IT'S RARE to see Congress agree on anything, so it was heartening to see a 398-0 vote Wednesday in the House of Representatives in support of a bill to help parents whose children were abducted by a spouse or other family member to live in another country. -

There are existing laws that are supposed to help parents engaged in an international custody battle, such as the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. But the reality is that they aren't very effective.

Rep. Chris Smith, a Republican from Mercer County, authored the Sean and David Goldman International Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act of 2013, which was unanimously approved in the House on Wednesday. It would increase the oversight on child abduction cases and give the State Department more power to help resolve them.

David Goldman, of Tinton Falls, spent five years apart from his son, Sean, after the boy's mother took him to Brazil and her parents tried to win custody after the mother died. Smith pressured the State Department and made two trips to Brazil with Goldman. They eventually succeeded in getting Sean back after Sen. Frank Lautenberg said he would block action on a trade bill Brazil wanted.

Most "left-behind parents," as they're called, haven't been as fortunate as Goldman. Smith said that each year, more than 1,000 international child abductions are reported to the State Department's Office on Children's Issues. Some of these are military members whose service keeps them from being able to attend legal proceedings in the United States or abroad. Smith said that according to State Department reports, only about half of the children abducted to countries that are part of the Hague Abduction Convention are returned. And the percentage is less than 40 percent when the children are taken to countries without treaty obligations to the

U.S. The bill would make it clear that reuniting parents with their children is a priority for the U.S. government. Part of its guidelines would require the State Department to file an annual report on the number of abductions and which countries have shown a pattern of non-cooperation. The bill grants the president the power to authorize an escalating series of actions as deemed necessary to resolve an abduction case. These include: a public condemnation, a delay or canceling of scientific or cultural exchanges, denying or canceling state visits and holding back development or security assistance. The last item in the list of actions allows the president to order U.S. agencies to withhold licenses to export goods or technologies to a country that continues to be uncooperative with efforts to resolve international child abductions.

Originally published at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/235973401_The_Record__Returning_children.html#sthash.6D2WOy53.dpuf