Parental Abduction is Child Abuse

Indian SC asks a 7 yr. old minor who has been fatherless for over an year and likely being brainwashed if she wants to stay with mother or father to decide custody. Is this OUTRAGEOUS or what? In the process the SC overturned both US and Calcutta HC orders. WAY TO GO SC…!!!!!!!!!

Does the judiciary realize that putting a child in a situation where she has to choose between her parents is insane?

Does the judiciary realize that children too have survival instincts and in cases of parental alienation will always do whatever it takes to please the alienating parent even if that means deriding/abusing/abhorring the left behind parent?

Does the judiciary realize that its prime goal is to rule keeping in mind the welfare of the child and that children are not always the best judge of their welfare, especially minors and alienated children?

READ THE ARTICLE HERE

WOW is all i could say when i read this case. Father detains children in India, Mommy comes back to US and files a habeaus corpus petition in Kerala HC. Kerala HC orders father to return US citizen children to Mom in Texas until a court in Texas rules on custody because Texas is the right jurisdiction. WOW is all I can say….WHY

Reverse the genders in this situation and you get my story. I too filed a Habeaus Corpus in Delhi HC which was dismissed by a vague one line order (”it does not lie here, hence dismissed”) and currently I am appealing in SC and none of the judges seem to be taking the tack that this Kerala HC judge took in this case. WHY? BECAUSE I AM DADDY, I AM A MAN!!!!!

read the Kerala HC judgement here

Parental kidnapping is a crime in the US. However the way the US code is written (see below), if the kidnapper has made allegations of domestic violence/child abuse, the kidnapper can try to take shelter under these as “affirmative defense”.
No surprise then that so few moms who kidnap their children and take them abroad escape federal warrants and criminal prosecution. Because if there is anyone who knows how to make false allegations of abuse, it is MOM. Dads, even if they were to make allegations will probably be laughed off.

§ 1204. International parental kidnapping

Congratulations to this hero father for not only getting custody of his children in their best interests but also for continuing to fight

He has lost more than 5 years with them which even the Good Lord cannot return but he has saved these innocent souls from the devastation they would have faced with their unfit mother

He has allowed the mother to have unrestricted visits with the children, hopefully he will monitor those and make them supervised to prevent further child abuse.

This is also a good case that shows the reasoned approach taken by the judge in the best interests of the child without exhibiting any form of gender bias

Read the judgement here

If you are an NRI married to a woman whose permanent home is not in the country you reside in, have children, and you are seeing any signs whatsoever of issues in your marriage, YOU NEED TO ACT FAST to prevent the international parental abduction of your children.

What do i mean by need to act fast? Get a court order to prevent the abduction, have the court rule that passports should be kept in a safe place and accessible only by both parents consent, and once you have the court order ensure that the immigration authorities enter the likely kidnapper’s name in a database so that if the kidnapper tries to leave the country they are apprehended immediately

Remember, prevention is better than cure

There are zillions of cases where parents did not do this and now are suffering. Once a child leaves the jurisdiction of the country you are in, the arms of law become very weak. If the child is kidnapped to a country that is not a signatory to the Hague convention treaty (e.g. India), you’re screwed.

It is not easy to convince the courts but do not give up, get a good lawyer and push the court hard to ensure the order is given

READ THIS ARTICLE WHICH TALKS ABOUT TEXAS AND GETTING THE ORDER PASSED

A mom who kidnapped her son away from father was ordered by the SC to return the child to the father. See the difference in the mom and dad and determine for yourself who is likely to be the better parent

MOM–”It is so easy for the court to talk about the importance of parental relations, but then they go and kick the mother out of his life,” she said, adding that with no course of action left for her in Israel, she plans to take her case to both the United Nations and the European Union.

DAD–”I hope his mother comes back with him, too,” he concluded. “A child needs both parents.”

READ FULL STORY HERE

UPDATE (May 09, 2008): Japan to sign Hague Child Abduction Convention

Japan is known for having virtually no established family law and no tradition of dual custody. Once a couple gets divorced, there is no concept of visitation rights. Children are generally assigned to one parent, never to have contact with the other parent.

Without faltering, judges continuously uphold the cultural imperative that it is in the child’s best interest to stay with whomever she or he is with at that moment. The status quo is protected as police don’t intervene on family matters and judges have no authority over enforcement.  

Japan is not a signatory to the Hague convention

READ THIS HEARTBREAKING STORY THAT I AM ALL TOO FAMILIAR WITH

Officers of the Costa Rican National Police and agents assigned to the FBI’s legal attache office arrested 28-year-old Nicole Elise Kater near Sabalito De Tierra Morena De Canas, in the Province of Guanacaste, Costa Rica on April 22, 2008. Kater is charged with international parental abduction in connection with fleeing the United States with her daughter in violation of a court order.

(Media-Newswire.com) - Officers of the Costa Rican National Police and agents assigned to the FBI’s legal attaché office arrested 28-year-old Nicole Elise Kater near Sabalito De Tierra Morena De Canas, in the Province of Guanacaste, Costa Rica on April 22, 2008.  Kater is charged with international parental abduction in connection with fleeing the United States with her daughter in violation of a court order.

In early August 2005, during the course of a custody dispute with the child’s father, Humboldt County Superior Court ordered Kater to appear for a custody hearing and prohibited her from taking her daughter outside of Humboldt County, California.  Shortly before the hearing, Kater flew to Costa Rica with her daughter.  The Court subsequently awarded custody to the girl’s father.

In December 2005, Nicole Kater was charged with international parental kidnapping and a federal warrant was issued for her arrest.

The FBI attributes the successful resolution of this three year investigation to extensive cooperation between law enforcement agencies in the United States and Costa Rica.  Kater will remain incarcerated in Costa Rica until she is extradited back to the United States in early 2009.  The child was reunited with her father, and both are expected to return to the United States this weekend.

Media inquiries may be directed to FBI Special Agent Joseph Schadler at 415 553 7450 or by email at joseph.schadler@ic.fbi.gov 

http://media-newswire.com/release_1065127.html

Why is it always assumed that the mother is best for the child? There are so many cases, so many stats that children living with single mother are exposed to many more abuses, even more so when the mother gets a new boyfriend. But the courts care two hoots about this….their presumption is that “child is with mom, so should be OK”.  In a scenario like this it is absolutely essential that dads cannot make the same assumption, they need to hound the mom and have access to their kids, that would be the only way to prevent the complete destruction of the child.

The case is yet another example of anti-father family court bias, the utter lack of respect with which the father-child bond is treated, and how some mothers are able to get away with whatever they want regarding kids and child custody. If the system were fairer, if the system cared about Damion Peterson’s loving bonds with his son, the boy would still be alive today.

Outrageous Case: Military Dad’s Kid Abducted by Mom, then Abused & Murdered–but Dad Doesn’t Find out His Boy Is Dead Until a Year Later

This is for those whose children have been kidnapped from the US by a parent to Hague or non-hague countries. Many of us may not realize this but parental abduction is a crime in the US and governed by IPKCA.

There are at least 19-20 cases under IPKCA where parents have been convicted for taking children away. I have undertaken a project to research these cases and build further knowledge and will post my findings here.

The first case I am posting details on today is UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,Appellee,v.FAZAL-UR-RAHEMAN-FAZALa/k/a Fazal Raheman

Dr. Fazal Raheman, who was convicted of the crime in the following circumstances: He had married his wife in India and moved with her to Massachusetts. They had two children. After a few years he apparently became concerned that his wife was becoming too “independent” and he “made threats” against her. He then took the children without her consent to his former home in Nagpur, India and refused to return them. His wife obtained an emergency custody order from a court in Massachusetts while the husband obtained a custody order in his favor from the Nagpur Family Court. The mother traveled to India to try to find her children and bring them home but her husband filed criminal charges against her in India and she fled to the United States without her children. Dr. Raheman was then charged with the crime of international parental kidnapping. He was also charged with wire tapping since he had illegally tapped his wife’s telephone and videotaped her. He was captured during a return trip to the United States and after trial he was convicted of both charges and was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release. He was ultimately released from prison on condition that he effect the return of his two children - then 12 and 8 years of age - to their mother in the United States. However, Dr. Raheman then proceeded to provide false information to the Nagpur Family Court, which was found to have inhibited the likelihood that the children would be returned to the United States. As a result he was sentenced to a further year and a day in prison. The Nagpur court transferred custody of the children to Raheman’s elderly mother in Nagpur and the mother had no contact with them except for sporadic visits. Imposing the second sentence, Judge Patti B. Saris harshly criticized Raheman for stealing the children from their home in the U.S., and noted that Raheman had betrayed the trust of the country which had given him great benefits while he lived here. Dr. Raheman appealed but a federal appellate court held that the International Parental Kidnapping Act was applicable to a father who took his children from the United States to India even though the pre-decree abduction was not illegal under state law. United States v. Fazal-Ur-Raheman-Fazal, 355 F.3d 40 (1st Cir. 2004).

The 2002 order  The 2004 opinion