In the last posting titled Parents of Abducted Children are Frustrated with the Gov't, Want Change, we mentioned the frustration felt by parents who have raised the concern that the government has failed to give priority to the problem of international parental child abduction involved in a growing number of child custody cases.

The State Department handles the hundreds of open cases that have been filed, 300 cases since 1994 that involve over 400 children are cases that involve the non-signatories to the Hague Convention, Japan and India. The Department has increased the staff members that handle the cases from 18 to 65 people in the past three years, but advocates say that is not enough. One New Jersey Congressman has stepped up to advocate for a bill that would create a separate Office on International Child Abductions within the State Department.

The bill advocated for by Representative Chris Smith of New Jersey would not only create an office with the single focus on international child abduction cases and increased resources, but the bill would also toughen the United State's approach to the problem. It would also help create a mechanism for imposing sanctions on countries like Japan and India who do not cooperate with the cases.

"We need the full weight of the federal government behind each and every one of these left-behind parents," the Congressman said when speaking about the bill. "My bill doesn't guarantee success, but it guarantees their cases will not be ignored... We're not going to quit until it's law."

Source: MSNBC "Japan, India pressed to curb child abductions" David Crary 12/6/10