Help bring Larry home...

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On September 2, 1999, Fresno County Superior Court Judge Jane Cardoza  issued a joint custody ruling for Larry Synclair Jr. to reside in Moscow, Russia with his mother, Svetlana Synclair (Gavrilova) and have summer visits in California to see his father, Larry Synclair, Sr. The court refused to examine allegations about two prior abductions by the child's mother (including her written confession of the criminal acts) and disregarded written tesitimony by witnesses and photographs pertaining to the mother's violent acts of child and spousal abuse. Additionally, the court snubbed the fact that Larry Jr. was born in Fresno, California; therefore, his protected rights as an American citizen were irrelevant. He had to live in Moscow.

Despite the repeated warnings, the overwhelming evidence, and the failures to provide safeguards from the threat of abduction, the result was the 1999 abduction of Larry Jr. Fresno County knowingly sent a four-year old American child to a country that would not adhere to American court orders. Cardoza failed to recognize Larry Jr.'s rights to be raised by both parents. She merely passed judgment without review of the facts and without consideration that only in the United States could Larry Jr. be granted the neededcare by both parents. Ten years have passed and Larry Synclair Jr. has never been seen or heard again.

In 2002, the issue of custody was readdressed at another superior court. The court agreed Larry Jr. was abducted. Because this crime is considered as an insidious form of child abuse by the legal system and child psychologists, sole legal and physical custody of Larry Jr. was awarded to his father.  In 2003, another superior court judge concurred abduction took place and a state warrant was issued for the arrest of Svetlana Synclair; however, such orders are merely ignored by Russian court. Larry Jr. remains missing.

Cardoza's indifference to the threat of international child abduction made Larry Jr. not only a victim, but a national statistic. Research shows over 10,000 American children are parentally abducted each year to a foreign country, mostly due to the ignorance of the legal system. Sadly, the chances of an abducted American child returning home are very rare if countries are not signatories of the Hague Convention of Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (note - signatories such as Mexico, Brazil, and France continue to thumb their nose to the Hague Convention).

Because of the dysfunctional system to protect children from this crime, Larry Sr. authored state legislation that instructs county judges, such as Jane Cardoza,  not to hand children to suspected abducting parents -- especially those whom reside in countries that ignore U.S. custody orders. His proposed bill, the Synclair-Cannon Act© was signed into law in September 2002 (Family Code section 3048). Proposed legislation, also written by Larry Sr., is being reviewed by members of Congress.  The Parental Abduction Recovery, Enforcement, and Network Training Act© (PARENT Act) calls for improvement of federal resources to help left-behind parents. The Act is receiving much support from missing children organizations and parents of abducted children.

Family and friends of Larry Jr. need your help. If you have any information about the abducting parent or Larry Jr., please contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (1-800-THE-LOST® or 1-800-843-5678) or respond to this email address,
lsynclair [at] yahoo [dot] com.


Legislation to prevent future acts of parental abduction

This site also provides child abduction prevention legislation that became law or is being consider as law. Please click onto the above links to read what has been written to prevent this escalating crime and ask your state and federal legislators to take action before more children disappear.


Keywords: international child abduction, international parental abduction, Светлана Синклер, Svetlana Gavrilova, ларри Синклер, Jane A. Cardoza, Jane Alarcon Cardoza, Fresno County,
Parental Abduction Recovery, Enforcement, and Network Training Act, PARENT Act,Synclair-Cannon, Russia