Many experience feelings of guilt, depression, anxiety and helplessness. The inability to sleep or work are common. Very few parental abductions are acts of love for the child. Taking a child away and denying them the love of a parent is not a loving act. The differing possible reasons for parental abductions are wide ranging.
Most abductions take place in the context of a separation or divorce of the parents.
A parent may abduct a child to fulfil their desire to be a full time parent. Or perhaps they simply want to punish the other parent and a child is an effective psychological weapon. The abductor often feels that if he or she cannot have the child, then no one else will either. There are some cases where parents have taken their children because they fear that the other parent is abusing the child or neglecting them. While the motives of these kinds of abductions are understandable, it is never a good idea to take the law into your own hands.