Can a woman who has left the home due to domestic violence issues & gone to another state be prosecuted for "child stealing" or kidnapping? My daughter had no where to go, so she left California & came to illinois. There was physical & verbal abuse, drugs, alcohol & violence in the home she shared with her husband. What can she do to protect herself? He is trying to force her to bring the child back by threatening her with kidnapping charges. If anyone can give us some advice, please help.

Can a woman who has left the home due to domestic violence issues & gone to another state be prosecuted for "child stealing" or kidnapping? My daughter had no where to go, so she left California & came to illinois. There was physical & verbal abuse, drugs, alcohol & violence in the home she shared with her husband. What can she do to protect herself? He is trying to force her to bring the child back by threatening her with kidnapping charges. If anyone can give us some advice, please help.

If there wasn't any court orders for custody or any pending orders on custody:
No laws were broken, both parents have equal rights to take the child wherever they choose.

If therewas any court orders:
Your daughter may be in contempt of court, depending on what the order states.

She needs to file charges against him for all of the things that he has done with the police and file with the court for divorce or legal separation, and seek temporary custody of the children and ask for a no contact order because of his history of violence. She needs to this asap and get a lawyer. If she has no resources, contact Legal Services or Legal Aid. If she has not been in IL long wnough to be a resident, she may have to file in CA, but go get some help now as there may be a way to still file in IL, but the criminal reporting needs to be made in CA where the instances occurred and she will have to talk to a police officer and detail what happened. If she was at a shelter, they may have to give a statement to the police also.

It is important to get his criminal doings on the record to use in court and to support a no contact order regarding her and the kids. It also may be important in the custody and visitation phase to ask for no visitation or very limited supervised visitation.