When You Are Afraid Your Japanese Spouse Will Abduct Your Children... (outside Japan)

Things are not going well in your relationship, and you are afraid that your Japanese partner might run away with your child.  Here is some advice if you are living outside Japan.   If you believe you will end up in a divorce, or that you spouse may forge a divorce agreement, see the section on When You Are Afraid Your Japanese Spouse Will Divorce You.

First, examine the Just In Case of Parental Abduction Checklist  to see how to prepare for the event that your children may be parentally abducted.

Here are some additional items that apply only if you are outside of Japan.  Obviously, some of them could make a delicate relationship worse, so use them with care.  But please do not use them as a substitute to marriage or relationship counseling which could be a better longer term solution for your children.

• Get a court order giving you custody of your children.
• Get a court order prohibiting the Japanese spouse from taking the child out of the country.
• Get physical possession of the passport of the children (for your country) and of the japanese passport for the Japanese spouse.  But read the note below.  A Japanese spouse can usually get another on very short notice.
• Contact the Japanese embassy and show them the court orders.  Request that they do not issue such a document or Japanese passports for the wife or children.  The embassy does not have to do this, even if you have a court order.  But it cant hurt.  Here is the web page on the Japanese embassy site describing the immediate travel papers they will issue. (cached copy)
• Contact airlines and show them the court order.  Get the Japanese spouse and the children on the list indicating that they cannot fly out of the country.  But see note below.  This may not always work.  Remind them that if they help the parent, they may be criminally liable for aiding a crime.  International parental abduction is a federal crime.  (There may also be a specific law requiring airlines to see a letter signed by the other parent - we are researching this.  Of course this could be forged, so you should try to require a notarized letter or personal contact.)
• Contact the US Passport agency and get your children on the "do not issue passport" list.
• ? Is there a way to contact US border stations to prevent them from leaving?  How about on ships?
• If you can afford it, hire a housekeeper to "help" with the children every day while you are out. Let them in on your worry and ask them to always know where the children are. Or to contact you if she is ever gone for more than an hour with the children. Another option might be to invite the parents to come live with you. Your spouse would probably understand as this is common in Japan. Again, let them in on your worries and get their help

• According to Derek Walker at the State Dept. you are supposed to make your local law enforcement aware of the situation and also ask them to contact the FBI.  This was also told to me by my friendly neighborhood Senator's office.  You may want to contact the FBI yourself.  At least confirm that you local law enforcement people have contacted them.  Sometimes they are reluctant to get involved and reluctant to contact the FBI.

• <More info from the big document>

Note that Although the new fingerprinting measures in the United States to exit/leave the country will not apply to Japanese nationals since Japan is a member of the visa waiver program, it might mean that anyone leaving the country must go thru immigration anyways. Exit border controls like most other countries. I would keep on top of that, and maybe there will be an opportunity to get your children's names into a "do not allow to leave the country list of some kind."

It might be worth it in communications with embassy/airlines to remind them that aiding and abetting a parental child abduction may be a crime (don't know if it is true, but it may be, and certainly should be...)

If at all possible, keep things calm while the children are living outside of Japan for at least 6 months. Although Japan has not ratified the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction, 6 months is the generally accepted time required to establish habitual residency. (Although some countries also make you wait for a year.)  Some countries like the UK, reportedly treat Japan as if they had really signed this convention, and might return you to Japan otherwise.  Its gravely unfair to the non-Japanese parent as Japan will not treat their own citizens the same way.

An American citizen writes:

I am married to a Japanese national and we have a child (dual citizen USA/Japan). Unfortunately we are going through a divorce right now and she has made certain statements that she would prefer to bring our son to Japan and raise him there.

I have sought legal relief and the court has granted a court order to prevent her from leaving the country. Additionally her passport and the passports (Japan/USA) of my son.

However, it is common knowledge in the Japanese community that a Japanese National can obtain, from the Japanese consulate, a special same day permit to return to Japan for both mother and child. Providing that she show a driver's license or other photo id - that my wife has - and show the air tickets in hand.

In the Japanese community this process is known as very easy and quick especially for a Japanese mother and child who want to "go back home" to Japan and despite any US State court orders to the contrary.

My question is, do you have any suggestions to safeguard myself from this point?  I have taken a list of the ten airlines that offer service between USA/JAPAN.  Has anyone in CRC approached airlines before to place restrictions by court order on purchasing tickets?  Any other ideas.

One person replied:

I did in fact contact the airlines and showed them the Court orders and had them place a hold on ANY travel from the USA for my sons.  This worked until a new employee did not know what the RED BLINKING ALERT was and failed to ask a supervisor so she allowed them to board and it was too late.

Please do contact the airlines and provide them and Airport Police, TSA (Transportation Security Administration), and Customs copies of all your court info.  You may also want to contact The Department of State in DC about the US Passport Alert Program and maybe even the FBI.  Even though no crime has been committed, they might cooperate and work with their buddies at other agencies to make sure the ALERT gets posted and obeyed.

One US parent gave the following advice to another US parent who suspects that the Japanese parent is about to leave the country for Japan, even though the US parent has followed all the above advice, has restraining orders, confiscated passports, etc.  Please let us know your results if you try any of these pieces of advice.

Brainstorming.  Its a long shot, but what about contacting Japanese immigration in Japan and telling them of the situation.    About the restraining order and that the Japanese parent's passports were confiscated in the US by the courts.  They are probably a different group than the embassy, you know.  And they are getting a lot of bad publicity there days.  Maybe that this is just like the situations in the recent US report on Human Trafficking. (Might want to mention that to the J-embassy people too.  They must be sensitive.)  At least she has to go thru an immigration officer when she enters the country.  If nothing else, tell them she may be kidnapping an American citizen. Obviously get names of whoever you talk to.  They may not care, but who knows.

Also, ministry of justice might be able to offer advice.  They might have an English hotline in Japan if you look around on the internet.

Maybe the US Embassy in Japan would help on these notifications in Japan. Again a long shot. They don't seem to have email, but they should have an "American Citizen Services" phone number.  Theoretically, Derek Walker of the State Dept in the US would help.  But he seems to have only a fixed set of actions he is willing to perform for anyone and doesn't want to go outside those boundaries.  So he may not be willing to help you get too proactive.

I wonder if there are any other law enforcement agencies you could contact in Japan.  Or try to register the restraining order with the courts in Japan in advance.  I think there is some agency that you register them with, police? but not sure.  Family Courts?  Another long shot, but just brainstorming here.

Finally, you have notified all the airlines, right?  I remember someone saying something like "that would have worked except a new trainee forgot to check the list."  So there is hope for that route in catching them.  Perhaps not just the ones who fly to Japan, but all of them who fly internationally, since the passports are confiscated.

One more.  If you suspect them to run via Mexico and Canada, of course talk to the border officials of Mexico and Canada.  Maybe they examine people on the way in.  Canada is reputed to be tough about asking for letter of permission from single parents traveling, although after arguments, they let you in anyways.  But they may have a list.

US: Contact US Customs and  Border Protection (USCBP) and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), both agencies of the Department of Homeland Security (websites for contact numbers) for more ideas on how to prevent them from getting clearance to board aircraft (international flights) in the US.

<<Need country specific prevention information>>

<TODO: This is mostly advice for a non-Japanese.  Rewrite to apply to Japanese also.>
<TODO: Add a special section on what to do if spouse or child abuse is occuring. Perhaps on main menu under Help Now...>