Child Abduction

Practice development in the areas of Child Abduction and International & Private Child Law is convened by Janet Bazley QC and Richard Jones.

Hague Convention
Hague Convention applications demand a rapid and informed response.The circumstances of Child Abduction are by their nature fraught and demanding. The summary remedy of immediate return overseas is dramatic.

For those instructed by the parent from whom the children have been removed or by the Lord Chancellor, there is the need, at the earliest time, to secure protective and investigative orders to locate the missing children and to ensure their safekeeping pending the hearing as to their return. For a parent who has fled to this country with a child immediate advice is required as to what, if any, defences to summary return are available.

Non-Convention Countries
If the child has been brought from a non-convention country the court's primary duty is to act in the paramount interest of the child. It will be generally thought that in an abduction scenario it is the child's right to have matters in relation to custody determined in the country of habitual residence.

The team at 1 Garden Court has the largest team of specialist counsel so that in any emergency situation expert advice will be available to solicitors involved in this fast-moving area of law. Members of our team are instructed by solicitors acting for clients in this country and by the Lord Chancellor's Department on behalf of clients overseas. Members have appeared in many of the leading reported cases in this area.

If, as a solicitor, you have a potential Child Abduction case, our clerks will give you immediate contact with specialist counsel so that rapid preliminary advice may be given.