PARENTAL ABDUCTION

Three ABA Parental Kidnapping Research Reports on Risk Factors, International Abduction, and Criminal Justice Responses are Now Available from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service.
Click here for more information.

The ABA Center on Children and the Law has, for many years, been a partner of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, in work related to parental kidnapping of children. Our activities have involved both technical assistance and training, as well as research. We have focused on both domestic family-related abductions of children and international parental kidnapping.

Two publications we developed in these areas, the report "Obstacles to the Recovery and Return of Parentally Abducted Children" (1994) and "Compendium of the North American Symposium on International Child Abduction-- How to Handle International Child Abduction Cases" (1995), are available from the U.S. Department of Justice's Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse. Their phone number is 1-800-638-8736.

One of the most helpful, and free, publications on this issue, especially for parents concerned about a potential parental abduction of their child, or an unlawful retention of their child following a visit with a non-custodial parent, is the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's publication, written by ABA consultant Patricia Hoff, entitled "Family Abduction: How to Prevent an Abduction and What to Do If Your Child is Abducted." (a new edition of this publication should be available from NCMEC shortly)

Click here to download the publication.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has other materials available for download, including guidelines on using the federal parent locator service in cases of parental kidnapping, parental guidelines for those considering family separation, and other materials on the investigation of missing children's cases.

In the area of international parental kidnapping, the U.S. State Department's Office of Children's Issues has very useful website material, including an "International Parental Child Abduction Booklet," materials on the Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, the text of the U.S. International Child Abduction Remedies Act, a list of participating "Hague Convention" countries, information on Islamic family law, passport assistance information in cases of feared parental abductions, a letter with prevention tips, a report on compliance with the Hague Convention, 1999 testimony to Congress on implementation of the Hague Convention, and country-specific child abduction flyers.

A private attorney from California, William Hilton, has for many years maintained a website with voluminous legal material on both the Hague Convention and domestic parental kidnapping issues (for example, materials on the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act, a law that all U.S. states have enacted, and the U.S. Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act). He also has available there, for downloading, the text of several hundred cases addressing both interstate and international parental kidnapping issues.

Parents Advocating for Return through Education by Networking Together is an international advocacy organization working with parents and agencies worldwide to bring about greater awareness and understanding concerning international child abduction and to seek measures leading to prevention and remedies. This site can be reached at::

Risk Factors for Parental Abduction Project

The ABA Center on Children and the Law has, for several years, been working on a U.S. Justice Department-funded research project entitled "Prevention of Parent and Family Abduction through Early Identification of Risk Factors." Although reports from that project have not yet been released by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, there are several articles, highlighting project findings, that have been written by the project team. These are:

"Early Identification of Parents at Risk for Custody Violations and Prevention of Child Abduction," by Janet R. Johnston and Linda K. Girdner, Volume 36 (Number 3), Family and Conciliation Courts Review (July 1998), pp. 392-409 (publisher, Sage Publications, Inc.).

"Developing Profiles of Risk for Parental Abduction of Children from a Comparison of Families Victimized by Abduction with Families Litigating Custody," by Janet R. Johnston, Linda K. Girdner, and I. Sagatun-Edwards, Volume 17, Behavioral Sciences and the Law (1999), pp. 305-322 (publisher, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.).

The following are materials on parental child abduction, developed by our center, that are available in pdf fomat :

Click here to download Center-Produced Materials on Interstate and International Parental Kidnapping

Click here to download a book for judges published by The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges on handling interstate and international parental kidnapping cases, part of which was developed by our Center.