Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell Signs VA International Child Abduction Bill into Law

Virginia Governor McDonnell signed HB2361 into law last Wednesday; a bill drafted by the VA legislature based on a summary of international child abduction points, gleaned from a variety of sources encountered over the last 8 years. We had hoped it would have been signed the previous week, however a last minute technicality held up the final inking - no matter, HB2361 is now law and is effective July 1st, 2011.

The new law is a first.

Virginia is the first state to provide for the lawful seizure and forfeiture of the assets of abductors, and their accomplices, involved in the international abduction of children.

This applies whether children are abducted out of the US or into the Commonwealth of Virginia.

This is NOT a great law; but it is CERTAINLY A GREAT START!

Much of the initial Bill had been whittled away during the legislative process, notably the formation of a pool of judges to hear Hague Convention cases and mirror the efforts of the Federal judiciary.

This and other aspects are issues for the future.

I'd like to highlight the following people who were behind or inspired HB2361/SB1141:

Teresa Lauderdale - co-author of the Uniform Child Abduction Act; the idea for HB2361/SB1141 came about as a result of discussions with Teresa, an acknowledged expert and counselor in the field of international child abduction.

Larry Synclair - Larry is the father of Larry Jr, his son abducted to Russia from CA and recently back in contact after over a decade apart. Larry and I have never met, though we exchange the occasional email - Larry wrote the seminal Synclair-Cannon law for California, and is the uncredited source of the FL CAPA law which is based on the Synclair-Cannon Act. When I think of a legal or legislative situation I ask myself, "What would Larry do?" and occasionally I just ask Larry as there is nothing better than getting it from the horse's mouth.

Brandy Bond - co-proponent of HB2361/SB1141 and whirlwind lobbyist; mother of two children with international issues.

Finally, the legislators - it is because of the three following legislators we have a law - I believe they should all receive a note of thanks for getting this bill onto the statute books:

VA Delegate Jenn Mclellan - patron of HB2361

VA Senator Steve Martin - co-patron of SB1141

VA Senator Fred Quayle - co-patron of SB1141

For everyone who made phone calls and emails to VA legislators to garner support and increase awareness, thank you and see you next time :)

Pause for Thought

Now, before anyone starts backslapping one another - here are some of the reasons why this law is needed and why it needs to be strengthened even further:

Emily Koyama - abducted to Costa Rica

Marissa Joy Kvistad - abducted to Switzerland

Sage Bermudez - abducted to Mexico

Rebecca Boyle - abducted to Brazil

For many of you, these will be just names and photographs, but to me - I know the parents of all these children, and many more. Some have become my friends; people I care deeply for and in some instances I have photographs of these kids in my wallet with my own children.

None of these children has made it back home; and yet they are just a small selection from my records - the odds are that if you abduct a child, you will succeed. In passing HB2361, I sincerely hope the odds are reduced somewhat as far as Virginia is concerned, but only a fool is going to think this is enough.

The bottom line is we have to do more and there is a lot yet to do.

VA Governor McDonnell Expected to Sign Child Abduction Bill Today

VA Governor's Signature Expected Today

Virginia House Bill HB2361 on International Child Abduction Prevention & Recovery passed the House and Senate last month with unanimous support, and has been awaiting the governor's final signature to be passed into law.

I received a phone call from Delegate Jennifer McClellan's office this morning, advising me that Governor McDonnell will sign the Bill into law today. (A video of Delegate McClellan's statement to the House is found at this link here with just one of the numerous unanimous votes).

With any luck, by midnight tonight, Virginia will have the first law in the US which provides for the seizure and forfeiture of assets of international child abductors who kidnap children, both to and from the Commonwealth of Virginia.

The Bill is not perfect.

I know because I wrote it.

A lot of the proposals also didn't make it through, such as the creation of a pool of judges to handle Hague Convention cases, together with a drastic tightening up of how the authorities are to handle the reporting of international child abduction cases.

However, these are all issues to be revisited in the next legislative session, and in the meantime, there are plans to seek introduction of the concept to other states.

For now, I'm just waiting on the call from the VA Capitol that HB2361 has finally made it onto the statute books.