You want to have access to your child abroad

It is possible to have access to your child who lives abroad. Below are several ways to realise this.

Mutual arrangement
Request for parental contact arrangements through the Central Authority
Starting legal proceedings abroad

The Hague Child Abduction Convention

Based on Article 21 of the Hague Child Abduction Convention, a request for international parental contact arrangements can be filed with the Central Authority for children under 16. The central authorities must work together and ensure that the contact arrangements can be properly enforced. They can institute legal proceedings to promote, regulate or protect the international contact arrangements. It is common for parents first to try and make arrangements themselves before invoking the Convention.

What can you do?

There are several ways to have access to your child who lives abroad.

1. Mutual arrangement
Contact the parent abroad and try to work out contact arrangements together. For mediation you can ask the help of a friend or a family member. You can also seek professional help from a mediator. You can contact us for names of professional mediators. If you make arrangements, you can have them ratified in both countries, so that you will both be bound by them.

2. Request for international parental contact arrangements through the Central Authority:
You can file a request for international parental contact arrangements with the Central Authority. The Central Authority will accept two kinds of requests:

1. if there are no contact arrangements and the parent who stays behind wishes to have access to the child;
2. if there are national contact arrangements and the parent who has custody goes abroad. The Central Authority can help continue the contact arrangements abroad.

It is important to know whether the country where the child has been taken is a party to the Hague Child Abduction Convention or not.

Click country information for more information about the country in question. Below you will find information on what to do.

Duration of Proceedings
The Dutch Central Authority cannot control the procedural rules abroad. It is, however, entitled to information about the proceedings. If the proceedings are lengthy, it can indicate that this is not the duration for a normal parental contact case. It cannot control the proceedings themselves.

Example:
Piet and Olga have two children. They live in the Netherlands. They are getting a divorce and Olga goes back to Slovenia to catch her breath. Olga can’t live without her children, but she wants to stay in Slovenia. After a few months she files a request for return of the children with the Central Authority. The request is denied on the ground that the children have their habitual residence in the Netherlands. Subsequently, Olga files a request for international parental contact arrangements with the CA as well as a request for sending photographs of the children. Piet has received a letter from the CA conveying these requests. Piet can either comply with the requests or make a proposal of his own. He can either contact Olga or a lawyer. Piet and Olga have worked things out together and international parental contact arrangements have been reached.

3. Starting legal proceedings abroad
You can start legal proceedings for international parental contact arrangements in the country where the child has been taken. To do so, you need to contact a lawyer in that country who can provide you with further information.
You can always start legal proceedings yourself, but if your child has been abducted to a Convention country, the Central Authority can start the legal proceedings for you. If you decide to start the proceedings yourself for international parental contact arrangements in the country where your child is now residing, the Central Authority will no longer act on your behalf. In such event a request for international parental contact arrangements will no longer be handled by the Central Authority.

Non-compliance with international parental contact arrangements

If there are international parental contact arrangements, but they are not complied with, you cannot file a request with the Central Authority. The parent must appoint his or her own lawyer in the country where the child is residing and enforce compliance with the contact arrangements in court, by means of recognition and enforcement proceedings.

Example:
Joost and Maria have a daughter with respect to whom they have joint parental authority. Maria takes the daughter to Austria. Joost files a request for return of his daughter, but withdraws it after they have made mutual arrangements as to their daughter’s residence and parental access. After some time, Maria starts proceedings in Austria to get full custody of her daughter. The court grants her request and Joost is given parental access rights. Joost visits with his daughter in Austria every month. At some point he finds that Maria has moved away and that she does not comply with the contact arrangements. Joost wants to visit with his daughter and wants the contact arrangements to be respected. He can no longer request this through the Central Authority but has to start his own proceedings in Austria.

If you have any questions about the form or about your situation, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Proceedings in a Convention Country
You can file a request for international contact arrangements with your child with the Dutch Central Authority. To file such a request you need to fill in an application form. Each country that is a parties to the Hague Child Abduction Convention have appointed a Central Authority. The Dutch Central Authority will forward the request to the central authority of the country where the child is residing. That central authority will establish the child’s residence. The central authorities will first try to reach voluntary international contact arrangements. If that is not possible, legal proceedings will be instituted seeking international parental contact arrangements from the court in the country where the child is residing.Please note that if you file a request for international contact arrangements with the Central Authority, you will no longer have the option to file a request for return of the child, if applicable.

Proceedings in a Non-Convention Country
The countries that are not parties to one of the international conventions do not have central authorities. The Dutch Central Authority will register the case and forward it to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will forward the request to the Dutch embassy/consulate in the relevant country as soon as possible. It will use diplomatic efforts to help you find a solution and/or help you start proceedings in the relevant country.

Form: Filing an application for international parental contact arrangements

Send the form to:
Directie Justitieel Jeugdbeleid
Centrale Autoriteit Internationale Kinderontvoering
Postbus 20301
2500 EH THE HAGUE
The Netherlands

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