The holiday season sees a sharp rise in the number of parental abductions in Australia. With emotions running high between separated and divorced parents during the Christmas/New Year period, a small number of parents will take the drastic step of abducting their own children. Most of these children are eventually recovered, but a small number of parents will experience the agony of never seeing their children again.
According to an article published today by the Daily Telegraph one single father’s group has actually advised their members that due to court closures over the Christmas/New Year period, now would be the ideal time to abduct a child from a custodial parent. Although the article did not name the group, there are several men’s groups in Australia who have deliberately flouted Family Court rulings in the past. However, it must be acknowledged that almost half of all parental abductions are perpetrated by women.
HUKO International advises parents to be alert to the threat of parental child abduction over the holiday period. Statisically, half of all threatened parental child abductions are acted upon, with children aged between 2 and 11 making up the bulk of those affected. HUKO International assists those whose children have been abducted by the other parent. You can contact HUKO via their website.
This is an issue close to my heart. I personally experienced the agony of parental child abduction back in November 1992. My youngest son was taken by force from my arms when he was just 13 months old. My then estranged husband (now ex-husband) and his parents were British citizens and I knew they wanted to return to England. So my greatest fear was that they would take my young son overseas. Because his father and I had recently separated and there weren’t any custody orders in place at the time, I was told by both the Local Court and the Police that there was nothing they could do. Thankfully, his father did return about a week later, but for that period of time I didn’t know whether I would ever see my child again.
I cannot adequately describe in words just how it feels to be the parent left behind when your child is abducted. What I can tell you is that the incident did leave a permanent emotional scar on both myself and my older child who was only 4½ at the time. I thank God my youngest child was too young to remember the incident.
Statistics of Parental Child Abduction
- Every year 650+ children are abducted by a parent or other family member in Australia.
- 15% of abductions involve the use of physical force or violence.
- 75-85% involve interstate transportation of the child.
- 50% involve failure of a parent to return a child/children after an authorised visit or stay.
- 25% occur before the relationship between the parents ends.
- 50% occur more than 2 years after the relationship between the parents has ended.
- Most (but not all) abductors have a history of violent behaviour, substance abuse, or emotional disturbance. 46% abductors have a criminal record.
source: HUKO International
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i thank you for having this information available a now very good friend and close women sent this to me my now ex partner and i had been together for 3years and he didn’t help raise our son Brandon a much as he should have or financially whilst living in our home not helping with bills etc i have a son with global development delay by a different man he is 5years old and Tim never has really accepted him i got sick of him not putting us first and gave him the choice to get his act together or go back home especially with a baby on the way due on the 17\19 he was acting and saying nasty things and i had enough he left and was going to work out his finances with in the month he only came around 3 times 1 of those visits cause i nagged that he needed to spend time with us and i called a lot and sent msgs to tell him how boys were and find out were i stood he messaged couple of times asking to have Brandon overnight i didn’t feel comfortable and was hurt he refused to stay with us basically Christmas night after him arguing with me to have him i let him have him overnight and basically from there his mum dropped me and Ashley home i just burst out crying and she said he will be fine and joked as we were going over the bumps if we keep going back over these bumps you will have the baby we hope i felt uneasy and just wanted to get him back i felt alone as she dropped me off and drove away and that was the last i heard and saw my son i have tried to call and msg and the reply i got is i don’t trust Ashley and think its safer he stays with me and that he was sick of the msgs and would only respond if i was having the baby and needed help i fretted ive been his main carer and no matter how many times i begged by msgs how he was and to return him i got nothing apart from his sister calling me to stop msging their mother and let Tim have time and that he does things for a reason and not to exclude him from this baby and asking how would i cope with three children and his mother and sister were not getting involved but would help Tim. i said no i will fight and she hung up and it was hard how many times i called police but due to their being no orders they wouldn’t get involved and everything was shut but i was very fortunate to talk to a legal advise line and i have finally got a solicitor and Tim refused to return Brandon he is 2yrs old on the 19th February and he said his sister got him the paper work and they will take it to court so i got a barrister and we went to court on the 8th and i was able to get him back and we have another court date on the 11feb so he has time to bring evidence and he can respond to being served and i can get more together orders are that he return brandon that day at 7pm but his sister brought him back at 8:03pm with her mum in the car she grabbed brandon and came to the door and knocked and handed him and walked off and drove off not saying a word but he as a once off got him monday12th at 10am till tuesday13th 5pm and every wednesday at 5:30 till 7:30 that day and every friday at 5pm till 5pm sunday im so scared with this baby due what is their next move i am hoping to get a custody order to protect me and the baby from having this happen again in the order whilst i have the baby that he or his family bring brandon in to see me i feel so cheated i ohnestly thought he was going to get his act together and wnted us to share the joy of the birth and seeing if its a boy or girl but am being cheated out of this and cant trust him or his family its sad i tried to have him spend time with the boys and me knowing it wasnt fair that he only came for his things despite the names calling me a whore and to go dieit was as if he hated me i needed him emotionally and the boys needed that time but im still in shock and have had a lot of stress and am having to endure a lot to come i have begged the baby to stay inside till we get brandon back and our lives are not hectic would love to hear from you and let you know how valuable this site is and comforting it is that im not alone THANK YOU
If you are currently experiencing the loss of a child or children through parental child abduction, I pray you and your children will be reunited soon.