Parents like José Cacho continue to raise awareness in Spain as he fights for the return of his son.

Please contact the President. Let him know you want him to publicly demand that Japan return our kidnapped children.

Write or call President Obama at:
The President, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W., Washington, DC 20500
Tel:(202) 456-1111

As we were meeting prior to the event at a local coffee shop, the police arrived. The officer told us that the Seattle Consulate of Japan had called them and informed them of our intended protest. He also stated that they provided him with a printout from our Facebook page.

After a giving the officer an overview of the crisis of international parental child abduction to and within Japan, he wished us well and told us to call him if we had any questions while at the protest.

We have long suspected that the Government of Japan has been monitoring our efforts and activities. Now it has been confirmed, we have their attention. So if they no longer wish to be known as “A Black Hole For Child Abduction”, the solution is simple. Return our abducted children to us.

BAC Home holds a successful protest rally next to the Consulate of Japan booth at the2012 Aki Matsuri in Bellevue, WA. Japan is known internationally as “A Black Hole For Child Abduction”.

International parental child abduction is a crime and human rights violation. It is time the government of Japan show they will no longer support abduction and return children to their home countries.

On July 16, Jeffery Morehouse and Brett Weed met with the Deputy Consul General of Japan in Portland, Mr. Hirofumi Murabayashi to follow up on BAC Home’s July 2, 2012 letter to the Prime Minister.

This week parents, members and leadership of Bring Abducted Children Home are delivering a letter addressed to the Prime Minister of Japan to Japanese consulates throughout the U.S.

We call on the Government of Japan to immediately aid and complete the safe return to the United States all American children abducted to Japan, and provide all American children abducted within Japan immediate and unfettered access to their U.S. parent.

President Obama visited Seattle on May 10, 2012. BAC Home was there working the crowds to educate citizens on children abducted to and within Japan. People were shocked and outraged by this ongoing human rights and family crisis. One by bystander even shouted out, “there’s a cause worth fighting for!”.

We were encouraged by the numerous media reports of U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell’s strong position on behalf of our internationally abducted American children during a May 7, 2012 meeting with Japanese officials, politicians and family members of Japanese citizens abducted to North Korea.

To the attention of Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, the Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and all employees in the State Department’s Office of Children’s Issues:

This letter was received by Congressman Smith’s office during the week of the introduction of H.R.1940, the Sean and David Goldman International Child Abduction, Prevention and Return Act.

Get involved and help with the passage of California Senate Bill 1206 – INTERNATIONAL CHILD ABDUCTION PREVENTION (Keisuke’s Law). Senator Mimi Walters is calling for letters of support by individuals and organizations.

Invitation for event supported by the Harvard Club of Japan (screening and seminar)
Please join us Monday April 9 at the Tokyo Foundation to watch a private screening of the documentary movie “From the Shadows,” (work in progress), and attend a seminar about child abduction to and within Japan. Filmmaker David Hearn and left-behind parent John Gomez will present the issue from their perspectives.

In February 2009, just prior to making her first trip to Japan, Secretary Clinton said, “I will assure our allies in Japan that we have not forgotten the families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea and will meet with some of those families in Tokyo next week.   I don’t know whether I will be meeting more as a Secretary of State any more than as a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister.  It’s important that their plight is not forgotten.  I attach great importance to the abduction issue.”  She has also been quoted as saying that “child abduction is a human rights violation.”

Bring Abducted Children Home (BACHome.org) co-founder and Southwest Regional Director, Randy Collins, has been instrumental in getting new legislation introduced in California to protect children from international parental abduction. He has worked closely with California State Senator Mimi Walters (R-33rd District) and her staff on: California Senate Bill Number: SB 1206

“It has been 2397 days since my daughter was abducted by her mother to Japan. How do I get one of those days back?”, stated father and BAC Home member, William Lake.

Mary Lake was abducted to Japan in August 2005. Today, after nearly seven years, she heads home to Florida. We just spoke to Mr. Lake who has confirmed that Mary landed safely on U.S. soil and has just boarded another flight on her journey home.

•••CALL THE CANDIDATES•••
•••Bring Abducted Children Home from Japan•••

Mitt Romney (857) 288-3500 mittromney.com

Suggested Questions-
A) What would he do as President to bring the 374 registered cases of Americans kidnapped to Japan home to the U.S.?
B) Will he commit to raising this issue publicly immediately?

Barack Obama Campaign HQ (312) 698-3670 barackobama.com
or
Write or call President Obama at:
The President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.
Washington, DC 20500
(202) 456-1111

Suggested Question-
A) When is President Obama going to publicly demand that Japan return our kidnapped children?

This policy statement has been submitted to the Japanese government’s Ministry of Justice and also to Justice Minister (2011) Satsuki Eda.

At the heart of the Japanese international child abduction problem is Japan’s sole custody law.  In Japan when parents divorce a single parent is granted sole custody of the children.  One parent simply has to give up all his or her rights to their children. If one is not a Japanese citizen, you can be assured you will not be granted sole custody of your children. Not only does this violate the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it constitutes cruel and unusual punishment to the children of divorced parents.

To coincide with the Dec. 18th rally in Tokyo by parents there, we took to the streets of Seattle to speak with holiday shoppers about how they can help children that have been abducted to and within Japan. As usual people here in the U.S. were shocked to learn about this human rights crisis.

Japan is a country with a heart two sizes too small.  It is the only country in the world which has NEVER returned a single abducted child. While it may be individuals who are stealing children, it is the Government of Japan that does nothing to resolve these cases allowing the abductions to take place.  As the single worst country for harboring internationally abducted children, Japan has shown the world they truly are a Grinch that steals children.

The government of Japan is gearing up to create domestic legislation in preparation for joining the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. They have said it will be addressed in the next full session of the Diet in the new year. Currently, as many of you are aware, reports indicate that the government of Japan is intending to create loopholes in this legislation which ensure that very few if any children will be required to be returned under the Convention. In order to prevent this, there has been proposed legislation created by left behind parent groups here in Japan which is presently being used to lobby Diet members on the behalf of LBP’s.

From the U.S. Department of Justice, Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section

Title 18, Section 1204 of the United States Code makes it a federal crime to remove a child from the United States or retain a child outside the United States with the intent to obstruct a parent’s custodial rights, or to attempt to do so. See 18 U.S.C. § 1204. This crime is punishable by up to three years in prison. The law provides a defense where the taking parent acted pursuant to a valid court order obtained under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act, or where the taking parent was fleeing domestic violence, or where the failure to return the child resulted from circumstances beyond the taking parent’s control and the taking parent made reasonable efforts to notify the left behind parent within 24 hours and returned the child as soon as possible.

In order for an individual to file a complaint with the United Nations’ five human rights treaty bodies, their home nation must have ratified the optional protocols to the treaties which they have signed and ratified. Left-behind parents of children abducted to Japan (and also left-behind Japanese parents whose own family law system has excluded them from their children’s lives) would have an opportunity, as individuals, to file complaints with the UN regarding their human rights (and those of their children), if Japan would ratify the first optional protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

We petition the Obama administration to:
PUBLICLY press Japan for the return of Abducted U.S. Children and provide transparent dialogue with Japan on this issue.
• AN ESTIMATED 10,0000 U.S. CHILDREN HAVE BEEN ABDUCTED TO OR RETAINED IN JAPAN.
• JAPAN HAS NEVER RETURNED AN ABDUCTED CHILD.