. He says his only criminal record is for driving matters.

Mr Drexler says Mr Laskos has lied in court about owning a property, and has been forced to admit it belonged to his aunt. ”My client says the child’s father does not have any resources to support the child,” he said. ”It’s not fair for her to take a child from a good environment … the family [in Poland] is well-to-do … then to bring him back to Australia where everything is foreign to him, language, culture, father. He won’t recognise anything.”

But a family centre in Catholic Poland concluded after a psychological assessment: ”A solution favourable for the child would be the mother’s return with him to Australia.”

Mr Laskos says he would financially support his wife and child if they returned. Then they could sort out divorce and custody arrangements ”here in Australia where we started our lives together”.

”Slowly, slowly I want him to get to know me. After six to seven years I will take him full time. He does not know English. He does not know Greek,” Mr Laskos says.

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‘A very disturbing trend’: Parents kidnap their children, flee country

By Jamie Crawford, CNN National Security Producer

May 25, 2011

Washington (CNN) — More children are being abducted by a parent who then takes them out of the country, and more needs to be done to bring the children back to their legal homes, the U.S. official who oversees the issue said Wednesday.

The number of such abductions reported is “sharply on the rise — a very disturbing trend,” said Susan Jacobs, the special advisor for children’s issues at the State Department.

Jacobs also said her department is one of the fastest growing offices at the State Department because of the increasing rate of international abductions involving children with American parents.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited children said that in 2010 there were nearly 2,000 parental abductions in which the child was taken out of the United States.

“International parental abduction is a federal crime with long-term, damaging consequences for both parents and children, even when the cases are resolved,” Jacobs said. “Parents seeking the return of their children or permission to visit them confront unfamiliar legal, cultural, and linguistic barriers; they suffer emotional trauma, and they face significant and long-term financial costs.”

The United States is encouraging other countries to sign onto The Hague Convention on international child abductions, a treaty signed by more than 60 countries that provides a civil mechanism to return children wrongfully removed from the country where they live.

Jacobs said decisions under the convention are commonly based on where the child usually resides. When properly implemented, “the convention works,” she said.

The issue grabbed headlines a few years ago with the case of Sean Goldman, whose American father, David, was engaged in an international custody battle after the boy’s Brazilian mother refused to let the child return to his father following a vacation in Brazil. The boy was eventually returned to his father after a ruling by the Brazilian supreme court.

Jacobs, incidentally, met with Brazilian authorities last week to discuss ways to speed up the reunification of children with their families. From their discussions, Jacobs said, Brazil and the United States are to hold the first meeting of a children’s working group later this year.

Jacobs and others traveled to the Department of Justice Wednesday afternoon for an observance of National Missing Children’s Day to honor the work of those in law enforcement who recover missing children and combat child exploitation.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has weighed in on the issue as well. In videotaped remarks to mark the day, Clinton asked for to people to continue to speak out on the issue to “help children around the world come home.”

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The Hague Convention (On The Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction)

Source: www.sfla.co.uk

Introduction

UK residents making over 40 million visits abroad in one year and over 10 million British nationals living overseas, the continuing increase in international child custody disputes is not surprising. Matters of this nature will always be agonisingly difficult for the parents as well as the children involved.

Before the Children’s Act of 1989, few courts have given importance to children having continuous contact with the parent who was forced to leave home due to marital separation. There are instances where a parent had to go to prison for obstructing contact or resorting to parental abduction. The gravity of the negative effect of circumstances such as these on the children and their relationship with the other parent cannot be underestimated.

The residence order replaces the custody order and offers flexibility in accommodating various shared case arrangements. It ensures that both parents know and feel that they have a continuing role to play in the lives of their children despite the separation. A shared residence order is more advantageous to all concerned, as it does not deprive any parent or the children the right to spend time together.

There is no intention to take away parental responsibility from any parent by granting a residence order in favour of the other. In fact, it can be made in favour of more than one person at the same time in spite of them not living together. It can just specify the periods the child will spend on each household concerned.

The Hague Convention

The Hague Convention is a treaty that was concluded with the firm conviction that the children’s interest is of paramount importance in matters affecting their custody. It aims to protect the children internationally from the harmful effects of wrongful removal and retention in any contracting state, ensure their prompt return to the state of habitual residence and to secure protection for rights of access. The Hague Convention seeks to lessen international abductions by judicial remedies.

The Convention is applicable to any child who is a habitual resident in a contracting state immediately before custody or access rights have been breached. It however, ceases to apply when the child reaches the age of 16 years.

Central Authorities

All contracting states shall designate their own Central Authority, which shall cooperate with each other in achieving the objectives of the Convention. They are to take all appropriate actions towards the main aim of ensuring the safe and speedy return of children wrongfully removed or retained. The Central Authority for England and Wales is the Child Abduction Unit.

The United Kingdom is part of two international conventions concerning the return of a child who has been abducted. One is the above mentioned Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and the European Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Decisions Concerning Custody of Children and on Restoration of Custody of Children.

Either one or both conventions are in force between the United Kingdom and the countries of: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Belgium, Belize, Bosnia Herzegovina, Burkina Faso Israel; Canada, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Poland Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Romania, St. Kitts and Nevis, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United States of America and Zimbabwe.

Child Abduction

It is a criminal offense in England and Wales under the Child Abduction Act of 1984 for a parent or guardian of a child, or any person who has a custody/residence order relating to the child to take or send the child out of the United Kingdom without the consent of any other person or persons having rights to the child. There are several possible scenarios in child abduction.

When your child has been taken to a convention country, you should contact the Child Abduction Unit. The questionnaire that shall be sent to you should be accomplished and sent back with photographs of the missing child and the person who has taken the child. Any relevant information explaining the circumstances would be of great help in locating the child. However, the case must fall within the requirements of the convention.

If your child has been taken to a non-convention country, the Foreign and Commonwealth Offices will be able to advise you on what to do. Establish as soon as possible what your parental rights are and the childcare and control practices prevailing in the country concerned. The Consular Division of the Foreign and Commonwealth Offices can provide a list of local lawyers but can neither give legal advice nor act as legal representative.

If you do not know where your child has been taken, it is best to alert the local police station so a Port Alert can be initiated to circulate your child’s name to all UK points of departure. After which, you should also contact the Lord Chancellor’s Department Child Abduction Unit. If your child has been abducted but is still within the United Kingdom, you should know that court orders made in one part of UK is recognised and enforced in all parts.

Being Ready

If you feel that the threat of removal is real and imminent, you must keep the following information ready:

• the child’s full name, place and date of birth, passport number, date and place of issue and physical description

• the full name, aliases, place and date of birth, passport details, occupation, departure details and ties to foreign countries of the person who has taken the child

• the copies of all pertinent documents such as agreements and court orders, child’s birth certificate, photographs of the child and the person who has taken the child.

Always in circumstances like these, one or both parents involved in the dispute actually believe they have more right than the other over the child. But almost always, it is the children who suffer, while the two persons who supposedly care so much for them eventually end up hurting them instead.

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