I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1978 

To authorize the Attorney General to make grants to improve the ability 

of State and local governments to prevent the abduction of children 

by family members, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 2, 2009 

Ms. WOOLSEY (for herself, Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California, Mr. STARK, 

Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, and Mr. GRIJALVA) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To authorize the Attorney General to make grants to improve 

the ability of State and local governments to prevent 

the abduction of children by family members, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Family Abduction Pre5 vention Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) each year more than 203,000 children in 

2 the United States (approximately 78 percent of all 

3 abducted children) are abducted by a family mem4 ber, usually a parent; 

5 (2) more than half of the parents who abduct 

6 their children have a history of alcohol or substance 

7 abuse, a criminal record, or a history of violence; 

8 (3) the most common motive for family abduc9 tion is revenge against the other parent, not pro10 tecting the child’s safety; 

11 (4) children who are abducted by family mem12 bers suffer emotional, psychological, and often phys13 ical abuse at the hands of their abductors; 

14 (5) children who are victims of family abduc15 tions are forced to leave behind family, friends, their 

16 homes, their neighborhoods, their schools, and all 

17 that is familiar to them; 

18 (6) children who are victims of family abduc19 tions are often told that the parent who did not 

20 abduct the child has died, does not love them, or will 

21 harm them; 

22 (7) children who are abducted by their parents 

23 or other family members are sometimes forced to 

24 live in fear of discovery and may be compelled to 


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1 conceal their true identity, including their real 

2 names, family histories, and even their gender; 

3 (8) children who are victims of family abduc4 tions are often denied the opportunity to attend 

5 school or to receive health and dental care; 

6 (9) child psychologists and law enforcement au7 thorities now classify family abduction as a form of 

8 child abuse; 

9 (10) approximately 70 percent of local law en10 forcement agencies do not have written guidelines 

11 for what to do in the event of a family abduction or 

12 how to facilitate the recovery of an abducted child; 

13 (11) the first few hours of a family abduction 

14 are crucial to recovering an abducted child, and val15 uable hours are lost when law enforcement is not 

16 prepared to employ the most effective techniques to 

17 locate and recover abducted children; 

18 (12) when parents who may be inclined to 

19 abduct their own children receive counseling and 

20 education on the harm suffered by children under 

21 these circumstances, the incidence of family abduc22 tions is greatly reduced; and 

23 (13) where practiced, the flagging of school 

24 records has proven to be an effective tool in assisting 

25 law enforcement authorities find abducted children. 


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1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) FAMILY ABDUCTION.—The term ‘‘family 

4 abduction’’ means the taking, keeping, or concealing 

5 of a child or children by a parent, other family mem6 ber, or person acting on behalf of the parent or fam7 ily member, that prevents another individual from 

8 exercising lawful custody or visitation rights. 

9 (2) FLAGGING.—The term ‘‘flagging’’ means 

10 the process of notifying law enforcement authorities 

11 of the name and address of any person requesting 

12 the school records of an abducted child. 

13 (3) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ 

14 means any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other orga15 nized group or community, including any Alaska Na16 tive village or regional or village corporation as de17 fined in or established pursuant to the Alaska Na18 tive Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), 

19 which is recognized as eligible for the special pro20 grams and services provided by the United States to 

21 Indians because of their status as Indians. 

22 (4) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

23 the several States, the District of Columbia, the 

24 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth 

25 of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, 


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1 Guam, the Virgin Islands, any territory or posses2 sion of the United States, and any Indian tribe. 

3 SEC. 4. GRANTS TO STATES. 

4 (a) MATCHING GRANTS.—The Attorney General shall 

5 make grants to States for projects involving— 

6 (1) the extradition of individuals suspected of 

7 committing a family abduction; 

8 (2) the investigation by State and local law en9 forcement agencies of family abduction cases; 

10 (3) the training of State and local law enforce11 ment agencies in responding to family abductions 

12 and recovering abducted children, including the de13 velopment of written guidelines and technical assist14 ance; 

15 (4) outreach and media campaigns to educate 

16 parents on the dangers of family abductions; and 

17 (5) the flagging of school records. 

18 (b) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—Not less than 50 

19 percent of the cost of a project for which a grant is made 

20 under this section shall be provided by non-Federal 

21 sources. 

22 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

23 For the purpose of carrying out this Act, there are 

24 authorized to be appropriated to the Attorney General 


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1 such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 

2 2010, 2011, and 2012. 

Æ 


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