Peter Thomas Senese: The I CARE Foundation's 2013 Strategic Goals To Fight Child Abduction

The following itemized list are the priorities of the I CARE Foundation as we continue to play our part protecting children and families from international parental child abduction, international child trafficking, and child slavery.

2012 was a very good year for the I CARE Foundation to build upon.  However, the reality is that the fight we fight is similiar to the biblical story of David vs. Goliath. 

Still, where there are hearts of goodness committed to acts of goodness, anything is possible.  This notion is one we believe and is exemplifed by the many miracles that we created this past year - playing key roles in reuniting many kidnapped children.

But the work we need to do . . . we really do believe that if our legislative policy initiatives are passed, we will cripple the mountain of abduction.

The following are the priorities of the I CARE Foundation's outreach and stewardship:


What Needs To Be Done

 

1. Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction inbound member-state signatories need to adhere to the spirit of the international treaty and act to expeditiously decide on litigation concerning the return of the child. The I CARE Foundation will launch a research study on time-related matters connected to international child abduction and use our findings to educate policymakers and administrators around the world.
2. Courts in signatory member-states must act fairly and without bias so the international treaty is upheld. The I CARE Foundation will launch a research study on bias-related matters connected to international child abduction and use our findings to educate policymakers and administrators around the world
3. Judges in courts all over the world who preside over IPCA cases must be well-trained on all matters of IPCA, including the reality that abduction is a severe and abusive crime against a child that enables an abductor to further abuse a child during the time litigation brought by a targeted parent occurs.  Furthermore, courts and their judges must act to counter-balance any stall tactics implemented by an abductor or their legal counsel as such activity is often implemented to strategically financially break the chasing parent due to the extreme cost chasing parents face when trying to reunite with their kidnapped child. Of course, the courts must enforce the universally recognized notion amongst signatory nations that IPCA is extreme abuse, and extreme abuse is not in the best interest of any child. The I CARE Foundation will release our research study on court-education and judge competancy connected to international child abduction and use our findings to educate policymakers and administrators around the world
4. Sanctions by Hague member-nations against non-complying Hague member-nations must simply not be discussed but enacted. The collateral damage of innocent children in lieu of other foreign policy issues should not be acceptable under any circumstance.  The I CARE Foundation will seek to educate lawmakers in the United States about the costs related to collatreal damage, while also creating a grass-roots educational awarenss campaign stating that collateral damage of children due to policy initiatives is not acceptable, particularly when we're talking about over 100,000 American children's lives over the next 10 year.
5. The I CARE Foundation will participate in the production of the upcoming feature documentary film, '150,000 Internationally Kidnapped Children'.
6. New state and federal laws (in Canada, provincial and national laws) geared toward child abduction and child trafficking must be created and upheld by both law enforcement and courts.  This includes the I CARE Foundation's initiatives to have the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative modifed, and, to create a Secondary Prevent Departure Program.  It is the belief of the I CARE Foundation that such initiatives will put a significant stop-gap in abduction.
7. In the United States, the Senate passed SR 543, which resolved that the American government and all agencies charged with a role in preventing or reuniting internationally kidnapped children use all legal remedies available to them under law to help children, including consideration of criminal prosecution of abductors and those who have aided or abetted in a kidnappers activity. It is imperative that individuals who conspire to or actually abduct or aid in an abduction of a child are prosecuted.  The I CARE Foundation will be releasing a study that addresses this matter.
8. IPCA is a criminal act of kidnapping under the International Kidnapping Crimes Act. The act of kidnapping of any form is an inhumane act. Kidnappers who flee to another country must be extradited back to the country where the abduction took place. Thus, it is critical that new agreements are created between many countries that allow for extradition of parents who kidnap, which unfortunately does not exist today.  The I CARE Foundation will work to educate lawmakers and policy administrators about the importance of this issue.
9. Parents everywhere must be aware that IPCA is real, growing, and could potentially impact their lives, particularly in an ever-growing multi-cultural global society where individuals from different nations create relationships that result in the birth of a child, and, the prevalence of divorce in society. Critically, the I CARE Foundation will continue to act as stewards and share the message that IPCA is a real issue that all parents must be aware of.
10. Continued research in the area of IPCA must be conducted.  The I CARE Foundation will continue conducting and publishing an assortment of research in this area.
11. And whenever possible, the I CARE Foundation will attempt to help families in crisis.
12. We will continue to build our attorney network while also continuing our efforts to recruit qualified lawyers to participate in the U.S. Department of State's Hague Attorney Network.
13. We will continue our efforts to share our research on the world stage.
14. We will continue to build strategic NGO partnerships with organizations committed to protecting children and assisting families in crisis.

The I CARE Foundation has come a long way from the seedling of a book - Chasing The Cyclone.  There is a great deal of work to be done, and we are committed to continuing to play our part in assisting families in crisis.  Truth is, child abduction does impact too many lives. 

Our work continues.

And to those of you who have shown your spirited support, we thank you for your kind gestures and words.  They do matter and make a difference in all of our lives.

Kindest regards to all,

Peter Thomas Senese
Founding Director
The I CARE Foundation

Peter Thomas Senese Confirms Production of New Film On Child Abduction and Trafficking

I am very pleased to have announced this week on behalf of my colleagues and fellow child advocates of the I CARE Foundation the upcoming feature documentary filming of 150,000 Internationally Kidnapped Children.

 

The film will focus on the worldwide epidemic of international parental child abduction and the impact this criminal act of kidnapping has on targeted victims. 

 

There is no question we intend to create a very unique film, one that has not been created in this area because up until now, there has been no organization that has unilaterally conducted the extensive type of research on this subject the way the I CARE Foundation has, which will rudder and guide the scope and scale of the film. 

 

In addition to our unique ability to share a true picture of what the barren landscape of child abduction is, we have high expectations for the actual aesthetic production quality of the film as we will be shooting using RED Camera technology, and incorporating a host of special effects and other film making technology intended to give viscosity to the story we will tell.

 

On a personal level, I remain committed to doing all that I can to help society understand the malignant aspects of parental child abduction.  Till this day, one of the most alarming issues I see is just how wide-spread a lack of knowledge exists concerning international child kidnapping, even though each family is only three degrees of separation from knowing someone who has had a child targeted or stolen.  Tragically, by the I CARE Foundation's calculations, roughly 10% of all children internationally abducted only come home.

 

Glaringly - what we fight for - what we really fight for  . . . is to protect child murder and post-abduction suicide by adults who were once child victims.   I know: nobody wants to talk about it, especially since abduction in itself is a severe act of child abuse.  But truth is, filicide and post-abduction suicide are real. 

 

In the case of filicide, parental child murder occurs more often than anyone cares to think.  And I too shudder at such thoughts.  But we're talking about hundreds of child murders in the United States and Canada alone each year.  This is more than concerning.

 

And suicide. 

 

You see, children of abduction, during the 'taking period', which could last a lifetime, essentially have their identity brutally stripped from them.  Their lives of 'Who I Am' not only are denied, but altered into one big lie because of a sociopath abductor's need to rationalize their criminal act to the child, nearly always using parental alienation and isolation tactics into creating a demonizing myth about the targeted parent. In the end, the guilt, anger, and acknowledgement of a life of lies become overwhelming, and sadly, there is no place to go.  Suicide.

 

With hundreds of thousands of children around the world targeted for abduction each year, each nation needs new laws.  In order to have new laws created that will be impactful, correct data must be shared, thus the need for research on a host of critical topics.  The I CARE Foundation has and continues to lead in this area.  And of course, research and data alone do not protect children - but creating a swallow of public opinion that legislators hear, does.  And that is what 150,000 Internationally Kidnapped Children intends to do - increase awareness at every level, while offering solutions in the best interest of children.

 

I remain committed to helping rescue children who have been abducted, trafficked, abused, or in crisis.  This includes using my ongoing book royalties, including 100% of those generated from the critically acclaimed 'Chasing The Cyclone'  along with all of my other novels for use by the I CARE Foundation. It is my honor to be able to help others, as I take seriously my responsibility to help those in need.  With 100% of the necessary funding in place, it is my aspiration that 150,000 Internationally Kidnapped Children will become a tremendous tool that will save innocent lives.  After all, that is exactly what we're trying to do: save lives.

 

I invite you to read more information about 150,000 Internationally Kidnapped Children.

 

Kindest regards and best wishes for a healthy, happy, and fulfilling 2013 New Year.

 

Peter Thomas Senese

 

 

Peter Senese's Solution To Child Abduction Prevention: Enforce Honesty & Integrity Before Courts

As the rapidly expanding malignant tentacles known as international parental child abduction cruelly grasp at defenseless innocent children in countries around the world it is imperative that governments everywhere defend against this malice by passing and upholding local and national child abduction prevention laws. Critically, lawmakers must create abduction prevention laws while law enforcement and the judiciary must carefully uphold these laws that were created to protect innocence: our children.

As the vast majority of individuals around the world who advocate for targeted children will testify to, the most crucial component needed to fight the global war of international parental child abduction – and make no mistake: it is a war – is for child abduction prevention laws to be created and fully enforced.

Unfortunately, one of the heartbreaking issues that targeted parents face today is the great challenge and difficulties of having a court actually uphold new laws pertaining to risk factors associated with a potential child abduction. Judicial ignorance can no longer be an unspoken acceptable truth, and Lady Justice must remove her blindfold in the name of defending a child at risk of the horrific crime of parental kidnapping.

Lady Justice, hundreds of thousands of children each year targeted for cross-border criminal abduction need you to see. Today.

Before I go further, I will share an opinion many other targeted parents of abduction I have spoken to share with me: If a court handling a potential child abduction case establishes a zero tolerance policy toward any form of perjury, then the chicanery and intended fraudulent actions of a parent intending to mislead the court and abduct a child may actually be re-considered. A pretty simple policy: if you lie to the court, particularly when it comes to a child’s welfare, then you better be prepared to pay the consequences for your action: sitting in a cell for a period of time and losing your access privileges to your child that you previously may have been entitled to.

Presently, I am voluntarily assisting in several potential abduction cases, including a few cases that are located in the State of Florida. For those of you who may not be aware, on January 1st, 2011 Florida’s ‘Child Abduction Prevention Act’ that was drafted by child abduction prevention advocate and my good friend, Carolyn Vlk, became law. The law mandates judges to assess risk factors associated with a potential international child abduction and issue orders that will protect the targeted child and parent from a possible abduction.

However, in certain cases to which I am familiar with, there have been notable failures by the courts to fully utilize the new child abduction prevention law and carefully consider risk factors associated with a potential abduction as has been mandated under the new law.

Tragically, when a judge fails to uphold any child abduction prevention law, they have broken their fiduciary responsibility to protect a child. Equally, when a court fails to consider the criteria established under the new law, they are sending the worst type of message possible: that child abduction prevention laws mean nothing and would-be abductors will not be held accountable for their conspiracy to criminally abduct a child. And this – particularly when it comes to our children – is unthinkable.

The bottom line in weighing risk factors for a court is that a judge must ask this rather simple questions to themselves: ‘What if I am wrong and the child disappears? What true recourse does the targeted parent have to recover the child?”

Well, any knowledgeable judge will know that once a child is removed from their local jurisdiction and taken to another country, the jurisdiction of their court ceases to exist for all intensive purposes. Now jurisdiction belongs to the international courts, so long as the arriving country (the country where the child was illegally taken to) participates in an international treaty such as the 'Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction'. Regrettably, too many nations, including most Asian and Middle Eastern countries are not members of the Hague Convention, while other countries such as Mexico and Brazil are known to not uphold the international treaty they freely signed.

Truly, attempting to navigate an international parental child abduction is like ‘Chasing The Cyclone’.

Consider this: presently there are approximately 230 American children criminally detained in Japan due to a parental kidnapping. Japan is not a member of the Hague Convention. No American child-citizen abducted to Japan has ever been returned. Ever.

Or perhaps a judge should consider the difficulties that a targeted mother would face if her child were kidnapped to Saudi Arabia or any other Middle Eastern country. The prospect of mom safely bringing their child home is near non-existent.

So what exactly is it that a judge must do?

Act prudently at all times and in all circumstances while carefully investigating every aspect of each unique case. Additionally, the court must realize that for many, the international courts are extraordinarily difficult to navigate, that is, if a venue really even exists for a targeted parent to attempt to seek judicial intervention.

One component not often spoken about when considering risk factors is when a parent who may abduct files a (false) police report against the other parent. In scenarios such as this, the court must be mindful that international parental child abduction is a premeditated and well-planned act against both the abducted child and the left behind targeted parent, and that the parent planning an abduction is more than likely familiar with the international laws available to them that they may use to sanction their disobedience before the court.

Specifically, Article 13 of the Hague Convention reads:

Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding Article, the judicial or administrative authority of the requested State is not bound to order the return of the child if the person, institution or other body which opposes its return establishes that –

a) the person, institution or other body having the care of the person of the child was not actually exercising the custody rights at the time of removal or retention, or had consented to or subsequently acquiesced in the removal or retention; or

b) there is a grave risk that his or her return would expose the child to physical or psychological harm or otherwise place the child in an intolerable situation.

The judicial or administrative authority may also refuse to order the return of the child if it finds that the child objects to being returned and has attained an age and degree of maturity at which it is appropriate to take account of its views.

In considering the circumstances referred to in this Article, the judicial and administrative authorities shall take into account the information relating to the social background of the child provided by the Central Authority or other competent authority of the child's habitual residence.

When a parent who is believed to be a potential abductor files a police report against the other parent the court must consider the validity of the complaint and move with great caution because the potential abductor may have now created a plausible but misleading defense under Article 13 of the Hague Convention that a return of the child back to the child’s country of origin may not be in the best interest of the child.

Thus, court’s must be especially mindful that if a parent is able to illegally depart the country of origin with the child, the difficulties of the targeted parent being able to legally return the child has grown exponentially. This said, the court’s must also consider if a complaint may be valid and act accordingly in the name of the best interest of the child.

The bottom line is this: we’re living in a multi-cultural society where individuals from around the world meet and have a child. At times, like in any other relationship, couples will separate or divorce. Unfortunately, too often the child of the partnership is used as a pawn in order to cause great hardship and pain to the targeted parent. International child abduction occurs, and is growing at substantial rates as shared in the report Carolyn Ann Vlk and I have published titled ‘Crisis In America: International Parental Child Abduction Today’. And most concerning is the fact that certain government policies such as the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative have created loopholes for abduction (Click Here to read Peter Senese and Carolyn Vlk's report)

Therefore in lieu of the rapidly growing epidemic now at hand, it is the courts and their sitting judges who offer children with their best defense so long as these judges do not put their head in the sand and mistreat the issues of a potential threat of abduction with an uneducated view of the seriousness of the matters at hand. In order for a court to fulfill its duty to the child-citizens they are obligated to protect, a judge must consider all the risk factors of a potential abduction and act swiftly, boldly, and with action that will secure the safety and welfare of both targeted child and targeted parent.

Perhaps the best overall indicator of an abduction threat is when a parent with strong ties to another country is found to be dishonest to or mislead the court during any matters when it comes to the welfare of a child. Perhaps if the courts upheld the integrity of the procedures before them, including holding a parent accountable for perjury or contempt, judges may be able to prevent the cruelty of storms from descending on a child. Perhaps each court hearing involving a child’s welfare should begin with a judge saying, “Welcome to my courtroom. I want both parties to know that if either of you act in any dishonest way or fail to obey my direction in any capacity, I will hold you in contempt of court. Now let’s proceed.”

For more information on international parental child abduction please visit Chasing The Cyclone. To visit Peter Thomas Senese's official website, please Click Here. To view Peter Senese's 'Chasing Parents: Racing Into the Storms Of International Parental Child Abduction' educational documentary film series please visit 'Chasing The Cyclone'.

PETER THOMAS SENESE NARRATES FILM SERIES ON INTERNATIONAL PARENTAL CHILD ABDUCTION: RELEASES TENTH FILM SEGMENT IN 'CHASING PARENTS

PETER THOMAS SENESE NARRATES FILM SERIES ON INTERNATIONAL PARENTAL CHILD ABDUCTION: RELEASES TENTH FILM SEGMENT IN 'CHASING PARENTS: RACING INTO THE STORMS OF INTERNATIONAL PARENTAL CHILD ABDUCTION.

In a recently released educational video segment concerning 'The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative', Peter Thomas Senese discusses how the policies established under WHTI substantially minimizes travel document requirements for children traveling abroad via land or sea, presenting significant opportunity for child abductors and human traffickers the means to criminally remove defenseless children from one nation's borders to another.

In the now completed new video segment, Senese presents how the detrimental issues concerning WHTI policy are outlined and offers solutions that must be implemented in order to help prevent this grave and growing problem.

'Challenges Connected To The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative' is the newest release in the now completed ten-segment educational documentary film series titled 'Chasing Parents: Racing Into The Storms Of International Parental Child Abduction' produced and narrated by best-selling author Peter Thomas Senese.

Mr. Senese, a child abduction prevention advocate and author of the critically acclaimed novel 'Chasing The Cyclone' stated, "It is inconceivable that in the severe and escalating environment of international child abduction and child stealing that exists today, the WHTI policy marginalizes children's safety by not requiring all individuals traveling abroad to use a passport regardless of their age. Harmonization of a passport mandate for all international travel will dramatically reduce the number of cross-border abductions immediately."

To view 'Challenges Connected To The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative' and the 'Chasing Parents: Racing Into The Storms Of International Parental Child Abduction' film series, please visit http://www.chasingthecyclone.com or http://www.internationalparentalchildabduction.info.

Pacifica TWST is a media and entertainment company. Our feature film, television, documentary, and publishing efforts focus on current issues that effect the global community at large.

If you believe your child is at risk, it is critical that you prepare your child on what to do if they are taken (Click here to view how to prepare your child).


If you are interested in understanding the terrifying aspects and difficulties associated with international parental child abduction, I invite you to read 'Chasing The Cyclone' (Click here to read the reviews).

To read Chapter 1 of 'Chasing The Cyclone' please Click Here.

For more information on the growig epidemic of international parental child abduction, please Click Here.


For more information on best-selling author Peter Thomas Senese, please Click Here. or to read more about Peter Thomas Senese's books, please Click Here.

For more information on child abduction and child slavery risks associated with the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, please Click Here.

To read more essays and articles on international parental child abduction, please Click Here.