Parental Kidnapping

You can immediately contact a lawyer who may be able to help you try to prevent abduction.  For a list of legal resources, please see our OK Finding a Lawyer page.

It is against the law for anyone (including parents and relatives) to maliciously, forcibly or fraudulently conceal a child from anyone who has custodial rights over a child.¹  If you believe the other parent has done this, you may want to call the police to report it. 

If you can convince a judge that your concerns about parental abduction are “reasonable” based on the facts, a court may take steps to prevent the other parent from abducting your child.  For example, you may be able to seek an emergency temporary restraining order or temporary custody order in court to ask that the other parent be prohibited from leaving the state with the child. If you already have a custody order, it may be possible to file in court to modify the order to ask that this type of requirement be added to it.  

If you think that the other parent may try to take your child out of the country, you could ask the court to hold your child’s passport so s/he cannot leave the country.   For more information on keeping the other parent from taking your children out of the country, see How can I keep the other parent from taking my children out of the country? on our general parental kidnapping page.

¹ 21 O.S. § 891; see Wilkins v. State, 985 P.2d 184 (Ct of Crim App. 1999)