Immigration Corner | What are my rights as a parent?

Dear Mrs Walker-Huntington,

My two daughters who live with me in Jamaica are visiting their mother in New Jersey. She is threatening to not send them back to Jamaica. What are my rights as a parent? What is the process to ensure my custody rights?

Regards.

– E.L.

Dear E.L.,

This is a sad situation that unfortunately occurs way too often in our Jamaican context, and it occurs mostly over school holidays – summer and Christmas. The scenario is the same as yours – children live with one parent in Jamaica, they are sent to spend holidays with the other parent in America, and the parent in America refuses to return the children.

It is a very serious act on the part of the non-custodial parent in America and amounts to parental kidnapping. It takes a lot on the behalf of the parent in Jamaica to get those children returned. First, you need an attorney in Jamaica who practises family law to secure a custodial order from the court in Jamaica – if you do not already have a custody order. You can secure a custodial order even if you were never married to the mother.

There are international conventions against the kidnapping of children and taking them across borders. Any parent in your situation should contact the Child Protection and Family Services Agency through the Jamaica Central Authority (JCA) to report the matter. They will instigate procedures and either the JCA or your attorney will contact the United States Central Authority, an agency in the US Department of State, to report the matter.

This process is complex and requires attorneys on both ends – Jamaica and the United States – to make the various moves that are needed to get a judge in America to issue a ‘Pick Up Order’ to secure the children. The process can even be more complicated if the parent in the United States moves from their known address and absconds with the children.

It can be heartbreaking, expensive and exhausting, but, at the end of the day, you have to do what you can afford and what is in the best interests of your children.

Dahlia A. Walker-Huntington, Esq is a Jamaican-American attorney who practises immigration law in the United States; and family, criminal and international law in Florida. She is a mediator and former special magistrate and hearing officer in Broward County, Florida. info@walkerhuntington.com.