Canadian and American Problems Protecting Children From International Parental Child Abduction

Due to the adjacent border shared between the United States and Canada, There Are Significant Problems Protecting Children From International Parental Child Abduction.

This past weekend, a widely publicized international parental child abduction case that originated in the United States and ended in Canada exemplified some of the serious challenges parents in both countries face dealing with abduction.

The case of a Longmont, Colorado mother who was assaulted this past Saturday by her separated husband after he broke into her home, where he is alleged to have pepper-sprayed her before using a stun gun on her before he kidnapped their three-year old child to Canada despite an Amber Alert being issued for the abducted child is hopeful that she will be reunited with her son over the coming days.  The child's father was arrested in Manitoba, Canada on Sunday, and thankfully, the child has been reported to be doing okay. 

Brandy Turner Holding Her Son Luke Prior To Abduction

The abduction of Luke Turner and his abducting father, Monty Ray Turner's ability to remove the child out of the United States and enter Canada despite an Amber Alert presents a dire concern international parental child abduction prevention advocates have been voicing for some time: the ease of which children are able to be illegally removed from both the United States' as well as Canada's borders due to existing border control policies and abduction prevention laws.  

As the school summer vacation months approach, it is anticipated that the majority of criminal international parental child abductions will take place. How to prevent these kidnappings is at the core of concern for tens of thousands of abduction prevention stakeholders, including targeted parents of abduction, law enforcement, courts of local jurisdiction, and respective government agencies around the world charged with protecting children.
 

According to the Longmont Daily Times-Call, the defenseless child's mother, Brandy Turner told police she stepped outside her home to smoke a cigarette and saw her husband in the backyard as Luke was having breakfast, Mrs. Turner, who had a restraining order issued against her husband, said she went inside, closed and locked the door, and tried to call 911, but Monty Turner forced his way inside and threw the phone to the floor. During a scuffle, Mr. Turner used pepper spray, shooting it into her face before she felt an electric shock, which she believes to be from a stun gun, she told the newspaper.
 

After snatching the child, Mr. Turner drove 1,500 kilometers east, leaving Colorado and entering Canada at some point while driving across the northern plains shared between the United States and Canada.
 

 

Brandy Turner told The Associated Press on Monday that she had spoken with Luke on the phone and he knows he’s coming home. She said she couldn’t travel to Canada to get him because she has no passport. The child is presently under the supervision of Canada's Child and Family Services. 
 

Failure Of The Amber Alert

The Canadian Border Services Agency is presently investigating how the child was able to enter Canada despite an Amber Alert issuance. 
 

How Monty Ray Turner Entered Canada Despite An
Amber Alert Is Unknown At This Time

Immediate concerns on how Mr. Turner was able to leave the United States and enter Canada include that somehow someone at the Canadian border dropped the ball, and did not carefully check for any Amber Alerts on the child and father. In addition, there is a possibility that Mr. Turner bypassed a border crossing all together and entered Canada by taking back roads that connect the two countries.
 

The CBSA is reviewing how Turner was able to get into the country with his son after an Amber Alert was issued.


Chris Dzikowicz, the head of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection sai, "The Amber Alert was issued in a state that wasn't a border state. I think the story may have been very different if it had been a border state where they would have been inclined to alert the border immediately," she said.

Longmont Det. Cmdr. Jeff Satur said, "The Amber Alert, when we issued it, initially concentrated on the surrounding states of Colorado, which would have been Nebraska, Utah, Kansas, New Mexico, Arizona. And then we also entered an Amber Alert in Missouri because our initial information was that he was heading toward Missouri.  We did not have any information that he was heading to Canada. That is something else that we are looking into because the boy's mother was not aware and did not authorize any passports."

Even without a passport, abducted children have been known to be taken across the Canada–U-S border.

According to the CBSA, to legally take a child under 18 across the international border, the parent needs a signed letter from the other parent.

But Dzikowicz said parents sometimes aren't asked to present notarized letters if the border guards don't see anything suspicious.

In the world of international parental child abduction, an abductor may initially enter into an adjacent country that shares a border with the child's country of habitual residency due to ease of departure, only to use the first landing country as a launching point to disappear with the child to another country and into a sea of seven billion faces. It is presently unknown if Mr. Turner was intending to leave Canada for another country. Nevertheless, one thing appears clear: the abductor seemingly knew where he was going, which means he may have previously canvassed an exit route out of the United States traveling along the remote northern plains that have limited border security.


Targeted parents around the world who have their children abducted often do not reunite with their children.  Rarely, are abducting parents prosecuted, as courts often fail to hold accountable an abductor for their act of kidnapping, often wrongfully citing 'best interest of the child'. 

However, recently, parental child abductors are starting to be held accountable, which may be one of the reasons why the reported cases of outbound international parental child abduction originating from the United States has declined by 15% over the each of the last two fiscal years (2011 and 2012) after nearly 30 years of continued growth. It should be noted with great exception that Canada has failed to publicly report the number of Canadian children abducted from Canada since 2008. 

Monty Ray Turner and Luke Turner

Monty Ray Turner was arrested Sunday afternoon without incident at the Casablanca Motor Inn in Brandon after law enforcement authorities were able to quickly locate him after he used a credit card to check into the hotel. If he did not use the credit card, it would have been more difficult to locate him and the child. 
 

The boy’s grandfather, Ronald Turner, 72, was pulled over in Missouri on Sunday on a warrant for second-degree kidnapping. He was driving a vehicle with a licence plate number listed on an Amber Alert that had been issued after Luke was taken.

A Looming Cloud

As prosecutors in the state of Colorado are working to take custody of Monty Ray Turner, 51, who was being held on numerous charges, including kidnapping, a looming cloud covers Canada, the United States, Mexico, and island-nations located in the Caribbean due to existing international travel document requirements for minors under 16 years old need to cross a border that were established under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI). Specifically, a child traveling by land or by sea across adjacent borders who is under 16 years of age does not need to present a passport at the time of deparute. Instead, all that is required is a photocopy of the child's naturalization papers, such as a photo copy of a birth certificate. 

Peter Thomas Senese's Critically
Acclaimed Novel On International
Parental Child Abduction
CHASING THE CYCLONE

The presentation of fraudulent documents at border points has long existed and is well illustrated in the publication of Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) Land and Sea Final Rule" that was released March 27, 2008 by the Department of Homeland Security. It was reported that CBP officers had intercepted over 129,000 fraudulent documents since January 2005 from individuals trying to cross the border over an approximate 3 ½ year period. This is a substantial number; however, we must ask ourselves how many fraudulent documents were never uncovered and successfully used, and how has this impacted international parental child abduction and human trafficking.

It should be of great concern that the ability to falsify travel documentation for children is appears to be relatively easy. The capability to easily present travel documentation without another parent's consent or to falsify travel documents for children in cases where a passport is not required appears relatively easy. The fact that simply a birth certificate or worse, a “copy” of a birth certificate and a letter of permission with no documentation to verify its validity, is sufficient to cross international borders is a serious security concern. And although it is is required that a parent or guardian traveling with the child without the other parent possess a letter of consent from the absent parent(s) we must strongly consider that there is no way to verify the validity of a parental consent letter.

Under the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, the WHTI was designed to strengthen border security and is a joint Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of State (DOS) plan that is carried out in part by the U.S. Customs Border Protection Agency (CBP). The intent of the initiative is to further protect and strengthen our nation’s borders by requiring all travelers to and from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda to present a WHTI compliant document that establishes identity and citizenship.


So where do we go from here?


Clearly, the summer seaon is upon us, and with the school summer break now here, this is a time of year when thousands of children living in North America will become crime victims of abduction. 


As the Turner case unfolds, we must not only ask ourselves how did Mr. Turner exit the United States despite an Amber Watch, but how did he do this.  Furthermore, as the Watkins case resoundly demonstrated, not only should there be a mandatory requirement for all individuals regardless of age and type of travel (land, sea, or air) to present a valid passport at the time of departure.  Note how I said 'Valid Passport'? 


Clearly, children like Luke Turner and every other child deserve to be safe from kidnapping. 

                                       The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative 

                                    And International Parental Child Abduction 

 

How Are Children Internationally Abducted By Their Parent

Which leads us to the question, "How Are Children Illegally Abducted Into And Out Of The United States or Canada?"

Security flaws that can lead to our children becoming victimized include, but are not limited to the following:

1.     Failures by courts and judges to properly assess abduction risk and attach court orders that would preempt international child stealing; and,

2.     Failure to create or uphold present child abduction prevention laws or other laws created to protect our children’s safety; and,

3.     Identity and travel documentation fraud; and,

4.     A lack of uniform requirements for travel documentation when departing or entering the U.S.; and,

5.     The ability under present law to easily illegally transport children under age 16 across borders during land and sea travel; and,

6.     Human error during verification of travel documents by CBP at a point-of-entry or departure; and,

7.     Failures by law enforcement to act expeditiously to a potential abduction threat; and,

8.     Inefficient communication and data sharing between government agencies responsible to assist in preventing or resolving an international child abduction case; and,

9.     The deficiency by our federal government to create and interlink a children's travel alert, travel restriction data base consisting of real-time family court decisions at the state level with all U.S. border control agencies and transport companies similar to capabilities available through the Prevent Departure Program; and,

The I CARE Foundation

10. A lack of or outdated or underutilized state or federal laws and programs that fail to prevent the abduction of a child and in fact may enable an abduction to occur.

For more information about international parental child abduction please visit The I CARE Foundation or Chasing The Cyclone.  

For more information about international parental child abduction in Canada, please visit I CHAPEAU. 

 

Peter Thomas Senese's Documentary On Child Abduction To Show Incredible Child Rescue Footage

Last night I was working on the documentary film 150,000 Internationally Kidnapped Children when I began to nostalgically think about the past few years that I have spent as an activist voluntarily providing resources and time to help fight international parental child abduciton and human trafficking. 

 

What I realized most was that in the face of the dark clouds of international parental child abduction that exist in the United States, Canada and abroad, the light of hope has begun to make its way through the darkness. 

A few significant events come to mind.

Immediately, I think about how a grassroots effort led by caring parents, including some of the most prolific parenting blog writers, has raised awareness of child abduction warning signs, risks, and necessary actions an at-risk parent can take if they believe their child is targeted for abduction.  There is no question that these incredible social media savvy writers have made a giant difference in the fight to protect children.

As some of you may know, a little over a month ago a large number of young girls who were previously enslaved into the sex world of human trafficking in Central America were rescued, freed, reunited with their families, and are presently receiving the necessary care that one day make them whole again.  Obviously, there are no words that can ever express the horror these children faced; however, the road they will journey on will be one filled with the support and care they need so that God willing, they will find the magic that does exist in life.

With respect to these young children, heavy consideration has been put into whether the film footage that was taken during their recovery should be used in the film '150,000 Internationally Kidnapped Children' due to the severity of what they had to endure, amongst other considerations.  This was not an easy issue to wrestle with; however, after speaking at length with numerous advocates, many who are highly informative freedom fighters, we have decided to include the majority of the film footage in the feature documentary as the film coverage included some incredible, intense, spirited, and provocative film important to share with the world.  There is no question that the world really needs to know what goes on first-hand in the world of child trafficking - the brutality of it - and why we must do what is necessary to stop it. In case you are wondering, the film will be extremely conscious and respectful of each child and their family's privacy, safety, and road to recovery.  We will never show a child's face nor identify who they are or where they are from. What the viewer will see is the actual planning and eventual rescues that took place.

Obviously, it is not easy to celebrate the rescue of any child who is trafficked because they should have never been kidnapped to begin with.  Yes, there is a silver lining that has come from their rescue outside of the incredible act that each child is safe and free, and that is that a monstrous network was smashed.  That is not to say that another network of traffickers will not emerge, but those individuals who 'ran' young girls from country to country in Central America will never be able to touch another child. Thus, many other children who may have been preyed upon by these monsters will never be touched by them. And fortunately, law enforcement has increased their efforts in light of what occurred to destroy any other networks that exist.

God willing, inclusion of these events in '150,000 Internationally Kidnapped Children' will keep pressure on the international community to continue strong efforts to protect young children, mostly young girls in Central and South America (and boys in China), when the full details of what occurred and what occurs is shared. On this note, there are no words that can ever express the gratitude of the heroic efforts put forth by some of the most amazing men and women I know who acted with sheer heroism to rescue these children nor the physicians and support teams who continue to provide critical care to them.  You are all what is right about this world.

On a separate note, I am thrilled to share that reported cases of international parental child abduction has declined in the United States by 15%. from 2011 to 2012.  This is tremendous news, particularly since there was a previous 15% decline in reported IPCA cases from 2010 to 2011.  After 30 years of sustained increased of reported cases of international parental child abduction in the United States, we are moving in the right direction - but make no mistake, no child should ever be abducted, and every kidnapped child must be brought home!

Kind regards to all,

Peter Thomas Senese
Founding Director
The I CARE Foundation
Author
Chasing The Cyclone

Father Of Three Internationally Abducted Children Illegally Taken To Japan Inspires Parents Everywhere According To The I CARE Foundation

Bruce Gherbetti, a Canadian father of three young daughters who were internationally abducted and taken to Japan's radioactive infested Fukushima Prefecture, has worked tirelessly in order to reunite with his long-lost children despite Japan's archaic family law policy.

New York, New York (PRWEB) November 09, 2011

Bruce Gherbetti, a loving father living in Vancouver with his three children when they were targets of international parental child abduction to Japan has inspired parents around the world by his unbowed acts and unconditional love and devotion to reunite with his children, who were illegally abducted from Canada and taken to Japan by the children's mother according to individuals at the I CARE Foundation.


Similiar to the United States, international parental child abduction is a crime in Canada.


According to court papers filed with the Vancouver, British Columbia Supreme Court (FP20097642) it took Mr. Gherbetti nearly 23 months to find and then travel from Vancouver to Japan's Fukushima Prefecture, where remarkably, he was able to locate and reunite with his three young children who previously were illegally removed from Canada in September, 2009. In the absence of his children, Mr. Gherbetti lived a life of great pain and worry: the Fukushima Prefecture is a small town located approximately 30 miles away from Fukushima Dai-ichi, Japan's tsunami-maligned 'Nuclear Power Plant Number One' located in the disaster stricken towns of Okuma and Futaba. On March 11th, 2011, after an earthquake categorized as a 9.0Mw caused the creation of a deadly Tsunami, with waves reaching over 14 meters high, Japan and its citizens quickly went from a country straddled with the crisis caused by the earthquake and tsunami, to inevitably, a country that will be long-scarred due to the nuclear disasters that ensued.


Despite the hardships that Bruce Gherbetti had had to endure, which include the pain of not knowing where his children were or when he would see them again, the father of three traveled down every possible road until that road lead him to the Fukushima Prefecture, and into the loving arms of his three daughters. Unfortunately for Mr. Gherbetti, a reunification with his children was not what the children's abducting mother had in mind, and if fact, "she wanted to erase Canada from the children's memories."


Mr. Gherbetti reunification with his daughter may appear to be short-lived; however, for the hundreds of thousands of parents around the world familiar with the criminal act of international parental child abduction, Bruce Gherbetti tremendous effort to let his children know he loves them and desires to be a part of their life has provided hope and inspiration for targeted parents of abduction everywhere. Mr. Gherbetti commented, "My children, Rion, Lauren and Julia are delightful, precious and very dear to me. I was a loving father who was involved in every aspect of their upbringing until they were so unjustly internationally abducted to Japan. They need to know that I am alive, that I love them, and that I want to be with them. I don't know what they have been told. I don't know what they believe or what they know at this point. I just want to arrive and give them the opportunity to see that I am here and to be a part of their life. In coming to Japan, I am fighting for my children's human rights. Rion, Lauren, and Julia have a fundamental human right to see and know their father and their grandmother, their uncles and aunts, and their cousins in Canada. And it is my intent to ensure that Japan allows for this to happen."


Mr. Gherbetti's first reunion with his children lasted only 30 minutes and occurred when his former spouse was not home: the children were being watched by their Japanese grandmother.


Since this time, Mr. Gherbetti has stayed in Japan, where he intends to do everything legally possible to see and be a part of his daughters' lives, while also being proactive in changing Japan's incomprehensive laws that essentially make it near-impossible for one of the parents of divorce (typically the father) from enjoying any rights of custody or access to their children.


Mr. Gherbetti realizes that what he is fighting for is his children's rights to know and receive the love of both of their parents. "None of this is about me, this is about my children," he says. "I feel what she has done is essentially denied them knowing half of who they are. It is not fair - it is simply not fair."


Peter Thomas Senese, a child abduction prevention advocate and a father who successfully reunited with his abducted child in accordance to the Hague Courts commented, "Bruce Gherbetti has empowered and inspired so many individuals within the parental child abduction community through act. Once his plans were secure, this loving father, who lives for his children, made a careful plan - including making sure his children knew he was alive and that he loved them - and left his home of Canada, ready and willing to start a new life in a foreign country so that he could be in his children's lives. When considering the political and legal atmosphere for Bruce in Japan, his willingness to endure whatever he must in order to be in his daughters' lives tells a story of remarkable love. A love I hope one day soon his children will embrace."


Bruce Gherbetti commented, "I know what it is to struggle without a father - to make your way in this life without the competence and guidance of a father. It made me realize that if I am ever in the position where I have children, I just want to emulate what he was able to give me. He was a very good man - a good father."


Japan is a country that has never returned one American or Canadian child-citizen back to the child's country of original jurisdiction and is known to be non-cooperative to alienated parents seeking to reunite with their abducted children. In fact, Japan is the only G-7 member nation that has not signed the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction which was established to protect the rights of defenseless children who have been internationally abducted by returning them to the country of original jurisdiction. Recently, Japan has made a commitment to ratify the Hague Convention; however no time-table has been established, nor will Japan's anticipated signature allow for past abduction cases to be retroactively aligned with the treaty's provisions.


"I think there is a cultural issue at play here," he says. "When the marriage fails, as far as I understand it, in Japan, traditionally access and contact with the left-behind parent is viewed as an inconvenience. It is so completely different from our Western philosophies - that children have the right to know both their parents, a right to know their whole family."


At the time of his children's abduction, Mr. Gherbetti sought assistance from the Canadian government. Mr. Gherbetti commented, "The Canadian government, though well intentioned, is unwilling to press these issues with the government of Japan, preferring instead to try to improve trade volume between Canada and Japan and not jeopardize it by demanding that Japan live up to its treaty obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which they ratified on March 22, 1994 and Canada has also ratified."


Joel S. Walter, a father and attorney practicing international family law in New York City commented, "Mr. Gherbetti's decision to travel to Japan, where it is my understanding, he intends to stay so that his children will know his love speaks admirably of the man Bruce obviously is. His interests are directed toward his children. He clearly wants what is best for them, and that clearly is having such a loving and devoted father in their life. And undeniably, as a parent myself, when I come to learn of the dedication of men like Bruce, it inspires me to be the best parent I can be, too."


Eric Kalmus, Co-founder of the Japan Children's Rights Network stated, "Mr. Gherbetti's children are at the mercy of a court system that does not involve trained psychologists, nor consider the possibity of child abuse by a Japanese parent when rendering decisions. It is apparent that the love he shares with those girls has not, and will not be shattered by Japans lack of proper children's rights protection. Japan must make swift change to their antiquated family law system so that loving families like the Gherbetti's are not ripped apart by the abuse of parental abduction."


Bruce Gherbetti stated, "Japan needs to change domestic law in order to have a joint custody system post separation and divorce. Japan must sign the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction in its present form without amendment and comply with the spirit and intent of the convention. Japan must resolve all outstanding cases of international child abduction as they have said they will not make their accession to The Hague Convention retroactive. Lastly, Japan must ensure to enforce the new domestic law as currently police will not get involved in parental abductions claiming that they are 'family matters'."