Parental Abduction is Child Abuse

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When chidren are secretly taken away from parents it leaves the left behind parent with few options. The left behind parents love their beloved children to death and are willing to go to any lengths for justice.

When will the authorities wake up and realize that they need to pursue such cases with urgency, extradite parental abductors and get children back through proper means. Are our children less important that Osama Bin Laden? Maybe to the authorities but not to us and not to the future of the countries the kids were born in

Kidnapping a child from the US by one of the parents is a CRIME that is punishable by law. However when the kidnapping happens to a foreign nation, especially one that is not a signatory to the Hague convention, then the criminal has essentially jumped jurisdictions and is beyond the reach of US law.

There are procedures in place that the US has with several countries (extradition treaties and the like) which allow for justice to be served when a criminal has jumped jurisdictions. However the experience in parental abduction cases has been dismal.

In situations like this, some left behind parents have resorted to re-abducting the children. Most of the left behind parents who have tried this and been successful are mommies. Some of them have realized amazing results in a very short period of time (CLICK TO READ A RECENT STORY)

At the end of the day the child/children are still left without one parent and have become pawns in the battle between two warring parents who cannot seem to act maturely and settle their differences like the adults they are. Is this in the “best interests of the child”? Obviously NOT, but NO ONE SEEMS TO CARE

Cross country custody battles are clear evidence that unfortunately when a husband and wife fall out of love, one of the parents loses it….

a. they abduct the child to a different jurisdiction (most likely one where parental abduction is not a crime, one which is not a signatory to the Hague convention)
b. they start playing a game where they use the custody of the child as a leverage point
c. they conveniently forget about the “best interests of the child”

What is surprising is that the judiciary in India does not see through this ploy, especially when the abductor is the mommy. This is a question i struggle with everyminute everyday and fail to understand as to what causes the breakdown of logic in such cases? Many people say it is gender bias but is it really that simple?

CLICK TO READ YET ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF A CROSS COUNTRY CUSTODY BATTLE.

Unfortunately the biggest losers in this are the children, they are the ones who suffer silently and they are the ones who end up being abused the most.

India is a safe haven for parental child abductors, especially mommy abductors who are also able to leverage the gender biased laws in India to thwart the father’s fight for justice by easily converting civil into criminal matters and preventing the father from easily returning to India. However there are legal means by which the left behind parent can pursue legal action in the US where parental kidnapping is a crime.

CLICK TO READ A RELEVANT ARTICLE WITH SOME VERY RELEVANT CASES TO LEARN MORE

READ MORE BY CLICKING HERE…

Cross border parental abduction is a problem that government officials recognise and accept in private, but are wary of acting on — some concede they do not want to be seen as anti-women….

Custody of children is perhaps the most bitter part of the divorce proceedings. But a new emerging trend of couples agreeing to joint custody of children despite their own differences could probably help them separate more amicably.

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“The best interest of the child”; we often hear this phrase in reference to child-custody cases, but what does it really mean? Obviously, the best possible environment for any child is an emotionally healthy home with 2 parents who love each other and their offspring. When that is no longer possible, due to divorce, what then can we do to try to minimize the traumatic effect the loss of that family unit will have on the children? More often than not in the case of divorce, it is the father who gets pushed to the margins of their children’s lives. Yet, studies done over the past 15-20 years have proven overwhelmingly, that fatherlessness has a profoundly negative effect on most children over the long term. Statistics show that father absence, whether voluntary or forced, contributes to much higher incidence of teenage pregnancy, juvenile delinquency, poor academic performance, lower self-esteem, acting out behaviors, feelings of abandonment, distrust, hostility, difficulty forming lasting relationships, gender identity confusion, and teen suicide. It would seem then, that sole maternal custody, where Dad gets relegated to mere visitor status, is NOT in the best interest of any child. A father is more than a wallet to his child. But this is not just a father’s rights issue. Let’s consider the plight of millions of single mothers across the country. It was Karen DeCrow, former president of the National Organization for Women, who said: “If there is a divorce in the family, I urge a presumption of joint custody of the children. Shared parenting is not only fair to men and children; it is the best option for women. After observing women’s rights and responsibilities for more than a quarter of a century of feminist activism, I conclude that shared parenting is great for women, giving time and opportunity for female parents to pursue education, training, jobs, careers, profession and leisure. There is nothing scientific, logical or rational in excluding men or forever holding women and children as if in swaddling clothes in an eternally loving bondage. Most of us have acknowledged that women can do everything that men can do. It is time now for us to acknowledge that men can do everything women can do.” Why shouldn’t BOTH parents share EQUALLY in the physical, emotional and financial responsibility for their children after divorce? Mothers and fathers both play vital roles in the development of a happy healthy child. The legal standard SHOULD begin at 50/50 custody, with mediated (if necessary) negotiation between parents as to what schedule best accommodates their and the children’s needs. The only exception should be in cases where a parent is proven to be “unfit”.