Parental responsibility in a cross-border context

While the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and the Brussels IIbis Regulation provide a legal framework for cross-border conflicts involving children, taking legal recourse leaves many questions and issues facing families involved in cross-border disputes open. All these issues relating not only to the short-term question as to where the child should reside, but also to questions such as possible relocation of the child and/or one or both parents, long-term living arrangements, support and contact to the absent parent can be resolved in mediation. In addition, mediation provides a forum for parents to express and explore their feelings of anger and fear as well as their own needs and the needs of the child. As the EU Directive on certain aspects of mediation in civil and commercial matters in paragraph (6) of the preamble states,

Since successful mediation can also spare the parties from the uncertainty and expense of further litigation in one or both countries, cross-border family mediation is not only quicker and potentially more effective than court proceedings, it is also more cost effective. Even a mediation that does not end in an agreement opens the lines of communication between the parents, thus deescalating their conflict and enabling them to deal more effectively with each other in the future, e.g. by concentrating on just a few important controversial issues – to the benefit of their child or children.