“Unfortunately, the threat of violence—and death—in these cases is all too real,” said Ashli-Jade Douglas, an FBI analyst in our Violent Crimes Against Children Intelligence Unit who specializes in child abduction matters. "Most non-custodial parental abductors want retaliation. They feel that if they can’t have the child full time—or any amount of time—then the other parent shouldn’t have the child, either.”
As we put forth our efforts to protect innocent children from the brutal crimes that are associated with parental child abduction, this statement, from the Department of Justice's official website, regarding the threat of violence or death against children, should have society very concerned. The fact is - and the I CARE Foundation has been sharing this for some time:
children of international parental child abduction are at risk of murder. Children are put in grave risk at the hands of their abducting parent. Parental child abductors are willing to break the laws as well as the orders of a court - as well, they have no concern with perjury or contempt. Parental child abductors kidnap children in order to cause the targeted parent hurt and suffering.
Simply put, the aggressive act of kidnapping - using a child to cause harm - is the reality of parental child abduction.
It is imperative that every social services program, every child welfare organization and every family protective service agency charged with investigating any claims of child abuse carefully analyze any allegations of abuse. Critically, these organizations must carefully scrutinize any claims made by a parent who was previously charged with child abduction, especially if a court determined that parent had committed a criminal act of child kidnapping, or in Hague cases during international parental child abduction that uses a civil procedure for the return of a child despite the federal act of kidnapping being committed, it is imperative that all social service personnel charged with investigating any claims of abuse or neglect made by a child abductor against their previous targeted parent be cautiously examined. Critically, all social service agencies acting on a complaint against a child made by a parent child abductor must commence their investigation with the hard reality that the child was a victim of kidnapping along with other forms of serious abuse, and carefully review the sociopath tendencies of abductors.As published on the
United States Department of State's website, "When non-custodial parents resort to kidnapping, they believe they are acting in the best interests of their children. Although a minority of parental kidnappers may actually save their children by taking them out of the reach of the other parent, the motives of most parents who steal their children are not at all altruistic. Parents find a myriad of reasons or self-justification for stealing a child from another parent Some abductors will find fault with the other parent for nonsensical transgressions; others will steal a child for revenge."
The State Department's report includes, "[A] profile [of] the parent who shows signs of flagrant paranoid beliefs or psychotic delusions. In this situation, the intervention must focus on the child and his or her safety and well-being . . . Unfortunately, the other parent and the child must be informed about a safety plan at all times." Continuing, the Department of State's report specifically states, "[The] profile [of an international parental child abductor] is the sociopathic personality."
Again, nobody wants to think about a parent killing their child.
However, we must take into heavy consideration the statement by the
United States Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) concerning the sociopathic behavior of abductors. Grave concern was expressed, "As with paranoid and delusional parents, sociopathic parents are unable to perceive their children as having separate needs or rights. Consequently, they often use their children blatantly as instruments of revenge or punishment or as trophies in their fight with the ex-partner. Hence, the sociopathic parent believes that domestic violence and child abduction can be perpetrated with impunity. Like paranoia, a diagnosis of severe sociopathy is rare (4 percent of the studies’ samples).
Filicide is not a term that I like to talk about, but the reality is, we need to talk about it more. For those that are not aware, the term filicide refers to the deliberate act of a parent killing his or her own child. In the United States, hundreds of children are murdered by their parents each and every year. Proportionately, filicide occurs everywhere. It is not a phenomenon isolated within American borders: parents do kill children. And we can't put our head in the sand and think this does not exist.
According to a recent statement released by the FBI, there is a trend that I find incredibly disturbing coming from non-custodial parents - and that is the rate in which they are abducting and threatening to harm their own children... all with the intent of retaliation against the parent who has been given legal custody.
Now, with a large number of American children being born to unwed parents, along with the high rate of marriages ending in divorce, the reality is that there is an increasing number of cases where a single parent is going to have custody of the child. The FBI's statistics show that
between the years 2010 and 2012 there was an increase of 41% in child abduction cases that involved custody matters. So if we add that to the increased number of those parents seeking retaliation through harming their own child - do we need to be concerned? You bet we do!
In the FBI statement there were some recent cases of filicide that occurred at the hands of non-custodial parents:
- In 2009, a non-custodial mother abducted her 8-month-old son from his custodial father in Texas. She told the father she killed the boy to prevent the father from employing his custodial rights and in retaliation for his alleged involvement with other women.
- In 2011, a 2-year-old girl was abducted by her non-custodial father in California. A week later, both were found dead. The father committed suicide after shooting his daughter.
- In 2012, a non-custodial father in Utah abducted and killed his 7- and 5-year-old sons and then committed suicide. He was angry over not being afforded sole custody of the children.
Ashli-Jade Douglas
offers up this advice to help keep children safe: “Custodial parents should inform schools, after-care facilities, babysitters, and others who may at times be responsible for their children about what custody agreements are in place so that kids are not mistakenly released to non-custodial parents.”
The common
misconception that parental abductions are considered a family matter has to end.
Parental child abduction is a serious crime. The act of abduction leads to ongoing forms of abuse toward a child.
When a child is abducted they should immediately be considered to be in great danger!
Law enforcement agencies need to act quickly to ensure that these innocent children are not going to be harmed. The sociopathic behaviors that a kidnapping parent exhibits has them believing in their own mind what they are doing is in the best interest of the child. When we think again about the fact that many of these cases revolve around revenge or retaliation, you can see it’s not out of the question to have the ultimate revenge be at the expense of the innocent child… with the act of filicide.
This is all very disconcerting, but one thing is for certain: raising awareness and stewarding the message about the warning signs of international parental child abduction is the key. This awareness has played a role in
reducing the number of reported outbound child kidnapping cases originating in the United States by 15% during the last two consecutive years after nearly 30 years of continued growth.
If I may ask you to please share the
warning signs of international abduction – you may very well be getting this information out to a family that needs it… ultimately possibly saving the life of an innocent child. It is that desire, that is so ingrained in me, that I continue my fight each and every day!
Together we can, and are, making a difference.
- The I CARE Foundation -
The above scenario occurs often. The fact is all too often a judge overseeing a high conflect child custody case will make a major mistake and allow a parent to travel abroad with a child despite many warning signs that an international child abduction will take place.
