Legal Question in Family Law in California

Yup. Parental kidnapping is a crime. Not every situation in which one parent takes the child(ren) and keeps them away from the other parent is actually kidnapping, however. It is impossible to commit parental kidnapping if there is no custody order, or restraining order, or an order terminating parental rights in place, for example. Without some kind of order that you are violating by taking the kids, you can't be guilty of parental kidnapping. You can set yourself up as the "bad guy" in the eyes of the court in a subsequent custody fight, but it's not a crime without violation of some order.