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EmailReferences, Laws & Reading List
Directory - Where to Go for Assistance
Consular Assistance
Department of State
Office of Children''s Issues
SA-29
2201 C Street, NW
U.S. Department of State
Washington, DC 20520
Phone: 202 736-7000
Fax: 202-736-9133
After hours: 202 647-5225
Web Site:
about.html
Children''s Passport Issuance Alert Program
Department of State
Office of Children''s Issues
SA-29
2201 C Street, NW
U.S. Department of State
Washington, DC 20520
Phone: 202 736-7000
Fax: 202-736-9133
Web Site: children''s_issues.html
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC)
699 Prince Street
Alexandria, VA 22314-3175
Phone: 703 522-9320
Fax: 703 235-4067
Web Site: http://www.missingkids.org
24-hour hot line for emergencies: 1-800-THE-LOST
TTD: 1-800-826-7653
For American Bar Association Publications
American Bar Association (ABA)
750 North Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, IL 60611
Phone: 312 988-5555
Web Site: www.abanet.org/store/catalog.html
Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS)
Note: The FPLS can be accessed through local and state Child Support Enforcement offices. The names of those offices are available in telephone books and from the address below.
Department of Health and Human Services
Office of Child Support Enforcement
Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS)
370 L''Enfant Promenade, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20447
Phone: 202 401-9267
Web Site: Office of Child Support Enforcement
/"> Office of Victims of Crime (OVC)
United States Department of Justice
633 Indiana Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20531
Phone: 1-800-627-6872
Web Site: /"> Office of Victims of Crime (OVC)
/"> International Social Services/American Branch
700 Light Street
Baltimore, MD 21230
Phone: 410 230-2734
Web Site: International Social Services/American Branch
UNIFORM STATE AND FEDERAL LAWS ON CUSTODY, PARENTAL CHILD ABDUCTION, AND MISSING CHILDREN
Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJA) (9 ULA at 123): Determines when a state has jurisdiction to make a custody order and provides procedures for interstate enforcement of orders in custody conflicts.
Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA)
(9 ULA at 115 (Part 1): Enhances the UCCJA by awarding priority to the child’s home state, clarifies the limits of emergency jurisdiction, and grants exclusive jurisdiction to the state making the original custody determination.
MISSING CHILDREN ACT (28 USC 534): Requires law enforcement to enter complete descriptions of missing children into the National Crime Information Center’s (NCIC) Missing Person File, even if the abductor has not been charged with a crime.
NATIONAL CHILD SEARCH ASSISTANCE ACT (42 USC 5779 & 5780): Mandates elimination of waiting periods before law enforcement takes a missing child report, including family abduction cases; Requires immediate entry of information into the NCIC Missing Person file; Requires close liaison with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
INTERNATIONAL CHILD ABDUCTION REMEDIES ACT (42 USC 11601 et seq.): Establishes procedures to implement the Hague Convention. Empowers state and federal courts to hear cases under the Convention and allows the Central Authority access to information in certain American records regarding the location of a child and abducting parent.
PARENTAL KIDNAPPING PREVENTION ACT (PKPA)(28 USC 1738A): Requires authorities of every state to enforce and not modify orders made by the state court exercising proper jurisdiction. Authorizes the use of the Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution (UFAP) warrant and the Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS) in family abductions.
INTERNATIONAL PARENTAL KIDNAPPING CRIME ACT (IPKCA)(18 USC 1204): Makes it a federal felony to remove a child under 16 from the United States, or to retain a child outside the United States with the intent to obstruct the lawful exercise of parental rights.
FUGITIVE FELON ACT (18 USC 1073): Enhances the ability of states to pursue abductors beyond state and national borders; Permits the FBI to investigate cases that would otherwise be under state jurisdiction and authorizes use of UFAP warrants in parental kidnapping cases.
EXTRADITION TREATIES INTERPRETATION ACT of 1998 (Note 18 USC 3181): Authorizes the United States to interpret extradition treaties listing"kidnapping"as encompassing the offense of parental kidnapping.
READING LIST
This list is intended to give some idea of the relevant literature, but should not be regarded as complete or authoritative.
Atwood,"Child Custody Jurisdiction and Territoriality,"52 Ohio St. L.J. 369 (1991)
Charlow,"Jurisdictional Gerrymandering and the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act,"25 Fam. L.Q. 299 (1991)
Coburn, Runaway Father: One Man’s Odyssey from Revenge to Love. Red Fox Publishing. Bellevue, WA. (1998)
Copertino,"Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction: An Analysis of its Efficacy,"6 Conn. J. Int''l L. 715 (1991)
Crawford,"Habitual Residence of the Child as the Connecting Factor in Child Abduction Cases: A Consideration of Recent Cases,"Jurid. Rev. 177 (1992)
Crouch,"Use, Abuse, and Misuse of the UCCJA and PKPA,"6 Am. J. Fam. L. 147 (1992)
Davis,"The New Rules on International Child Abduction: Looking Forward to the Past,"3 Aust''l J. Fam. L. 31 (1990)
De Hart, International Child Abduction: A Guide to Applying the 1988 Hague Convention, with Forms (A publication of the Section of Family Law, American Bar Association) (1993)
Edwards,"The Child Abduction Agony,"140 New L.J. 59 (1990)
Evans,"International Child Abduction,"142 New L.J. 232 (1992)
Frank,"American and International Responses to International Child Abductions,"16 N.Y.U. J. Int''l L. & Pol. 415 (1984)
Girdner,"Obstacles to the Recovery and Return of Parentally Abducted Children,"13 Children''s Legal Rts J. 2 (1992)
Hilton,"Handling a Hague Trial,"6 Am. J. Fam. L. 211 (1992)
Hoff, Parental Kidnapping: How to Prevent an Abduction and What to Do If your Child Is Abducted (A publication of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. No charge.)
Kindall,"Treaties - Hague Convention on Child Abduction - Wrongful Removal - Grave Risk or Harm to Child"83 Am. J. Int''l L. 586 (1989)
Marks,"Fighting Back: The Attorney''s Role in a Parental Kidnapping Case,"64 Fla. B.J. 23 (1990)
Murray,"One Child''s Odyssey Through the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Parental Kidnapping Prevention Acts,"1993 Wis. L. Rev. 589
Oberdorfer,"Toward a Reasoned Response to Parental Kidnapping,"75 Minn. L. Rev. 1701 (1991)
Pfund,"The Hague Convention on International Child Abduction, the International Child Abduction Remedies Act, and the Need for Availability of Counsel for All Petitioners,"24 Fam. L.Q. 35 (1990)
Rutherford,"Removing the Tactical Advantages of International Parental Child Abductions under the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abductions,"8 Ariz. J. Int''l & Comp. L. 149 (1991)
Sagatun,"Parental Child Abduction: The Law, Family Dynamics, and Legal System Responses,"18 Journal of Crim. Just. (1990)
Sharpless,"The Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act: Jurisdictional Considerations Where There are Competing Child Custody Orders,"13 J. Juv. L. 54 (1992)
Shirman,"International Treatment of Child Abduction and the 1980 Hague Convention,"15 Suffolk Transnat''l L.J. 222 (1991)
Stotter,"The Light at the End of the Tunnel: The Hague Convention on International Child Abduction Has Reached Capitol Hill,"9 Hastings Int''l and Comp. L. Rev. 285 (1986)
Stranko,"International Child Abduction Remedies,"The Army Lawyer 28 (Department of the Army pamphlet 27-50-248, July 1993)
Family Advocate, A Practical Journal of the American Bar Association Family Law Section, Spring 1987. (Special issue on divorce law around the world and international parental child abduction.)
Family Advocate, A Practical Journal of the American Bar Association Family Law Section, Spring 1993. (Special issue on international family law.)
Family Law Quarterly, Spring 1994. (Special issue on international family law.)
"The Hague International Child Abduction Convention and the International Child Abduction Remedies Act: Closing Doors to the Parent Abductor,"2 Transnat''l Law 589 (1989)
"The Hague Convention on International Child Abduction: A Practical Application,"10 Loy. L.A. Int''l & Comp. L.J. 163 (1988)
"International Child Abduction and the Hague Convention: Emerging Practice and Interpretation of the Discretionary Exception,"25 Tex. Int''l L.J. 287 (1990)
"International Parental Child Abduction: The Need for Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Custody Decrees,"3 Emory J. Int''l Dispute Resolution 205 (1989)
"More Than Mere Child''s Play: International Parental Abduction of Children,"6 Dick. L. Rev. 283 (1988)
"You Must Go Home Again: Friedrich v. Friedrich, The Hague Convention and the International Child Abduction Remedies Act,"18 N.C. J. Int''l L. & Com. Reg. 743 (1993)
United States Government Documents on the Hague Convention
Department of State notice in the Federal Register of March 26, 1986, pp. 10494-10516.
Senate Treaty Doc. 99-11, 99th Congress, 1st Session.
For the legislative history of the International Child Abduction Remedies Act, Public Law 100-300, see S.1347 and H.R. 2673, and H.R. 3971- 3972, 100th Congress, and related hearing reports.
