Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child application outcomes
Dear Attorney-General,
The Australian Central Authority for the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction provides application statistics on the Attorney-General's Department website at the following web address:
https://www.ag.gov.au/FamiliesAndMarriag...
I request more detailed information be provided which includes statistics on a per country basis (i.e not a catch all "Proportion all other countries"), and outcomes of applications and/or cases for return of child and visitation. Parents need to know how and why children were returned, or not returned and the success of visitation applications on a per country basis. For example:
* For return of child from country A, out of all cases resulting in successful returns, X number were successful enforcement of return orders, Y number were result of mediation etc.
* For return of child from country A, out of all cases resulting in denial of return petition, X number were denied due to place of habitual residence issues, Y number were denied due to <insert> ground for refusal etc.
There are many issues with the provided information in determining how effective the Hague Convention return of child and visitation processes are in securing return of child(ren) and access to children. The requested information is extremely important to assist left behind parents in determining whether the long and expensive Hague Convention processes will be effective in the country where their child or children have been abducted to or retained in.
Yours faithfully,
Michael Cohen
Left Behind Parent
UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Mr Cohen
I refer to your Freedom of Information requests made to the
Attorney-General:
‘The Australian Central Authority for the Hague Convention on the Civil
Aspects of International Child Abduction provides application statistics
on the Attorney-General's Department website at the following web address:
[1]https://www.ag.gov.au/FamiliesAndMarriag...
I request more detailed information be provided which includes statistics
on a per country basis (i.e not a catch all "Proportion all other
countries"), and outcomes of applications and/or cases for return of child
and visitation. Parents need to know how and why children were returned,
or not returned and the success of visitation applications on a per
country basis. For example:
* For return of child from country A, out of all cases resulting in
successful returns, X number were successful enforcement of return orders,
Y number were result of mediation etc.
* For return of child from country A, out of all cases resulting in denial
of return petition, X number were denied due to place of habitual
residence issues, Y number were denied due to <insert> ground for refusal
etc.’
I am writing to tell you that the Attorney-General’s Office has
transferred your requests, in full, to the Attorney-General’s Department
under s16(1) of the FOI Act. The Attorney-General’s Office is able to
transfer a request if the subject matter is more closely related to the
functions of another agency. The Secretary of the Attorney-General’s
Department is the Australian Central Authority for the Hague Convention on
the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
I received your request on 11 May 2017, and the 30 day statutory timeframe
for processing your request commenced on the day after that date. The
Attorney-General’s Department will treat your request as though they
received it the same day that we did.
The relevant email address at the Attorney-General’s Department is
[2][email address].
Regards
Office of the Attorney-General
Leader of the Government in the Senate
Parliament House CANBERRA ACT 2600
T: 02 6277 7300