Child Abduction - Are Anyone's Kids Safe?

Child abduction is a fear of many parents in America and around the world. Not only has the number of child abductions increased within the last few years but it is also hitting "closer to home" for many parents that once thought that it could not happen in their community. Just like many other crimes, abductions are not taken seriously until it directly affects the individual. At this point it may be too late for the parents to take any of the precautionary acts that may reduce the risk to their child.

Although there are many ideas that set out to prevent abduction, nothing has actually been proven to put an end to abduction altogether. There are many reasons that abductions, for the most part, cannot be prevented. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is "committed to improving the justice systems response to crimes against children," http://www.ncjrs.org. This means their goal is to make the response of the communities better equipped to handle and understand the needs of the child abducted and the adult abductor.

The first reason as stated by American Prosecutors Research Institute says, "ninety percent of all child abduction cases...were perpetrated by the child's parent." Family abduction is defined by the Juvenile Justice Bulletin as, "the broad range of situations that involve one parents taking, detaining, concealing, or enticing away his or her child from the parent who has custody or visitation rights to that child." This in turn makes it hard to prevent considering the child knows and is comfortable with their abductor. The child in most cases willingly goes without any opposition, making family kidnapping almost impossible to prevent. In these cases it may be hard to explain to a child that they are not allowed to go with a family member such as mom, dad, aunt, uncle, grandma or grandpa.