The Parental Abduction Recovery Enforcement and Network Training Act
(The PARENT Act)©
The crime has many names: international child abduction, international parental abduction, international child kidnapping. This crime also has the upper hand -- a U.S. federal government that takes a back seat to this issue.
Despite millions of dollars allocated to resolve this problem, training law enforcement and judicial officials about prevention and prosecution has been slow. Misperceptions about this crime are rampant, such as officials calling this a civil issue, although it is a federal felony and recognized in courts as child abuse. When children are taken to a foreign country, left-behind parents are guided to the U.S. State Department’s Office of Children's Issues (OCI). Designated to assist in the prosecution of this crime is the U.S. Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS). However, thousands of parents have been angered over the indifferent and sluggish responses by these offices.
There are over 350,000 cases of parental abduction each year. Annually, 10,000 of our kids will be taken to a foreign country. An example is in the Washington Post. There’s over 2,000 cases of American children illegally held in Saudi Arabia. Women and children, especially from the United States, do not have rights in Shari’a-based family law. However, OCI’s usual response has been for the left-behind parent to get a lawyer and litigate in that country -- regardless if the foreign court is corrupted by gender bias, anti-American sentiment, or religious beliefs. When parents seek criminal prosecution, should the abducting parent return to the U.S., federal authorities all too often refuse. According to an FBI spokesperson, murder, child pornography, and child abuse take precedence although it’s a known fact parental abduction is child abuse. H.R. 3240 proposes a new office in the U.S. State Department that focuses diplomatic action to countries that do not return abducted children. Penalties, such as withholding trade and commerce loans, could be imposed on countries that harbor abductors. Congressman Chris Smith (New Jersey) created this bill following the national attention to the international abduction of David Goldman's son, Sean, and Christopher Savoie's children Issac and Rebecca. As a long-term answer, it may work. However, it’s questionable if it will bring an immediate resolution. Years could pass before another country responds to imposing penalties. Many parents say the PARENT Act must merge with H.R. 3240 to provide an immediate prevention, establish greater educational resources, restructure the dysfunctional agencies that have failed for many years, and strengthen efforts to bring children home.
The PARENT Act demands a new division in the U.S. Justice Department called the Child Abduction, Recovery and Education section (or CARE). This proposed investigative/legal unit would focus only on interstate and international child abduction cases by following mandatory policies to investigate cases, prosecute abductors, and use professional missing children organizations across the country to provide abduction prevention training to officials. Why? OCI rarely provides action that result in the return of American children. Some members of OCI have lied to left-behind parents, claiming that have notified authorities about an abduction. At the U.S. Justice Department, CEOS lacks professionals with knowledge and experience regarding international parental abduction, a federal violation under 18 USC §1204 or the International Parental Kidnapping Crime Act (IPKCA). According to a senior official from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), “CEOS does not have anyone assigned to handle IPKCA cases, which makes IPKCA matters even more difficult.” As one U.S. senator noted, the federal government gives more attention to video piracy than the thousands of children kidnapped every year to numerous countries.
The PARENT Act also calls for the use of mediators and the expansion of educational resources by hiring non-governmental organizations. By doing so, officials have greater access to the needed training in prevention and prosecution. Finally, the Act also demands greater penalties against abductors. These penalties can act as deterrence to anyone considering abduction. Officials may not have jurisdiction to arrest an abductor hiding in another country. But federal authorities, working with Interpol, can apprehend them once they step out to visit another country that has an extradition treaty with the United States.
Please take charge and ask Congress to sponsor the PARENT Act. This proposed legislation (see below) can help stop future acts of interstate and international parental abduction and bring many children home.
Despite millions of dollars allocated to resolve this problem, training law enforcement and judicial officials about prevention and prosecution has been slow. Misperceptions about this crime are rampant, such as officials calling this a civil issue, although it is a federal felony and recognized in courts as child abuse. When children are taken to a foreign country, left-behind parents are guided to the U.S. State Department’s Office of Children's Issues (OCI). Designated to assist in the prosecution of this crime is the U.S. Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS). However, thousands of parents have been angered over the indifferent and sluggish responses by these offices.
There are over 350,000 cases of parental abduction each year. Annually, 10,000 of our kids will be taken to a foreign country. An example is in the Washington Post. There’s over 2,000 cases of American children illegally held in Saudi Arabia. Women and children, especially from the United States, do not have rights in Shari’a-based family law. However, OCI’s usual response has been for the left-behind parent to get a lawyer and litigate in that country -- regardless if the foreign court is corrupted by gender bias, anti-American sentiment, or religious beliefs. When parents seek criminal prosecution, should the abducting parent return to the U.S., federal authorities all too often refuse. According to an FBI spokesperson, murder, child pornography, and child abuse take precedence although it’s a known fact parental abduction is child abuse. H.R. 3240 proposes a new office in the U.S. State Department that focuses diplomatic action to countries that do not return abducted children. Penalties, such as withholding trade and commerce loans, could be imposed on countries that harbor abductors. Congressman Chris Smith (New Jersey) created this bill following the national attention to the international abduction of David Goldman's son, Sean, and Christopher Savoie's children Issac and Rebecca. As a long-term answer, it may work. However, it’s questionable if it will bring an immediate resolution. Years could pass before another country responds to imposing penalties. Many parents say the PARENT Act must merge with H.R. 3240 to provide an immediate prevention, establish greater educational resources, restructure the dysfunctional agencies that have failed for many years, and strengthen efforts to bring children home.
The PARENT Act demands a new division in the U.S. Justice Department called the Child Abduction, Recovery and Education section (or CARE). This proposed investigative/legal unit would focus only on interstate and international child abduction cases by following mandatory policies to investigate cases, prosecute abductors, and use professional missing children organizations across the country to provide abduction prevention training to officials. Why? OCI rarely provides action that result in the return of American children. Some members of OCI have lied to left-behind parents, claiming that have notified authorities about an abduction. At the U.S. Justice Department, CEOS lacks professionals with knowledge and experience regarding international parental abduction, a federal violation under 18 USC §1204 or the International Parental Kidnapping Crime Act (IPKCA). According to a senior official from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), “CEOS does not have anyone assigned to handle IPKCA cases, which makes IPKCA matters even more difficult.” As one U.S. senator noted, the federal government gives more attention to video piracy than the thousands of children kidnapped every year to numerous countries.
The PARENT Act also calls for the use of mediators and the expansion of educational resources by hiring non-governmental organizations. By doing so, officials have greater access to the needed training in prevention and prosecution. Finally, the Act also demands greater penalties against abductors. These penalties can act as deterrence to anyone considering abduction. Officials may not have jurisdiction to arrest an abductor hiding in another country. But federal authorities, working with Interpol, can apprehend them once they step out to visit another country that has an extradition treaty with the United States.
Please take charge and ask Congress to sponsor the PARENT Act. This proposed legislation (see below) can help stop future acts of interstate and international parental abduction and bring many children home.
| parent-act-outline.pdf |
| parent_act-brief__bill.pdf |
Petition for the PARENT Act
Hundreds of people concerned about parental abduction have signed a petition asking Congress to support the Parental Abduction Recovery Enforcement and Network Training Act. Please go to the following website and express your support for this proposed legislation that could save thousands of children each year from the threat of parental abduction.
Online petition - Support the Parental Abduction Recovery, Enforcement, and Network Training Act (The PARENT Act)
Online petition - Support the Parental Abduction Recovery, Enforcement, and Network Training Act (The PARENT Act)
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
