Abduction of children by their parents: a survey of the problem

On the basis of a survey of a non-representative national sample of 371 parents who sought help from missing children's organizations, this article provides a profile of families in which children were abducted by one of the parents. Abductors were described as less educated and less likely to be employed than searching parents. In this survey, three-fourths of abducted children were younger than seven years of age; most abductions involved a single child. Although the abducting parents tended to be male (55 percent, n = 205), the proportion of female abductors was higher than in previous research. Mothers whose children were kidnapped by the father described more violence in their marriages, more fault-related reasons for divorce, and more force used in the abduction than did fathers whose children were kidnapped by the mother. The different family and social experiences of these men and women are discussed, and implications for social work practice are explored.