Dear President Bush,

Thank you for supporting the “Amber Alert” program. Just the thought of a child being taken away from their family, home, friends and everything they know and love is terrifying. Given the relatively random nature of “Stranger Abductions” The Amber Alert is a good start.
However, there is another group of children far larger, which our government is not helping. In fact our government’s actions are encouraging the abuse of these children. Over 500,000 children are abducted every year in the United States alone. Approximately 100 of those are “Stranger Abductions” who are never returned to there home. Of the other 500,000 approximately 98% are returned safely home. This sounds comforting until you consider that 2% of 500,000 equals 10,000 children that never get returned to their families and homes. The majority of these children are victims of International abduction. In many cases the Location of the child is know by the foreign officials. Often the foreign courts will recognize the abductions as illegal. Yet these children remain captive in these countries, forbidden to visit America or their American families.
How can your administration classify interstate child abduction as a federal offence and then tell American parents that international child abduction is a “Personal Problem” as the State Department calls it. As long as selfish parents know they can ignore American courts and receive total protection from foreign governments the number of children suffering will only increase. God gave us two parents, no one should be allowed to deny that to a child and we must stand against this forcefully. How much money and effort does our government spend on copyright enforcement abroad? Our children should receive at least receive the same protection as a can of cola.
When American takes this tragedy seriously the rest of the world will to and you will see the difference very quickly. Below is a list of a few steps your administration could take to reduce Child Abduction.

1) Prohibit the issuance any new residence or work or student visas to nationals from all countries, which prohibit an American parent from bringing their child to the United States for a visit. If the foreign courts require a guarantee of the child’s return after the visit order the State Department to provide this guarantee.

2) In accordance with both the letter and spirit of the congressional reporting requirements, submit a complete and accurate annual State Department report to Congress (cleared by NCMEC) on foreign-government compliance with the Hague child-abduction convention on the number of abducted American children who actually return home, and on foreign-government that support child-abduction. 3) Prohibit the use by NCMEC of U.S. government funds to assist foreign governments and parents of non-compliant states, and shift the funding to assisting left-behind parents.

4) Require the State Department to negotiate bilateral child access and visitation agreements when foreign courts refuse to order visitation, which allows for natural interaction. Supervised and or restricted visitation only aids the abducting parent to alienate the American parent from the child.

5) Require the State Department to include information on each country's child-custody and visitation systems, including enforcement measures (if any) in the children's rights section of the annual human-rights reports.

6) Prohibit the State Department from negotiating reciprocal child-support agreements (under P.L. 104-193, Section 459A) with the worst offending countries. Ensure that such agreements with any country exclude all cases where there has been a violation of U.S. law or court orders, a violation of the Hague Convention or denial of substantial access/visitation for the American parent.

7) Prohibit the extradition of U.S. citizens for any reason other than murder to countries that do not apply the Hague Convention properly and consistently do not return American children.

8) Create an exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act permitting American parents to sue any foreign government for damages in U.S. district courts, if that government is directly supporting or otherwise participating in criminal activity against them (i.e., abduction and retention of their American children).

9) Prohibit new law-enforcement treaties or agreements with governments that support abduction and retention of American children.


Thank you for helping to bring attention to Child Abduction. Once the governments and courts of the world stop supporting selfish parents in their abuse, “Parental Abduction” should not be any more common than "Stranger Abductions". Why wait until it strikes your family or friends??
- Witness of Parental Child Abduction 2000-????

They came for the Communists, and I didn't object
For I wasn't a Communist;
They came for the Socialists, and I didn't object
For I wasn't a Socialist;
They came for the labor leaders, and I didn't object
For I wasn't a labor leader;
They came for the Jews, and I didn't object
For I wasn't a Jew;
Then they came for me,
And there was no one left to object.
- Martin Niemoller, German Protestant Pastor, 1892-1984