A Judge’s Guide

RECURRING ISSUES
Interference with Custody Orders and Threats of Abduction
In balancing the need to protect children from possible abduction by a noncustodial
parent with the need to foster parent-child relationships, restrictions on visitation are
appropriate when certain risk factors are present. 53 First, you should consider whether
HIGH RISK FACTORS FOR
ABDUCTION
• Prior custody violations.
• Clear evidence of plans to abduct
includes combination of the
following:
• Parent is unemployed.
• Parent is without emotional or
financial ties in the area.
• Parent has divulged plans to
abduct and has resources to
survive in hiding.
• Parent has support of extended
family and underground
networks to stay hidden.
• Parent has liquidated assets and
maximum draw against credit
cards.
• There is history of domestic
violence.
Janet R. Johnson & Linda K.
Girdner, Early Identification of
Parents at Risk for Custody
Violations and Prevention of Child
Abductions, 36 FAM. &
CONCILIATION COURTS REV. 392-
409 (1998).
high risk factors for abduction are present. 54
Restrictions on visitation also are appropriate
when obstacles to locating and returning
abducted children are great. 55 Such obstacles
include the potential to take the child to
other jurisdictions that are uncooperative in
returning and locating children of parental
abductions. 56
If there is potential that the
parent will move the child to a foreign
jurisdiction that is not party to The Hague
Convention, the threat is even greater. 57
Parents worried about the threat of abduction
should consider steps to protect the child,
such as informing the diplomatic mission of
the ex-spouse’s native country that the
custodial parent has not agreed to apply for a
visa or passport for the child and clarifying
with the child’s school who is authorized to
pick up or transport the child. 58
In addition to enforcing supervised visitation,
the court may mandate that the noncustodial
parent post bond prior to visitation to create
further barriers against abduction. 59
Finally, restriction on visitation also is
appropriate when the abduction has the
potential to substantially harm the child. 60
Abduction could cause substantial harm to the child if the parent has a history of abuse
or violence, has a serious mental or personality disorder, or has had little or no prior
relationship with the child. 61
Third - Party Visitation
Parties other than parents may have the legal right to request an order granting
visitation with the child. The United States Supreme Court addressed third-party
visitation rights in Troxel v. Granville. In a plurality opinion, the Court found a
Washington state third-party visitation statute unconstitutional “as applied.” In
this case, the trial court had granted visitation rights to the paternal grandparents,
over the objection of the mother, based on a state statute that gave any person at
any time standing to seek court-ordered visitation. 62 With no fewer than six
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