With special guest:
- Ken Thompson
Perhaps the most frightening experience a parent can endure occurs when their child goes missing. What if you then find out that you will not be getting any help or assistance from your partner or former partner because the partner has decided to disappear from your life with your child?
This situation is arising more frequently and Australia has one of the highest rates per capita anywhere in the world. When the child is taken overseas the practice is described as International Parental Child Abduction or IPCA and there is a growing recognition of the damage done to the victims.
Our guest today takes us into the world of the child abductor. We find out who is most likely to take this action and how it is treated by Australian authorities. He describes what is being done across territorial borders by the signatories to the Hague Convention. While telling us that Australian legislation is lagging behind there are promising signs even in Japan a place sometimes referred to as a black hole for parents left behind.
Ken Thompson
Ken Thompson is a former Deputy Commissioner of the NSW Fire Brigade who was awarded the Australian Fire Service Medal. He is now a stay-at-home father after retiring in 2010. Since then he has devoted his considerable expertise and energy to raising public and political awareness of IPCA. He formed the Coalition of Parents of Abducted Children (COPAC) which is an international coalition of parents whose children have been abducted across international borders by the other parent. Ken also provides support and advice to parents who find themselves in this situation. He provides expert advice on IPCA to the Australian and international media and in 2011 he appeared before a Senate Inquiry into IPCA that made 11 recommendations to the Australian Government. For further information contact Ken by email: kenthompson@fastmail.fm
Song selection by our guest: Do you see what I see by Mark Seymour (formerly of Hunters & Collectors)