Specialists in Child Recovery Worldwide

Countries in the Hague as of 1 February 2013

Albania, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Bahamas, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Greece,  Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong (China), Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau (China), Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova Republic, Monaco, Morocco, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, San Merino, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Zimbabwe

                         Hague Convention

The Reality

The Hague Convention is a tool left behind parents can utilize in an attempt to bring home their abducted child/children. However, there are now challenges brought about by new trends and developments. Weaknesses emerge primarily from the incorporation of an international treaty into multiple different legal systems with varying national policies and interpretations; and from globalization which, in a way that could not have been foreseen nearly 30 years ago, has fundamentally alerted the paradigm in which the Convention operates.

We have never heard in our 19 years dealing with abductions of any case being solved in the 6 weeks, that the Central Authorities will tell you, on average from our clients experience it's between 1 to 3 years, after appeal and appeal by the abductor, and their lawyers before a decision is even made to return your child.  Then you have the no enforcement issue....no one will assist you in enforcing your decision made by The Hague ruling. That's the reason why we are so busy, we enforce the courts rulings.

In layman's terms; even if the left behind parent who files an application with the Hague Convention and is granted full custody of the children even in both countries, it does not mean the children will be returned. More then often the abductor goes into hiding or on the run. 90% of CARI's work is to help clients enforce the Hague Convention rulings as these rulings are nearly always ignored by the abductor, knowing all to well the authorities do very little to nothing, to enforce the orders.

The bottom line; the Hague Convention of 25 October 2008 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction can be a potent weapon in ensuring that wrongfully removed children are returned. Yet the application of it, when seen through actual cases can be far from straight forward. And there is no hiding the fact that hiring lawyers in two countries is not only extremely expensive, but frustrating with lengthy time delays and all that, with no guarantee of a successful outcome. This is in reference to both countries being part of the Hague Convention, if one of the countries has not signed up for the Convention, that brings a whole different set of problems into play.

90% of our clients come to CARI asking for help after they have gone through the system, and it fails them time, and time again. Do not get your hopes up going through The Hague Convention, like most of our clients do before coming to CARI, and if your lawyer is honest with you, they will point you in our direction once you have the legal backing from the courts, as the lawyers job is then done.