The Rights of Parents and Children: How to Better Implement the Goldman Act on Child Abduction

Announcement

Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing on “The Rights of Parents and Children: How to Better Implement the Goldman Act on Child Abduction.” 

The Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes that “the child, for the full and harmonious development of his or her personality, should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding.”  It further provides “that a child shall not be separated from his or her parents against their will.”

The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction came about to address those circumstances where a child, in distinction to the afore-mentioned principles contained in the CRC, is separated from one parent via cross-border abduction. 

Between 2008 and 2020, more than 12,350 American children were abducted internationally by a parent, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Congress passed the Sean and David Goldman Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act (P.L. 113-150) in 2014, to better implement the Hague Convention, to provide a means to resolve abduction cases among non-Hague countries, and to hold countries accountable for non-compliance with their obligations.  While the Convention has helped shaped international norms, only 85 nations plus the European Union have ratified it, and some States Parties are not fully compliant.  The Goldman Act provides Congress with data regarding child abductions and authorizes tools for the State Department to use to influence countries to abide by international obligations.

The purpose of this hearing is to assess how well the State Department is implementing the Goldman Act to resolve international parental child abduction cases.  The hearing will include testimony from prominent international family law attorney whose work informed the drafting of the Goldman Act, and left-behind parents who have subsequently dedicated themselves to advocating for the rights of victims of international parental child abduction.

This hearing will hybrid. Pursuant to H. Res. 965, Members of Congress and witnesses will participate in person or remotely via Cisco WebEx. Members of the public and the media may view the hearing by live webcast on the Commission website. The hearing will also be available for viewing on the House Digital Channel service. For any questions, please contact Piero Tozzi  at Piero.tozzi@mail.house.gov (for Rep. Smith) or Kimberly Stanton at kimberly.stantonfa@mail.house.gov  (for Rep. McGovern).

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