Parental child abduction is a tragedy that has long-term consequences for both the child and the left-behind parent. When a child is abducted across international borders, the difficulties are compounded for everyone involved.
Difficulties for Left-Behind Parents
For left-behind parents, the trauma begins when they return home to find that the other parent has left and taken the children, or when they allow the children to travel abroad to visit the other parent, only to find that they do not return. Left-behind parents encounter substantial psychological, emotional, and financial problems. They may be paralyzed by helplessness and the sense that they have no idea where to start in the process of recovering their child. When the child has been abducted across international borders, the left-behind parent may face unfamiliar legal, cultural, and linguistic barriers.
Left-behind parents experience a wide range of emotions including betrayal, the loss of their child and/or their marriage, anger against the other parent, anxiety, sleeplessness, and severe depression.
Finding Support
Although international parental child abduction has far-reaching consequences, its significance is not widely understood. Left-behind parents may have difficulty finding the support that they need and getting legal assistance.
Respond to Abduction: Step 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 | Step 4 | Step 5