Parental Abduction: Prevention and Remedies

jcpas.jpgOur guest contributor this week is Judianne Cochran a nationally recognized expert/consultant in the following disciplines: sex offender profiling; interstate and international parental abduction; interstate custody and parental alienation. She has testified in numerous Courts throughout Ohio and the country. Judi presently resides in Columbus, Ohio.

Recently, there has been a flurry of news reports and discussions regarding cases where an abduction has already occurred and a child has been taken and retained in a foreign jurisdiction.  The most recent is a case where a father attempted a “snatch-back” in Japan.  As is usually the case, this self-help method does not result in the recovery of a child.  Unfortunately, in both that case and in the Goldman case where the child is in Brazil, it appears that nothing was done in the way of prevention before the loss of the child.

There are many measures which can be put into place to aid in the prevention of an international abduction.  To begin with, any parent who chooses to have a child with a foreign national should always anticipate the possibility that the foreign parent will eventually elect to take the child and return “home”.  Since this is an obvious predictable … Read More... “Parental Abduction: Prevention and Remedies”

U.S. Father Arrested In Japan For Picking Up Children “Abducted” By Ex-Wife…..The “Rest Of The Story”!

hall09.jpgChristopher Savoie (“Father”) was arrested in Japan on September 28, 2009, for trying to take his two (2) children, Isaac Savoie, eight (8) years of age, and Rebecca Savoie, six (6) years of age, away from their Mother, Noriko Savoie, while she was walking the children to school.  Father forcibly placed the two children into his car and drove towards the U.S. Embassy or Consulate Office in Fukuoka, Japan. His goal was to get the children into the U.S. Consulate Office in order to obtain passports for the children so that he could return them to the United States.

His plan failed as he was apprehended by the police before he could reach the Consulate Office.   His pleas to the police in Mother’s home city in Japan that he was the “custodial” parent and that she was the parent who abducted the children from the United States were ignored by the arresting officers and the subsequent judicial officers.  Instead, Christopher Savoie was arrested and charged with attempting to abduct his own children, a charge with a potential sentence of five (5) years imprisonment.

Facts of the Savoie Case:

  1. The parties lived in Japan for most of their marriage. Four years
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Should Ohio Social Workers Be Looking Over Their Shoulders?

shoulder.jpgThe legal analysis posted last week on this blog by Daniel Pollack discussing legal immunity for children services social workers was comprehensive and well done. A review of Ohio federal cases on point is very interesting and enlightening.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has decided on the issue of whether a caseworker can be personally liable.1 In Holloway, the court determined that absolute immunity applies to a caseworker only when they are acting in the scope of a legal advocate (such as a prosecutor) which is not their role under Ohio law.  The caseworker sued in Holloway withheld information from the Court that the mother had attempted to assert her parental rights, lying to the mother in telling her that her parental rights had been terminated when they had not and in failing to share information which would have allowed mother an opportunity to assert her rights in Court.   Analogizing the caseworker’s actions to a usurpation of the court’s authority, the Court stated that the caseworker did not have absolute immunity, but may have qualified immunity from liability. This distinction would leave the worker possibly liable for money damages.

Qualified immunity protects an individual caseworker who was … Read More... “Should Ohio Social Workers Be Looking Over Their Shoulders?”

Is There Legal Immunity for Social Workers Who Lie?

lie.jpgIt is an accepted principle that a parent has a constitutionally protected interest in the custody and care of his or her child.  This interest does have exceptions, especially when the child may be in immediate or apparent danger. This is when child protection services gets involved. Crucial to every child protection investigation is to establish the facts and circumstances of the case. When these are presented to the court at a dependency hearing, the evidence may become proof.

The best professional judgment of child protection workers may, in hindsight, be wrong.  For this and other reasons, child protection workers usually have some level of immunity from prosecution.1  When individual government officials are sued for monetary damages they generally are granted either absolute or qualified immunity. The United States Supreme Court has stated that qualified immunity is the norm, absolute immunity is the exception.2

Should that immunity disappear when, in their official capacities as child protection workers, they make knowingly inaccurate or false statements which result in the wrongful removal of a child?  California law provides for public employee immunity from liability for an injury caused by the employee instituting or prosecuting any judicial or administrative proceeding within … Read More... “Is There Legal Immunity for Social Workers Who Lie?”

The Legal Distinctions Between “Sole Custody” vs “Shared Parenting”

legalcus.jpgFor many parents contemplating a divorce or dissolution of their marriage, a primary concern is which parent shall have “custody” of the child or children of the marriage.  I shall begin the article by addressing the differences between the two parenting systems in Ohio – “sole custody” and “shared parenting”.

  1. The parents have different names or titles:  In a situation where one parent has “sole custody” of the child/children, that parent is designated as the “residential parent and legal custodian” and the other parent is designated as the “non-residential parent” or the “non-custodial parent”.  In a shared parenting situation both parents have the same title. They are both designated as the “residential parent and legal custodian” of the child or children.  For school district reasons of residency and tuition, one parent’s residence is typically designated as the residence of the child for school district purposes.  The parent whose residence is the residence of the child for school district purposes may have a slight advantage over the other party as he or she has the ability to change residences with the child changing school districts accordingly.  For example, in a “shared parenting” arrangement wherein Mother’s residence is the residence of the
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International Custody Cases In Federal Court Are Complex

custh1.jpgOn July 1, 2009, I received a decision on one of the more interesting cases I have worked on since embarking on my legal career.  The case started out as a custody case in Juvenile Court, but quickly spiraled into a full-scale federal trial; and subsequently, an appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.  It’s safe to say that this was not your typical custody case.  What made this case different, among other things, was that the family had moved to Ohio from Israel and the mother had returned to Israel.  While in Israel, she decided to pursue custody and filed a Petition for the return of the minor child under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, claiming that our client, the child’s father, had kidnapped the child and wrongfully retained him here in the United States instead of allowing him to return to Israel.

The Hague Convention was ratified in 1980 and signed by the United States in 1986.  The primary purpose of the Hague Convention is to protect children from wrongful removal or retention from their nation of habitual residence and to put into place a procedure that … Read More... “International Custody Cases In Federal Court Are Complex”

Ohio Domestic Violence Proceedings – The Survey Says . . .

dv2.jpgThis is a follow-up to my recent article about Ohio Domestic Violence and the impact it can have on individuals. I decided to write this article to help educate the public about Domestic Violence proceedings in Ohio and what people should know when filing a petition or responding to a petition. After conducting an informal survey, I discovered that there are many important issues that people need to consider when dealing with a Petition for Domestic Violence. I have included some of the items that court personnel wished people knew, including information on the Petition, what is relevant in the proceedings, and the impact that a finding of Domestic Violence can have on an individual.

When filing a Petition for Domestic Violence, it is important to be specific. The main reason for this is that the other party has due process rights under the Constitution, and he or she is entitled to adequate notice of the allegations. Most courts will provide a petition form that you would need to complete. When you fill out the form, it will ask you questions about the alleged incident(s). Be sure to list sufficient information to put the other party on notice of what … Read More... “Ohio Domestic Violence Proceedings – The Survey Says . . .”

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