Central Authorities act differently in each Hague case country

In Australia, the Central Authority is part of the national government. Each state and territory also has its own Central Authority. Usually, they take the lead in child abduction cases. They go to court themselves to ask for the child to be returned. The lawyers for the Central Authority do not follow instructions from the left-behind parent, who is not officially part of the case. Sometimes, a left-behind parent can start their own case, but this is rare and not recommended.

Germany and New Zealand also have Central Authorities that play a big role in starting legal actions in court.

But the situation is very different in the United States. The U.S. Central Authority is the Office of Children’s Issues in the State Department. It does not go to court in any Hague Convention cases. It cannot file legal actions and has no power to bring a case to court. Only the left-behind parent can do that by hiring a lawyer and starting the case on their own.

If a parent from another country sends an application to the U.S. Central Authority, the office might help find the child and send a letter to the other parent suggesting they talk or agree to return the child. But it will not file a court case.

Sadly, many Central Authorities in other countries do not understand this. They often don’t tell parents that they must start the case themselves in U.S. courts. Some websites even give wrong information. For example, the Australian Central Authority’s website includes a chart that wrongly says the Central Authority in the other country (like the U.S.) will go to court. This is not true for the United States. It does not file cases or help in court.

This confusion also happened in a case in New York. The Central Authority in Luxembourg asked the U.S. State Department to take all actions to return a child, but the U.S. office cannot do that. So, the parent may wrongly think the U.S. will handle the case.

In my experience, many left-behind parents think that just sending an application is enough to start a case in the U.S. But this is not true. They must file a case in a U.S. court. Also, the U.S. Central Authority cannot give legal advice, and sadly, many of my clients have told me they got incorrect or incomplete information from that office.

It is also very important for parents to know: if they don’t start a case in a U.S. court within one year from the time the child was taken or kept, the court might not order the child to return. U.S. law (42 U.S.C. § 11603(f)(3)) says that only filing a petition in court counts as starting the case. Just sending a Hague application is not enough.

The Office of Children’s Issues does not stop the clock on the one-year time limit. It also doesn’t hire lawyers or file petitions. Unlike other countries, in the U.S., only the left-behind parent is responsible for starting a Hague Convention case in court.