Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: Protecting children too much work for State Department

Monday, Jan. 26, 1998 | 10:14 a.m.

LAST MAY Fred and Barbara Spierer were in Washington to see Sen. Harry Reid introduce the Mikey Kale Passport Notification Act of 1997. This, they hope, is the answer to the bad dream Barbara had in 1993 when her ex-husband abducted her son, Mikey, to Croatia.

The Mikey Kale Passport Notification Act simply requires "that application for passports for minors have parental signatures." Doesn't sound very complex and certainly doesn't sound unreasonable. That's unless you listen to the Department of State, which applied heavy pressure to have it knocked out of the immigration bill during the first session of the 105th Congress.

Here's the Mikey Kale Passport Notification Act of 1997 (S692):

"(1) Signatures Required. -- In the case of a child under the age of 16, the written application required as a prerequisite to the issuance of a passport for such child shall be signed by --

"(A) both parents of the child if the child lives with both parents;

"(B) the parent of the child having primary custody of the child if the child does not live with both parents; or

"(C) the surviving parent (or legal guardian) of the child, if one or both parents are deceased.

"(2) Waiver. -- The Secretary of State may waive the requirements of paragraph (1)(A) if the Secretary determines that circumstances do not permit obtaining the signatures of both parents ..."

Senate committee staff people were told by State that this would make their bureaucrats enforcement people and it also would result in too much work.

When asked about State's objections, Fred Spierer related a couple of other objections that State has made and he eagerly counters. Spierer writes, "First, they are concerned that it might violate the rights of a non-custodial parent. Our position is what about the rights of the child being abducted out of the country? Is that child's rights not important? These children are being denied their rights to grow up in the country they were born in and taken out of the country against their will. It's very traumatic for a child when abducted out of the USA. It is also traumatic for the left-behind custodial parent as well as that child's siblings. It is also very costly to try and get the child back. The left-behind parent usually finds themselves at the mercy of the legal system of the country where the child was taken. If that country does not belong to the Hague Conference Treaty or if they are in the middle of a civil war like Croatia and Bosnia were -- like in our case -- you are looking at a very difficult and expensive uphill battle. Secondly, the State Department says that 95 percent of the children taken (abducted) out of the USA by a non-custodial parent is by a parent that has foreign ties in another country. That leaves 5 percent of the children who are taken out of the USA are by a non-custodial parent who has ties only in the USA. Our argument is: Are these 5 percent not important? We obviously feel they are. There are thousands of children who have been abducted out of the USA by their non-custodial parent, who have never returned."

Spierer goes on to point out that "most custodial parents have no idea that the non-custodial parent can obtain a passport for their child." He and his wife learned this the hard way when she had custody over Mikey and held his passport. The boy's father, Mladen Kale, was able to obtain a backup passport from State. One weekend he drove Mikey to Los Angeles and then to Croatia where a bloody war was being waged. The Spierers, unlike many other couples, were eventually able to have the boy returned to Henderson.

When introducing Mikey's bill, Reid told his colleagues, "More than 1,000 children every year are abducted by a parent and taken overseas, out of reach from our legal system. Parents who are left behind are spending thousands of dollars and countless hours trying to get their children back with very little luck. My legislation closes a loophole in current law which allows for non-custodial parents to apply for passport for their children and spirit them out of the country."

Now it's up to the Foreign Relations Committee to soften State's objections to the bill or push the bureaucrats aside.

In the meantime, the Nevada Legislature passed three bills into law that provide for certain restrictions concerning the custody of children. Briefly the three bills passed in 1993 are:

"An act relating to custody of children; specifying the right to custody of a child of parents who are married but living separately and of a child born out of wedlock; revising the statutory provisions that govern the unlawful detention, concealment or removal of children..."

"An act relating to children; making various changes relating to orders concerning the custody of children; requiring family courts to give priority to certain claims concerning custody..."'

"An act relating to children; creating the office of advocate for missing or exploited children; defining the duties of the advocate; making various changes concerning the clearinghouse for information concerning missing or exploited children..."

Now it's up to our national bureaucrats in the Department of State to step aside and allow Congress to do what is right and just.