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Parental abduction occurs when a parent takes a child without the other parent’s consent, often leading to relocation and name changes. It can happen for various reasons, including domestic violence and custody disputes. Law enforcement involvement varies by location, and abducting parents often take steps to avoid detection. The penalty for parental abduction is often imprisonment and the loss of custody or visitation privileges.
In most cases, it is assumed that parents have equal rights when it comes to the education and care of their children. Parents who are separated or divorced usually have parenting plans or custody arrangements that reflect the joint nature of the task, while parents who are married or otherwise raise their family together need to share rights equally. When a parent leaves a marriage with a child or violates a custody agreement to assume sole custody of a child, they are often accused of parental abduction. Parental abduction, simply put, is when a parent abducts or abducts a child, removing that child from contact with the remaining parent and family of origin. More often than not, parental abduction involves relocation, name changes, and new identities to keep the family and law enforcement from getting caught.
Parental abduction involves much more than a child custody dispute or residency disagreement. Like abduction in every other sense, parental abduction is shrouded in mystery: In an abduction scenario, the child simply disappears. He or she no longer attends school as usual and no longer participates in any of the events or activities that once marked her schedule. In most cases, the object of the abduction is to transfer the child to a new life in a new place, where the abducting parent can be the sole parent without threat of interference from the other.
Parental abduction can occur for a variety of reasons. A parent who is a victim of domestic violence can flee with a child to escape, for example, an abusive situation. Parental abduction is also very common in custody disputes, often leading to or immediately following a divorce. A parent who is unhappy with the prospect of sharing parenthood with an ex-spouse may choose to take the child and run instead. While a parent may be able to justify the theft of a child, the law frowns on it in nearly all cases, and most jurisdictions define parental abduction as a crime.
The degree to which law enforcement will be involved in alleged or suspected parental abductions is often a matter of local law. When parents are married or have an ostensibly mutual child custody arrangement, police in most places are reticent to immediately suspect child abduction, even if a child and parent simply appear to be missing. Some places have waiting periods of days or weeks, even in conflicting relationships, before law enforcement gets involved in searching for potentially abducted children. In many cases, by the time the police have intervened, the abducting parent has already left the state, province, or country with the child, which can make apprehension difficult.
To avoid detection and prosecution, kidnapping parents often take careful steps to cover their tracks. They often change the appearance of themselves and the child and usually start using fictitious names as well. Most parents who kidnap their children live somewhat transient lives, never staying in one place for an extended period of time. When caught, kidnapping parents are often charged with kidnapping, fraud, child abuse, and court-ordered custody violation, if applicable. The penalty is often imprisonment and the permanent loss of custody or visitation privileges of minors.
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