New York State Missing and Exploited Children Clearinghouse

"All 50 States and the District of Columbia currently have missing children’s clearinghouses, which are established by executive order or legislative mandate. Setting up clearinghouses has proved less difficult than providing them with adequate funding to carry out their tasks. Some States have failed to appropriate resources for maintaining their clearinghouses, which then have become merely mailing addresses for individuals seeking information on missing children.

The New York State Missing and Exploited Children Clearinghouse was established in 1987 to carry out many diverse activities relating to missing and exploited children. It has a long track record of good work and sufficient funding. Because of New York’s major international airports and proximity to Canada, the State’s clearinghouse sees many cases of international parental abduction.

New York’s statutes relating to criminal custodial interference do not cover precustodial abductions and treat postcustodial abductions as a felony only if a child has been taken out of State. Perhaps especially in States with statutes similar to New York’s, clearinghouses can play an important and active role in resolving these difficultcases."

http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/190105.pdf

The Legal Work

In the United States and 50 other convention, there is an international treay called the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Internantional Child Abduction. This treaty means that all and any memeber of this treaty will "provide an expeditious method to return a child taken from one member nation to another".

Although some countries have other agreements concerning abduction in addition to The Hague Convention, the United States doesn't. If a child is abducted to a country that is not a party to the Hague Convention or if the child was abducted before the country became a party, then the Hague Convention does not apply.

Parents Abducting Their children

Many children who are abducted to other countries by parents are never returned to the United States. When a parent is left behind after a child has been abducted to another country faces terrible obstacles to finding and recovering the child.

A Parents who abducts their child to other countries are not that different from parents who abduct their children to other States. They often have young children. They usually have support from family or other individuals for what they are doing. They usually have a bad relationship with the other parent, and may have bad feelings about their relationship with the child. Some are convinced that their actions are justified because they believe they rescued their child from the hands of an abusive parent.

Many of the parents feel isolation from American society, and separation and divorce have increased their sense of hostility. Some are running away from domestic violence, while others are controlling and abusive themselves.

Austrilian Child Abduction

Child abduction can happen anywhere, at anyplace, and anytime. Children are being aducted all over the world, in Africa, North America, South America, Central America, even in Austrailia. Every year jus about 170 child abudction cases filed to police.

Alot of these cases are of parents who have abducted their child. "The ISS network comes into contact with an increasing number of cases, due predominantly to more family breakdown and the ease of international travel. The Federal Attorney-General’s Department has recently provided seed funding to enable ISS to undertake a short term research project into International Child Abduction with a central aim of identifying appropriate support models."
http://www.international-divorce.com/australia_child_abduction.htm

For further information about child abduction in Australia, including the Convention, state/territory legislation, general information and useful links can be found at the Attorney-General’s website, child abduction section - http://www.ag.gov.au/agd/www/childabduction.nsf.

Etan Patz

The morning of May 25, 1979, a terrible lose was bestowed upon the family and parents of Etan Patz. Etan's mother was attending a daycare center for young children in her home, so she allowed her son Etan to walk to the bus stop on his owe. This was the first time Patz's parents allowed him to walk to the bus stop alone. Patz was carrying a dollar for a soft drink, and a blue cloth bag imprinted with elephants at the time of his disappearance. His mother watched him out the window until he crossed Wooster Street, a few yards from the bus stop.

The Patz's didn't realize anything was wrong until little Etan Patz never showed up home at 3:15. They then called the school to find out why he hadn't arrived home, only to find out that Etan never even made it to school. His teacher had realized that he was absent but didn't notify the principal (He probably thought he was at home). Etan's parent then immediately called the police.

It was said that Etan's alleged murderer was a pedophile named Jose Antonio Ramos known for assaulting young boys. Neighbors said that they had seen him standing outside around the area of which the Patz lived. Ramos was also dating a former babysitter that the Patz had hired to watch after Etan, who he had been stalking.

The Facts

According to statistics, most children are abducted by being lured into vehicles. It is said that since 1982 the amount of missing children has increased to 44%, about half were 4 to 11 years old, and the others were 12 or older. 74% of the children abducted were girls.

According to an article dated September 9, 2002 in the Miami Herald, National Center for Missing Exploited & Exploited Children, reports 3,000 to 5,000 child abduction statistics by non-family members each year, most of which are sexually motivated cases. About 200 to 300 cases are serious enough to involve murder or ransom.

To find out about the sexual predetors in your are follow the link below:
http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/cac/states.htm

It is every parent's worst nightmare. It could occur in your front yard, in front of the school, in your house, in a store, or anywhere. Just imagine you're in your favorite department store not but a mile away from your home and you lose sight of your child.

Many kidnappings that have happened around the United States mainly connect with children wanting to leave with a stranger even though they know that it is wrong.

How is it that adults are capable of luring children into coming with them even though they are complete strangers? Do not parents teach their kids not to go with strangers and if it does happen that they should scream for help? Sure, yet children still willingly go with strangers. But not all children are willing to go with their abductors, some children are forced.