I just read Claw, a wildbow novel. It presents a question. A child was kidnapped at age 1, and raised very well, in a loving healthy family, I'll call them the caretaker parents. The, to distinguish, bio parents find the kid 10 years later. They're mildly neglectful but a perfectly average family (they have another kid who makes this clear).
Suppose for the sake of argument, that this is a perfectly isolated incident, any enforced law isn't related to societal norms by magic, etc. (Very much not the case in this book.) So this is, by magic, a purely one off incident, any punishment or lack thereof wouldn't affect any other potential kidnappers ever. It's entirely disconnected from the social fabric.
The child, age 11, loves her caretaker parents and wants to stay with them, even upon finding out about all this. She spent a few days with bio parents and didn't like their vibe, wants to live with caretaker parents. The caretaker parents also have a set of (grandparents, aunt and uncle, whatever relations) who the child adores.
With whom should the child live?
Bio parents
Caretaker parents
Beloved caretaker relatives
I'm bald / see results
There may be other consequences for the kidnappers, financial or otherwise. Assume that the child is allowed a small amount of contact with the other set of parents either way, similar to a messy divorce situation. Say the families insist on living far apart.
