There are moments in one's life which evoke an outcry from one's core - an internal scream of disbelief that such a thing exists. In these moments passion can be ignited, passion moving one to act. Due to such moments in my life, I have become an advocate in creating change: changes to prevent international parental abduction and to prevent online impersonation from occurring. And equally, so much of my life evolves around the magic of books and reading and embracing your imagination.
So it is a natural fire within that creates my desire to have others embrace reading and thinking and their imagination. Did I mention I am a Librophiliac? Well, I am!
For the vast majority of defenseless children and their parents who are targeted for international parental child abduction, they enter a horrific, little-understood world where law and order and justice are fleeting concepts, but typically not reality. Knowing this first-hand, and having successfully navigated this ordeal under the Hague Convention, it was important to me to try to make a difference and help other targeted children and parents. Having a voice as an established storyteller has allowed me to do some of that in both written word, and in creation of the educational documentary film 'Chasing Parents'. Yet there is a great deal of work to be done, and this involves creating new laws and policy while also ensuring the enforcement of existing laws created to prevent child abduction from occurring. As you may imagine, my initiatives continue.
Fortunately, I am privileged to work with some other amazing advocates who are seeking to bring about change. My fellow colleagues at the International Child Abduction Research & Enlightenment Foundation (I CARE Foundation) really are pushing hard to make a big difference in this arena, and that includes assisting in the building of a mobilized "Hague Convention Attorney Network" of lawyers operating in a volunteer basis to come to the aid of targeted parents of abduction under the United States Department of State's Office of Childrens Issues. In addition, we are working very hard to modify the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative so that all individuals regardless of age or type of travel abroad must present a valid passport.
We are also working hard to create a secondary secure screening departure list for individuals possessing a right of United States citizenship and who are considered to be high-threat child abductors. This last initiative is similar to the existing Prevent Departure Program that Carolyn Ann Vlk and I worked hard at creating a high level of visibility and implementation by the Department of State in accordance to the Department of Homeland Security's oversight. No parent should ever have to endure the criminal act of international child kidnapping.On this note, I have worked very hard to raise the bar of public awareness on this issue. My activity has included, but not been limited to the following:
Participating in the passage of the State of Florida's Child Abduction Prevention Act;
Successfully advocating for the federal implementation of the 'Prevent Departure Program' to be used as a tool to stop international parental child abduction;
Nominated to the Board of Directors to the International Child Abduction Research & Enlightenment Foundation (I CARE Foundation);
The co-authoring and creation and FREE publication of the extensive 'The World Turned Upside Down' open-tablet E-book resource guide on IPCA;
The creation and production of the FREE ongoing educations documentary film on IPCA titled 'Chasing Parents: Racing Into the Storms of IPCA;
The co-authoring of the extensive research report titled 'Crisis In America: IPCA Today';
The co-authoring of the extensive research report titled 'International Child Abduction and Human Trafficking In The Western Hemisphere';
The authoring of the novel 'Chasing The Cyclone' which is inspired by my own experiences in the world of IPCA;
Writing of numerous articles and essays on international child abduction;
Participating in initiatives to modify the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative policy;
Participating in legislative initiatives create security screening departure lists for high-risk child abductors; and
Participated in ongoing efforts to create additional federal laws that evolve around child abduction prevention.
Regrettably, I have had direct experience with IPCA, as my only child and I were unexpectedly forced into this storm. In my case, I filed a Hague Application for the wrongful abduction and detention of my child overseas. It was a very long, painful, and expensive nightmare; however, the international courts under the rule and guideance of the Hague Convention did rule that my child was illegally internationally detained and abducted, and ordered for his return.
Truth is, all Hague cases are not that simple. The legal proceedings alone are complicated, all-consuming, expensive, biased, and very long. In more cases than not, there is no level legal playing ground, and manipulation and underhanded tactics abound everywhere. Perhaps the worse part of the whole ordeal is the potential danger your child is placed into by the abducting parent. I remind you that a parent who internationally abducts a child has broken serious laws pertaining to kidnapping, and in most cases, serious criminal charges are brought against them. So, when the abducting parent kidnaps your child, more cases than not, they know they have broken the law. They act like fugitives. And experts everywhere claim that life as a fugitive can be very dangerous, even for your innocent child.
International Parental Child Abduction (IPCA) has become a global epidemic best exemplified in an assortment of distinct government reports including the most recent 2010 United States Department of State's Hague Compliance Report prepared for Congress, as well as various non-government reports including the findings published in Crisis In America: International Parental Child AbductionCarolyn Vlk and I prepared.
Defaming a Chasing Parent's reputation in advance of an act of an international parental child abduction is a common act the vast majority of targeted parents of abduction must deal with. Presently, existing international law under the Hague Convention has created a legal defense for an abducting parent who could in fact have their act of criminal international child abduction sanctioned by the court without penalty. Specifically, in order to defend against their own criminal action of kidnapping (under Article 13 of The Hague Convention - known as 'The Best Interest' clause), an abducting parent will try to portray the targeted parent who they are actually committing a crime against in a negative light, and argue that a return to the child's country of original jurisdiction is not in the best interest of the child. One of the most common ways this is done is for the abductor to use the Internet, and create various defamatory posts against a target. Typically, this predatorily behavior involves the use of multiple alias names or no name at all. Unfortunately, under certain federal laws (including the Communication Decency Act 'CDA:), a third party service provider does not have to remove any commentary posted by another party regardless if that comment is untrue, malicious, or defamatory. And in fact, there are companies that have created websites and created a business off of the CDA.
In fact, various reports have clearly demonstrated that cyber-stalking and cyber-harassment is the latest and perhaps most effective form of terrorism. Cyber-terrorist not only try to slander and harass their targeted, but they try to change a person's identity through the creation of malicious information. Unfortunately, it is not that difficult to steal a person's online identity. Today, acts of cyber-terrorism come from all different areas, including children, teen, and young-adult bullying, divorce or separation, employment grief, unprofessional conduct related to free-trade competition, jealousy and envy, and of course, international child abduction, to name a few. I was not immune to having untruthful and defamatory statements made against me. Most of what was written was all part of a very clever and well orchestrated campaign intending to portray me as a terrible man during the time my child was internationally abducted: you name it, I supposedly did it according to the untruthful blogs including maliciously false statements not worth repeating, as well as being an uninterested, non-supportive, and irresponsible father. Nothing in the world could have been more inaccurate. Ironically, during my situation, these posts occurred at the same time that my Hague Case was filed with the international courts.
Fortunately the facts are straight-forward: the international courts I was required to navigate in order to legally bring my son home did in fact realize the severity and nature of the blatant lies directed toward and about me and realized - as evidence was presented and ruled upon by multiple courts - that the abductor and others who conspired with her were behind the malicious acts in order to create a legal defense for her criminal act of kidnapping. The court's ruled in my favor.
Since this time, I have been very active in participating in creating new laws that deal with online impersonation and malicious slander, including the new laws in California and New York that have criminalized the use of another person's name online for purposes of malice. I hope and anticipate that more states will adopt new laws regarding making it a crime to impersonate another individual online. I also am actively involved with federal legislative initiatives that will allow federal courts the opportunity to order the removal of online content related to a third party.
I am a true believer in the magic of books, and of reading and writing, and allowing our mind's imaginations to flourish. And personally, I know of nothing that allows each of us to grasp new ideas and concepts and learn how to trust ourselves more than when we read a book. So, for some time now, I have participated in various reading empowerment programs, playing my small part to empower children and adults through opening a book.
Unquestionably, I am a true believer that a book is a free ticket to anywhere in the universe, and a library a time transporter than can take us anywhere!
So perhaps you may not be surprised to learn that I am a self-professed librophiliac. Yes - I love libraries, and believe that our nation's libraries are the central connecting point for society. Over the past decade I have made various contributions to a large number of public libraries and have advocated on behalf on numerous libraries. It is both an honor and a privilege to do so, and something I surely will continue to do.
