Recognizing that "international abduction or wrongful retention of children is harmful to their well-being" (42 U.S.C. 11601), the Federal Government has become increasingly involved in finding solutions to international parental kidnapping. With the goals of deterring abductions, recovering children, and bringing abductors to justice, the Federal Government has entered into international agreements, enacted laws, adopted procedures, and funded programs to improve the response of the civil law and the criminal justice system when international abductions occur.

Two major Federal initiatives facilitate recovery of abducted and wrongfully retained children: the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and its implementing legislation the International Child Abduction Remedies Act. The Department of State is the U.S. Central Authority for the Hague Convention. The Hague Convention is the primary mechanism preferred under U.S. law for the recovery of children abducted internationally by a parent. It is in force between the United States and 47 other nations. In countries not party to the Hague Convention, parents may still pursue private lawsuits under the laws of the country in which the child is located.

Several Federal laws provide the authority to bring international child abductors to justice, including the Fugitive Felon Act, the International Extradition Treaties Interpretation Act of 1998, and the International Parental Kidnapping Crime Act. In addition, the series of missing children laws passed by Congress plays a vital role in helping to locate abducted children. Other laws also may come into play in an international abduction case. The laws are most successful when they deter abductions outright. When deterrence fails, the civil statutes enable those left-behind parents to seek recovery of the child, and the criminal statutes enable law enforcement and prosecutors to pursue the abductor. Although the child may be located and possibly recovered through the criminal pursuit of the abductor, the criminal process does not assure a child’s return, and parents should pursue civil means. Those left behind also need to be aware that pursuing criminal proceedings in fact may diminish the chance of child recovery, particularly in countries that have ratified the Hague Convention.

The States likewise have developed law and practice regarding parental abductions. Every State criminalizes parental kidnapping, although there is no single definition or title of the offense. Statutes label the offense variously as custodial interference, child abduction, parental abduction, child stealing, child snatching, family abduction, and parental kidnapping. All 50 States and the District of Columbia have established missing children clearinghouses. Some States have enacted flagging statutes to monitor requests for birth and school records of missing children. All States have laws addressing the issuance, modification, and enforcement of child custody determinations.

When a child is abducted from or wrongfully retained outside of the United States, State and local law enforcement, left-behind parents, and their advocates naturally turn to the Federal Government for help. After numerous phone calls, they discover that the Departments of State and Justice play parallel but separate roles in facilitating the recovery of a child and the extradition of an abductor to the United States for prosecution, while numerous other Federal agencies and international authorities play secondary roles in child recovery and fugitive apprehension. The quest for help may also lead them to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), a nonprofit organization funded, in part, by the Department of Justice, as well as to other nongovernmental organizations, which may also be of assistance.

What parents and law enforcement do not find is a central point of contact in the Federal Government for assistance and guidance on how to access Federal resources. As a result, they are often uncertain about whom to call and whether all available Federal resources have been identified to address their case. Although a network exists among Federal officials who regularly work these cases, it may not be apparent to those parents, advocates, and law enforcement officials who seek assistance as they approach these cases, as most probably do, for a first and only time. Further, agency personnel working either the civil or criminal aspects of an international abduction or wrongful retention case may not know the variety of assistance available, and they may lack an efficient means to find out what resources have already been tapped. Consequently, those working these cases may not pursue certain avenues or make appropriate referrals for further assistance.

Establishment of the Subcommittee on International Child Abduction and the Policy Group on International Parental Kidnapping

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) within the Office of Justice Programs at the Department of Justice is responsible for the Missing and Exploited Children’s Program (MECP), authorized by Congress in the Missing Children’s Assistance Act of 1984 (42 U.S.C. 5771 et seq.). OJJDP, through MECP, has funded groundbreaking research, programs, and services in relation to interstate and international parental kidnapping cases.

In 1994 the Federal Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice, chaired by the Attorney General, established a Missing and Exploited Children’s Task Force (Task Force) to coordinate Federal law enforcement resources to assist State and local authorities with difficult missing and exploited children cases. In June 1997, OJJDP, in cooperation with NCMEC, sponsored an International Parental Abduction Focus Group to identify common problems, improve the delivery of services and support to parents and children, and reduce or prevent unnecessary stress and suffering faced by victim parents whose children are wrongfully removed to or retained in other countries. Soon after, in December 1997, the Task Force established a Subcommittee on International Child Abduction to clarify the roles and responsibilities of the many Federal agencies that respond to international abduction cases and to explore ways to improve the governmentwide response.

Chaired by Ronald Laney, Director of OJJDP’s Office of Missing and Exploited Children’s Program, the Subcommittee comprises representatives of numerous Federal agencies as well as other organizations with a special interest in this problem. Participating entities are the Department of State (Office of Children’s Issues, which is the U.S. Central Authority for the Hague Convention; Office of the Legal Adviser; Bureau of Diplomatic Security); the Department of Justice (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; Missing and Exploited Children’s Program; Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys; Criminal Division, the Office of International Affairs and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section; the INTERPOL–U.S. National Central Bureau; the Immigration and Naturalization Service; the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Office of General Counsel and the Office of Crimes Against Children); the Department of Treasury (U.S. Customs Service); the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; the Kern County, California, District Attorney’s Office; and the American Prosecutors Research Institute.

In a series of meetings that began in January 1998, the Subcommittee reviewed how each agency handles international child abduction cases and discussed issues of interagency coordination. It clarified agency roles, responsibilities, and jurisdiction in international abduction cases and identified problems at the State and Federal levels that impact these cases. The Subcommittee also developed recommendations to address the identified problems.

In November 1998, the Attorney General, after discussion with the Secretary of State, convened a Policy Group, comprising key high-level representatives from the Departments of Justice and State, to expedite appropriate reforms in the Federal responses to international child abduction. Using the Subcommittee’s recommendations as a springboard for discussion, the Policy Group adopted a series of recommendations (which appear in section 2), prioritized actions for immediate implementation, and made plans to assess existing resource needs of the agencies as well as budgetary implications of proposed initiatives.

A Report on International Parental Kidnapping

It became evident from the Subcommittee’s deliberations that the Federal Government as a whole needs a statement describing current responses in international parental kidnapping cases, including identification of problems.

Section 3 of this report addresses the first need. It describes current Federal responses to international parental kidnapping, distinguishing between civil remedies to recover children and criminal mechanisms to bring abductors to justice, and identifies problems with existing law and practice.

Section 2 describes shortcomings in the current responses and makes recommendations to close the gaps and more effectively engage the many agencies involved to improve the Federal responses to international child abduction cases. It concludes by identifying issues for further study.

Ongoing Commitment to Achieve "Best Practices"

This Report to the Attorney General is an important milestone in the work on international parental kidnapping by the Interagency Subcommittee and the Policy Group. To fulfill the second need identified by the Subcommittee, guides for law enforcement and parents on Federal resources in international parental kidnapping cases also will be developed.¹

Efforts to improve Federal responses to international parental kidnapping will continue in an interagency working group, which recommendation 1.4 proposes establishing. (Appendix 1 lists members of the proposed core interagency working group.) The interagency working group, to be chaired by the Department of State, will meet at least quarterly to review and seek resolution of difficult cases, explore problems with Hague Convention implementation, and promote interagency coordination. The Policy Group will continue to meet periodically to address issues identified for further study. It and the proposed interagency working group will monitor the Federal Government’s responses to international parental kidnapping cases, with a goal of seeking and implementing best practices to prevent and resolve them.