America’s Hidden Crime: When the Kidnapper is Kin << Previous Next >>
Facts And Findings The Current System's Response
Upon realizing that his or her child may have been abducted, 90 percent of frantic left behind parents contact law enforcement for assistance before calling anyone else.
Unfortunately, many federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and prosecutors cited a general lack of knowledge and protocol in dealing with family abductions as the Achilles’ heel in their ability to quickly and effectively carry out their responsibilities. In fact, 70 percent of law enforcement agencies reported that they did not have written policies and procedures governing family abduction cases, and 63 percent did not receive formal training on the handling of family abduction cases.
The Story of a Family Abduction Survivor I was born in 1977. My parents couldn’t work things out, so in 1979 they went through a common law divorce in Illinois. My father got custody of all the children. My siblings were old enough to testify and say who they wanted to live with, and they chose my dad. But I was too young to choose, so I was the only one who had mandatory visitation with my mother every other weekend.
This went on for about a year until one weekend, when I was 4 years old, my mother picked me up and never came back. She fled to Texas with me. She had all of her moles and distinguishing marks removed from her body and she had fake birth certificates made for me. She changed my name to Heather and my birthday. She just added a “1” to the “7” and I was now a different person with a different life.
As I grew up she told me my dad didn’t love me and that he took my siblings and never wanted to see me. I of course believed her lies and grew up until I was 11 with hatred for my father and an unstable life.
There were nights I would wake up and she was not there. In 1989 we moved to California. We lived there for about 5 months until one day I was taken out of class by my principal and escorted to his office.
When I walked in there were two police officers, a woman, and two FBI agents. They sat me down and pulled out a milk carton with a picture of me when I was four with my real name underneath it and asked me if I knew who it was. I naturally said no, and she explained it was me. She explained that my mother abducted me and that my father had been looking for me for eight years. I began to cry. I didn’t know how to react, so I asked to see their FBI badges because I didn’t believe them. They showed me, and I was taken to a foster home for the night until the morning where I would meet my dad for the first time in 8 years.
The next morning I was taken to a hotel restaurant where I met my dad. There was no pressure from him. He told me I could call him dad or Bruce, it was up to me. I got on a plane with him and met all of my family for the first time again at the airport. I remember everyone crying and staring at me. I didn’t know what to do or how to feel; it was an alternative universe where I had a different name. -Rebekah, 24, Take Root member |
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Existing Criminal Laws and Civil Statutes - Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act (PKPA): Federal law passed in 1980 that gives jurisdictional priority to the child’s home state in family abduction cases where conflicts arise between two states. In some cases, it also authorizes access to the Federal Parent Locator Service for purposes of identifying the whereabouts of a parentally abducted child.
- Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA): Adopted unanimously by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform States Laws in 1997 and approved by the American Bar Association in 1998, this legislation provides enforcement mechanisms preventing kidnappers from hiding behind divergent state laws and ensures that missing children return home even if they cross state lines. Only 35 states have adopted the UCCJEA.
- The Hague Convention on the civil aspects of International Child Abduction: This international treaty ratified by the United States in 1988 and currently in effect in 43 countries, simplifies and expedites the return process when children have been abducted internationally.
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While some statutes are in place (See Existing Criminal Laws and Civil Statutes), law enforcement agencies cited difficulties in verifying custody orders between different states as one of the biggest roadblocks to solving parental abduction cases.
The current system, riddled with vague laws regarding custody and child abduction, is worsened by an uneven application of what few laws exist. For instance, only 35 states have passed the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Enforcement Act (UCCJEA), a crucial piece of legislation ensuring that custody orders issued in one state are valid and enforced in another. (See Criminal Status of Family Abduction.) With inconsistent enforcement of custody orders, investigating interstate family abductions becomes a bureaucratic nightmare. The underlying problem, however, lies in the perception that family abductions are civil matters and do not require the immediate attention reserved for urgent crimes. Family abductions are not perceived by law enforcement agencies as an urgent problem, but rather a civil dispute that should be dealt with by family courts and social workers. In many instances, police did not perceive family abductions as a criminal case and instead referred them to family courts, prosecutors, and social service agencies.
This trend is also reflected in the disparity between state statutes on family abduction — while family abduction is a crime in all 50 states, some classify the crime as a felony and others as a misdemeanor. (See Criminal Status of Family Abduction.) Classification as a misdemeanor diminishes law enforcement agencies’ willingness to deal with family abduction as a serious crime and child endangerment. |
