Child abduction

From Free net encyclopedia

Current revision

Template:FamilyLaw Child abduction is the abduction or kidnapping of a young child (or baby) by an older person.

Several distinct forms of child abduction exist:

• A stranger removes a child (usually a baby) to bring up as their own child.
• One parent removes a child, usually after divorce during an access visit.

While cases have been reported from antiquity, recently this phenomenon has taken on new meaning with various movies and television series (example: Without a Trace) depicting the premise of people who remove children from strangers to bring up as their own often after the death of their own child.

Removal by stranger

Women who kidnap babies to bring up as their own are typically unable to have children of their own. The crime is often premeditated, with the woman often simulating pregnancy to reduce suspicion when a baby suddenly appears in the household.

An example of child abduction is the case of Montana Barbaro, stolen in Melbourne, Australia on Saturday 7 August 2004. A male attacker knocked the mother to the ground, and a female removed the baby. They fled in a car. Montana was recovered some 40 hours later, unharmed.

Parental abduction

Parental child abduction, in simple terms, is the permanent removal of a child from their place of habitual residence (the place where their life is established) by one parent, without the permission of the other parent. A common parental child abduction scenario involves a divorced parent who lost a child custody battle. Depending on the laws of the country the child has been taken from, this may or may not constitute a criminal offence. From the UK, to remove a child for a period of 28 days or more without the permission of the other parent (or person with parental responsibility), is a criminal offence.

Serious problems can arise when parental abduction results in moving a child, with a parent, across an international border. The laws of the states are different, and a foreign child custody order may not be recognized.

The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction is an international treaty and legal mechanism to recover children abducted to another country by one parent or family member. The United States signed this into law in 1988. Japan is the only G7 nation that has not signed this treaty into law.

Children abducted for slavery in Africa

Template:Main There are reports that abduction of children to be used or sold as slaves is common in parts of Africa.

The Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel paramilitary group operating mainly in northern Uganda, is notorious for its abductions of children for use as child soldiers or sex slaves. According to the Sudan Tribune, as of 2005, more than 20,000 children have been kidnapped by the LRA. [1]

See also

• Code Adam
• AMBER Alert

External links

• Media report on Montana Barbaro case
• Voice 4 the Children
• Take Root: Helping missing children recover
• United States State Department information pertaining to Parental Child Abduction
• BBC News report: West Africa's child slave trade, 6 August, 1999.
• Child Abduction Articlesde:Entziehung Minderjähriger