According to the International Child Abduction Center, 203,000 children are abducted by a family member each year. Most of these children are stolen by a parent who wants custody. This accounts for about 78% of all missing children cases. The number of parental abduction globally is unknown, but Canadian statistics show that a child goes missing ever nine minutes in that country. Sometimes, parents will abduct a child and take them to an international location where it is harder to track the parent.
These situations are taken very seriously. Some may assume that children are not in danger if they are in the care of a parent, but this could not be further from the truth. Some parents are mentally unstable or psychologically disturbed, and will do all sorts of abusive things to their children. Others may lock their children up in small rooms or fail to provide for them because the parent is paranoid of being discovered in his or her crime. Normally, parents abduct children because of a severe heartbreak at losing contact with them, or because of anger against an ex-spouse.
Child abduction happens for many reasons, but there are a few motives that are most common. Parents will typically abduct their children from the rightful custodian because they want to force an agreement with that partner, or because they want to carry on contact between themselves and the left behind parent. Another reason for parental abductions is when a parent has a fear of losing custody or contact rights. As well, some spouses will steal the children as a way to get revenge on a former spouse or to punish that former spouse for filing for the divorce or arguing and winning sole custody. Parents will steal children out of frustration or because they feel that legislation alienated them from their children.
When parents feel they are not receiving their rightful amount of visitation or custody of the children, they may choose to take the children out of spite or to prove a point. In some rare case, a parent may kidnap the children because he or she wants to protect them from a parent who may molest, abuse, or neglect the children. While these occasions are rare, there have been times that a parental abduction has been warranted under these terms. The defendant will have to prove that there was evidence to point to the fact that the child may be molested, harmed, or neglected in the care of the other parent and that these fears were not irrational.
Interestingly enough, parental abduction of young children can often be a hidden crime. If parents steal a child when he or she is little, it is easy enough to brainwash that child and cause them to believe that they were always a part of their current living situation. Sometimes, child abduction can lead to unstable education for the child, health neglect for the child, or causing a child to live a life that is founded on lies. As a result, it can lead to psychological and emotional distress. Some parents will live as fugitives because they do not want to be caught after kidnapping their child. As a result, the offspring will lose their true identity, and may need to remain in unstable living conditions.
This is why the government takes parental kidnapping seriously. According to the United States Code, any person who kidnaps, seizes, or abducts another person can be punished for any term of years up to a life sentence and can be punished by death if the abduction results in the death of the victim. Child abductions by any person that is not directly related to the victim can result in imprisonment for at least 20 years according to federal codes. While parents cannot be sentenced under this statute, the U.S. code maintains that any parent who has had his or her rights terminated by a final court order does not qualify as an exception.
Each state also has their own way to deal with child abductors through this U.S.C. statute, so if you want more information you are going to want to locate a local criminal defense lawyer who can assist you in your case. If you have been accused of kidnapping your child, then you will certainly need a defense attorney to stand beside you in court. Chances are that the abduction is a misunderstanding or your intentions were misconstrued, so you will want to make sure you have an advocate at the courthouse with you to evidence this.
