Parental kidnapping as a form of abuse of parental rights

Abstract

The article explores the legal phenomenon of “parental kidnapping”. It is noted that Ukrainian legislation lacks a definition of this legal phenomenon. The author suggests understanding parental kidnapping as the action of one of the parents regarding the unauthorized change of the child’s place of residence without the consent of the other parent with whom, according to the law or a court decision, the child resides. This includes abduction, leading to a violation of the child’s rights and causing material or non-material harm. Statistical data from the Secretariat of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for 2022–2023 regarding the number of parental requests for the unauthorized change of the child’s place of residence by one of the parents is provided. The legislative regulation of this legal phenomenon and the peculiarities of holding parents accountable for such abuse of parental rights in Ukraine are analyzed. Ukrainian legal practitioners categorize the actions falling under the concept of “parental kidnapping” as domestic violence against the child in the form of psychological violence, especially towards the other parent with whom the child lived before the abduction. In cases where there are signs of physical injuries on the child, physical violence against the abducted child is also considered. The legal positions of Ukrainian courts in cases of parental kidnapping are discussed. Generally, since there is no legal provision specifying responsibility for such actions, in cases where the evidence presented by the plaintiff parent proves that the other parent changed the child’s place of residence without authorization, the court grants the plaintiff parent’s claim for the return of the child. Proposals are formulated for measures that need to be implemented to prevent, counteract, and legally hold accountable for parental kidnapping.