U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention John J. Wilson, Acting Administrator January 2001 Family Abductors: Descriptive Profiles and From the Administrator Parental abduction encompasses a broad array of illegal behaviors that Preventive Interventions involve one parent taking, detaining, concealing, or enticing away his or her child from the parent having Janet R. Johnston and Linda K. Girdner custodial access. When the abduct- ing parent intends to permanently Background defined as the broad range of situations alter custodial access by hiding the that involve one parent’s taking, detain- child or removing the child to another Family abduction of children has become ing, concealing, or enticing away his or State or country, the effects on the a serious concern in the United States. her child from the parent who has cus- family and the obstacles to the child’s Coincident with the rapid rise in divorce tody or visitation rights. This Bulletin de- recovery are compounded. and the increase in children born to un- scribes preventive interventions— Drawing on research conducted in married parents, approximately 60 percent counseling, conflict resolution, and legal the San Francisco Bay area, this of all children spend time in a single-parent strategies—that seek to settle custody Bulletin describes the common home (Glick, 1988; Hernandez, 1988). A and access disputes for families identified characteristics of abducting parents national incidence study (Finkelhor, as at risk for parental abduction. Hotaling, and Sedlak, 1991) revealed that and profiles parents at risk for in an unprecedented number of these abducting their children. Constructive single-parent families (354,000 in 1988), Research interventions are offered for each of one parent took unilateral action to de- the six profiles provided. The interventions described in this Bulle- prive the other parent of contact with tin result from a series of research stud- It should be kept in mind that these their child. In almost half of these cases ies, which are discussed below. Research- profiles neither predict the probability (163,200), the abducting parent intended ers began by undertaking a documentary that a parental abduction will occur in to permanently alter custodial access by study of 634 parental child-stealing cases a specific situation, e.g., when a concealing the child or taking the child from all files opened by the district attor- particular family situation meets one out of his or her home State or country. ney in two California counties1 between or more of the characteristics, nor Previous research has documented the 1987 and 1990. The purpose was to de- imply that there is no danger of such obstacles to recovering these abducted scribe the demographic, family, and an abduction when no common children (Girdner and Hoff, 1993), the psy- characteristics exist. Rather, the chological harm inflicted on them, and profiles provide information that, the inordinate emotional and financial 1 Research was conducted in the San Francisco Bay along with the facts of a given case, distress placed on left-behind parents Area of California. This location was chosen for several may indicate that preventive interven- reasons: (1) California’s criminal statute broadly defines tions should be considered. (Hatcher, Barton, and Brooks, 1992; Greif parental abduction to include pre- and postcustodial and Hegar, 1993; Forehand et al., 1989). abductions and abductions committed by parents The information this Bulletin provides Social policy, consequently, is focusing on with sole custody, joint custody, and visitation rights; can be used to help prevent and re- finding ways to identify potential custody (2) because they are mandated to use both civil and duce the serious problem of parental violators early on and methods to prevent criminal remedies to locate and recover abducted abduction. these painful and costly traumas (Hegar, children, district attorneys in California have extensive files on a range of parental abductions; (3) the San 1990; Hoff, 1994, 1997). Francisco Bay Area’s large, economically and ethni- John J. Wilson Acting Administrator Parental abduction, child stealing, and cally diverse urban population provides researchers the opportunity to study a variety of situations; and serious custodial interference—terms (4) comparative data on litigated custody already used synonymously in this Bulletin—are existed in this region. dispute characteristics of custody viola- measures, at-risk parents as a group were their child; they cannot see how, or tors and the legal system’s response to substantially more cooperative, expressed even why, they should share parenting parental child stealing (Sagatun-Edwards, less disagreement, and were more likely to with their ex-partner. 1998). Researchers then drew a small rep- resolve disputes over custody issues than ◆ Abducting parents are likely to have resentative sample from the 1990 case before. Incidents of violence between at-risk very young children (the mean age is records and, 3 years later, conducted parents decreased. Most important, only 2–3). Such children are easier to trans- indepth interviews and administered psy- 10 percent of families experienced serious port and conceal, are unlikely to ver- chological tests to 70 parents from 50 custodial interference during the followup bally protest, and may be unable to tell families—35 men and 35 women, half of period, compared with 40 percent prior to others their name or other identifying whom were abductors and half of whom the counseling intervention. Women gener- information. Older children who are were left-behind parents. Researchers ally showed more consistent improvement taken or retained in violation of custody systematically compared the demo- than men for most of the outcomes mea- orders are usually those who are par- graphic, psychological, and dispute char- sured. There was no evidence that the 40- ticularly vulnerable to influence or have acteristics of these abducting families hour intervention was more effective than colluded with the abducting parent. with similar data from 114 parents of 57 the 10-hour intervention (Johnston, 1996), high-conflict families (i.e., families with but this finding must be qualified. In con- ◆ Most abducting parents (except those repeated custody litigation) referred by trast to the families that received 40-hour characterized as paranoid delusional) family court services during 1990 therapist-only services, the families that are likely to have the support of a social (Johnston, Girdner, and Sagatun-Edwards, received 10-hour treatment were linked network—family, friends, cultural com- 1999). This comparison identified the up with additional services. The families munities, cult-like groups, or an under- similarities and differences between par- that received 10-hour treatment, therefore, ground dissident movement—that ents who resort to illegal actions and could conceivably have received more provides not only practical assistance parents who use legal procedures to services. Of even greater significance was (money, food, lodging) but also emo- resolve custody and visitation disputes. the unanticipated effect that counseling tional and moral support to validate the The major characteristics that distin- intervention had on both sets of families. abducting parent’s extralegal actions. guished abducting parents from nonabduct- ◆ Most custody violators do not con- ing parents were then arranged into six Compared with abducting families identi- fied earlier in the research for purposes of sider their actions illegal or morally profiles of parents at risk for engaging in wrong, even after the involvement of serious custodial interference (Johnston, developing risk profiles, the at-risk families assigned to counseling received heightened the district attorney’s office. 1994). attention in family court. These families ◆ Mothers and fathers are equally likely In the second phase of the research, fam- received more explicit court orders and to abduct their children, although at ily court counselors from eight San Fran- more frequently were subject to judicial different times—fathers, when there cisco Bay Area counties used the risk pro- hearings, custody evaluations, appointment was no child custody order in place; files to identify potential custody violators of a child’s attorney or special master (arbi- mothers, after the court had issued a and refer them to specialized preventive trator), and supervised visitation. Research- formal custody decree. interventions. Fifty identified families were ers hypothesize that these court-imposed It is significant that half of the families stud- assigned randomly to 10 or 40 hours of constraints and monitoring of the families ied fit more than one risk profile. For this confidential, free counseling provided by were partially responsible for the positive reason, a combination of strategies was of- mental health professionals (psycholo- outcomes observed during the 9-month ten needed to help settle custody disputes. gists, social workers, and marriage and followup period. If further research con- family counselors) with special training in firms this hypothesis, the implication is the dynamics of highly conflicted separat- that early case management in the court— Profiles of Parents At ing and divorcing families and in abduction together with brief, strategic, legal, and Risk for Abducting risk. The counseling intervention sought