39–010 

Calendar No. 450 

113TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! SENATE 2nd Session 113–204 

SEAN AND DAVID GOLDMAN INTERNATIONAL CHILD 

ABDUCTION PREVENTION AND RETURN ACT OF 2014 

JUNE 26, 2014.—Ordered to be printed 

Mr. MENENDEZ, from the Committee on Foreign Relations, 

submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany H.R. 3212] 

The Committee on Foreign Relations, to which was referred the 

bill (H.R. 3212), to ensure compliance with the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction by 

countries with which the United States enjoys reciprocal obligations, to establish procedures for the prompt return of children abducted to other countries, and for other purposes, having considered the same reports favorably thereon with an amendment and 

recommends that the bill, as amended, do pass. 

CONTENTS 

Page 

I. Purpose ........................................................................................................... 1 

II. Committee Action .......................................................................................... 2 

III. Background .................................................................................................... 2 

IV. Summary of Key Provisions .......................................................................... 3 

V. Cost Estimate ................................................................................................. 7 

VI. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact .................................................................. 8 

VII. Changes in Existing Law .............................................................................. 8 

I. PURPOSE

The purpose of H.R. 3212, as amended, is to help resolve pending 

abduction and access cases for both Hague Abduction Convention 

and non-Convention countries. It is intended to improve compliance 

by setting out appropriate procedures for the State Department to 

follow in entering into bilateral arrangements, including Memoranda of Understandings, resolving abduction and access cases, and 

prescribing a set of actions to be taken when countries fail to resolve these cases, or engage in a pattern of noncompliance. H.R. 

3212, as amended, also aims to assist families and improve the 

U.S. Government’s response to abduction and access cases through 

publication of a comprehensive annual report, by requiring U.S. 

missions abroad to designate senior officials to assist parents in resolving cases, and by establishing interagency coordination and a 


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prevention mechanism to halt wrongful abduction before it occurs. 

Additionally, H.R. 3212, as amended, authorizes a total of $2 million in funding to provide judicial training on the effective handling 

of parental abduction cases in countries with either a pattern of 

noncompliance, or a significant number of pending unresolved abduction cases. 

II. COMMITTEE ACTION

The Committee on Foreign Relations held a public hearing on the 

problem of international parental child abduction on February 27, 

2014, at which testimony was heard from Ambassador Susan Jacobs, the Special Advisor for Children’s Issues in the Bureau of 

Consular Affairs at the Department of State. The committee also 

heard testimony from a panel of private sector witnesses: Ernie 

Allen, President and Chief Executive Officer of the International 

Center for Missing and Exploited Children; David Goldman, Cofounder and Director of the Bring Sean Home Foundation; Patrick 

Braden, Chief Executive Officer of Global Future: The Parents’ 

Council on International Children’s Policy; and Noelle Hunter, the 

parent of an abducted child. 

H.R. 3212 passed the House of Representatives on December 11, 

2013, and was referred to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on December 17, 2013. On June 19, 2014, Senator Menendez 

introduced S. 2509, the Sean and David Goldman International 

Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act of 2014, with Senators 

Corker and Markey as co-sponsors. On June 24, 2014, the committee considered H.R. 3212, with a substitute amendment offered 

by Senator Menendez and co-sponsored by Senator Corker, which 

was the text of S. 2509. On June 24, 2014, the committee ordered 

H.R. 3212 reported favorably, with the substitute amendment as 

well as a manager’s amendment. 

The substitute amendment and the manager’s amendment were 

agreed to by voice vote. The subject matter areas covered by the 

manager’s amendment included, among other things, changing the 

sub-definition of Central Authority to address bilateral procedures 

countries, instead of MOU countries, adding ‘‘legal custodian’’ to 

definitions for ‘‘left-behind parent’’ and ‘‘rights of custody,’’ adding 

a requirement that the Annual Report on International Child Abduction be posted to the State Department website, adding a formal request for the extradition of the individual engaged in the abduction to the description of actions by the Secretary of State in 

Hague Abduction Convention countries, and reducing the amount 

authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of State for judicial 

training from $5 million for each of fiscal years 2015 and 2016 to 

$1 million for each of fiscal years 2015 and 2016. 

III. BACKGROUND

The Hague Conference on Private International Law concluded 

the Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction on October 25, 1980. The Convention’s objectives are to protect 

children from wrongful removals and retentions across international borders, and to supply procedures to assist in either access 

to the children, or their safe and expeditious return. The Convention entered into force for the United States in 1988, and the U.S. 


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currently partners with over 70 countries under the Convention. 

Countries signing on to the Convention guarantee that a signatory 

nation will respect and follow the custody rights and laws of all 

other signatory nations. The Convention itself does not adjudicate 

the merits of a custody dispute or act like an extradition treaty. 

More than 1,000 outgoing international parental child abductions 

are reported every year in the United States. This is a growing 

problem, as the total number of applications made under the 

Hague Abduction Convention has increased by over 40 percent 

since 2003. The return rate for children abducted to countries 

under the Hague Abduction Convention hovers around 50 percent, 

and the return rate is even less for non-Convention countries, with 

many non-Convention countries never returning a single child to 

the United States. Convention and non-Convention countries alike 

may experience difficulties with regards to their judicial systems, 

law enforcement, or central administrations that hinder efforts to 

locate and effectuate the return of an abducted child. 

H.R. 3212, as amended, will provide the Secretary of State with 

stronger diplomatic tools and a more coherent and transparent U.S. 

policy so as to better enforce compliance with the Hague Abduction 

Convention and bilateral arrangements in the case of non-Convention countries. H.R. 3212, as amended, strengthens and streamlines H.R. 3212, the Sean and David Goldman International Child 

Abduction Prevention and Return Act of 2013, which passed the 

House of Representatives in December 2013, by expanding the 

scope of countries that may be subject to actions taken by the Secretary of State, and by adding important prevention measures. 

IV. SUMMARY OF KEY PROVISIONS

A summary of the key provisions of H.R. 3212, as amended, follows. 

Section 2 

Section 2 presents key findings addressing the growing problems 

of international parental child abduction, obstacles to the recovery 

of abducted children, issues with compliance and implementation of 

the Hague Abduction Convention, challenges facing left-behind parents and military parents, and the importance of preventing abductions before they occur. The section goes on to state that it is the 

sense of the Congress that the United States should set a strong 

example for other Convention countries in the timely location of 

children abducted from other countries and brought to the United 

States, and the prompt resolution of their cases. The section states 

the purposes of the Act are to protect children whose habitual residence is the United States from wrongful abduction, to assist leftbehind parents in quickly resolving cases and maintaining safe and 

predictable contact with their children while an abduction case is 

pending, to protect the custodial rights of parents by providing information to all stakeholders to prevent abduction, to detail actions 

to be undertaken by the Secretary of State to resolve abduction 

cases, and to increase interagency coordination to prevent international child abduction before it occurs. 


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Section 3 

Section 3 defines key terms that are used throughout the legislation. The term ‘‘abduction case’’ is defined as a case that has been 

reported to the Central Authority of the United States by a left-behind parent for the resolution of an abduction, and meets the criteria for an international child abduction under the Hague Abduction Convention, regardless of whether the country at issue is a 

Convention country. The term ‘‘access case’’ is defined as a case involving an application filed with the Central Authority of the 

United States by a parent seeking rights of access. The term ‘‘pattern of noncompliance’’ means: the persistent failure of a Convention country to implement and abide by provisions of the Hague 

Abduction Convention, or of a non-Convention country to either 

abide by bilateral procedures that have been established between 

the United States and such country, or to work with the Central 

Authority of the United States to resolve abduction cases. Persistent failure is defined as, respectively: thirty percent or more of 

the total abduction cases in the country are unresolved abduction 

cases, the Central Authority of that country regularly fails to fulfill 

its responsibilities pursuant to the relevant document, the judicial 

and administrative branch of the country fails to regularly implement and comply with the Hague Abduction Convention or procedure provisions, or law enforcement authorities regularly fail to enforce return orders or determinations of rights of access. An ‘‘unresolved abduction case’’ means a case that remains unresolved 12 

months after the date on which the completed application for return of the child is submitted for determination to the judicial or 

administrative authority in the country in which the child is located. An abduction case is considered resolved if the child is returned to the country of habitual residence, if the judicial or administrative branch of the country in which the child is located has 

implemented and is complying with the provisions of the relevant 

document, if the left-behind parent reaches a voluntary arrangement with the other parent, or submits a written withdrawal of the 

application, if the left-behind parent cannot be located for 1 year 

despite documented efforts to locate the parent, or if the child or 

left-behind parent is deceased. 

TITLE I.—DEPARTMENT OF STATE ACTIONS

Section 101. Annual Report 

Section 101 requires the State Department, not later than April 

30 of each year, to submit a comprehensive annual report on the 

status of international child abductions as relating to children 

whose habitual residence is the United States. The report is to include a list of all countries in which there were 1 or more abduction cases, with more detailed information required for each country where there were 5 or more pending abduction cases. The report must also contain the number of abducted children who were 

returned to the United States, the number of cases resolved without abducted children being returned to the United States, a list 

of Convention and bilateral arrangement countries that have failed 

to comply with their international obligations, a list of countries 

demonstrating a pattern of noncompliance, whether noneconomic 

policy options to resolve the pattern of noncompliance have been 


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exhausted, and information on efforts by the Secretary of State to 

encourage non-Convention countries to join the Hague Abduction 

Convention, implement other bilateral procedures, and address 

pending abduction and access cases. The report must also include 

the number of unresolved abduction cases affecting military parents; a description of the assistance offered to such parents; information on the use of airlines in abductions; information on actions 

taken by the Central Authority of the United States to train domestic judges in the application of the Hague Convention; and information on actions by the United States to train U.S. Armed 

Forces legal assistance personnel, military chaplains, and military 

family support center personnel to deal with abductions, the risk 

of loss of contact with children, and the legal means available to 

resolve such cases. The completed report must be posted to the 

publicly accessible State Department website. 

Section 102. Standards and Assistance 

Section 102 requires United States diplomatic and consular missions to monitor abduction and access cases, maintain consistent 

reporting standards on such cases, and designate a least one senior 

official at each mission to monitor developments on individual 

cases, as well as assist visiting left-behind parents seeking to resolve such cases. It also requires a written strategic plan for engagement with any country in which there are five or more cases 

of international child abduction. 

Section 103. Bilateral Procedures, Including Memoranda of Understanding 

Section 103 requires the Secretary of State, within 180 days of 

passage of the Act, to develop and enter into appropriate bilateral 

procedures with non-Hague-Convention countries, or Hague Abduction Convention countries with unresolved abduction cases that occurred before the Convention entered into force. In entering into 

these procedures, the Secretary of State should prioritize those 

countries with significant abduction cases and related issues. These 

bilateral procedures should include identification of countries’ Central Authority, their relevant judicial, administrative and law enforcement authorities; a protocol to identify, locate, and return an 

abducted child not later than 6 weeks after the abduction case has 

been submitted to the country’s relevant authority; and the implementation of protocols to establish and protect the rights of interim 

contact with the children during the pendency of abduction cases 

and establish periodic visits between a State Department official 

and an abducted child. 

Section 104. Report to Congressional Representatives 

Section 104 requires that, when a left-behind parent reports a 

child abduction to the U.S. Central Authority and consents to the 

notification, the State Department must, as soon as possible, notify 

the congressional representatives representing the legal residence 

of the parent. 


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TITLE II.—ACTIONS BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE

Section 201. Response to International Child Abductions 

Section 201 provides that if, 12 months after the date on which 

the Central Authority of the United States submits a child abduction or access case to a foreign country, the Secretary of State determines that the country has failed to take appropriate steps to 

resolve the case, the Secretary should take 1 or more of the prescribed actions in Section 202, and should direct the State Department Chief of Mission in that country to address the case’s resolution with senior officials in the foreign government. The Secretary 

of State may delay these actions if the Secretary determines that 

an additional period of up to 1 year will substantially assist in resolving the case, but must provide a report to the appropriate congressional committees detailing the reasons for delaying or not taking action. The Secretary of State must first communicate with the 

Central Authority of the country at issue before implementing the 

actions in Section 202, and must target such actions as narrowly 

as possible, so as to minimize any adverse impact on the population 

of the targeted country, or on the humanitarian activities of United 

States and foreign NGOs in that country. 

Section 202. Actions by the Secretary of State in Response to Patterns of Noncompliance in Cases of International Child Abduction 

Section 202 instructs the Secretary of State to review the status 

of abduction and access cases in each foreign country in order to 

determine whether the government of such country has engaged in 

a pattern of noncompliance during the preceding 12 months. If the 

Secretary makes such a determination, the Secretary must determine the offending agencies or instrumentalities of the foreign government, and take 1 or more prescribed actions, including a demarche; an official public statement detailing unresolved cases; a 

public condemnation, a delay or cancellation of 1 or more bilateral 

working, official, or state visits; a formal request for the extradition 

of the individual engaged in the abduction; or the withdrawal, limitation, or suspension of United States development assistance in 

accordance with sections 116, 502B, or chapter 4 of part II of the 

Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. The Secretary may substitute any 

other action authorized by law, so long as it is commensurate in 

effect to the action substituted, and does not prohibit or restrict 

life-saving humanitarian assistance. The Secretary is not required 

to take action for up to 90 days if the Secretary determines and 

certifies that such a period is necessary to continue negotiations, 

to review corrective action taken by the relevant country, or because the Secretary anticipates that corrective action will be taken 

within the 90-day period. 

Section 203. Consultations With Foreign Governments 

Section 203 instructs the Secretary of State to request and enter 

into consultations with foreign governments as soon as possible following any determination made under section 201, or any actions 

taken under section 202. 


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Section 204. Waiver by the Secretary of State 

Section 204 authorizes the Secretary of State to waive the application of actions taken under section 202 if the country at issue has 

satisfactorily resolved the abduction cases giving rise to the United 

States actions, has ended such country’s pattern of noncompliance, 

or the national security interest of the U.S. requires the exercise 

of the waiver. When exercising a waiver, the Secretary must notify 

the appropriate congressional committees and provide them with a 

detailed justification. The Secretary must ensure that each waiver 

determination is published in the Federal Register or posted on the 

Department of State website, unless the Secretary determines that 

publication would harm the national security of the United States, 

or would not further the purposes of this Act. 

Section 205. Termination of Actions by the Secretary of State 

Section 205 authorizes the Secretary of State to terminate any 

actions taken under this Act if the Secretary submits to Congress 

a written certification that the country in question has resolved the 

abduction case that gave rise to such actions, or has taken substantial and verifiable steps to correct its persistent pattern of noncompliance. 

TITLE III.—PREVENTION OF INTERNATIONAL CHILD ABDUCTION

Section 301. Preventing Children From Leaving the United States 

in Violation of a Court Order 

Section 301 amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish a prevention program with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to prevent the departure of a child from the U.S. if 

a parent or legal guardian secures a valid court order and presents 

it to CBP in sufficient time to prevent such departure. The Secretary of State must also convene and chair an interagency working group on preventing international parental child abduction. 

The group must contain representatives from the State Department, the Justice Department, and the Department of Homeland 

Security. Finally, the Secretary of Defense must designate an official to coordinate with the State Department on international child 

abduction issues, and to oversee activities to prevent or resolve 

international child abduction cases relating to active duty military 

service members. 

Section 302. Authorization for Judicial Training on International 

Parental Child Abduction 

Section 302 authorizes $1,000,000 for Fiscal Year (FY) 2015, and 

another $1,000,000 for FY 2016, in order to provide judicial training on the effective handling of parental abduction cases in countries either with a pattern of noncompliance, or in countries with 

a significant number of pending unresolved abduction cases. 180 

days after this bill’s enactment, the President must submit a strategy to carry out these training activities to the appropriate congressional committees. 

V. COST ESTIMATE

In accordance with Rule XXVI, paragraph 11(a) of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, the committee notes that the cost estimate 


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provided by the Congressional Budget Office was not available for 

inclusion in this report. The estimate will be printed in either a 

supplemental report or the Congressional Record when it is available. 

VI. EVALUATION OF REGULATORY IMPACT

Pursuant to the requirement of paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of 

the Standing Rules of the Senate, the committee has considered the 

regulatory and paperwork impact of H.R. 3212, as amended. The 

bill requires the Secretary of State to ensure that diplomatic and 

consular missions abroad maintain a consistent reporting standard 

with respect to abduction and access cases, and to monitor developments in abduction and access cases. However, it is not expected 

that these requirements will produce significant regulatory effect 

on individuals or businesses. The bill requires the Secretary of 

State to submit written notification to the Member of Congress and 

Senators, or Resident Commissioner or Delegate, representing the 

legal residence of a left-behind parent, but only if the parent reports an abduction and consents to notification. As such, it is the 

committee’s view that the bill would not have a significant impact 

on the personal privacy of individuals affected. Title III of the bill 

requires the Secretary of Homeland Security, through the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in coordination with 

the Secretary of State and others, to establish a program that, 

among other things, seeks to prevent children from departing the 

United States if there is a court order prohibiting such removal. 

While some regulations may be required to implement this requirement, the language explicitly contemplates the use of existing authorities and processes. As such, it is the committee’s judgment 

that the regulatory impact of H.R. 3212, as amended, will not be 

significant. 

VII. CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

In compliance with Rule XXVI, paragraph 12 of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by the bill, as 

reported, are shown as follows (existing law proposed to be omitted 

is enclosed in black brackets, new matter is printed in italic, existing law in which no change is proposed is shown in roman). 

TITLE 42.—THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE

CHAPTER 121.—INTERNATIONAL CHILD ABDUCTION REMEDIES

SECTION 11611. REPORT ON COMPLIANCE WITH THE HAGUE CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL CHILD ABDUCTION [Repealed] 

ø(a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning 6 months after October 21, 1998, 

and every 12 months thereafter, the Secretary of State shall submit 

a report to the appropriate congressional committees on the compliance with the provisions of the Convention on the Civil Aspects of 

International Child Abduction, done at The Hague on October 25, 

1980, by the signatory countries of the Convention. Each such report shall include the following information: 

ø(1) The number of applications for the return of children 

submitted by applicants in the United States to the Central 


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Authority for the United States that remain unresolved more 

than 18 months after the date of filing. 

ø(2) A list of the countries to which children in unresolved 

applications described in paragraph (1) are alleged to have 

been abducted, are being wrongfully retained in violation of 

United States court orders, or which have failed to comply with 

any of their obligations under such convention with respect to 

applications for the return of children, access to children, or 

both, submitted by applicants in the United States. 

ø(3) A list of the countries that have demonstrated a pattern 

of noncompliance with the obligations of the Convention with 

respect to applications for the return of children, access to children, or both, submitted by applicants in the United States to 

the Central Authority for the United States. 

ø(4) Detailed information on each unresolved case described 

in paragraph (1) and on actions taken by the Department of 

State to resolve each such case, including the specific actions 

taken by the United States chief of mission in the country to 

which the child is alleged to have been abducted. 

ø(5) Information on efforts by the Department of State to encourage other countries to become signatories of the Convention. 

ø(6) A list of the countries that are parties to the Convention 

in which, during the reporting period, parents who have been 

left-behind in the United States have not been able to secure 

prompt enforcement of a final return or access order under a 

Hague proceeding, of a United States custody, access, or visitation order, or of an access or visitation order by authorities in 

the country concerned, due to the absence of a prompt and effective method for enforcement of civil court orders, the absence of a doctrine of comity, or other factors. 

ø(7) A description of the efforts of the Secretary of State to 

encourage the parties to the Convention to facilitate the work 

of nongovernmental organizations within their countries that 

assist parents seeking the return of children under the Convention. 

ø(b) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘Central Authority for 

the United States’’ has the meaning given the term in Article 6 of 

the Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, done at The Hague on October 25, 1980.¿ 

Public Law 107–296 

HOMELAND SECURITY ACT OF 2002 

* * * * * * * 

TITLE IV.—DIRECTORATE OF BORDER

AND TRANSPORTATION SECURITY

* * * * * * * 

SUBTITLE C.—MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

* * * * * * * 


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SECTION 433. PREVENTION OF INTERNATIONAL CHILD ABDUCTION. 

(a) PROGRAM ESTABLISHED.—The Secretary, through the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (referred to in this 

section as ‘CBP’), in coordination with the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, shall establish a program that— 

(1) seeks to prevent a child (as defined in section 1204(b)(1) 

of title 18, United States Code) from departing from the territory of the United States if a parent or legal guardian of such 

child presents a court order from a court of competent jurisdiction prohibiting the removal of such child from the United 

States to a CBP Officer in sufficient time to prevent such departure for the duration of such court order; and 

(2) leverages other existing authorities and processes to address the wrongful removal and return of a child. 

(b) INTERAGENCY COORDINATION.— 

(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall convene and 

chair an interagency working group to prevent international parental child abduction. The group shall be composed of presidentially appointed, Senate confirmed officials from— 

(A) the Department of State; 

(B) the Department of Homeland Security, including U.S. 

Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and 

Customs Enforcement; and 

(C) the Department of Justice, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

(2) DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.—The Secretary of Defense 

shall designate an official within the Department of Defense— 

(A) to coordinate with the Department of State on international child abduction issues; and 

(B) to oversee activities designed to prevent or resolve 

international child abduction cases relating to active duty 

military service members. 

Æ 


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