Editorial: Rules aim to stop parental abductions

Thursday, June 21, 2001 | 8:40 a.m.

It is encouraging that the State Department finally has put in place new passport procedures that will help prevent American families from becoming the victims of international parental abductions. The new procedures only came about after Sen. Harry Reid, who worked with Rep. Jim Gibbons on the issue, was able to secure passage of legislation in late 1999 that mandated steps to prevent these abductions.

The Nevada senator's interest in the issue heightened after a parental abduction case in Henderson. Mikey Kale's biological father kidnapped the 6-year-old boy in 1993 and took him to Croatia. Even though his mother had sole custody, the father secured a passport for Mikey. Mikey's mother ultimately was able to bring him home, but other parents haven't been as fortunate. Once children are in another nation, it can be next to impossible to bring them back home.

Under the new rules, an important provision requires that both parents must sign the passport application before a passport for a child is issued. Not only are these safeguards an important step to protect the rights of custodial parents under U.S. law, but they also ensure children aren't harmed by being ripped away from one of their parents and taken to another nation.