Each year, hundreds of children are taken to another country from the U.S. by a parent, leaving the other parent with limited options to be able to contact the child or facilitate visitations.
Congressman David Valadao and Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema introduced legislation today that addresses this problem and tries to prevent future international parental kidnappings.
"I cannot begin to imagine the fear parents who have had a child kidnapped to a foreign country must experience. Not only are you faced with overwhelming concern for the welfare of your child, you are confronted with the reality that there are few legal channels available to ensure their safe return," Congressman Valadao, author of the resolution said.
"No child should be separated from their parent because other countries won’t uphold international law. I have reached across the aisle with this legislation to bolster the hard work my office is already doing to reunite Arizona families," Congresswoman Sinema said.
According to a statement sent by Valadao and Sinema, more than 600 children were abducted by a parent and brought to another country in 2015 alone and today there are 200 outstanding cases of international child abduction in California.
There are 96 countries that comply with The Hague Abduction Convention to resolve international child abduction issues. 13 of those countries don't fully comply which has led to so many unresolved child kidnapping cases.
