Though many family courts are against the act of child kidnapping, many rows that are as a result of custody dispute often lead to a tug of war between parents. Many parents often resort to snatch and grab as their only option especially after the courts make a ruling that did not favor them. However, this act is viewed as a crime, and it is referred to as parental kidnapping. Parental kidnapping is subject to the laws set by several states to address this category of crime (Greif and Hegar 1993).
Kidnapping means that the child is restrained from accessing his/her custodial choice, and it is conducted without legal authority. Restraining means to restrict the movements of an individual without legal authority. The child’s liberty is affected in this case since he/she is moved from one area to another or by simply shutting them in a secluded place.
Restraint without approval is achieved by physically forcing the child to remain in a certain place, using intimidation or using deceptive means. It is also made successful by any means that include submission - in cases where the victim is below eight years or is an individual who is incompetent - and the victim’s legally recognized custodian has not agreed with the movement or internment (Nash et al. 2016).
There are three types of kidnapping, which are parental kidnapping, custodial interference, and access interference. Parental kidnapping involves the child being taken by a member of the family. A member of the family, who in this case is a relative, could be a parent, step-parent, sibling or ancestors among many others. It could also involve an adoptive family member or even a spouse.
Custodial interference involves the child being taken by a non-biological individual while access interference involves the blocking or denying access to the child. An individual commits custodial interference by willfully tampering with the custody of the child. The individual therefore goes ahead to take or keep a child from the lawful custody of the person whom the authority has entrusted to keep custody of the child.
Custodial interference can be carried out before the court determines the rightful custodian of the child. It can also be in the form of the kidnapper enticing or withholding the kid from the other custodian, therefore denying their access to the child. Another form of custodial interference is when the custodian intentionally fails to return or holds back the child even after the expiration of access rights.
When it comes to rulings under custodial interference, it is important to note that the mother is the rightful custodian until paternity is determined by a court of law. Infringement in this segment is considered when a group 3 offense is committed by another individual other than the child’s parent, or by a representative of the parent, custodian or an agent to the custodian. It is categorized under group 4 felony if the child is allured or kept from lawful custody in regions that are outside the state by the parent, the representative of the parent, the guardian or the representative of the custodian (Nash et al. 2016).
Parental kidnapping is categorized under group 6 felony if it is committed by a blood-related parent, representative of the parent, guardian or the guardian’s agent. It is categorized under a group 1 transgression if the child is willingly returned with no physical injury by the parent, defendant, or the parent’s or defendant’s agent within a time span of forty-eight hours after the parent, defendant or agent of either the parent of defendant entices or takes the child unlawfully from the lawful custodian.
A person is charged with committing access interference if they intentionally or by having the right to know that the individual does not have a right commit the act. It can also be if the individual knowingly gets involved in a behavior pattern that stops, blocks, or frustrates the access rights of an individual who has the right to access to a child consistent with a court order. The offense could also include the removal of a child from the home country with this offense being categorized under group 5 felony. Otherwise, access interference is a Class 2 transgression. The enforcement of this sector is not limited by the ease of use of other remedies for access interference.
There are several reasons why a parent could decide to abduct a child. It could be that the abductor confuses their personal frustrations with the matrimonial relationship thereby believing that the other parent has no capacity to take care of the child. It could also be that the abductor is taking the child away from bodily harm or emotional threat caused by the other parent. Another reason could be that the abductor is using the abduction as a way to get to the other parent as a form of punishment (U.S Department of Justice 2016).
The abductor could also be afraid of the other parent’s behaviors, and fears would be transmitted to the child. Some abductors could also abduct the child since they never intended for the other parent to get involved in the raising of the child. Another reason why a parent could abduct a child is to try to force the other parent into reconciliation with them.
Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJA) standardizes throughway kidnapping. Many parents use this strategy as it is ordinary to get consideration from another judge. International kidnapping has been recorded to be on the rise. This is made clear by how the American department of state handled new international parent abduction cases that were as high as 1,082 in 2008 (Nash et al. 2016). These cases involved 1,612 children (Nash et al. 2016). In 2009, Christopher Savoie made headlines when he was arrested after he kidnapped a child outside the American nation in Fukuoka in Japan (Nash et al. 2016).
A study conducted by the American Bar Association indicated that 97 percent of the parents who had participated in the survey had missing children. These missing children were suspected to be somewhere within forty-six different nations.
The Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction was legalized on October 25, in 1980. Its main function is to secure the timely homecoming of children wrongfully detached or held in any contracting nation. It also ensures that the custody rights and right to access under the regulation of a contracting state are well respected in the other contracting states.
The court’s solution to international parent abduction has been to adopt a per se for all intercontinental transfers of children whose parents share her/his custody. It has also adopted a per se prohibition for all disputed international relocations to non-Hague conference countries.
Generally speaking, the problem of missing children can be a complex one considering that a child could go missing after getting lost or even running away from home and this could be attributed to the other parent. The statistics for missing children is: 82 percent of most abductions is by family members, 18 percent by non-family members and 37 percent by strangers (Nash et al. 2016). In the United States, a child is abducted in every 40 seconds. That translates to 2,000 children in a day and 800,000 children in a year; these are statistics for children under the age of 18 years (Nash et al. 2016).
There are different types of custody. Physical custody is given to the person who lives with the child. Residential custody is given to the person who makes decisions such as education on the child’s behalf. The three kinds of custody comprise joint legal custody, joint physical custody, and sole legal custody. Children who are caught in between custody battles as a result of divorce often express feelings of denial, depression, anger, hostility, immaturity among others (Spillenger 2010). The victim parents are also not left out as they experience depression, sleep disorders, and socialization disorders. These parents should not blame themselves for what is happening to them but should instead find ways to let out their emotions so as to find help. This will help them with dealing with the problem.
References
Greif, Geoffrey L, and Rebecca L Hegar. 1993. When Parents Kidnap. New York: Free Press.
Nash, Colton et al. 2016. "Parental Kidnapping And Custody Issues Presentation".
Slideshare.net. Retrieved April 15, 2016 (http://www.slideshare.net/reina09/parental-kidnapping-and-custody-issues-presentation).
Spillenger, Clyde. 2010. Principles Of Conflict Of Laws. St. Paul, MN: West.
U.S Department of Justice. 2016. The Crime Of Family Abduction. 1st ed. Washington, D.C: U.S
