INTERNATIONAL ABDUCTION
What to do when your child is missing!

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!!!! ...This is very important...
You are the vital link to your child. You are the one who can motivate others to look for your child. You must take care of yourself so you can have the strength to search for your child. Please... eat well, sleep, keep in contact with family and friends, find a way to relax and exercise. Don't feel guilty about doing any of these things. You need to hold on to your sanity and stay healthy and strong for the day your child returns home.

"All of us, at certain moments of our lives, need to take advice and to receive help from other people."
Alexis Carrel

These pages are filled with many suggestions for the search for your child. Since each case is different, some of the information may not apply to your situation. Use whatever you can and please call us for further assistance—we are here to help!!
Get help from a Team HOPE volunteer. Call us toll free at 1-866-305-HOPE

1. Contact your local police department to report your child missing

• File a Missing Persons Report on the abducted child.
• Ask the police to enter your child’s information into the FBI’s National Crime Information Center computer (“NCIC”).
• Provide a complete description of your child, birth certificate and photos.
• Ask for a copy of the missing person report and the NCIC record number.

According to Federal law, the police are obligated to take the missing persons report and enter the information into the NCIC without a waiting period:
The National Child Search Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. 5779 (1990) prohibits all law enforcement agencies in the country from establishing waiting periods before accepting a missing child report without regard to the child’s custodial status, and requires immediate entry of each report into the state law enforcement system and the NCIC.

The Missing Children Act, 28 U.S.C. 534 (1982) authorizes the entry of descriptions of missing children into the National Crime Information Center computer and directs the FBI to make theses entries if local law enforcement fails to do so.

If the police do not file the report or make the entry into the NCIC database, contact your state clearinghouse for assistance or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (“NCMEC”) 1-800-TheLost.

2. Contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

Report your child missing to the toll-free hotline of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children “NCMEC” (800-THE-LOST or 800-843-5678).
NCMEC’s mission is to resolve the crisis of international missing children through prevention and recovery by creative, proactive, consistent and compassionate interaction with parents and all interested parties.
Tell the hotline operator your case is or may be an international abduction. They will send you forms to complete, in order to expedite, request that they fax the forms to you. Once they have the completed forms and a picture of your child and abductor (if there is a warrant) NCMEC will create a flyer and also post it on their website.

Ask to have photographs of your child and the abductor sent immediately to airports, border crossings and other countries, if appropriate.

Request free publications including NCMEC’s booklet Family Abduction.
These publications are also available on their website: http://www.missingkids.com

3. Contact the Department of State, Office of Children’s Issues.

• Ask the Department of State, Office of Children’s Issues to request that the foreign government intercept the child upon his or her arrival into the destination country with the abductor. Telephone: 202-736-7000 http://travel.state.gov/children's_issues.html
• Find out if The Hague Convention remedy is available in your case. A list of countries party to The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction is available online at the Department of State’s Web site at http://travel.state.gov
• If the Hague Convention applies, ask the Office of Children’s Issues to assist you in filing an Application for Assistance for the prompt return of your child. Information on the Hague Convention can be found on the Web site for the Hague Conference on Private International Law at http://www.hcch.net
• If the Hague Convention does not apply, ask the Office of Children’s Issues to attempt to locate, visit and report on the child’s welfare through the Embassy and Consulate abroad.
• Ask to have your child entered into the Children’s Passport Issuance Alert Program. Find out if a passport has been issued to your child. If you have custody, put a hold on issuance of a U.S. passport. 202-955-0232
• If you do not already have a passport, apply for one immediately just in case you need to travel abroad.

4. Contact a lawyer

• Seek the assistance of an attorney. If you do not have an attorney, obtain a recommendation from your State Missing Children Clearinghouse, local non-profit missing children’s organization, AMECO (The Association of Missing & Exploited Children’s Organization), Local and State Bar Association and/or The American Bar Association, Section of Family Law at (312) 988-5603.
• File for legal custody of your child in the state that has jurisdiction consistent with the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act (PKPA), 28 U.S.C. 1738A
• Ask the lawyer to seek subpoenas for bank and telephone records of the abductor, and ask the court to request the Federal Parent Locator Service to search its computer files for address information on the abductor. This is authorized in the PKPA, 42 U.S.C. 653-655, 663.
• Consider a tort suit for damages stemming from the wrongful removal, retention or concealment of a child.
• Consider the possibility of seeking criminal charges against the abductor in accordance with the International Parental Kidnapping Crime Act of 1993 (IPKA) (18 U.S.C. 1204). The U.S. Attorney’s office has authority to charge a crime under this statute.

5. Contact the nearest FBI Field Office

Because the FBI has no investigative jurisdiction outside the United States, assistance in locating missing children in other countries is limited to liaison with foreign law enforcement authorities, the FBI’s Legal Attaché program and Interpol. Any criminal investigation is centered on the abductor. If the child is located in the course of the investigation, the agent may notify the searching parent so that the parent can take steps to recover the child. The telephone number should be in the front of your local telephone book.

6. Ask local law enforcement or the FBI to contact INTERPOL

INTERPOL provides a global communications network to enable police around the world to coordinate international criminal investigations. In the U.S., the responsibility for missing persons and parental kidnapping cases lies with the Alien/Fugitive Enforcement Division, U.S. National Central Bureau (USNCB).

• Request law enforcement to contact USNCB either directly or indirectly through the NCMEC which acts as liaison with USNCB-INTERPOL in cases involving missing children. It is noteworthy that USNCB does not act upon parents’ request.
• Request the issuance of Red and Yellow Notices to locate the abductor and the child.

7. Contact the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in the foreign country

• Notify the U.S. Embassy personnel in the foreign country into which the child has been abducted of the situation and ask if they can help.
• If the abductor is a national of that country, ask if the abductor’s passport can be revoked.
• Telephone numbers are available on the Department of State’s Web site. http://usembassy.state.gov

8. Contact your Congressman and Senators

• Notify your Congressman and Senators of the abduction.
• Contact members of the House Committee on International Relations. The Web site is http://www.house.gov/international_relations/
• Contact members of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
  The Web site is http://foreign.senate.gov
• Request Congressional assistance and support on the national level and to ask the U.S. government to apply pressure on the foreign country into which the child was abducted to cooperate in this matter.

9. Contact the Media

• Inform local, state, national and international media of the abduction.
• Request newspaper and magazine publications and television coverage.
• Ask for support from the media to raise awareness of the abduction specifically and the subject of international child abduction generally.

10. Contact Team H.O.P.E

Team HOPE (Help Offering Parents Empowerment) is a national support network that can match left-behind parents with parent volunteers who have experienced an abduction in their family and who have been trained to provide support and assistance.

• Call Team HOPE and ask for a referral to a parent whose child has been abducted to the same country as yours. Find out how that parent went about finding his or her child and ask for suggestions from that parent mentor about what to do.
• The toll free telephone number is 866-305-4673.

11. Continue to work on your case on your own

• Contact your child’s school and advise them of the abduction.
• Contact your child’s physicians and advise them of the abduction.
• Contact the Bureau of Vital Statistics and put a hold on your child’s birth certificate.
• Talk to friends and relatives of the abductor who may have information about your child’s location.
• Contact nonprofit missing children organizations and your State missing children clearinghouse for advice. (See the resource page for contact information)
• Stay in regular contact with authorities.
• Maintain accurate records. Keep a journal and document activities and contacts.

12. Take Care of Yourself

• Take one day at a time.
• Eat well, sleep, exercise, and seek counseling.
• Further your faith and keep hope in your heart.
• Write about your experience and keep a journal.
• Ask for help from friends, family and Team HOPE

We realize that this is very overwhelming for you. We know. We’ve gone through this agonizing process. Please call us toll free at 1-866-305-HOPE. You will be matched to a volunteer who will help you through this process and give you more suggestions on what to do when your child is missing.

Special thanks to Tom Sylvester, Team HOPE volunteer and left behind father, for his valuable assistance in creating the International Abduction pages. Please visit his website to read his story about his missing daughter, Carina. www.carinasdad.com