How to fight child kidnapping with Child Abduction Lawyers

How to fight child kidnapping with Child Abduction Lawyers

An unfortunate reality for many separated or divorced parents is that they may have to rely on professional child abduction lawyers to aid them in family law disputes involving their children. Many children are unlawfully transported overseas by ex-spouses and many child abduction lawyers have increasingly urged parents to look out for the warning signs.

With an increase in people travelling and emigrating overseas the likelihood of needing reliable child abduction lawyers has also increased. Those who are going through a separation or divorce and have international ties should check for the following warning signs to see if they’re at risk.

Identify the risks

If your ex-partner has strong familial connections to an overseas country then this can be a major red flag when the relationship breaks down. If it seems as if they can raise children in a supportive family environment overseas, you should be prepared for them attempting to create that scenario.

This risk is heightened if the overseas country is not a signatory of the Hague Convention, an international law that allows for the safe return of children who have been taken from their original jurisdiction.  Many countries like the United States, UK and most European nations are signatories including Australia and greater Asia.

If a child is taken to a Hague signatory country, then both local and foreign central governments work together to secure the return of the child. The child is returned to the country they were “habitually resident”, meaning the country they grew up in.

Some countries, like Lebanon, are not signatories and it is much harder to retrieve children who were taken to those jurisdictions, even with the help of child abduction lawyers. The Australian family court must respect the decision of the non-signatory country in these cases.

A common warning sign is when you know the children have multiple nationalities and overseas passports. If they are used to travelling and have visited overseas family often they are at a higher risk of statutory international abduction.

Locating the child or children

Those who believe their child has been unlawfully abducted by a former partner can apply for a location order under the Family Law Act. A location order is a legal order that demands knowledge of the location of the child by another party.

The following types of people are eligible to ask for a location order:

• Someone who is responsible for the child under a parenting order
• Someone who the child is meant to spend time with under a parenting order
• Someone a child is meant to communicate with under a parenting order
• A child’s grandparents
• Anyone concerned with the care and welfare of the child
• Someone in other circumstances that make it necessary for them to apply for a location order

Using your solicitor

If you are concerned about the risk of children being taken overseas after a divorce you can hire professional child abduction lawyers to place them on a family law watchlist. This watchlist means that the children’s passports will be identified by the Australian Federal Police.

Evidence will need to be provided to support adding the children to the watchlist and this is where child abduction lawyers are useful. They understand how to make a case on your behalf that will help prevent the worst from happening.

The presence of a child’s name on a watchlist means that an alert will go out if someone attempts to take them through customs. It is a breach of the family law act to remove children from Australia without the permission of the other parent while separation proceedings are occurring.