NCJ Number
147866
Date Published
1994
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This video presents interviews with four parents who abducted their children from a custodial parent and went into hiding.
Abstract
The narrator and interviewer first defines parental abduction and then advises that although the four abductors interviewed are not necessarily representative of all parental abductors, their motives and experiences can increase understanding of the characteristics of such abductors. The first abductor interviewed took her daughter from her father, who had temporary custody of the daughter at the time of the abduction. The mother identifies a number of factors that led to her decision to abduct her daughter. These included fear that the child would be put into a foster home pending disposition of the case, the father's statement that he would send his daughter to live with relatives in London, England, and limited access to her daughter under a restrictive visitation regime. Overall, she feared that she would lose control over the events and factors that determined her access to her daughter, who, she describes as being "her life." The second interview involves the father of two children, whom he abducted in the midst of an adversarial custody battle. In the course of the custody dispute, the mother had accused the father of child abuse, including sexual abuse. In turn, the father had evidence that the children had been physically abused by the mother, but child protective workers refused to investigate the case. Believing that the custodial decisionmaking process was unfairly biased against him, the father took the children and fled to Canada, where he lived with the children for 11 years. He eventually received custody of the children after an extensive investigation and court actions. The third interview involved a mother who took the children from their home because she and the children were being abused by the husband/father. She returned to her home jurisdiction under the threat of charges and was eventually awarded custody. The fourth interview is with a father who abducted his 2-year-old son after the breakdown of mediation regarding custody. He mistrusted the fairness of imminent adversarial proceedings.