AST August 2018 Magazine Aug 2018 Final (8.14.18) | Page 35

CONTACT
LAW ENFORCEMENT:
Volume 26
• Contact law enforcement immediately and inform
them of any court orders and the potential for
international parental child abduction.
• Request that law enforcement enter information
about your child as missing person in the National
Crime Information Center (NCIC) as soon as possi-
ble, so that your state’s troopers or highway patrol
can widen the search for your child.
• When working with any law enforcement official
ask for the officer’s full name, e-mail, fax number,
direct phone number, a dispatch line with 24 hour
coverage, and backup officer.
CONTACT AIRPORT POLICE AND THE
AIRLINES:
If Your Child Has Been August
Abducted
2018 Edition
Overseas, We Can:
• Give you information about various resources that
may assist you in pursuing the return of, or access
to, your child,
• Provide you with a list of attorneys in the country
where your child is located,
• Answer questions from local and federal law en-
forcement about the Department’s role in interna-
tional parental child abduction cases, and
• If your child has been abducted to or retained in
a country that is a Convention partner country, re-
gardless of you or your child’s citizenship or legal
status, forward a completed Convention applica-
tion, and monitor the case throughout the foreign
administrative and legal processes.
If Your Child Has Been Abducted Over-
• Contact the airlines and airport law enforcement
that is stationed at the departing airport, if known. seas, We Cannot:
• Because the United States has no exit controls,
• Provide you with legal advice, recommend a spe-
abductions can only be prevented if the appro-
cific course of action, or represent you in court,
priate authorities at ports of exit are made aware
• Guarantee the return of, or access to, your child,
of courts orders that
prohibit travel prior to
departure.
• When contacting air-
lines, ask to speak with
an airline corporate
security officer, explain
the situation, be ready
to prove you have a
parental relationship
to the child, and ask if
there is a reservation
under your child’s
name.
• This can help mobilize
efforts to stop child
33
abductions.