May 5, 2010 RE: CONGRESS URGES JAPAN TO RETURN KIDNAPPED AMERICAN CITIZEN CHILDREN BACK TO THE U.S. U.S. Representatives Jim Moran (D-VA) and Chris Smith (R-NJ) are introducing a Resolution and held a press conference on May 5th 2010 at 1:30 p.m. at the US Capitol to urge Japan to return kidnapped American citizen children to the United States. This is House Resolution 1326. Congressman Xavier Becerra, who is Melissa Braden’s  US...

By Timothy W. Maier As the nation awaited the outcome of the presidential election, the hundreds of cases of international parental kidnappings once again were placed on the back burner – but perhaps not for long. Should Texas Gov. George W. Bush become president, there would be a candle of hope for thousands of parents longing to be reunited with their children. They know that the Bush campaign gave a sympathetic hearing to this...

By the Ambassadors of Australia, Canada, France, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States in Tokyo, Japan We, the Ambassadors to Japan of Australia, France, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, the Charges d’Affaires a.i. of Canada and Spain and the Deputy Head of Mission of Italy, called on Japan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs today to submit our concerns over the increase of international...

By COLIN P. A. JONES First in a two-part series Last year was an important one for child custody issues in Japan, with growing international pressure on Japan to sign the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction, and the dramatic arrest of Christopher Savoie in September for supposedly “kidnapping” his own kids in Fukuoka. I was actually interviewed for a segment on MSNBC’s “Today Show” in connection with the Savoie case....

In many cases, parents abduct their own children when marriages fail and return home where local laws protect them. In some cases the abducted children never see the other parent again. Child abduction is one of a parent’s worst fears, and for a growing number of parents around the world, this fear is being realized and compounded by international custody disputes.  In many cases, parents abduct their own children when marriages fail and...

U.S. to take up child abductions Kyodo News Japanese and U.S. officials met for the first time Friday to discuss how to address situations in which failed international marriages result in children being taken to Japan without the prior consent of U.S. parents, who are then denied access, according to the Foreign Ministry. During the meeting, the U.S. officials reiterated that Japan should accede to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects...