Child Abduction Effects

Child abduction, domestically or by a stranger, has many negative effects. These effects are dire issues that need to be addressed on a great level. Child abduction does not just affect the involved family. Most of the public has misconceptions about child abduction, therefore, not many people outside of the police or the family of the abducted care about children getting taken. Television shows and fictional stories have done nothing to combat this. Child abduction is not just a private family matter.

Child abduction is a form of child abuse. Child abuse is described as child maltreatment, specifically physical, sexual, and mental violations. Child abduction is classified as abuse because it does exactly that. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children conducted research that paid greater attention to parental abductions than stranger abductions. In the book, Kidnapped: Child Abduction in America, it was stated that, “Four percent of all these children experienced serious physical harm, four percent physical abuse, one percent sexual abuse, and sixteen percent mental abuse.” (Fass 205) These examples of abuse are, unfortunately, the

These effects are the most prominent in an abducted child. According to the text International Child Abduction: The Effects, a consequence of child abduction, by a parent or stranger, is the “the unwillingness of the child(ren) to take any risks and wanting everything to feel safe,” (Freeman 28). Abducted children usually have trouble trusting people after their incident. When they get older, many of them are told that the left behind parent is dead or doesn’t want them. The psychological problems that occur could affect their physical well being in the forms of “nightmares or disturbed sleep” (Freeman 28). Although society sees and hears horrific stories about the abduction of children, no one person seems to understand the horrific effects and consequences that