“Does the word parental in front of kidnapping make it less of a crime?”

This is a question that was recently asked by a Rutherford, New Jersey, man whose wife fled to Japan, her home country, with their two children in 2008. This man recently testified at a subcommittee hearing of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs on the topic of children being taken abroad by an estranged spouses.

Many New Jersey parents, like this man, want more to be done to prevent international parental child abduction.

Back in 1983, the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abduction was signed by the U.S. and a number of other countries to address this very issue. Under this treaty, children must be returned to their countries of origin within six weeks, and courts there will rule on the case. Unfortunately, there have been problems enforcing the Hague Convention, and many countries have yet to sign the treaty.

In fact, the number of parental kidnappings has risen since the 1980s.

On Thursday, at the subcommittee hearing, the Sean and David Goldman Child Abduction and Return Act was reintroduced. If this bill were to become law it would allow the president to penalize countries that neglect to return American children to the U.S., as well as provide tools the government can use to try to secure the return of such children.

The namesakes of this bill are David Goldman, of Tinton Falls, and his son Sean. Sean was abducted by his mother and taken to Brazil for five years, before he was ultimately returned in 2009.

This bill has a long way to go before it may become law. Parents who are struggling with issues involving international child relocation or parental abduction may be wise to seek legal counsel.

Source: NJ.com, “Congressman Smith pushes child abduction legislation against international kidnappers,” Christopher Robbins, May 10, 2013