Peter Thomas Senese and the I CARE Foundation’s groundbreaking International Travel Child Consent Form has been hailed by the international legal community as a critically important child
abduction prevention tool that all parents around the world should use when allowing
a child to travel abroad.
It is estimated that approximately 70% of all cases of
international parental child abduction occur when a child is wrongfully
detained in a foreign country. The wrongful detention of a child abroad
generally occurs during a court directed travel order or when travel occurs by
mutual parental consent, particularly during the summer school break or the
Christmas holiday season. However, unknown to the targeted parent who may
either travel with the child or who may remain in the child’s country of
habitual residency, the scheming parent intending to remain abroad with the
child has more than likely crafted a well-orchestrated scheme that includes use
of Article 12 and Article 13 of the Hague Convention in order to remain abroad
with the child. Unfortunately, the vast
majority of children wrongfully detained in a foreign country do not come
home. The I CARE Foundation’s
‘International Travel Child Consent Form’ protects against misuse of all known
international child abduction defenses under the 1980 Hague Child Abduction
Convention, including Articles 12, 13, and 20, while upholding the intent and
spirit of Article 1 of the Child Abduction Convention.
It is important to ask why the majority of parents are
successful in carrying out their scheme of abduction?
Peter Thomas Senese, the creator of the I CARE Foundation’sInternational Travel Child Consent Form and the Executive Director of the I
CARE Foundation stated, “Perhaps the singular most important factor is that
local courts in foreign countries are not abiding by the intent and spirit of
the Hague Child Abduction Convention.
Specifically, all abductors will make defense claims under Article 12 or
Article 13 of the Hague Convention.
Article 12 has to do with intent to relocate, and Article 13 has to do
with the ‘Best interest of the child’, which recently has been expanded in many
courts to include ‘Best interest of the child and extended family’.
Unfortunately, Article 13 in particular has become the Achilles Heel of the
abduction prevention community.
“Hague Conference During Hague proceedings, the convention
calls for the inbound country’s Hague Court to look at Article 13 defenses only
in extreme cases as the intent of the 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention is
to determine which court has jurisdiction of the child, and then properly and
expeditiously return that child to the country where the court of original
jurisdiction is located. However, around
the world, courts are no longer acting in an expeditious manner as is cited
under Article 1 of The Hague Child Abduction Convention. Instead, local courts are calling for
detailed findings of what is in the best interest of the child and in essence
making their own custody ruling even though they are not the court of original
jurisdiction. Problematically, these courts are in essence mooting not only the
1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention but they are essentially quashing the
court orders originating from the child’s country of original jurisdiction.
“What the I CARE Foundation’s ‘International Travel Child
Consent Form’ does is it upholds the intent and spirit of the 1980 Hague Child
Abduction Convention, including Article 1’s ‘Expeditious determination clause’.
In addition, the travel consent form strongly addresses misuse of Article 12
and Article 13 defenses, and essentially moots use of false claim. In addition, the I CARE Foundation’s travel
consent form upholds the sanctity of the court of original jurisdiction located
in the child’s country of habitual residency.
In essence, the I CARE Foundation’s ‘International Travel
Child Consent Form’ is the only global child abduction prevention tool that
safeguards against misuse of the Hague Child Abduction Convention defenses and
calls for the immediate return of a child if that child is wrongfully detained
by mutual consent of both parents.
Extensive high remarks for the I CARE Foundation’s International Travel Child Consent Form as a groundbreaking, comprehensive, and significant global international parental child abduction prevention tool have been voiced by the leadership within legal communities familiar with international parental child abduction during legal forums around the world including compelling commentary from senior officers of the Hague Permanent Bureau during but not limited to international legal symposiums on child abduction held during the LEPCA Conference in the Hague, the IAML Conference in New York, and the Sapporo Bar Association’s Hague Symposium in Sapporo. In addition a large and growing number of attorney Bar Associations in the United States and abroad have published positive and meaningful feedback concerning the I CARE Foundation’s travel consent form with clear intent to educate their legal constituents about the landmark child abduction prevention tool. Perhaps most meaningful is the reality that many judges around the world have praised the I CARE Foundation’s travel consent form, have utilized the document in their courtrooms, and continue to implement the form in courtrooms around the world during child custody and child travel legal proceedings.
Turkey’s Honorable Judge Selma Nilhan Tekinalp, a world
renown child advocate and leading authority on Hague abduction law stated, “From
the I CARE Foundation sponsored conference at the United Nations I participated
in, and discussed with Mr. Peter Thomas Senese numerous issues revolving around
how we may prevent abduction, I am pleased to share that the ‘I CARE
Foundation’s International Travel Child Consent Form’ has the worldwide
potential to dramatically reduce global child abduction. This agreement is deep
in Hague law, and strikes at the core of abductor statements who may attempt to
mislead courts into sanctioning a kidnapping established under the rules of the
Hague Convention.”
Armin U. Kuder, partner at the highly respected firm Kuder,
Smollar & Friedman, has been named in every article identifying leading
family lawyers in the prestigious ‘Washingtonian Magazine’ added, “The I Care Foundation
International Travel Child Consent Form is a powerful tool for exposing a
would-be abductor’s intent. If a parent will not sign the form, we have
compelling evidence to present to a court in support of limitations on travel,
use of passports, and conditions for access to the child.”
For more information please visit The I CARE Foundation at
www.theicarefoundation.org. For attorneys seeking access to the legal brief and
analysis of the travel consent form please contact legal@theicarefoundation.org
