It would be very helpful to me (and maybe others) to give a 10k overview of what this Bill is and what we need to do to assist. I'm more than happy to utilize my resources and do all we can, But I just need a quick overview and course of action.
p.s Please include a facebook site, twitter or Wikki site if you have one. :-)
From the first post in this thread.
Bring Sean Home is working with
BAC Home on the recruitment of co-sponsors for
H.Res.1326, condemning Japan for International Child Abduction and calling on Japan to facilitate the immediate return of all children abducted to Japan. The resolution calls on the Government of Japan to immediately address the growing problem of abduction to and retention of United States citizen minor children in Japan, to work closely with the Government of the United States to return these children to their custodial parent or to the original jurisdiction for a custody determination in the United States, to provide left-behind parents immediate access to their children, and to adopt without delay the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
Authored by Congressman James Moran (D-VA), H.Res.1326 currently has 33 co-sponsors identified in the THOMAS Register (
http://thomas.loc.gov/ and on the left center area select 'bill number' and type in H.Res.1326 into box beneath it).
There are enough co-sponsors (or due to the rules being suspended) for this resolution to move to the House floor for a vote by the entire House
if Rep. Berman, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee is willing to get the resolution onto the list of bills/resolutions the House is voting on.
All Congressman Berman needs to do is to coordinate with Congressman Hoyer's office (House Majority Leader) to bring it to the House Floor for a vote. It does not need a vote by the Foreign Affairs Committee.
When you call the office, ask to speak to the Foreign Affairs staffer as otherwise you are just talking to the intern who answers the phones. Then I tend to give an elevator speech about since the Allied forces relinquished power to Japan after WWII
not a single child abducted to Japan has been returned. It truly is a black hole for child abduction, and these children need our help. It is horribly unfair to these American children to be deprived of one of their parents and for that parent to be deprived of their child. H.Res.1326 condemns Japan for these abductions and calls on Japan to facilitate the immediate return of these American children to the United States. I respectfully ask that as the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressman Berman work with Congressman Hoyer's office to bring this resolution to the House floor for a vote. (I normally say the earlier sentences or some variant of them and here as you don't want co-sponsorship, that final line is simply asking for what we want done.) Frequently, I end up leaving voicemails for people as they aren't there, so don't be surprised if you aren't able to talk to the Foreign Affairs representative or someone else directly.
For a little bit more background, there are currently over 269 confirmed cases of US kids abducted to Japan since somewhere in the mid 1990s. Japan does not recognize parental child abduction as a crime and their court system has no enforceable mechanism for visitation (they only ask the parent to bring the child if even that) nor for child support. Their family register system also requires children to be attached to only one parent if the parents divorce and from what I've heard, non-Japanese people can't have a family register, so therefore the child automatically goes to the Japanese parent (their court system appears heavily favored toward Japanese women). Japan is not party to the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction, the imperfect, but currently only international treaty about child abduction. It is the only G7 country to not have signed the treaty despite the political figures in Japan saying for many years they are 'studying' the Treaty and 'hope to sign it soon'.
Feel free to let us know if you have any more questions about how to advocate. I'm not an expert at lobbying, nor is anyone else I know of that is on here, but we've all worked at it and gotten other co-sponsors (or at least tried really hard in the process!)
Facebook
BachomeWikipedia doesn't have an article on 'international parental child abduction', but here are a few articles they do have, some of which leave a bit to be lacking as people delete portions of the articles calling them biased. I'm all for not being biased, but I'm unsure how calling parental child abduction wrong or using descriptive adjectives means things are removed. Regardless, they are an area some people use for research, so placing something there is a good start as a limited reference.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_child_abductionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_abduction#Parental_child_abductionOther links about Japan and Parental Child Abduction from this website
In 58 Years Japan has Never Returned a Child The US Fails Children Abducted From America There are many other good articles about parental child abduction, including hearings that were held last December in Congress if you peruse the
resources link at the top of the page.
