What is Child theft?
'''Child [[theft]]''', also called '''child abduction''', is when someone takes away a [[Minor (law)|minor]] from the child's [[parent]]s or [[legal guardian]]. A minor is a child younger than the legal age of an [[adult]]. The most common{{fact|date=July 2021}} kind of '''child abduction''' is when parents take their children, in what is also called [[parental child abduction]]. In 2010, that happened 200,000 times in the United States.<ref>{{cite book|last=Maureen|first=Dabbagh|title=Parental Kidnapping in America|year=2012|publisher=McFarland|location=US|isbn=978-0-7864-6533-0|page=1|url=http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-6533-0|access-date=2012-07-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509022012/http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-6533-0|archive-date=2012-05-09|url-status=dead}}</ref> This often happens when a marriage breaks up. The exact legal situation is very complex, and varies between countries. All countries have laws defining legal [[adulthood]], and most have laws about age of [[sexual maturity]] (age when young people may decide for themselves about their sexual activities with other people), and laws about drinking [[alcohol]] and other activities. Also, there are usually laws about [[abduction]] or [[kidnapping]] by [[stranger]]s (people unknown to the child). ==References== {{reflist}} [[Category:Theft]] [[Category:Childhood]] [[Category:Legislation]] [[Category:Family law]]