International Child Abduction in Japan - Profile of Parental Child Abduction

Profile of Parental Child Abduction

An analysis of 99 global cases of international child abduction conducted by International Social Services, a Geneva-based International NGO which specializes in international parental abduction, during the 1970s indicated that 79 sets of parents were from different birth countries and cultural difference between the partners was one of the main elements in the cases. Moreover, the majority (80 cases) of abductor were fathers. In these cases three reasons were often given as the reason for the abduction:

• a wish to control the cultural upbringing of the child (often expressed by abducting fathers)
• a fear of loss of the relationship with the child
• frustration in relation to the arrangement of residence and contact (custody and visitation in U.S.)

By 1990, of the 1,080 applications for the Hague Convention reveal, 70% of abductors were women and the most common reason for these abduction were claims, substantiated or not, that they were fleeing from domestic violence. International Social Services lists following motives in their report for parental abduction.

• a deep sense of unfairness felt by one parent in relation to the contact (visitation) arrangement
• hostility between the former or estranged parents resulting in a desire for revenge against the other parent
• domestic violence
• fear of the other parent
• the inability of the parents to communicate
• the proprietarial nature of some parents' relationships with their children