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Abstract: 

Undoubtedly, the cruelest form of domestic abuse endured by a women is to have her children abducted by the man who has abused her. One might logically assume that in such cases, the perpetrator and the children are avidly pursued by law enforcement and that the bereft mother has her offspring quickly returned to her. But all too often, such is far from the case. As author Jane Stoever underscores, despite the plethora of laws addressing this crime, a mother whose child has been taken by an abusive father, faces skeptical law enforcement agencies, half of whom report, in one survey, refusing to even take a missing-child report in half of parental abduction cases. The author goes on to examine the many systemic flaws that lead to the deplorable state of affairs facing women whose children have been ripped away from them by their abuser.

Keywords: Child Abduction; Domestic Violence Legal Clinics; Hague Convention and International Child Abduction Remedies Act

Affiliations:  1: University of California, Irvine School of Law.