Guideline 16 – international child abduction matters
Victoria Legal Aid (VLA) may make a grant of legal assistance for a person to:
- defend a court application made under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction:
- for the return of a child who has been removed from a convention country to, or kept in, Australia
- to spend time with a child living in Australia
- make an application to the court under the Family Law (Child Abduction Convention) Regulations 1986 (Cth) for a declaration that the removal of a child from Australia to a Hague Convention signatory country (a convention country), or the retention of a child in a convention country, is wrongful within the meaning of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction
- apply to court under a bilateral agreement in relation to a child who has been wrongfully removed to Australia.
VLA will not make a grant of legal assistance to a person to intervene in proceedings relating to the return of a child under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.