By Sherrina Navani, The Trentonian - All Bindu Philips wants for Christmas are her two young sons back, and thanks to a new bill passed by the House of Representatives, she may be closer than ever to getting her wish granted.

Members of the House voted unanimously, in early December, to pass a bill to help bring home American children abducted to overseas destinations. The legislation, dubbed, the Sean and David Goldman International Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act of 2013, will help left behind parents of American children abducted to India, Japan, Egypt, India, Brazil, Russia, England and other countries where most are forced to live overseas and never return, according to Rep. Chris Smith (R-4th) — the author of the legislation and chairman of the House congressional panel which oversees human rights.

Not all countries have signed The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, the standing international treaty which addresses parental abductions via the justice system. The treaty provides for the quick return of abducted children, and access rights to both parents. Sadly, even Hague signatories, like Brazil, often don’t enforce its provisions.

“What we are asking the State Department to do with this bill, is to start accounting for all the children who have been abducted to other countries,” said Jeff Sagnip, District Director for Smith, noting the State Department would be required to issue an annual report. “If this bill is passed, it cannot force abducting parents who have already taken their children to other countries, to bring them back, however it will start taking account of the thousands of U.S. children who are taken and held overseas. Also, local congressional leaders will become aware of all the children who are being kidnapped from their districts; it will help keep our government’s attention on the cases and work to bring them home.”

The Plainsboro township mother, Philips, has not seen her five-year-old twin sons, Albert Philip Jacob and Alfred William Jacob, since 2008. Her husband, Sunil Jacob, took the family on an impromptu vacation to India and decided to keep the kids there despite the mother’s wishes.

Philips believes, her husband Sunil Jacob, was being investigated by the FBI regarding his official role as a Wealth Management Specialist for CitiBank and may have spooked the United States Naturalized Citizen, to run back to his homeland of Kerala India.

“It was all a big shock to me, I had no idea what was going to happen when we left in December 2008 for the family vacation,” said Phillips. “Through an investigation the Plainsboro Police and the FBI learned that he had been planning this for months in advance and he even had all of our belongings shipped to India, so when I got home there was nothing left, no car, no clothes, nothing.”

Philips, whose husband banned her from having any contact with her children shortly after they arrived in India, decided to leave the county in the hopes that the United States legal system would expedite bringing her children back. However, her nightmare, which she believed would only last a month, has turned into a five-year battle that has taken her to the Indian Supreme Court, to her Legislators and now to the State Department.

Smith, the FBI and a slew of lawmakers have listened to Philip’s ordeal and have been champions of the proposed bill, which hopes to circumvent any future abductions.

As of late, Rep. Rush Holt (D-12th), has reached out to Taranjit Singh Sandhu , Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of India in Washington D.C., asking Sandhu to bridge the legal gap between the two countries.

If passed by the Senate, the law will recommend that the president withhold exchanges with countries that harbor kidnapped children. For example, U.S. development assistance, foreign aid or cultural exchanges may be delayed or withheld if the defiant country does not accept legal initiatives to return the child to their parent, based in the United States.

“I’m completely cut-off from the children, they’ve only seen me for 15 minutes in the last five years,” said Philips as tears began to trickle from her eyes. “But I refuse to give up hope, I am clinging on, with the hope of being reunited with my children, and I cannot think anything else. I cannot give up on my hope.”

Above text was printed Dec. 24, 2013, and edited for clarity.
Original can be read at:
http://www.trentonian.com/government-and-politics/20131223/plainsboro-mother-seeks-help-from-congress-to-bring-her-kidnapped-sons-home