How does a case under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction proceed?
A. A party can go in one of at least two procedural directions to start a case. One, the party may independently find and retain an attorney in the jurisdiction where the child is found. The other method is for the party from whom the child was wrongfully removed may make a direct application to the Central Authority in either the child’s habitual country of residence or the country’s Central Authority in which the child is found to seek assistance. The Central Authority then coordinates with an attorney or other proper entities in the proper jurisdiction. Following this, the normal procedure is to have the attorney file paperwork with the local court requesting that the court (1) order local law enforcement or another entity to pick up the child, (2) set a hearing, and (3) order the child returned to the proper custodian and country. Once the child is secured, the court holds the hearing quickly thereafter to review the facts of the case and decide whether returning the child is prope
