International parental child abduction

International parental child abduction occurs when one parent or guardian takes their child from its home country without the permission of the other parent or guardian, or without the authorisation of a court.

If your child has been abducted from Australia—what should you do?

If you are concerned about your child's welfare and safety, report the matter to your local police immediately.

1. Contact the Australian Federal Police for advice on placing your child's name on the Family Law Watchlist. Your child may not have yet left Australia and it may be possible to prevent them being removed from Australia.
2. Seek legal advice about obtaining orders to permit your child’s name to be placed on the Family Law Watchlist. Visit the Support and assistance page for resources to help you locate a lawyer or legal service near you.
3. If your child has been taken to a country where the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (the Hague Convention) is in force for Australia, or Egypt or Lebanon, the Australian Central Authority may be able to assist you. For a list of countries where the Hague Convention is in force for Australia, visit the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction page. For more information about how the Australian Central Authority may be able to assist you, call 1800 100 480 (or +61 2 6141 3100 from outside Australia) or email australiancentralauthority@ag.gov.au.
   
   You may also apply directly to the central authority or courts in the country where your child is located. You may wish to seek legal advice about doing so. Visit the Support and assistance page for resources to help you locate a lawyer or legal service near you or in the other country.
4. If your child has been taken to a country where the Hague Convention is not in force for Australia and there is no separate agreement with Australia, you may be able to get some limited Consular assistance from the Consular Branch of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The service operates 24 hours a day and can be contacted on 1300 555 135. You may also be able to apply for financial assistance from this department. Visit the Overseas Child Abduction Scheme page for more information.

This may be a difficult time for you and you may wish to seek social support. Please refer to our Support and assistance page for resources to help you locate support services available, including through International Social Services Australia (ISS).

Application process for the return of an abducted child to Australia

If you believe your child has been wrongfully removed from Australia or wrongfully retained overseas in a Hague Convention country without your consent, you can submit an application to the Australian Central Authority (ACA) to apply for the return of your child.

• Application form—Return of a child under the Hague Convention
• Your privacy when making an application under the Hague Convention

There are several requirements your application must satisfy in order to meet the terms of the Hague Convention.

You should lodge the application as soon as possible after the alleged wrongful removal or retention. The ACA may need to request additional information from you to progress an application. If the ACA accepts an application, it refers it to the relevant Overseas Central Authority. If the Overseas Central Authority accepts the application it may take the request to the overseas court.

Financial assistance

Depending on which country your application is going to, the costs of running your matter in that country may not be covered by the central authority of that country. Where that is the case, you may be able to apply for legal aid in the other country. You may wish to seek legal advice about applying for legal aid in the other country. Visit the Support and assistance page for resources to help you locate a lawyer or legal service near you or in the other country. You may also be able to apply for financial assistance from this department. Visit the Overseas Child Abduction Scheme page for more information.

More information about the Hague Convention is available in the following document: Guide for applicants—Applying for the return of a child under the Hague Convention

There are other agencies and organisations that can assist you during this application process. This may include support with preparing an application, financial assistance and legal advice. For more details, visit the Support and assistance page or our Questions about international child abduction and access page.

Send completed applications to the Australian Central Authority at:

International Family Law Section
Attorney-General's Department
3–5 National Circuit
BARTON ACT 2600
AUSTRALIA

Or by email to: australiancentralauthority@ag.gov.au

Bilateral agreements with Egypt and Lebanon

Australia has bilateral agreements with Egypt and Lebanon on cooperating to protect the welfare of children. These are known as the Australia-Egypt Agreement and the Australia-Lebanon Agreement.

More information about how these agreements work and how applications are processed is available in the following documents:

• Australia-Egypt Agreement—information for parents
• Australia-Lebanon Agreement—information for parents

Application forms for each agreement are available below. Each form includes a statutory declaration form which must be submitted with your completed application.

For more information on statutory declarations, including who can witness your form, visit the statutory declarations page.

• Australia-Egypt Agreement—application form
• Australia-Lebanon Agreement—application form

For more information about the application process, contact the Australian Central Authority on 1800 100 480 or email australiancentralauthority@ag.gov.au.

If your child is at risk of being abducted from Australia

There are some steps you can take if you are worried that your child may be abducted overseas by a parent or another family member. It is extremely important that you act quickly. Visit the support and assistance page for further information.

What you should do immediately

Make sure you have your child's official documents, including their passport (if they have one) and recent photos of the child and their other parent. You should also note the contact details of family and friends located overseas where the other parent may take your child.

Stopping your child leaving Australia

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) can place your child's name on the Family Law Watchlist, which is a system designed to prevent children whose parents are involved in family law proceedings being removed from Australia without the consent of the court.

You should seek legal advice about obtaining orders that will permit your child’s name to be placed on the watchlist. You could seek this advice from a lawyer, community legal centre or legal aid commission. Visit the Support and assistance page for resources to help you locate a lawyer or legal service near you.

Preventing the issuing of a passport to your child

A Child Alert Request is a warning to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade that there may be circumstances that need to be considered before issuing an Australian passport or other travel document to a child.

If you are the parent, or person with a parental responsibility for a child, you can submit a Child Alert Request on the Australian Passport Office website.

A child alert will not prevent your child from travelling if they already hold an Australian passport or travel document issued by another country.

If your child may be eligible for a passport or travel document issued by another country, but does not yet hold one, contact the embassy, high commission or consulate of that country in Australia to find out if you can apply to stop a passport or travel document being issued for your child. Contact details for foreign government representatives in Australia can be found on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website.

If you are thinking of taking your child overseas

If you are a parent considering removing a child from Australia without the other parent's agreement you should think twice. Doing so may constitute a criminal offence punishable by up to 3 years in prison. If you want to relocate overseas with your child, you should seek legal advice about doing so. You may need to seek relocation orders through the Australian Family Courts.

For more information on moving with your child to another town, state or country, visit the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia’s Children: Relocation, travel and the Hague Convention webpage.

If you have been affected by international parental child abduction

If you have been affected by international parental child abduction, including if you have taken your child overseas, you should seek legal advice. You may also wish to consider seeking social support. Refer to our Support and assistance page for resources to help you locate a lawyer or legal service near you as well as other supports available.

The Hague application process for children in Australia

An overseas parent (the requesting parent) can apply for a child’s return from Australia under the Hague Convention. The requesting parent can apply to the Australian Central Authority through their country’s Central Authority. The Australian Central Authority assesses all applications to ensure that they meet the requirements of the Hague Convention. If accepted, the application would be made to the relevant court by the relevant State Central Authority (usually a state government agency), under the Family Law (Child Abduction Convention) Regulations 1986. The State Central Authorities are the applicant in such proceedings and they do not act on behalf of the overseas parent, nor do they take instructions from them. It is also possible for a requesting parent to bring an application forward in the court themselves.

Return applications are heard in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia or the Family Court of Western Australia.

The parent in Australia (the responding parent) will be served with court documents. They will have the opportunity to respond to the application to return the child to the other country. For more information visit the Information for responding parents page. We strongly encourage all respondents to seek legal advice.

Legal financial assistance for responding parents

Respondents may be eligible for legal financial assistance under the International Child Abduction Respondents Scheme (ICARS). For more information, including how to apply, visit the ICARS page.

Hague convention application statistics

The department publishes statistics relating to international parental child abduction in our annual reports.

For the 2022-23 Annual Report, refer to pages 21-22.

For the 2021-22 Annual Report, refer to pages 18-19.

For the 2020-21 Annual Report, refer to pages 24-25.

For the 2019-20 Annual Report, refer to page 83.

For the 2018-19 Annual Report, refer to pages 45-46.