Lawyers call for end to child-snatching custody tactics

Dai Xiaolei last saw her son in 2014, when he was 17 months old and living with her in-laws in Baoding, a city in Hebei province about 156 kilometers from Beijing.

Her marriage was crumbling and, as relations deteriorated, she claims her husband's family blocked her from taking her son with her back to the capital.

"The last time I saw my son was at the end of this alley. It's like a fortress," the 37-year-old said outside her in-laws former home.