Parental kidnapping is an act whereby one parent steals a child from the other parent. There are no official estimates of the incidence of parental kidnapping in spite of the fact it is a highly traumatic experience for the involved children. The most commonly cited unofficial estimate is that there may be as many as 100,000 children involved in such “snatchings” per year. The problem has been written about repeatedly in the popular press and in legal publications. Sociologists and psychologists have also addressed the problem but to date nothing has appeared in the psychiatric literature. In an attempt to familiarize clinicians with the problem, this article describes the problem from both legal and psychiatric aspects. Focus is on the effects of parental kidnapping on children and the impact of new legislation on the problem. Recommendations are made to the clinician regarding measures that might diminish parental kidnapping and how to proceed if involved in such a case. © 1983, The American Academy of Child Psychiatry. All rights reserved.

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