If the Other Parent Refuses Mediation

File a formal application with the central authority in your country to request the return of your child under the Hague Convention.

This central authority can:

  • ask to initiate courts proceedings abroad in order to order to facilitate the return of the child or to establish of international visitation rights.

Under international conventions, a central authority is obliged to:

  • organize a hearing before a court in the country in which your child is located.

  • request the suspension of legal proceedings concerning the custody of the child pending the final processing of the return request.

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