{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=399877", "<span class=\"kicker\">Smith: Goldman Act must be implemented</span>Administration's Meetings and Letters Still Not Bringing Back American Children", "2016-10-19", "2016", "2016-10", "Republican", "House", "NJ", "Christopher Smith", "S000522", "chrissmith.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "The State Department 2016 Actions Report, detailing the Obama Administration\u2019s \u00a0efforts on behalf of abducted American children, was released today showing a continuation of the\u00a0Administration's\u00a0failed \u201cwords-only\u201d strategy to return kids who have been abducted by a parent to another country\u2014often in clear violation of valid U.S. court orders.\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cCongress unanimously adopted\u00a0the Goldman Act to push a reluctant Administration to turn words into action\u2014action that will bring home abducted American children,\u201d said\u00a0 Rep. Chris Smith, who authored the\u00a0Sean and David Goldman Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act of 2014\u00a0(P.L. 113-150) to provide government support and assistance to kidnapped children and their left behind parents. \u201cInexplicably, the report released this week shows that the State Department has again refused to use the Goldman Act tools of limited sanctions.\u201d\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Between 2008 and 2015, nearly\u00a010,000 children have been abducted overseas by a parent and almost always cut off from contact with the left behind American parent. Studies have shown\u00a0these children are at grave risk of serious emotional and psychological problems, and may experience a number of symptoms including anxiety, eating problems, nightmares, mood swings, sleep disturbances, aggressive behavior, resentment, guilt, and fearfulness.\u00a0Far from simply a custody dispute, international child abduction is a violation of both the left behind parent\u2019s and child\u2019s basic human rights.\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cHeart-broken parents have begged the State Department to put real pressure on countries refusing to return American children,\u201d said Smith. \u201cMany of\u00a0these parents have won in foreign court only to have the foreign government refuse to enforce the rulings year after year after year\u2014and still the State Department responds with nothing but more meetings and more letters.\u201d\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThe Goldman Act\u00a0delineates specific actions the\u00a0Administration should\u00a0use to help bring our children home.\u00a0The indifference is mind-boggling,\u201d\u00a0said the senior human rights lawmaker who has chaired nine hearings on the topic of international child abduction.\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 More than 13 long-term cases have been pending in Brazil, which has not returned a single child since Sean Goldman was returned to New Jersey in 2009. Devon Davenport has won all 24 appeals of the last seven years to bring his daughter home from Brazil\u2014Brazil will not return his daughter.\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 More than 100 abducted American children are currently being held in India, including those abducted by parents convicted of domestic violence in the United States. Bindu Philips has been fighting for 8 years for India to return her sons, Albert and Alfred, to no avail. Although Prime Minister Modi indicated he would assist her, no assistance has yet been forthcoming. One child, a little girl, died this year in India before she could be returned to her father in the United States.\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 James Cook, who testified before Smith\u2019s Human Rights panel in July, won his case in Japanese courts to have his children returned, and yet Japan has allowed continued parental alienation of his children, utterly failing to enforce the return order. More than 42 cases of abduction in Japan totaling more than 50 American children have been dragging on without any progress for more than 5 years.\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00c9deanna Barbirou was forced to leave Tunisia again this year without her son, Eslam, whose custody has been granted to her by 5 different Tunisian courts over the last 5 years, but Tunisia refuses to enforce the return order, finding excuse after excuse not to return her son.\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThe countries holding American children in these cases must be held accountable in fact, not just in word,\u201d said Smith, who modeled the sanctions in the Goldman Act after those in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.\u00a0 \u201cWe sanction countries for trafficking their own people; it is truly unbelievable that the State Department will not use the same tools to save American children.\u201d\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The State Department chose in 2015 to continue only with talk and not to take any of the escalating steps prescribed by the Goldman Act, including:\u00a0\r\n\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 delay or cancellation of one or more bilateral working, official, or state visits with any country;\r\n\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 withdrawal, limitation, or suspension of U.S. development assistance, security assistance or foreign assistance to the central government of a country relating to economic support; or\r\n\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 formal extradition of an individual who is engaged in abduction and who has been formally accused of, charged with, or convicted of an extraditable offense.\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cLess than one-third of abducted American children come home every year,\u201d said Smith. \u201cIt is time for the State Department to employ the Goldman Act\u00a0strategy and make a positive\u00a0difference in the lives of these\u00a0children.\u201d\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=399877"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9507928043603897, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}