Parental responsibility in a cross-border context

Cross-border child abduction cases involve a number of potential “players”. The main people involved are the parents and the child or children; here reference is made to the “taking parent” and the “left-behind parent”. The taking parent – who is usually the primary caregiver (in 70% of all cases the mother) – almost never feels that they have abducted the child, but rather says that she or he was just trying to get out of a difficult or impossible situation. Many abducting parents are either unaware of the fact that they are breaching international conventions by removing the child from the country without the consent of the other parent or they do know this but hope that the other parent will not take drastic measures to assure the child’s return. Grandparents and other family members, friends or new partners can take on an important role in the course of a child abduction case, e.g. by helping the abducting parent plan leaving the country of habitual residence and supporting them upon return or even hiding the child or children. The left-behind parent may be told, “don’t let her do this to you!” and encouraged to “go over there and get the child back”.