America’s Hidden Crime: When the Kidnapper is Kin << Previous Next >>
Facts And Findings The Polly Klaas Foundation undertook a comprehensive survey of the existing research about family abduction. The results were startling. Simply put, when it comes to family abduction, the problem is pervasive, the impact on victims is monumental, and the solutions are clear and within reach.
Laws define family abduction as when, in violation of a custody order, a decree, or other legitimate custodial rights, a member of the child’s family, or someone acting on behalf of a family member, takes or fails to return a child, and the child is concealed or transported out of State with the intent to prevent contact or deprive the caretaker of custodial rights indefinitely or permanently.
According to the nation’s most comprehensive data on missing children, the Second National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children (NISMART-2) published in October 2002, out of the approximately 262,100 child abductions in 1999, family abductions comprised 78 percent—a shocking 203,900.
Child Abductions by Case Type, 1999
A growing problem
Among the most heavily afflicted groups are couples going through divorce proceedings and child custody disputes. (See Family Abductions and Family Structure.) According to the NISMART-2 study, family abductions occurred most frequently in families where children were not living with both parents — families often scarred by bitter divorce and custody disputes. (See Motives Behind Family Abduction.) In fact, even in the presence of frequent parental visitation or joint custody arrangements, children in families with a high level of ongoing parental conflict remain at a high risk of family abduction.
Trends in divorce rates indicate that family abduction is indeed a growing problem — divorce rates have tripled since 1960, and today 10 million children live with a parent who is separated or divorced. That number is constantly increasing — more than a million children experience parental divorce each year. Experts tell us that the period of vulnerability for family abduction extends up to 4 or 5 years after a separation or divorce. Since children whose parents are married, or whose parents never married, are also at risk, the number of children in the risk pool for family abductions ranges from 5 to 10 million children.
Also fueling the problem is increased geographic mobility and ability to quickly change community and lifestyle — critical to family abductors who need to constantly change identities and escape the notice of law enforcement authorities.
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