RIGHTS-BRITAIN: Child Abduction By Parents On The Increase

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Glen Munro

Sep 27 2002 (IPS) - In Britain the tragedy of child abduction has reared its ugly head again, following the recent discovery of the remains of schoolgirl Milly Dowler.

But a facet of child abduction which rarely ignites the imagination and outrage of the general public is when a parent abducts a child and flees from its homeland.

Yet according to statistics released by the Reunite International Child Abduction Centre, a charity that provides support to parents who have had a child abducted, such incidents are on the increase.

Over the last few years, for example, Reunite has recorded a 107 per cent increase of cases reported to their advice line. In 2001, in the United Kingdom alone, 275 new cases of abduction were reported involving 395 children.

Tamiko Hibbert is a victim. The last time she saw her only son, Aaron Hamilton, was six months ago, in April 2002.

As was customary at the time her son spent the weekend with his father, who had been granted visiting rights following the break-up of their turbulent nine-year relationship and a settlement in court.

This was no ordinary weekend, however, and Tamiko had little inkling that her ex-husband was planning to abduct her one and a half year old son. Her voice trembling with emotion, she recalls the sequence of events that lead to the loss of Aaron.

“Marcus had the baby on the Saturday as normal, but this time he called me on the Sunday to say that Aaron was sick and had to be brought to the hospital. He promised he would return him home as soon as he was well. But I remember him saying that he was going to be the responsible parent. I was suspicious and said that Aaron was with me all week and I hadn’t noticed he had shown signs of being unwell. Shortly after our discussion I decided to call his home, but he wasn’t there.”

Over the next few days Tamiko recalls how she pleaded with the police to take her concerns seriously, but discovered they merely dismissed the incident as a “little domestic”. In the meantime she contacted Aaron’s father on numerous occasions on his mobile phone, who promised to return her son home, but never did.

Recalling her experiences over the last six months Tamiko admits her life has been shattered by the experience. “I would never have dreamed this would happen to me,” she says, her voice racked with emotion. “I have found it very difficult to cope, but try my best to keep on top of things. The experience has been draining.”

Denise Carter OBE, Director of Reunite believes there are numerous reasons why parental abductions of children is a growing trend: “International travel has made the world a much smaller place and as a result there are a greater number of cross-cultural partnerships than ever before; when a relationship goes wrong a partner may want a child to be raised in a different country. This coupled with the rising divorce rate has caused a rapid increase of this problem.”

To stem the disturbing trend Reunite has recently launched a National Awareness Campaign on the Prevention of International Parental Child Abduction, in Britain. The initiative entitled, Keep Open a Window of Hope, is supported and funded by The Lord Chancellors Department in London and will ensure parents are provided with specialist information so they are aware of how to combat this growing problem.

As part of the initiative Reunite will be providing a Child Abduction Prevention Pack as well as launching a poster campaign, within schools, Citizens Advice Bureaus, courts, libraries and various voluntary agencies.

“The campaign will be crucial in helping to stem the tide of child abductions by parents,” believes Denise Carter. “Only by focusing the public’s attention on prevention can we stifle the heartache that many children and parents are currently experiencing.”

Among the practical suggestions that are included in the pack are recording a description of the child and possible abductor, possessing photographs of both parties, fingerprints and photocopies of the child’s birth certificate.

Sharon Graves whose son was abducted six years ago believes the prevention pack will be vital in helping parents who suddenly discover their child has been taken.

“The prevention pack gave me focus and a plan of action during a very stressful time in my life. Without it I wouldn’t have been able to remember details of my ex-husband, such as his friends’ addresses. This was vital in helping me find my son, when he was taken to America. I cannot stress the importance of prevention.”

Reunite accepts that when a child is taken to a country that is not part of the Hague Convention, there is less of a likely-hood that investigations will be successful.

“It depends on the country the child has been abducted to and circumstances of the case. On the whole countries that are members of The Hague Convention successfully help to return abducted children, through the court system. The difficulty is dealing with countries outside this arrangement, because there is no mechanism to appeal directly to the courts through civil law.”

To overcome this challenge Reunite has made efforts to forge international links. For example in January of this year 16 Southern African delegates, representing eight of the Southern African Development Communities (SADC) and Uganda travelled to London to participate in a training and awareness week.

The aim of the training was for the delegation, which included members of the judiciary and government officials, to experience at a practical level, how The Hague Convention is operated from a UK perspective and how UK agencies involved in international parental child abduction work. The training also enabled UK agencies to understand better the problems faced within Southern African States.

“Forging links with agencies abroad is very important,” admits Denise. “Without international assistance we are not going to stem this problem.”

Since it’s inception in 1980 The Hague Convention on Child Abduction has made it unlawful for any parent to remove or retain children from their country of residence without the knowledge and consent of the other.

If children are removed, the abandoned parent can apply to the High Court to ensure their prompt return to the country they’ve been abducted from. The Convention doesn’t dictate which parent should get custody, but makes sure that legal battles take place in the country where the children were living at the time of the break-up.