One of the most painful (and often abusive) tactics in divorce is to take the children and just disappear. Although there may sometimes be a good reason to abduct children (to escape from aviolent parent, for example), child kidnapping in divorce is usually a cynical, manipulative power play that hurts not just the other parent but also the children themselves. Ultimately, it even places at risk the relationship between the child and the abducting parent, although this typically won’t be apparent until years later.
Somebody has estimated that half the threats of parental abduction result in abductions. That seems high to me, but the problem is clearly real. I don’t offer direct resources here onDivorceInfo.com for child snatching in divorce, because it’s a problem I don’t fully understand. What I can offer is as full access as possible to others on the web who have tackled this thorny issue and offer what help they can:
- Parental Abductions Resource Website – comprehensive guidance for parents who are victimized by parental abduction. My favorite is the page on recommended practical preparations if the other parent threatens abduction.
- FBI Page on Violent Crime and Family Abduction
- U.S. State Department page on International Parental Child Abduction – a comprehensive listing of loads of resources.
- Stop Family Abductions Now – aggressively self-promotional, but it does have some useful items, including a Resources page with links to other sites
- Parental Abduction Search Specialists – based in Florida but promising to locate children all over the world.