In 1980 the Hague Conference on private international law made a determination that they would begin to look at the issue of international parental kidnapping.

What they resolved was the Hague Convention on the civil aspects of child abduction, which is an international reciprocal treaty in which countries agree that they will have an expedited process for the return of children who have been wrongfully removed or retained outside of the country of their habitual residence.

That area of practice that is treaty law involves a certain portion of the world’s country and provides a civil remedy for the resolution of parental disputes that can be characterized as wrongful removal or retentions.

The other type of international parental kidnapping are countries which are not reciprocal treaty holders who have not signed these types of bilateral agreements and in which litigation has to be prosecuted in the affected countries.

Our firm has experience in litigating both of those issues. For cases going outside of the United States we develop a litigation strategy in which we obtain orders in the United States that protect and identify the rights of custody that may have been breached. We then -- and we do that in a way that will enhance its enforceability either under the Hague Conference or in cases in non -- what we would colloquially call non-Hague countries, in cases where we know we’re going to have to file in the courts of those countries seeking the enforcement of a foreign child custody judgment.

We also practice in the United States in the United States courts on incoming cases. That are those cases in which the treaty is being evoked, we’ve litigated cases in many of the United States District Courts and in the United States Courts of Appeal. In those cases we’ll be addressing issues in which a child has been brought to the United States and the argument is that child has been abducted.

Notably we also defend on those cases. Every argument that is made that a child has been brought to the United States that has been wrongfully removed or retained obviously may not be accurate and in those circumstances we’re prepared in the United States District Courts as well as the state courts to be able to defend those applications, to raise the issues that need to be raised and hopefully to reach an enforceable resolution that will take away the specter of international parental abduction and allow the parties to go about their lives without having to look over their shoulders constantly concerned that they’re subjecting themselves to international litigation whenever the child gets involved in international visitation.

The fact is the world is a very, very small place and the reality is that what used to be an unthinkable fact pattern, somebody getting married in one place, children being born in one or more countries and residing in another is now common place. The litigation that is engendered as a result of that is complex. The treaty issues that are engendered as a result of someone’s decision, for example, to return home to Mom, may create legal issues that can exponentially be raised and can create a situation in which the litigation gets out of control.

Our superior knowledge of the treaty, our confidence in its litigation, our use of the treaty, allows us, very often, to be able to make initial applications and to narrow that litigation, hopefully for an immediate expeditious, successful resolution, and that’s why we believe that we can address those cases and in an international parental kidnapping cases with the kind of expertise necessary to identify where a child is located, to immediately get legal counsel on the ground involved and hopefully to stop the cycle of protracted adversarial litigation immediately.