About

The IROCS was incorporated under the British Columbia Society Act on July 27, 2005.

It was formed in response to a specific incidence of child abduction described below and has a mandate to provide information to assist families and protect children from the abuse of parental child abduction.

On November 27, 2004,a ten-year-old boy and his seven-year-old sister were abducted from Vancouver to Japan by their non-custodial mother, Ayako Wood. Despite pre-existing Orders of the Supreme Court of British Columbia stating that their father, Murray Wood, had sole custody of the children, that the children were to return to Canada on December 9, 2004, and that the Supreme Court of British Columbia had sole jurisdiction over the children, the children are still in Japan today. The children are Canadian citizens who had lived their whole lives in Vancouver.

Parental abduction is child abuse. The Hague Convention is designed to discourage international child abduction through an international agreement to send children back to their place of habitual residence in order to resolve custody disputes.

The process of creating security for children in a world where families increasingly extend beyond national boundaries will be long and difficult but, without significant change, Canadian children, and children around the world, will be increasingly at risk of exposure to the abuse and injustice of parental child abduction.

By working to raise public awareness of this issue, the IROCS intends to empower families to protect their children from this kind of abuse. Please support our cause. To join IROCS by download, complete and return the membership form.