All,
Tomorrow (July 16, 2009) would be exactly one year since I last saw my son. He was 3 years old at the time and was taken to India by his mother the next day in violation of US Court orders. We were pretty much done with our dissolution process by then. She was the custodial parent and I had visitation. At the trial, I had asked for restrictions on her international travel with our son but Court did not place these restrictions. Court's justification was a single sentence...'I do not think the mother is a person of bad faith who will abduct the child'.
It took me 4 months to get Courts to assign me as the custodial parent. We had to serve her by publication for 6 consecutive weeks before Courts could rule on it.
It has taken me another 5 months to sell the family home she abandoned. It is taking me another 2 months now to complete the Court ordered mediation/arbitration process regarding the proceeds from the sale.
I requested Department of State (DOS) to conduct a welfare visit in August 2008. So far, they have not done one. Nor have they been able to locate my son and his mother. They have suggested I hire a Private Detective to locate my son. Wonder what they would have done if a US Congressman was abducted in a foreign land!
Fairly soon, I will have to embark on the same tedious journey that David has been on for the past 5 years. I need to approach Indian Courts and request them to honor US Custody orders. On top of that, I also have to locate my son in India. Unlike Brazil, India is not a signatory to Hague Convention (not that Brazil's being one helped David). India does not have set law to handle these situations and Courts' decisions over the years have not followed a predictable pattern. India happens to be the second most popular destination (after Mexico) for parents abducting their children from USA.
I started contacting our elected officials in Sept 2008 and the responses have been mixed. One Senator's office has been responsive and followed up with DOS for a while. DOS did not tell them any more than they told me. The other Senator sent me a letter that started with 'Thank you for contacting my office about the issues you are having with your Naturalization application'. My Congressman's office ignored me initially. I have, about a month ago, contacted them again comparing him unfavorably with Rep. Smith who has been an advocate of David. They sent me a Privacy Waiver form and I need to send it in.
Being in the situation I am in, I think there is a lot the US Congress can do to ensure more parents do not end up in similar situations in the future:
1. Enforce strict exit requirements for minors being taken outside US. If a child is traveling with one parent, that parent should have notarized authorization from the other parent to travel with the child.
2. Ask for changes in Hague Convention to:
a. remove the one year time limit
b. not treat notarized authorization of the left behind parent as a permit
for illegal retention in a foreign land
c. remove language that gives Courts in destination countries to refuse
return of children by citing 'best interests of the child' (the most
abused five words in child custody matters all over the world)
d. remove language about 'well settled in the new environment'. This
clause is tantamount to rewarding parents for abducting and retaining
children in a foreign land long enough to justify this.
A lot of people seem to think Hague Convention is perfect. If you read it thoroughly, you will notice a lot of caveats that can be (and have been) exploited by an abducting parent.
3. Do not let Courts overrule an objecting parent and permit the other parent to travel internationally with minors. Courts can decide how much time a child needs to spend with which parent. But as far as international travel is concerned, they should be respectfully asked to stay away.
4. Require DOS to publish quarterly reports. These reports should list the countries to which US children have been abducted, how many of them have been returned (voluntarily or through a foreign Court order) and what DOS has done for children still being retained in those countries. This report should give figures even for those countries that are not signatories to Hague Convention. Of the US Children with ties to other countries (through one or both of their parents), majority of them happen to have ties with countries like India, China, Russia and Japan which have not signed the treaty. These reports should be submitted to both houses of US Congress as well as Family Courts through out the US.
5. Someone talked about transferring these abduction cases from Department of State to Department of Justice. I do not think that is helpful. There is not much DOJ can do if the destination Country does not have an extradition treaty with US that covers International Parental Child Abduction. Most of the extradition treaties cover only those acts that are considered crimes under the jurisdictions of both countries. If a country does not consider International Parental Child Abduction as a crime, they will not extradite their citizens.
6. Trade sanctions. I know Rep.Smith has raised this in the Congress. There are not too many countries in the world that can afford to have sanctions placed on their trade with US. Though this can be a very effective measure, I am certain US businesses would seriously oppose any such bill.
A recent news article said international child abductions from US have increased by 35% from 2007 to 2008. One reason cited for the increase was the economic downturn in the US. I totally disagree with it. I think every abducting parent knows how easy it it abduct a child and to what great lengths a destination country goes to help them retain the child there. I seriously suspect there probably is a separate forum on the web where these abductors exchange ideas and tactics.
Thanks you to all of you (the forum participants) for being on our side.
--Anand's Dad.
