Parental/Family Abductions: Helpful Terms and Legal Glossary, Part II

felony – a serious crime usually punishable by imprisonment for at least one year. A less serious crime is a misdemeanor.

 

Hague Convention – The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

 

ICARA – International Child Abduction Remedies Act.

 

INTERPOL – International Criminal Police Organization, the world’s largest international police organization with 186 member countries including the United States. INTERPOL facilitates cross-border police cooperation. INTERPOL color-coded notices of Red, Blue, and Yellow may be issued in international, parental-kidnapping cases.

 

INTERPOL Blue Notice – seeks to collect additional information about a person’s identity or activities in relation to a crime.

 

INTERPOL Red Notice – seeks the arrest or provisional arrest of wanted persons with a view to extradition.

 

INTERPOL Yellow Notice – seeks to locate missing persons, often minors.

 

interjurisdictional – between two jurisdictions including between two states or two territories or between a state and a territory.

 

IPKCA – International Parental Kidnapping Crime Act.

 

joint custodian – a parent who has been awarded joint custody, sometimes called shared custody, by a court. A joint custodian may have joint legal custody, joint physical custody, or both.

 

jurisdiction – legal authority of a court to make child-custody determinations.

 

left-behind parent – the parent from whom a child has been wrongfully taken, kept, or concealed. Also called searching parent and victim parent.

 

missing child – federal law defines this term to mean any individual younger than 18 years of age whose whereabouts are unknown to such individual’s legal custodian, but note that federal law requires entry of information about missing children younger than 21 into the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Crime Information Center database. Definitions of “missing child” vary among states and territories.

 

missing-child clearinghouse – an agency of a state or territory that maintains records of missing children and, in some cases, assists local law-enforcement agencies in locating and recovering missing children.

 

modify – change. As a general rule the person seeking to modify a custody order must show a substantial change in circumstances since the custody determination was issued and that the modification would be in the subject child’s best interest. A parent may petition a court to modify an existing custody determination, for instance, to include prevention measures such as supervised visitation and bonds.

 

NCCUSL – National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. This is also known as the Uniform Law Commission. Representatives from all 50 states and the U.S. territories participate in this organization, which drafts uniform laws on various issues. NCCUSL has produced the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act, Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, and Uniform Child Abduction Prevention Act.

 

NCIC – the National Crime Information Center database maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

 

NCIC-MPF – the Missing Person File within the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Crime Information Center database.

 

noncustodial parent – a parent who has not been awarded custodial rights by a court. A noncustodial parent may be awarded visitation rights, sometimes called access rights or parenting time, by a court.