How do mainstream media cover international child custody disputes?

Do Sacramento mainstream media sources take the side of the mother or the father when covering international child custody court disputes? How do mainstream media cover international court custody battles? Check out the article, Battered Women Take Custody Battles to White House | Womens eNews. In Sacramento, check out the website, Divorce Source - California Divorce.

See the Sacramento region edition of Child Custody: A Practical Guide for Parents. Or check out Win Your Custody Battle (2006). There are mother's and father's versions. The side the media takes, usually in Sacramento, is the side of the parent who has no criminal history of violence toward children and the spouse.

In international custody cases, media reports could be about a father seeking custody of his son taken by his wife to another country or a mother seeking custody of children taken by a father to his country where emphasis might be on the male and his relatives raising the children. Who the media sides with depends upon which parent shows more concern about the welfare, health, and choices of the children.

California Divorce Source is an information resource devoted to making the divorce experience a little easier. On this page you can locate California divorce lawyers, mediators, and other professionals as well as learn about the laws and related family law issues like, child custody, visitation, child support, alimony, and property division. Before you file for a divorce in California, you may want to consider exhausting all options to save your marriage. Check out this excellent book, "How To Stop Your Divorce", which is responsible for saving many marriages over the years. According to its website, "It is easy reading with quick solutions and can be downloaded instantly."

If you want a divorce or separation, did you know you can start your California divorce online? See the website, Start Your California Divorce Online Today. Or check out the site on California Divorce Products. But the main issue here is how the mainstream media in Sacramento covers international custody disputes.

That's when one partner takes the children without permission out of the country, and the other partner can't visit the children. Or another country doesn't recognize US court custody decisions because the child is not considered an American citizen. Sometimes if one of the parents is a citizen of another country. In other cases, custody can only go to the father or any of the father's male relatives.

Also see the sites, Who Gets Custody in California and Can a Custodial Parent Take a Child Out of State? There are many articles on international court custody issues. Check out the site on child abduction. That refers mostly to one parent taking a child without permission and bringing the child (or children) back to the native country of one of the partners.

In Sacramento, you have cases where one partner abducts a child to another country and hides the child. When the other partner wants to visit, the family of the partner with the children won't allow visits, perhaps fearing abduction of the children back to the USA. See the site in the Custody Library, "Divorce Source: Tips to Prevent International Child Abduction."

In 1988, it was estimated that there were 350,000 cases of intra-family kidnapping within the United States. Check out, "United States Department of Justice, Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Throwaway Children in America, First Report: Numbers and Characteristics, National Incident Studies 1990." Also see the site, Crimes Against Children Research Center. Usually, mainstream Sacramento media covers international child custody disputes by going to primary sources.

In the USA in 2002, 797,500 children (younger than 18) were reported missing in a one-year period, resulting in an average of 2,185 children being reported missing each day. Victims of family abductions totaled 203,900 children; non-family abducted victims totaled 58,200, and 11 children were victims of "stereotypical" kidnappings where the crime involves someone the child does not know or an acquaintance who holds the child overnight, transports the child 50 miles or more, kills the child, demands ransom, or intends to keep the child permanently. (National Estimates of Missing Children: An Overview", U.S. Department of Justice, 2002.) See: FAQ: Statistics.

The mainstream media may first trace the ancestry of children and parents in various countries when the children have been taken by one parent to be raised in another country, and the other parent does not see them for decades? Sometimes the adult children will call upon a genealogist to trace the ancestry of the missing parent's ancestors to find out which countries the children belong to in the legal sense as well as the biological roots.

One example that a genealogist is faced with is tracing the ancestors of a parent or grandparent when the child before age 5 has been taken to another country by one of the parents and has not been allowed to see the parent living in the USA until adulthood. The child may not speak English. Genealogists once in a while are faced with tracing ancestors in various cases of child abduction where one parent takes the child to another country, and the other parent is not able or allowed to visit.

Parental international child abduction issues has plagued the State Department for more than 50 years. In some countries, immigrants marrying American women may not inform them that unless they have it stipulated in their marriage contracts, the man at any time can borrow money from the woman's relatives, file a divorce decree and not inform the woman about it, and secretly take the children to be raised by the man's brothers or parents in his native country, even if he's a naturalized American citizen and the woman is an American citizen with parents born in the USA.

It works both ways, wives kidnap kids to foreign countries where the wife is allowed to keep the children without having to return them to the husband in the USA. In one case, a wife takes a child to Austria. See the article, "Without Their Daughters: The outrage of child abduction and U.S." And husbands kidnap children to foreign countries where custody of children go to the husband or his male relatives. See, "U.S. Department of State: Marriage to Saudis :: Middle East Quarterly."

The State Dept. has thousands of cases on files of children, usually toddlers and preschool age children being taken to countries that have do not respect US court custody papers. There's no way the women can get their children back. Usually the children grow up in the foreign country, with all its customs, and return to the American mother to meet her and sometimes ask her for money for college tuition.

Sometimes the husband serves divorce papers on the woman, then says the divorce is canceled. But when the woman doesn't show up in court, thinking the divorce is canceled, the husband wins the divorce by default, or based on just the interlocutory papers, but not the final divorce papers, takes the children out of the country.

In the meantime, he can return without the children to work or live with his other relatives, but the wife will never know. She'll still think he's overseas with his kids. But the kids may be dumped on his male relatives to raise or his parents.

After a few months, he leaves the household taking all the money in the joint bank account and the children. He sells the house and takes the money with him when he leaves. The woman is often left without any money and without the house. This scenario is a familiar one to the State Dept. with all those cases on file, and the children growing up overseas, forgetting their language or culture that they knew when their parents were married.

This can happen both ways. The woman also can take children to a foreign country. Usually, the woman takes the children to Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, or Brazil. But the male's usual destination is to the Middle East or Pakistan.

The parent's idea is to take the kids to a country that does not have an agreement with the US to return children. Also, when the husband gets a divorce he doesn't tell his wife about, the husband holds the papers. The wife wakes up one morning to find all the money taken from the joint bank account, the children gone overseas, and the house sold.

She is left penniless, homeless, and has no idea where her children are. The husband has gone back to his native country, frequently after he has borrowed money from her siblings or parents to open a business or to pay his mortgage. Instead, he takes the children and uses the money to go back to his home country to open a business there.

This scenario is familiar to authorities. The woman has given up her career or never had one after college, staying home to raise her children. The husband often sells his business or quits his job and leaves the country with all her money, any money borrowed from her family, and the children after he sells the home and takes out the equity. Usually, if she sees her children again, its when they're adults.

The wife had no idea what to put in the marriage contract that's respected in the man's country. A legal, civil or religious marriage in the USA doesn't hold up overseas in his country, and neither do court custody orders. Too often since the woman was not informed of the divorce court date and doesn't show up, the children are awarded to the man by default, since her husband told her the original divorce filing at the interlocuctory stage was canceled.

The husband spends a few months reconciling with his wife, taking her on vacations, renewing their marriage (but not in court filings) but she never knows his plan to get custody by default. The plan is that she doesn't know about the divorce never being canceled and never shows up in court. Another scenario is that he promises her the house in exchange for custody of the children. This scenario is done if the woman is housebound with agoraphobia and can't hold a job outside the home to support the children.

Women, beware of the man who files for a divorce days after getting a residency card to work in the US. Instead of looking for a job, or failing to find one, he returns to his own country with the children and the money from the sale of the house, business, or from taking all the cash out of the joint bank account. Keep your own account in your own name. This familiar scenario happens again and again if it's going to happen in the first place. It's outlined in the psychological parenting book, Why We Never Give Up Our Need For A Perfect Mother: Trapped At Home By Anxiety And Panic? ISBN: 0595434029.

On another note and another topic very different, yet related to the lifestyles of the wives of political figures in the Middle East meeting American women in the diplomatic world, a fascinating set of six uTube videos is worth checking out. See the six uTube videos of book author, Deborah Kalafani.

Associations Where Parents Can Get Help

So many hundreds of thousands of cases are piled up in the State Dept. over the last 40 years on ex-partner or ex-spouse parental abductions of children from the USA to the foreign partner's home country or relatives, that numerous support groups and clubs have been opened for parents whose children have been abducted by the estranged or ex-spouse and taken to the home country or country of ancestry of one of the partners.

In a uTube video, President Obama addresses the Brazilian international child custody dispute between two dads, one American and one Brazilian battling legally over the son of the biological father's deceased ex-wife. Should the boy go to the biological father in America or remain with his step dad and maternal grandma in Brazil?

One of the groups is called Preventing International Parental Child Abduction. For the Latest News on International Abduction Issues. Also see the postings and/or publications of P.A.R.E.N.T. News (Parents Advocating for Recovery through Education by Networking Together). It's your international news source on international child abduction issues.

P.A.R.E.N.T. will once again sponsor the international abduction conference in D.C. in 2010. All parents, and family members of abducted children are invited. Parents of abducted children do not pay any registration fee. This is a private conference and anyone wishing to attend must complete a registration form, regardless. Admission is dependent on confirmation and acceptance of registration from P.A.R.E.N.T. Jan. 2010.

The sponsor for P.A.R.E.N.T. International is Dabbagh & Associates. Join Advocates Against Abduction On Facebook. Take the Parental Abduction Quiz. Or view the website of Dabbagh and Associates, Professional Expert Services. Licensed, certified, and insured. Cross Border Mediation, Expert Testimony, Case Support, International Services.

Were you abducted as a child by one of your parents or other relatives? Read "Throwing Stones" by Ken Connelly. Preventing International Child Abduction. P.I.P.C.A. stands for: Preventing International Parental Child Abduction. Prevention Resources. Founded by Teresa Lauderdale. See the website, PIPCA.

P.I.P.C.A. Provides support and Advocacy services free of charge to parents fearful that their child may be abducted across international borders. Teresa co-authored the Texas Abduction Prevention Law, is a mediator, formerly employed by the State Department, world traveled, and She is a parent working to prevent her children from being abducted.To contact P.I.P.C.A. go to: the website: PIPCA. Join abduction prevention and/or help groups online. Check out the names in question at: Facebook, Linkedin, and MySpace.

*Be aware that your posts may be monitored by mercenaries seeking clients to offer their services. If you're are contacted by a mercenary, recovery agent or anyone advertising recovery services online, in direct conflict with the U.S. Department of State warning to parents, report them immediately. Submit Your News to the P.I.C.A. site.

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What You Can Do

The State Department has thousands of cases on file of children that have been kidnapped by a non-custodial parent and hidden overseas for a potential time frame until the child's adulthood and total immersion into the non-custodial parent's culture in the other country. Usually, but not always, it's a country where children automatically are awarded to the father or male relatives. Or it's a country where if a child is with the mother, the father has no rights to extradite the child.

It all depends on the laws of the other country, not on US court custody papers. But there's something you can do to prevent your child from being reared overseas while you're in your home country. It's not about father's or mother's rights, it's about parents being kept from living near their children.

For the custodial parent who has received custody from a US court, it's an uphill battle. Here's how to take steps to prevent your child from being taken overseas without your permission or the steps you might take to get your child back.

You've received sole custody orders from a U.S. court, and you think your divorce heartache is over. One day during a visitation your ex?husband knocks you unconscious and snatches your child.

The next thing you know is your child is missing overseas and isn't coming back. The foreign court doesn't obey U.S. custody court orders. In your ex?spouse's country, he and his children are considered foreign nationals, even though your child was born in the U.S. And the foreign court's legal system always awards a child in a divorce case to the father or his family.

Over 300,000 children have been abducted since the sixties by a parent, and more than 6,000 have disappeared in foreign countries, some for more than 20 years without correspondence with the American parent. What strategies can you take to prevent your ex?spouse or partner from taking your child overseas permanently? As I wrote in my 1999 article, here are the 21 steps to take that are still the way to go.

1. Obtain a Federal UFAP Warrant when you file felony charges. Ask your prosecutor to apply for a federal Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution warrant.

2. Find out whether your ex?partner is traveling on a U.S. or a foreign passport. If your ex?spouse carries a U.S. passport, ask the Office of Passport Services of the U.S. Dept. of State to revoke your ex?spouse's U.S. passport.

3. If your ex?partner's traveling with his/her foreign passport or is a dual national, you'll have to approach the foreign consulate or embassy. They may not honor U.S. court custody orders or obey any U.S. court orders involving their own nationals. It depends on the country.

4. Once your ex?spouse's U.S. passport is revoked, he or she becomes an undocumented alien in a foreign nation. The foreign government may soon deport or contact an undocumented alien.

5. If you can't get a UFAP warrant, you can have your ex?partner's passport revoked if the holder of the passport is subject to a criminal court order, condition of probation, or parole. All these conditions forbid departure from the U.S. If your partner's in violation, he or she could be subject to a provision of the Fugitive Felon Act.

6. Visit the Immigration and Naturalization Department (INS). If your ex?spouse returns to the U.S. leaving the children abroad for his/her parents to raise in the foreign culture, have an officer from the INS access computers at border checkpoints with the national Crime Information Center (NCIC) Wanted Person File. You may write to INS at 425 I St., NW, Washington, DC 20536. Ask the INS whether the circumstances under which your ex?spouses "green card" (now rose in color) or work permit may be revoked or suspended apply to the abductor.

7. If you can get a state or federal felony warrant, which is entered into the NCIC, the INS could be asked to arrest the abductor parent when he or she returns to the U.S. Ask your police investigator to enter the abducting parent's name into the INS "Lookout Book."

8. Pursue international extradition. If state felony charges were issued against your ex?partner, ask your local prosecutor to extradite. Your local prosecuting attorney may call or write to the U.S. Dept. of Justice, Criminal Division, Office Of International Affairs, 1400 New York Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20030, (202)786?3505. A renegotiation of criminal extradition treaties between the U.S. and United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada included parental abduction as an internationally extraditable crime.

9. After you extradite your partner, be aware he or she may still keep the children in hiding with relatives or friends in the foreign country.

10. INTERPOL your ex. After you've lodged criminal charges against your ex?spouse, ask your police department to request help from INTERPOL by contacting the National Center. Ask the police to request liason services from the Technical Analyst. Ask the investigating officer to contact INTERPOL directly at INTERPOL, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, DC 20530, (202) 272?8383.

11. Use the U.S. Customs Service's computer system. It's linked with the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) Wanted Persons File at Customs Service checkpoints at U.S. airports and borders.

Ask the customs official to run a "random sample" check on a few Americans returning from foreign travel. If you have a state or federal felony warrant that's in the NCIC Wanted Person File, the abductor has a chance of being arrested if he or she reaches U.S. customs at an airport or border.

12. Contact the Office of Citizens Consular Services, U.S. Department of State, Room 4817, Washington, D.C. 20520 or call (202) 647?3666. If you have an after?hours emergency, call them at (202) 647?5225. Have all paperwork in front of you regarding identification of the abductor and your children.

13. If your child's health or welfare is endangered in the foreign country, contact the International Social Services Organization, 20 W. 40th St., New York, NY 10018, (212) 398?9142. 14. Entry and residence records are always kept by foreign countries. If you're stranded looking for your children abroad, go to the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate. They may be able to provide you with enough money to travel home or U.S. passports for your children, if your ex has obtained foreign passports for them, but you now have legal custody in the U.S.

15. Trace your ex?partner's financial sources. Money must come from somewhere to support your children. Look into the proceeds of bank accounts, loans, credit cards, and the assets of the abductor's foreign family who may be supporting your children.

Contact the motor vehicle bureau in the U.S. and in the foreign country where your spouse may have family. How did your ex?spouse leave the U.S.? Check the airlines, car rental firms, and other transportation sources. Talk to customs agents. Look at phone bills and mail covers. Where are the utility bills going? Which health department inoculated your children for foreign travel? What address was given on your children's vaccination records?

16. File a court action for your children's return. Find an attorney familiar with the Hague Convention. It's an international treaty that governs the return of internationally abducted children. The U.S. ratified the treaty in 1988. Only Australia, Canada, France, Hungary, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the U.S. participate in the Hague convention.

17. Call the Citizens Consular Services or the Center for Missing and Exploited Children for an update on which countries are now adhering to the treaty that honors U.S. court custody orders to return abducted children to the custodial parent.

18. Obtain a list of international attorneys specializing in international child abduction custody disputes from the Office of Citizens Consular Services, at the U.S. Department of State. These lawyers speak English.

Contact the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, U.S. Chapter, 727 Atlantic Ave., Boston, MA. Ask for a lawyer referral list of specialists in international child custody and abduction cases.

Also write to the Family Law Division of the International Bar Association, c/o 6950 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22213. Write to the Legal Defense Counsel, 111 15th St., Philadelphia, PA 19102. Ask for guidelines and a list of referrals to foreign lawyers specializing in your needs who speak English and take American clients. If you travel to the foreign country where you believe your children are being held hostage by a noncustodial parent, visit the legal bar associations in that country.

19. You may have to sue your ex-spouse in a foreign court. To have your American custody order recognized in a foreign court, it helps to learn about comity. The word refers to a process in which the courts of different countries recognize another country's orders. Comity is voluntary and requires reciprocity.

Your attorney should be familiar with comity and check Article 23 of the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act. This act requires foreign custody orders to be honored by American courts.

Learn to make decisions under stress by focusing on your most important strategies. Make lists. Keep diaries. Plan schedules. Stay organized and decisive.

20. If you ex-spouse has gone to a foreign court and obtained foreign court orders granting him or her sole custody in the foreign country, then the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act requires your ex-spouse's foreign custody orders to be honored in an American court when your ex-spouse returns to the U.S.