What is the International Parental Kidnapping Act?

Child custody disputes can cross all boundaries, whether city, county, state, or national. Child custody cases can become not only international disputes, but can also become a criminal matter, from Amber Alerts to Elián González and the Goldmans and Brazil-style ‘Causa Célebre Internacional’.

Once a court has made a child custody determination, there are usually two parties, the custodial parent and the non-custodial parent. The custodial parent is the person who has more of the child in their care more than 50% of the time. The non-custodial parent has ‘visitation’ or ‘co-parenting time’ with the child.

The division of time and sharing the child can be emotionally draining and often lead to disputes and sometimes people take matters into their own hands and withhold the child from the other parent or worse , move without a court order.

Moving and retaining the child can be both a civil issue and a criminal issue. Civil courts can penalize wrongful withholding by changing custody percentages and arrangements.

When custody violations become criminal, it has been a federal issue since 1993 when the United States Congress dealt with international child abductions. Passed the International Parental Kidnapping Act (IPKA), 18 USC §1204. The Act imposes criminal penalties on parents who illegally abduct children.

The IPKA is a criminal statute, which is different from the international child abduction and the Recovery Act (ICARA), which provides civil remedies for a parent whose custody of the children is being wrongfully terminated by the other parent.

It is a federal crime for a parent to wrongfully take or retain a child outside of the United States. There are three defenses to the offense 1) the defendant was awarded custody or visitation under the UCCJEA, 2) the defendant is fleeing domestic violence, and 3) the defendant was unable to return a child to the custodial parent due to circumstances beyond their control. check.