iStand Parent Network empowers parents to recover their children from international parental child abduction and wrongful retention and advocates for domestic and international policy reform that returns children home.
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New: (Article) Parental Child Abduction, Corruption and Mutual Confidence. By Alf Friiso
Please help parents get tools to bring their children home!
The Crime of International Parental Kidnapping
U.S. Helsinki Commission
Briefing
On October 25, 2017, Leo Zagaris, teen survivor of wrongful retention in Greece, shared his experiences of separation from his mother, sister and the life he'd known in Indiana during a live-stream briefing to the Commission on Cooperation and Security in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission.
He was joined by his mother, iStand Co-Founder Alissa Zagaris, who successfully waged the fight to bring Leo home. iStand parent Augusto Frisancho, whose sons are abducted to Slovakia. iStand President and mother of a returned child Dr. Noelle Hunter also delivered remarks alongside Jeffery Morehouse, Mochi's father and executive director of Bring Abducted Children Home.
The briefing was convened by Commission Co-Chairman U.S. Rep. Christopher Smith, a longtime advocate for children in Washington and around the globe.
Read Leo's testimony here. Watch the Briefing in its entirety here. #know #care #share
According to the U.S. State Department, each year at least 1,000 children are abducted by a parent from the U.S. to a foreign nation. We are working to illustrate the prevalence of this pandemic problem. If your child has been abducted, wrongfully removed or wrongfully retained in a foreign country, please add them to our map.
One of our main goals is to prevent international child abduction. We create public awareness through various methods. We educate our children, parents, schools, agencies, political leaders, lawyers and judges to prevent abductions and keep children safe and in their country of habitual residence.
Many resources are available to parents whose child(ren) have been abducted, wrongfully removed or wrongfully retained in a foreign nation. IPCA is resolved through coordination of intricate web of government agencies, courts and foreign authorities that offer various means of resolution. However, most parents don't know where to start.