By Sean Aaron Cruz
State Representative Alissa Keny-Guyer (D, Portland ,
House District 46) has introduced legislation calling for an Oregon State
Police study of the issue of children abducted both from and to Oregon .
HB 2014 is the first legislation on the issue since the
passage of Senate Bill 1041 (Aaron’s Law) in 2005.
Representative Keny-Guyer’s bill addresses the issue of
parental, family and church-sponsored abductions in several important ways, and I want to underscore the fact that
when your child disappears, every barrier and everything that delays or
prevents the recovery of your child matters, every minute of every day matters,
and it will matter for the rest of your and your children’s lives.
(1) HB 2014 calls on
the Oregon State
Under existing laws and practices, law enforcement and court
officials ignore reports of missing/abducted children from grandparents and
non-custodial parents.
Yet, all too often, children are abducted by family members
in situations where the parents are still married or were never married, and
thus there is no custody order.
And there are often cases where it is a grandparent who is actually
raising the child(ren), but has no standing in court.
HB 2014 brings
the whole of the child(ren)’s family into view, and asks the question, “What
chain of events takes place….”
(2) HB 2014 calls on
the Oregon State Oregon
in violation of a lawful custody order issued by a court of competent
jurisdiction in another state.”
There has been no prior study on this issue, what happens
when a child is abducted from somewhere else and brought to Oregon .
(3) HB 2014 calls on the Oregon State Police
to report on “any progress that has been made in conducting investigations” of
children abducted to or from Oregon since the issuance of the final report of
the 2004 Senate Interim Task Force on Parental and Family Abductions.”
The 2004 Senate Interim Task Force on Parental and Family
Abductions built on prior work by the earlier Task Force on Family Law, which
sought to reduce the incidence of divorce in Oregon .
Among the findings of the Task Force on Parental and Family
Abductions was the shocking realization that no state agency knew the number of
non-stranger child abduction cases occurring in Oregon ,
because no one tracks them. The Oregon State Police made promises to the
legislature in 2005 that they would do so in the future.
The 2004 Task Force on Parental and Family Abductions laid
the groundwork for Senate Bill 1041 “Aaron’s Law” in 2005. With the passage of
SB 1041, Oregon became the first
state in the nation where abducting a child (violating the Custodial
Interference I statute) creates a civil cause of action.
Aaron’s Law provides parents of abducted children with new
tools to deter and resolve cases where parents or family members or members of
a church congregation engaging in a shunning have abducted a child in the state
of Oregon .
Here is the full text of HB 2014:
77th OREGON
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2013 Regular Session
House Bill 2014
Sponsored by
Representative KENY-GUYER; Representatives BARTON, GARRETT, KRIEGER
SUMMARY
Requires
Department of State
Police to conduct
study on issues related to
abduction of children. Directs
department to report
results of study
to interim
committees of Legislative
Assembly related to crime
on or before
Declares emergency, effective
on passage.
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to the
abduction of children;
and declaring an
emergency.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon :
SECTION 1. (1) The Department of State Police shall conduct
a study of:
(a) The chain of events that take place when a child is
reported to law enforcement officials as missing by the parent, grandparent or
legal custodian of the child;
(b) The chain of events that take place when a child is
reported to law enforcement officials as having been brought to Oregon in
violation of a lawful custody order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction
in another state;
(c) Investigation procedures related to violations of ORS
163.245 and 163.257; and
(d) Any progress that has been made in conducting
investigations described in paragraphs (a) to (c) of this subsection since the
issuance of the final report of the 2004 Senate Interim Task Force on Parental
and Family Abductions.
(2) The department shall report the results of the study to
the interim committees of the Legislative Assembly related to crime on or
before November 1, 2014 .
SECTION 2. Section 1 of this 2013 Act is repealed on January 2, 2015 .
SECTION 3. This 2013 Act being necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an emergency is declared
to exist, and this 2013 Act takes effect on its passage.
__________
Link to Representative Keny-Guyer’s web page:
__________
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