• Introduction
  • Acknowledgments
  • The Department of Child Safety
  • Relevant legislation
  • Other key departmental documents
  • Accountability for children in Queensland
  • Framework for the participation of children and young people in decision-making
  • Respecting diversity
  • Recognised Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entities
  • Delegations
  • Child safety service centres: Staff roles and responsibilities
  • How to use the Child Safety Practice Manual
• Practice maps
  • Child Safety framework
  • Intake
  • Investigation and assessment
  • Ongoing intervention
  • Matters of concern
• General procedures
  • i. Decision-making about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children
  • ii. Staff safety and well-being
  • iii. Structured Decision Making
  • iv. Statutory obligation to notify the Queensland Police Service of possible criminal offences
  • v. Case management
  • vi. Information sharing
  • vii. Making a referral to Evolve
  • viii. Referral for active intervention services
  • ix. The role of the Child Safety After Hours Service Centre
  • x. Writing affidavits
  • xi. Responding to client complaints
  • xii. Recording alerts for a child and family
  • xiii. Providing adoption services
  • xiv. The video taping or recording of departmental staff
• Chapters
  • 1. Intake
  • 2. Investigation and assessment
  • 3. Use of powers
  • 4. Ongoing intervention
  • 5. Intervention with parental consent
  • 6. Intervention with a child protection order
  • 7. Children in out-of-home care
  • 8. Regulation of care
  • 9. Matters of concern
  • 10. Unborn children
  • 11. Transfers
  • 12. Professional supervision
  • 13. Critical incident reporting
  • 14. Child deaths
  • 15. Family Court of Australia
  • 16. Youth justice and child protection interface
  • 17. Interstate matters
• Appendices
  • Appendix A: Acronyms
  • Appendix B: Glossary
• Practice papers
• Quicklinks
  • Previous versions
  • Printable version
  • Resources
  • Updates

15. Family Court of Australia

• 15.1 Working with the Family Court of Australia
• 15.2 Responding to allegations of harm to a child by a parent with a Family Court of Australia parenting order
• 15.3 Departmental intervention when a child requires protection from a parent with a Family Court of Australia parenting order
• 15.4 Responding to allegations of harm to a child when there are current proceedings in the Family Court of Australia
• 15.5 Responding to Hague Convention (child abduction) matters

15.5 Responding to Hague Convention (child abduction) matters

Purpose

This procedure outlines the process for responding to matters that relate to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (the Hague Convention), when a child has been wrongfully removed from, or retained outside, their country of habitual residence.

The Hague Convention

Court Services Unit, on behalf of the Director-General acts as the State Central Authority pursuant to the Hague Convention.

The Hague Convention entered into force for Australia on 1 January 1987. The Hague Convention is an international treaty under which arrangements are made for the return of children who have been wrongfully removed from, or retained outside their country of habitual residence. This Convention is legislated in Australia under the Family Law (Child Abduction) Regulations 1984.

The purpose of the Hague Convention is to discourage international parental child abduction and to ensure that children who are abducted or wrongfully retained are returned promptly to their country of habitual residence, so that disagreements about residence and contact can be resolved by the courts or relevant authorities of that country. The usual issues relevant to parenting disputes regarding who the child lives with and has contact with are not relevant in Hague Convention applications and court hearings. The Convention is concerned with which country has jurisdiction to deal with the child's affairs, not custody or residence issues.

Responding to matters under the Hague Convention

Court Services Unit is responsible for the management of Hague Convention matters, assisting parents to bring an application under the convention for the return of a child from another convention country, as well as processing applications from overseas in respect of children located in Queensland. The latter matters often require resolution before the Family Court and Crown Law are also engaged to represent the Director-General in these matters.

Hague Convention matters are unlikely to involve a CSSC, however, occasionally a CSSC may be requested to assist with the placement of a child, under a Family Court order.

Where a matter falls within the jurisdiction of the Hague Convention, and a placement is required for a child, the following actions will occur:

1. Court Service Unit will contact the Child Safety After Hours Service Centre, or the appropriate CSSC, to locate and facilitate an initial placement for the child; and
2. Court Services Unit will then liaise directly with the CSSC manager responsible for the approved carer, if an extension to the initial placement is required.

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