Chairman Smith on the Hearing: “International parental child abduction rips children from their homes and whisks them away to a foreign land, alienating them from the love of the American parent left behind.  In 2014, Congress rejected the State Department’s ineffective response of ‘quiet diplomacy’ and adopted accountability and action in the Goldman Act, which requires an annual report on abductions and returns, as well as assessment of cooperation by destination countries.  The State Department is now more than two months late delivering this report, two months of powerlessness for desperate parents and two months of judges making decisions without the information they need to prevent abduction. This hearing is intended to press the State Department to comply with the Goldman Act immediately and deliver this overdue report.”

Opening Statements

Witnesses

Panel I

Ms. Karen Christensen
Deputy Assistant Secretary
Bureau of Consular Affairs
U.S. Department of State
[full text of statement]

Panel II

Chris Brann, M.D.
(Father of Child Abducted to Brazil)
[full text of statement]
[truth in testimony form]

Ms. Ruchika Abbi
(Mother of Child Abducted to India)
[full text of statement]
[truth in testimony form]

Mr. James Cook
(Father of Children Abducted to Japan)
[full text of statement]
[truth in testimony form]

Ms. Edeanna Barbirou
(Mother of Child Abducted to Tunisia)
[full text of statement]
[truth in testimony form]
____________________________

Hearing transcript (PDF)