IT'S 10 p.m., DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR CHILDREN ARE?

• Author: Lisa Nakdai
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.174-1617.2002.tb00837.x
• Date: 01 April 2002
• Published date: 01 April 2002

IT’S

10

P.M.,

DO

YOU

KNOW

WHERE

YOUR

CHILDREN ARE?

The Hague Convention on the Civil

Aspects

of

International

Child

Abduction

Lisa Nakdai

Over

the

past several decades, parent-child abduction has turned from a national into an international problem.

To

try

and

minimize

this

problem, The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects

of

International Child Abduction was

adopted on October

1980.

The goal

of

the Convention is

to

ensure that abducted children

are

promptly

returned

to

their homes. While the

goal

has

been

met, the overwhelming

use

of

the Convention’s exceptions must

be

limited

so

that

the purpose

of

the Convention is not damaged.

The

struggle

against

the

great increase in international child abductions must always

be

inspired

by the

desire to protect

children

and should

be based

upon

an

interpretation

of

their

true

interests.

-Elisa

Perez-Vera’

I.

INTRODUCTION

Imagine a family living in New York raising two children. They take summer vacations

together to Greece. Their children are dual citizens of Greece and the United States. Unfortu-

nately, during

a

summer vacation in 1995, the parents’ marriage begins to fall apart. The par-

ents return to New York, leaving the children behind with their maternal grandparents. The

mother then returns

to

Greece and stays with her children for approximately five years. The

father follows and obtains visitation rights by a Greek

court

that

also

awards custody to the

mother. While visiting with them, the father takes the children

back

to New York. He then

files an action in New York for divorce and custody

of

the children.

There

are

many questions that need to be answered. What, if anything, can the mother do?

What are the father’s rights? There are two courts involved in

this

case. Which court has

juris-

diction? Which countries laws should be applied? These were the facts of the case of

Diorinou

u.

Mezitis?

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals

in

the

United

States deferred to

the decision of

the

Greek courts? However,

this

is not

the

norm:

The problem

of

parental-child abduction’

arises

in many different contexts. Some parents

come home

to

find their child missing. It is likely that the other parent absconded with the

children, but where did they

go?

Another situation

is

finding out that while

your

child is visit-

ing with

hs

or her other parent, the parent has decided not to return the child. What can one

parent

do

if the other parent abducts their child?

Before

1986,

there was not much aparent could do. The only choice was

to

utilize

the

laws

in the country where the child was located! But how does the parent know those laws? Many

Author’s Note:

The author would like

to

give special thunks

to

her mothel; Judy Stonehill, for

her

unconditional love

and

support.

FAMILY

COURT

REVIEW,

Vol.

40

No.

2.

April 2oM

25

1-264

8

2002

Sage

Publications

25

1