The following excerpt has been taken from the publication 'The World Turned Upside Down' by international parental child abduction prevention advocates Peter Thomas Senese and Carolyn Ann Vlk. For a free E-book copy of 'The World Turned Upside Down', please click on the cover jacket image.
How Are
Children Illegally Abducted Into And Out Of The United States?
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| The World Turned Upside Down By: Peter Thomas Senese & Carolyn Ann Vlk |
International Parental Child Abduction is a premeditated criminal act of kidnapping according to U.S. federal law. Each U.S. state also has state criminal law that addresses the illicit act of parental child abduction. Similarly, many countries around the world have created criminal statutes associated with parental child abduction. Undeniably, parental child abduction is severe child abuse. However, the act of kidnapping alone does not typically constitute the only crime committed by a child abductor. In the vast majority of cases that occur, a parental child abductor has conspired to commit substantial acts of fraud against both the targeted parent and the abused child.
As our world becomes smaller, and cross-cultural relationships become more common, there is a direct correlation in the increase of international child abduction cases.
Security flaws that can lead to our children becoming
victimized include, but are not limited to the following:
1. Failures by courts and judges to
properly assess abduction risk and attach court orders that would preempt
international child stealing; and,
2. Failure by judges to realize that their judicial court orders may be irrelevant in foreign jurisdictions, particularly when 'inbound' nations where a child is illegally kidnapped to may not participate or comply with international treaties such as The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects Of International Parental Child Abduction; and,
3. Failure to create or uphold
present child abduction prevention laws or other laws created to protect our
children’s safety; and,
4. Failure by judges and courts they oversee to use existing criminal laws to punish parental child abductors for their criminal act of kidnapping as established by federal law; and,
5. Hesitation by judges located in 'inbound' abducting countries to return a parental child abductor if the courts of original jurisdiction intend to criminally prosecute a parental child abductor; and,
6. Identity and travel
documentation fraud; and,
7. A lack of uniform requirements
for travel documentation when departing or entering the U.S. such as a valid passport for all citizens, including children traveling by land or by sea as established by the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative; and,
8. The ability under present law to easily
illegally transport children under age 16 across borders during land and sea
travel; and,
9. Human error during verification
of travel documents by CBP at a point-of-entry or departure; and,
10. Failures by law enforcement to
act expeditiously to a potential abduction threat; and,
11. Inefficient communication and
data sharing between government agencies responsible to assist in preventing or
resolving an
international child abduction case; and,
12. The deficiency by our federal government
to create and interlink a children's travel alert, travel restriction data base consisting
of real-time family court decisions at the state level with all U.S. border
control agencies and transport companies similar to capabilities available
through the Prevent Departure Program; and,
13. A lack of or outdated or underutilized state or federal
laws and programs that fail to prevent the abduction of a child and
in fact may enable an abduction to occur; and,
14. Dual citizenship travel documents such as the issuance of a secondary passport of a child by the nation of origin from a foreign born parent, whereas, there presently exists limited court capability to prevent a soverign nation from issuing a valid passport for a child with citizenship claims by birth to thei country; and,
15. The Lack of a national database capable to informing both government agencies and private travel industry security personnel including ground, rail, sea, and air transportation companies whether a child is legally able to leave the country, and with whom; and,
16. Illegal border-crossings through rural areas that are not closely monitored by border control.
For More information On International Parental Child Abduction, Please View:
CHASING PARENTS:
RACING INTO THE STORMS OF INTERNATIONAL PARENTAL CHILD ABDUCTION
Created By: Peter Thomas Senese
PART I & PART II
