What is parental kidnapping and how can it be prevented?

Parental kidnapping may sound bizarre but you will be surprised as to how often it actually happens. To begin with, let us concisely define what parental kidnapping is. Parental kidnapping is unlawfully taking custody of your child without the consent of your spouse. This is often followed by fleeing or even leaving the country.

According to a recent study that was conducted in the year 2002 by the Department of Justice, over 200,000 children were kidnapped by either their parent or some other family member. If you are afraid that your spouse may kidnap your child after a heated divorce (or during another time, even when things seemingly calm down) then you need to consult a divorce lawyer right away to understand the magnitude of the situation and bring it under control in a tactful manner.

A divorce attorney will be well versed with behavior shown by a parent prior to kidnapping and will be able to identify and mitigate a potential kidnapping in the most efficient and safe way with the safety of the child as the highest priority.

A Kidnap does not occur without any Warning

As mentioned before, there are some telltale signs that a parent may be preparing to unlawfully retain the custody of a child. As long as you are aware of these signs and know how to keep them in check, you will be able to stop a kidnapping in its tracks. However, if you are oblivious, naïve, and believe that it is too farfetched for something like this to happen to you and your child, then you may just be in for a rude awakening.

In case your spouse violates any terms of the custody as set during the divorce, you should not hesitate to contact your local law enforcement authorities, a divorce lawyer, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited children right away. You can reach the National Center for Missing and Exploited children on 800-843-5678. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has a 24 hour hotline where you are able to report missing or feared missing children.

You may be in the midst of some dark days right now but they can become darker. Just imagine if you lose your child and not just for one week at a time, what if your child is just taken from you and you have no idea where they are at? Nothing is darker than this. You may not be able to predict the future but there are some things you can do to either prevent this from happening or help the police out if the unthinkable does happen. First, you need a divorce lawyer and you can take care of that using this site: http://divorce.usattorneys.com. If it has reached this point then it is time to get someone else involved and start putting pen to paper. 

Preventing a Child Abduction

One of the best ways to keep your child safe and within your custody after a divorce is to retain the services of your divorce attorney for this purpose.

Furthermore, there are a few steps you can take to ensure the certainly of your custody over your child remains. Here are a few salient ideas to keep in mind and some actions to perform:

• Keep a current record of your former spouses contact and personal information. Also maintain contact information of the other parent’s relatives.
•  Have a record of all possible identification information of the other parent such as – identification marks, height, eye color, a current photograph, passport number, and social security number, to name a few. This will help in case your spouse elopes with your child then you will have some information that will be crucial for the cops to track the other parent down with.
• In the same way, also keep a record of details of your child.

If you fear for the safety of your child or need help in protecting your rights, make sure to contact a divorce lawyer today.