Parental Child Abduction

When you become a parent, you may find yourself facing a situation you had never imagined, or one you never thought you might one day experience: the wrongful removal or wrongful retention of your child in a foreign country, whether by you or by the other parent.

This site provides information you may need if you wish to move abroad with your child, or if you are the victim of the wrongful removal of your child to a foreign territory or the wrongful retention of your child.

Before any legal procedure can be initiated, it is necessary to understand what constitutes the wrongful removal or wrongful retention of a child.

The wrongful removal of a child to a foreign country is defined by the Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 as follows:

Article 3 — Definition of wrongful removal or retention

The removal or the retention of a child is to be considered wrongful where:

  • it is in breach of rights of custody attributed to a person, an institution or any other body, either jointly or alone, under the law of the State in which the child was habitually resident immediately before the removal or retention; and
  • at the time of removal or retention those rights were actually exercised, either jointly or alone, or would have been so exercised but for the removal or retention.

The rights of custody mentioned in sub-paragraph a) above may arise in particular by operation of law, by reason of a judicial or administrative decision, or by reason of an agreement having legal effect under the law of that State.

More simply, the removal or retention is wrongful where you hold rights of custody and you have not given your consent to that removal, with your child then being in another State without your consent.

Such removal or retention is wrongful even if you are the parent exercising rights of custody jointly and you decide to leave abroad with your child. It is necessary to obtain the consent of the other parent or of the judge in order to travel with your child.

The mere fact that you have custody does not make the removal or retention lawful, especially where that removal deprives the other parent of their rights.

If you recognise your situation in this text, or if you know someone who may recognise themselves in it, then under the Hague Convention you or one of your loved ones is probably the victim of the wrongful removal or retention of your child.

Article 1 of the Hague Convention of 25 October 1980

The objects of the present Convention are:

  • to secure the prompt return of children wrongfully removed to or retained in any Contracting State; and
  • to ensure that rights of custody and of access under the law of one Contracting State are effectively respected in the other Contracting States.

The purpose of this Convention is:

(a) to secure the prompt return of children wrongfully removed or retained in any signatory state;

(b) to effectively enforce in the other signatory states the rights of custody and visitation existing in a state that is signatory to the Convention.

Article 1 of the Hague Convention of 25 October 1980