Starting April 1, the Office of Children’s Issues will assume handling all “incoming” Hague child

[Horse with no Name]

abduction cases – that is, abductions of children to the United States from countries that are partners under the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. As the federally designated Central Authority for the Convention, we are pleased that all work will now be done within our office.

For the last twelve years, incoming Hague abduction cases were handled by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) under a three-way Memorandum of Agreement with the Department of Justice. The Department of State has greatly appreciated the excellent service that NCMEC has provided in these cases to parents and children. The Office of Children’s Issues aims to continue this high level of service.

Services for Incoming Abduction Cases

The services that the Office of Children’s Issues will provide for incoming abduction cases include:

* Accepting applications for return or access from Foreign Central Authorities;
* Assisting left-behind parents in locating their children within the United States;
* Attempting to achieve voluntary returns or access where possible;
* Assisting left-behind parents with securing attorneys, including attorneys willing to work on a pro bono or reduced-fee basis for qualified parents; and
* Assisting with return of children to their habitual residence abroad.

The Office of Children’s Issues is prepared and equipped to take on these cases, and stands ready to assist abducted children and their parents in resolving these difficult and painful cases. We are confident that the relationships we have developed over many years of working with foreign central authorities on abductions from the United States will greatly enhance our ability to help parents whose children have been abducted to the United States.

For more information, please contact our office at [e-mail].
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http://travel.state.gov/family/abduction/incoming/incoming_4173.html

I have to wonder why???It isn't like our State Department has nothing better to do...but WHY would they exclude other agencies at this point in time? I wonder if this has to do with the Natalee Hollaway thing?