Staff Reports
Every year, children are wrongfully removed from or retained outside the U.S. in violation of parental rights. International parental kidnappings of U.S. children have been reported in countries all over the world.
The FBI pursues criminal action in these kidnappings on an individual basis. From 2024 to present, the FBI has worked on 145 IPK cases.
In a May 22 press release, FBI officials interviewed FBI Special Agent Ingrid Arbuthnot-Stohl of FBI Seattle about the FBI’s roles in IPK cases. Learn more about IPK cases in the Q&A below.
Q: What is international parental kidnapping?
A: “International parental kidnapping falls under title 18 U.S.C. 1204, which is the International Parental Kidnapping Crime Act of 1993. It defines a parent or guardian who removes or attempts to remove a child who has not yet reached the age of 16 from the U.S. with the intent to obstruct the parental or custodial rights of another parent or guardian.
Parental rights can include full or partial custody or visitation rights. The punishment for that if you are found guilty would be up to three years in prison and/or a fine.
The act makes exceptions for special circumstances, including a parent and child fleeing domestic violence. It also applies when one parent isn’t able to return the child due to an unforeseen circumstance, such as a flight cancellation or weather delay—and has made reasonable attempts to notify the other parent (or guardian) within 24 hours and then returns the child as soon as possible. These are scenarios that the FBI would look into as an investigative lead, but the case might end up as a civil matter at that point rather than a criminal matter.
An IPK case could arise from a number of different scenarios. It is common for the removal of a child to occur during a heated or emotional marital dispute, in the early stages of separation or divorce, or in the waiting period for a court custody order or agreement.
Other scenarios could include:
A foreign national marries a U.S. citizen and is raising their child in the U.S.—but the rest of their family and support network is still overseas. If the parent taking the child out of country—the taking parent—feels they have more financial and familial support overseas, then they may decide that moving back to that environment is actually what’s best for the child because of their extended network there.
A recently divorced parent who doesn’t have any financial assets of their own might not be able to afford to fight for the custody they want in court, so they decide to leave the country with their child instead.
Sometimes IPKs are motivated by pure spite—treating the child as a commodity in a form of revenge against the other parent.”
To read more of the Q&A, visit gallupsunweekly.com
