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Recently I was contacted by Peter thomas Senese who is a child abduction prevention advocate and a successful chasing parent in accordance to the rules of international parental child adbuction law established under the Hague Convention.

Here's the Article he sent me: 
I CARE Foundation’s Founding DirectorPeter Thomas Senese Helps Rescue Internationally Kidnapped Children


As a best-selling internationalthriller author and the Founding Director of the self-funded, not-for-profitorganization known as the ‘International Child Abduction Research &Enlightenment Foundation’ (the I CARE Foundation). The I CARE Foundation isdedicated to helping stop international child kidnappings through creating newlegislation that will protect children. Along the way, we have helped bring homea large and growing number of children.   I am writing today to share my insight on a grave issue that is sweepingacross nations everywhere: the staggering growth of criminal internationalparental child abductions.  Unquestionably, the thought of having a childabducted, particularly to another country, is one of every parent’s biggestnightmares.   What most parents seemingly do not realize is that thebiggest threat of international child abduction is not from a strangerabduction, but rather, a child’s abduction from the child’s other parent. This is called International Parental Child Abduction, and it is a federal crime ofkidnapping.  If you think this issue does not have any meaning to you,please STOP and read the next paragraph because the statistics I am about toshare with you are going to trouble you deeply. 
Consider this:  recent studies estimate that as many as 125,000American children, 20,000 Canadian children, and a total of 200,000 defenselesschildren living in North America may beinternationally criminally abducted by one parent from another in contradictionto court orders over the next decade. Alarmingly, it is estimated that only 10%of these children will ever come home. Obviously, the number of targetedchildren intended to be stolen is much higher. Surely, someone in your circleof friends or extended family may be a target of this horrible act. And yourknowledge can make the difference between having a child taken – gone forever –or not.
Now think about the odds of findingand bringing home a child stolen outside of the country to a destinationunknown. One little face in a sea of over seven billion faces. It is not thateasy.  And even if you do find your child, by no means does this mean youwill be able to simply bring your son or daughter home. It simply does not workthat way, as I explain later.
Confused? You should be becauseinternational parental child abduction is very confusing.
If you don’t think this can happento you, you may be making a big mistake.
The fact is the vast majority oftargeted parents do not realize they and their children are being targeted forabduction. Targeted parents of child abduction are all too often blind-sided.They do not see the child’s abduction coming.  In their lack of preparation,not only are they generally unable to prevent the scheme by the other parent toabduct, but generally, the abducting parent has already created a highlysophisticated scheme that will make any type of recovery or reunification nearimpossible.
The end result?
One day you might be taking youryoung daughter to first grade and the next day you may be desperately trying tofind her, as she disappeared somewhere in the world of over 7 billion people.
It happens that easy.  And theonly thing that can prevent this from happening is if parents, grandparents,aunts and uncles . . . everyone becomes aware of the serious growth of theseissues and becomes aware of the warning signs of abduction.
I can tell you that losing a child,even for one day, is like dying a thousand times in that day.  In fact, Idraw from this experience deeply in my latest novel ‘Chasing TheCyclone’that critics everywhere have been very generous to.
I know what I speak of first-hand: Iam one of tens of thousands of parents who never even heard of the words‘International Parental Child Abduction’ yet alone thought this could happen tome.
Thus, I am writing today to sharecritical information that may become the difference between having a childtaken or not.  And remember – IPCA may not apply directly to you, butchances are, it very well may apply to someone you know. The knowledge I amabout to share will make a difference.
Obviously, writing about having yourchild internationally kidnapped by the other parent is not an easy subject towrite or talk about. Yet, as various statistical reports demonstrate, it is asubject that must be elevated to the forefront of our society as the number ofcross-border parental kidnappings is growing at unprecedented and eye-poppinglevels.
Before I go any further, I want toadd one of the many odd and confusing things about international parental childabduction: even though the act of parental cross-border abduction is a federalcrime, very few parents are prosecuted even though they have committed a severecrime.  In addition, if you are the targeted parent who has a childabducted by the child’s other parent, you will be responsible for allinvestigation, legal, and recovery costs. 100% of it.  In contrast, ifyour child is abducted by a stranger, as you can imagine, hundreds of lawenforcement will show up trying to help you. So when it comes to IPCA, you’rereally on your own. And this is terrible

Several years ago and while Chasing The Cyclone of international parental childabduction, I made a promise to the God I worship that I would one day try tomake a difference in the lives of other children and targeted parents who arefaced with the nightmare of international parental child abduction(IPCA).  Since that time, I have acted whole-heartedly to fulfill thispromise including participating in the passage or implementation of new stateor federal laws and policies that will protect children, while also playing akey role in the self-funded (see ‘Best-Selling Author PeterThomas Senese donates 100% of publishing revenue to aid abducted children’), not-for-profit I CARE Foundationthat has unquestionably assisted in the prevention of a rather large number oftargeted international child abductions, while also creating a considerablenumber of miracles including the actual recovery and reunification of numerousinternationally kidnapped children with their targeted parents. I am very proudof the work my fellow advocates at the I CARE Foundation have displayed: preventing achild’s abduction is very difficult – safely recovering an internationallykidnapped child and reuniting this child with their left-behind parent isnothing short of a miracle.  The I CARE Foundation hashad numerous success stories, including reuniting children who were internationallykidnapped from the United States to countries as tumultuous as the Ivory Coastand Nigeria, to name a small handful.  Yet in our success we find ourdetermination to do more.  We must do much more. 
Now imagine that you are 1 of the200,000 parents living in North America whoover the next decade who will have your child disappear in a world of over 7Billion people.
Before you allow your mind to thinkabout solutions, let me stop you right there and say that whatever you thinkyou’re going to do that may bring your child home will not be as effective asyou think. I expand upon this later on.
Incidentally, the wrongful removalof a child from the country or illegal detention of a child in a foreign nationin contradiction of a court's order is the criminal act of internationalparental child abduction as stated in the federal 'International Parental KidnappingCrimes Act'.Each state has its own criminal statutes concerning this act, which has beenwidely proclaimed by law enforcement and leading child therapists as childabuse.  However, as much as the fact that we have criminal laws in place,the reality is that they are not enforced. Thus, preventing an abduction fromoccurring is critical.
My dear friend, Carolyn Ann Vlk, who wrote Florida’s ‘Child AbductionPrevention Act’that she and I feverishly worked on that is now law, my co-author of theexpansive resource guide on IPCA titled ‘The World Turned UpsideDown’, andwho in my opinion is one of the most knowledgeable advocates on IPCA commented,“It is a tragedy for targeted parents of child abduction that in too many casesthe abducting parent has a sense of empowerment prior to their criminal actbecause there is a belief in the abductor community that their criminal actwill not go unpunished.  And in spite of a very small number of cases thatget prosecuted, the reality is that many criminal child abductors face noserious concerns. This must end. One of the ways parents can protect themselvesis by requesting legislators to pass child abduction prevention laws the wayPeter Thomas Senese and I did in Florida, and then doing everything possible toensure that the courts enforce these laws. Everything begins with prevention.And parents like myself must be aware of the risk factors of abduction and knowwhat to do if an abduction is underway.”
Ann Marques, who is a highly trained andskilled family law attorney and fierce child advocate who practices family lawin New York State and who was formerly trial litigator for New York’sAdministration of Children’s Services and who serves as a special advisor tothe I CARE Foundation Board of Directors provided insighton IPCA by stating, “International Parental Child Abduction is a malicious,cruel, and inhumane act perpetrated by the ‘taking parent’ to sever therelationship between the ‘left behind’ parent and the child. The abductor usesthe child as a pawn in a vengeful manner, and such an act is a form of childneglect.”
To give you an idea of the magnitudeof the size of this problem, think about 200,000 children – that’s theequivalent of the entire populations of Irvine, California or Spokane, Washington populated solely withinnocent children - disappearing. Gone. Lost forever.
You may be thinking to yourself,well if it is a crime, then I will file a complaint with law enforcement andthe police will go and get my child. Well, you surely are entitled and youshould file a police report, but realistically if you think that your child isgoing to be brought home from another country because of a law enforcementaction in your home state and country, you better think again. Truth is thatthe vast majority of nations will not uphold a pick-up order for parentalabduction because of jurisdictional laws in their own country. Which means anaction in the United Stateswill have very little bearing in Japan,or Brazil, or Saudi Arabia orin essence almost every country you can think of.
So what does a parent who has achild abducted do?
One of the remedies available tothem is to turn to The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects ofInternational Parental Child Abduction which the United States and Canada are signatory members of.The Hague Convention in essence is an international treaty that establishedcivil international court protocols parents who have had their child abductedcan turn to for relief in order to bring their child home.
Perfect, right? Wrong.
New York attorney Joel S. Walter, who is a board member of the I CARE Foundation sated, “The truth is there existmany problems when thinking you can turn to the Hague Convention. The firstissue is that many countries such as those found in Asia, Africa and the Middle East are not members of the convention. So, ifyour child is stolen to Japanfor example, you do not have an international treaty to turn to. And using Japan as an instance, to the best of myknowledge no American child criminally abducted to Japanby the other parent has ever been returned to America by the Japanese government.Another example of this is to assume a child is stolen from Denver,Colorado to Nigeria(this is a recent case), well Nigeriais not a member of the convention. And in Nigeria, mothers have no realrights of custody. So, your ability to reunite with your child is verydifficult.”
Furthermore, countries who aresignatories do not comply with the spirit or intent of the Hague Convention.For example, countries such as Mexico,Brazil, and Germany are,but a few nations that present serious challenges for a parent trying tolegally reunite with their child.
What else could go wrong? Well, I amonly scratching the surface. Remember, a parental child abductor is kidnapper.They purposefully and knowingly kidnapped a child and fled to another countrywhere they sought refuge under another nation's laws. And as I said, men andwomen appear to equally abduct: the abusive act against an innocent child isnot bias to gender.
Adding a serious amount of fuel tothe fire is the fact that in the United States, if your child isinternationally parentally abducted, you, the Chasing Parent, are responsiblefor all financial costs associated with your recovery attempts, meaning you areresponsible for all legal costs, private investigator costs (you may need tofirst find out where your child is), and every other cost you can think of.
Are you starting to becomeoverwhelmed?
Perhaps I should add a little fuelto the fire. Under the Hague Convention’s Article 13, there exists a clausethat creates a loophole for an abductor to legally get away with thekidnapping. In essence, if the abductor can prove that the kidnapping of thechild is in the best interest of the child, the international courts could infact sanction the abduction!
How is this done? That’s easy. Inmost cases, the kidnapper will use the internet to slander and defame thetargeted parent, citing anything and everything you can imagine in order to putthe other parent in a poor light. Defamation and slander and libel acts are theabductors best friend. And sadly, due to federal law, an online post made by athird party does not have to be removed. In fact, there are websites that existsolely for the purpose of allowing slander and defamation. Unfortunately, thetrend for an abductor acting to slander the target is that they use anassortment of social media outlets to do so.
The final impact? The targetedparent is not simply slandered and defamed, but their identity and persona ifstolen, and there is very little you can do about it.
New York State litigator Joel S. Walter, who has represented numeroustargeted parents who have been defamed by their child’s other parent added,“The evil intent of an abducting parent is illustrated by the abductors overallpure intent to destroy the targeted parent’s life. Not only is the abductor notsatisfied in using a child as a pawn for abduction, but the abductor’s truedesire to cause irreparable harm. There is no better way to do that other thansimultaneously stealing a person’s child and stealing their identity. And thatis the reality that parents facing abduction must deal with. Fortunately,states where Peter Thomas Senese worked feverishly to have onlineimpersonation laws passed, such as New York and California criminalize onlineimpersonation. But every other state outside of these two and Texas have not yet formally put specificInternet impersonation laws on their books. It is a serious issue.”
Of course you may be askingyourself, "Why is this occurring at such a large scale?"
There are a few immediate andstraight-forward answers. First, the rise of international child abductions isoccurring because our world is becoming closer together and individuals fromdifferent nations and cultures enter into relationships and eventually havechildren. However, divorce is a reality for all partnership and marriage.
Unfortunately, there are many timeswhen a divorcing or separating parent who was not born in the country where thechild has habitual residence lives decides that they want to return to theircountry of origin. And when they do, they want to take their child with them.Which of course typically does not go over very well with the child's otherparent. And knowing that a court will typically not grant for the parent totake the child abroad if the other parent does not consent, the non-nationalparent will create a scheme to abduct the child.
Another serious problem is that alltoo often a judge and a court possessing a right of local jurisdiction of achild does not realize the true intent of another parent's intent to abduct.Nor does the court realize and understand the complexity of international lawand the reality that once a child is taken abroad, their court's orders meanvery little, if anything at all.
So what can you do if you are aparent who might have some concern about international parental childabduction?
In order to assist you, I have provideda List Of Warning Signs that I urge you to consider later in this article.
The key to protecting your childrenis to educate society of the risks involved. In order to help other parents dojust that, I have created a handful of tools that may be of use. This includescreating the online educational documentary film titled 'Chasing Parents'. Ihave also co-authored the most up-to-date and current resource guide oninternational child abduction titled 'The World Turned Upside Down', and I haverecently published the novel 'Chasing The Cyclone' that I am pleased to saybook critics are speaking very highly of.
Patricia M. Lee, who I consider to be one of theworld’s most skilled international family law attorneys, and who is a SeniorMentor of the United States Department of State’s ‘Hague Convention AttorneyNetwork’ and my fellow Board of Director member of the I CARE Foundation, reminded me of the importance ofour work when she said during in a recent press release, “I had the pleasure ofmeeting Mr. Senese first, not as an acclaimed fiction writer, but as adedicated child advocate helping victimized parents work through the morass offinancial, legal and practical issues in their attempts to reunify with theirchildren. To tell you the truth, I first contacted Mr. Senese while doingresearch for a left behind parent, without even being aware of his otherpublications. Since then, Mr. Senese’s resource guide for child abductionvictims has been wealth of information that I keep on my desktop. When Ilearned of Mr. Senese’s personal experience and trauma which inspired “Chasing the Cyclone,” I was shocked, and simply satdown and cried. Now I understand first hand why he is so committed to helpingothers victimized by child abduction, and works every day to help othervictims. I am humbled by his fierce dedication, and am looking forward to hiscontinued support, and the donation of his funds, time and talents to the ICARE Foundation.”


Here are a few review excerpts forChasing The Cyclone I think may be useful:
Select Reviews of Peter ThomasSenese’s Chasing The Cyclone
The highly influential New YorkJournal of Books said of Chasing The Cyclone, "Chasing The Cyclone is awell-written thriller . . . Senese shares myriad emotions by writing in thefirst-person as he weaves through the action in this suspense-filled story . .. This novel might also be considered a treatise on international childabduction. Cyclone, while full of actual strategies and resources to assistparents in international abductions, is above all else a love story about afather and son ... From Los Angeles, to Canada, to New Zealand, and eventually,Macau, a special administrative region of China, Cyclone is rife withinternational intrigue and suspense. The protagonist, Paul Francesco,orchestrates a master plan that he hopes will reunite him with the love of hislife - his son. Along the way he finds himself swamped in red tape and drenchedin frustration. Filled with a plethora of powerful characters and puzzlingpredicaments and dead ends, the story moves quickly . . . Cyclone will leaveyou informed and satisfied . . . you will be reluctant to put down."

The renowned GuiltyPleasures Book Review, known as one of the nation's top book critic book review sitesby women for women said, "If I had to use one word to describe Chasing theCyclone by Peter Thomas Senese it would be phenomenal. As in remarkable.Extraordinary. I have read many books over the years, for enjoyment, foreducation, because I had to, because I wanted to. I cannot think of any otherbook that comes close to making me feel as I did when I read this book. Ibelieve these feelings will stick with me forever. This story, inspired by horrificevents, is about the love between a father and a son. And that love isbeautiful . . . Mr. Senese's is evidenced by a large number of sworntestimonials by many thankful parents who Mr. Senese has directly helped ineither reuniting with their own child or preventing their child from beinginternationally abducted. Establishing the I CARE Foundation and being closelyinvolved in the rescue attempts of abducted children is but one of the manyimpactful acts of Mr. Senese. Clearly, 'involved' for Mr. Senese meansfinancially, emotionally, legally, and investigative support. His selflessnessis inspiring. He is hope."What has been most satisfying is toknow that Chasing The Cyclone has had a significant impact on the lives of manyother parents. Here is but a very small sample of statements sent to the I CAREFoundation about Chasing The Cyclone . . . yes, we have created a few miracles. Testimonials About Chasing The Cyclone (site administrator has beenprovided with full copies with sworn testimonials )

EP, whose child was abducted to the Ivory Coast eight years ago spoke ofthe miracle Peter Thomas Senese created, “On January 16th, 2012, I receiveda telephone call from Peter Thomas Senese. He said to me that my son was on anairplane 30,000 feet high over Africa and on his way home to the United States .As for Peter Thomas Senese, what can I say about this incredible man who ledthe efforts on all fronts to rescue my son? He asked for nothing other than forme to help others one day when my child was home, he provided financialsupport, emotional support, and all the necessary legal support required. Iwill be forever grateful to Peter Thomas Senese and the I CARE Foundation forthe selfless acts and considerable kindness.”TD, whose child was abducted to Nigerial added of themiracle Peter Thomas Senese also created, “On March 22^nd, 2012 mytoddler son was kidnapped from Colorado to Nigeria. Allappeared hopeless. Nigeriais not a member of nay foreign treaty, there was very little the U.S. government could do to help me in Nigeria. Veryfew children have ever been returned to Americafrom Africa. I eventually contacted PeterThomas Senese, as he is well-respected in the area of IPCA, who told me, “Youneed to be patient, but we will get your son home.” His words were simply notwords. On June 11^th, 2012 at approximately 10:15 p.m. while standinginside the Denver International Airport,I held my son in my arms! My son was back home, in America, just like Mr. Senese saidhe would be.  Peter Thomas Senese has given so much to my family. GodBless you Peter for all you have done for me and my family.”AB said, “Chasing The Cyclone and Peter Thomas Senesehave assisted me and my family significantly in protecting my daughters frombeing parentally abducted to Saudi Arabia, where women like myself have norights. If my children were abducted there, I would never see them again.Today, I sleep a little better due to the incredible efforts of Peter ThomasSenese. Knowing Mr. Senese has helped ensure my children’s safety and hashelped protect us from Chasing The Cyclone of international child abduction.Along the way, he has never asked for anything.”MR. said, “Unequivocally, Peter Thomas Senese is atremendous person of great honor and integrity, he acts selflessly on behalf ofchildren all across the globe, he is honest, sincere, unbowed, and willing tostand up against those that act against others. My abducted child is cominghome, finally after all these years, in no small way because of the greatassistance I received from Peter Thomas Senese.”TP, a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy(reserve) and a mother said, “Mr. Senese has assisted me during legalproceedings I have initiated in order to prevent my at-risk daughter from beingabducted to Brazil . . . Chasing The Cyclone as a matter-of-fact guide as tothe risk factors that may indicate an abduction and legal steps to take inorder to prevent this from happening. Mr. Senese’s work and network continue toprotect my daughter and other targeted children.”
Warning Signs ofInternational Parental Child Abduction
1. Be aware of thepossibility of any abduction. Although there are no foolproof warning signs forabduction risk, some indicators should not be ignored. Do not stick your headin the sand and pretend that your child is not at risk.
2. The vast majority ofinternational child abductions occur by a parent who is determined to causehardship and harm to the other parent. The instrument that they use in order tocause this harm is the child or children of the marriage. A significant numberof leading therapist and government agencies from around the world have statedin numerous reports that revenge is the primary and leading reason why oneparent will try to end the other parent’s relationship with their own child.Therefore, if you are involved with a person who has jealous or revengefultendencies, you must be aware that these characteristics are common in the vastmajority of would-be parental child abductors.
3. If the issues raisedin Section 2 are true in your situation and your spouse or former spouse has inthe past used the child of your marriage or relationship to cause you harm,pain, and suffering, or, has tried to control and manipulateyour actions, then your concern should be magnified ten-fold. If the sameindividual has family members in another country or has lived in anothercountry and has expressed a desire or threat to move there with your child,your concern should be magnified one-hundred fold.
4. If there is evidenceof previous abductions, disappearances, or threats to abduct the child by yourspouse or ex-spouse, these indicators demonstrate that any new abduction threatis real and in more likelihood already planned.
5. If your spouse orex-spouse has citizenship in another country and strong emotional or culturalties to their country of origin. This is particularly true due to the abilityof traveling on a foreign passport, which I discuss later.
6. Unexplainableremoval of cash deposits and diminished assets, or unexplainable increases incredit card or bank debt.
7. Concealment of newcredit cards or bank debt.8. Concealed, hidden,and abrupt communication with individuals or family members living in a foreigncountry.
9. Concealed, hidden,and abrupt communication with a lawyer.
10. Frequent previoustrips with child to a foreign country without other parent.
11. Family and friendsliving in a foreign country.
12. No strong ties to achild's home state.
13. Strong foreignsupport network.
14. No financial reasonto stay.
15. Possible use of thechild as a pawn in order to gain access to non-joint assets.
16. Engaged in planningactivities such as quitting job; selling home; terminating lease; closing bankaccounts or liquidating assets; hiding or destroying documents; or securing apassport, a birth certificate, or school medical records.
17. A history ofmarital instability, lack of cooperation with the other parent, domesticviolence, or child abuse.
18. An announcement ofan unexpected trip to another country with the child.
19. The taking ofeasily transportable high-valued items such as jewelry upon departing toanother country.
20. Adamant unwillingnessto leave the child behind with you while spouse travels to a foreign country.
21. Shipping ofpersonal items to a foreign country.22. A past tendency ofyour spouse or ex-spouse to relocate and live abroad.
23. In certainjurisdictions – whereas both parents have a joint-right to custody – it isconceivable that a parent possessing a right of custodial authority over thechild (this can be joint or sole custody) can legally remove the child of themarriage/partnership to another country for an undetermined period of time(claiming a holiday or short-term trip) without needing permission or actuallyinforming the other parent if a pre-existing travel agreement is not in placealready with the court. Essentially, a parent exercising their right of custodyover their child can legally remove the child of the marriage/partnershipwithout permission from the other parent if a court order is not issuedpreviously. Not surprisingly, many international parental child abductionsoccur when one parent takes the child of the marriage to another country for analleged short ‘family visit’ – however, in reality that person has no intentionof ever returning with the child to the place of habitual residency. Whattypically happens next in these scenarios is that the abducting parent, unknownto the left behind parent, files for a divorce in the country they haveabducted to. The divorce motion and affidavit filed makes claim to all sorts ofcruel and dangerous behavior against the spouse (thus the reason why they areable to file under an ex parte [without notice] motion). Once the divorce lawsuit is filed, the abducting parent usually will go underground with theassistance of family and/or friends who usually assisted in the planning ofthis act. It is critical to note that deception is a critical element in thesetypical scenarios: the left behind parent is left to believe that their partnerand child are on a short vacation (typically to visit family of the partner) atthe time of their departure. A few days or weeks later, reality sets in witheither a phone call or a letter saying that the partner and child/children arenot returning, and that a divorce action has been filed. So, even if youthink you are happily married, it is greatly advised to have a legally bindingand court registered travel agreement in place prior to either parentexercising a right of custody is granted permission to leave the country withyour child.
24. Trust yourinstincts: if something feels wrong, it probably is. And remember that mostinternational parental child abductions are carefully planned and typicallyinvolve the help of others.

25. BEWARE that the other parent may be trying to prepare an Article 13 Defensewhile remaining in the country prior to abduction. This may include the otherparent filing false police reports or making false claims to social serviceagainst you. REMEMBER that if the international courts have reason to believethat the return of your child may put the child in grave danger, they will notorder for a return to the country of origin under Article 13. The use of falsereporting right prior to international child abduction is a strong indicatorthat abduction is planned.
26. If a parent living as an alien citizen of one country but has limited rootsto that country and is intending to travel with the child abroad, the risks ofan abduction are great. MORESO, if the parent who is planning to depart, say ona few week vacation, does not have the ability to purchase a return ticket backto the child's country of origin and/or does not have employment and/or doesnot have housing, then you can bet that upon departure for the so-called'vacation', that parent is not returning. Remember, Intent and Sustainabilityissues are critical. If a person can't sustain themselves in the country thattheir child was born, and, they have no deep roots, why in the world would theywant to stay?
27. If an alien-parent has deep connections to another country, and has deepconnections to that country's senior government officials, there is a clearrisk. Recently, I have been advising on a situation where the potentialabductor has immediate family members in charge of overseeing a fleet ofaircraft owned by a Middle East family (or youcould say government). Obviously, access to aircraft and departing underimmunity of a foreign government are very concerning.28. If you are thevictim of online slander, defamation, and identity theft, whereas an anonymousor unknown blogger tries to discredit and defame you in a public light, this isa major warning sign. Often, the Internet is used by a parent who is planningon abducting a child under the concealment of anonymity in order to publiclyportray you in an untruthful, but negative light. The reason being that oncethey abduct the child, they will turn to the public statements on the Internetthat maliciously defame you and steal your identity and use this under Article13’s ‘Best Interest of the Child’ defense. Tragically, under U.S. Federal law,so long as a third party posts onto a hosted website, the site administrator isnot required to remove the blog EVEN if it is deemed defamatory, slanderous, ormalicious by a court. So, the slander will stay on the Internet, regardless ofthe legal action you may take. And the abductor, using anonymity, can and oftenwill use various alias names to create a new and unfavorable persona for thetargeted parent. 29. Many abductingparents who have deep connections to another country, for example, such as beingborn in a foreign country and/or having strong family ties will use the idea ofa ‘family vacation’ as a means to abduct a child abroad. In essence, thetargeted parent is not led on to believe that the relationship is broken, andin fact, the intended abductor will go out of the way to portray a solidrelationship in order to have the other partner travel abroad for a ‘familyvisit’. Then, upon arrival to the destination country, the abductor will make aclaim of child abuse or spousal abuse (and it happens equally amongst men andwomen), and seek immediate relief in their country of origin (where they aresupposedly on a vacation seeing family). The relief sought will include arestraining order against the other parent, and immediate separation/divorceproceedings. By stating mistreatment, the abducting parent begins to lay thefoundation for an Article 13 defense. Sadly, in countries that are not membersof the Hague Convention, a child’s return to their country of origin ororiginal jurisdiction seldom occurs. This is true too for Hague participatorycountries, too. And since there was no previous court order issued by a courtwho had jurisdiction of the child prior to the vacation, the abducting parenthas not violated any initial laws. In fact, some of the defenses used byabductors inclusive of false claims of abuse include statements that thetargeted parent was aware of and had consented that the child was going to berelocated to a new country. So, beware of vacations to your spouse’s country oforigin particularly when your child’s other parent has strong ties to thatcountry and is shipping many valuables that were in the household under theguise of that person trying to support and provide assistance to their familyliving abroad.30. A child who has aright to citizenship from another country due to one of its parents being anational of that country has the right to receive a foreign, secondarypassport. In some countries, particularly in the Middle East, the passport for a child possessing a right to citizenshipmay be obtained by only one parent: typically the father. For other countries,only one parent is required to obtain the child’s passport. If you know thatyour child has a secondary passport that has been issued due to the child’s otherparent’s right of citizenship to another country, this is a major concernbecause that passport can be used as the passport for illegal travel. Equallyalarming is that many targeted parents who have a child with a person who has aright to another nation’s citizenship may never know if the other parentobtained a passport from their home country for the child of the relationship.And no U.S.court can take possession of the foreign passport unless an actual crime hasbeen committed. Furthermore, foreign embassies generally will not answer acourt subpoena requesting information about whether that nation has issued apassport for a specific child. They are uncooperative. To put it as simple aspossible: the issuance of a second passport to a child by the abductingparent’s country of origin is the most dangerous and severe warning sign of anintended abduction.In parting I would like to simplysay that of the tens of thousands of parents who are targeted each year to havea child internationally stolen, very few parents thought this crime wouldhappen to their child. So please take the time to consider what I am sharing.
If you would like to help supportthe work of the I CARE Foundation, please consider purchasing any of myinternational thrillers as I will continue to donate 100% of these monies tohelp protect children.
Perhaps the highly respected NewYork City international family law attorney and fellow I CARE Foundation BoardMember Joel S. Walter said it best when he said, “Parentsreally need to understand of the possibility that IPCA is a real threat,particularly in cases where there are multi-cultural relationships or when oneparent has demonstrated enough mental instability that they could conceivablyuse the child of the marriage as a pawn, and disappear to the other side of theworld in order to cause hurt to the other parent. The number of abductionsoccurring and predicted speaks for itself: we have a sizeable pandemic on ourhands mothers and fathers alike need to protect their children. One of the mostimportant tools ever created to educate society of the severity of the problemsat hand that is also of great benefit to targeted parents of abduction is PeterThomas Senese’s Chasing The Cyclone.”
As for Peter, He will continue to do hispart to help other parents and their children at risk of abduction.He says: I am reminded each and everyday just how important my and the I CARE Foundation’s work is.