How should a left behind parent proceed when their child is wrongfully retained abroad? Mani Singh Basi reports
- Wrongful retention of children under the 1980 Hague Convention: the options available to the parent left behind.
- The inherent jurisdiction of the courts of England & Wales when a child is retained in a country which is not a signatory to the Hague Convention.
In the field of family law, there are unfortunately circumstances when a parent either takes a child from or does not return a child to their home country. Taking an example, a child’s mother and father may have an informal arrangement for contact. It may have been envisaged that one of the parents would take the child for a holiday from England to another country for three weeks during the summer holidays and this pattern may have occurred in the past, on each occasion the travelling parent returning with the child. On the next occasion, the travelling parent may not return with the child and may indicate
