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The Hague Convention on International Child Abduction is the main international treaty targeted at the problem of children being removed from their home country by one parent without the other parent’s permission. The main goal of the Hague Convention is to return things to the way they were before the wrongful abduction. Therefore, courts hearing cases arising under the Hague Convention should not consider the best interests of the child. Rather, ideally the court should only be considering whether removal of the child was wrongful.

Cases arising under the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction are supposed to move quickly from application to judgment. This expedited process is intended to return the child to his or her “home” jurisdiction as quickly as possible, avoiding the problem of the child adapting to his or her new location and then be forced to re-adapt upon return to his or her original home. To encourage speed in cases brought under the convention, Article 11 states that cases should reach judgment within 6 weeks. If a case lasts longer than 6 weeks, the petitioner has the right to question […]

Although the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction heavily favors the return of the child, there are some exceptions built into the law that allow judges discretion not to return the child under very specific circumstances. The most commonly used exception is when there is a grave risk that returning the child would result in physical or psychological harm or otherwise place the child in an intolerable situation. Different courts have interpreted this standard in varying ways, but generally this “grave risk” standard is defined very strictly and only the most severe cases will result in the child not being […]