General Parental Kidnapping edits

We completely rewrote and expanded our General Parental Kidnapping page, to provide survivors with more up-to-date information. This includes 10 new questions:

• What is parental kidnapping? Which state’s laws apply?
• What state has the power to decide the custody of my child?
• If I need legal advice, do I talk to a criminal defense lawyer or a custody lawyer?
• Can a parent be charged with parental kidnapping without leaving the state?
• If I plan to move to another state, does it matter whether or not we have a custody order in place?
• We’re in the middle of a court case involving my children. Can I take them out of state for any amount of time?
• How can I keep the other parent from moving out of the state or country with our children?
• If I’m a victim of domestic violence, is that a defense to being charged with parental kidnapping?
• Can I get temporary emergency custody of my child?
• If I get temporary emergency custody in a state where I have just arrived, how long will the custody order last?

Spanish coming soon!