Melissa Testifies before U.S. Congress

On September 10, 2024, Melissa testified before the U.S. Congress Subcommittee on Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations on the International Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act (ICAPRA). ICAPRA was enacted in 2014, and is now 10 years old. It highlights certain tools that the U.S. government can use in addressing international parental child abduction, mandates that the U.S. Department of State publish an annual report on countries to which children are taken from the United States by a parent, and established the Prevent Abduction program. Melissa provided testimony, buttressed by a written statement, that focused on raw data already published, and the need for more, to establish the inherent problems in legal systems for the operation of existing laws in these cross-border family disputes. She proposed more discussion on complementary legal issues, such as international family relocation laws, abduction prevention research, and the recognition and enforcement of U.S. custody orders overseas, including through the Hague Child Protection Convention, which is not yet ratified by the United States. You can watch the recording of Tuesday’s hearing at this link and read the witnesses’ written testimony at this link.