Parental responsibility in a cross-border context

This basic model of cross-border child abduction mediation is practiced to different extents by the three European organisations that organise cross-border family child abduction mediations on a regular basis: the British charity Reunite International Child Abduction Centre , the Dutch International Child Abduction Centre / IKO and the German non-profit NGO MiKK / Mediation in International Cases involving Parents and Children. All three organisations use co-mediation and work with specially trained mediators who are willing to take on cases at short notice and work closely with the competent 1980 Hague Convention court.

• Reunite has a pool of 7 mediators who conduct three 3-hour sessions with couples on two days. The mediation is prepared by Reunite, deals with any topic except full matrimonial or joint finances and property and is paid for by the parents or by legal aid if they are eligible.
• IKO operates a pool of 18 mediators who work in co-mediation on a bi-professional basis and conduct three 3-hour sessions with couples on two days. The mediation is prepared by IKO’s Mediation Bureau, deals solely with the issues of abduction, return or no return, relocation and contact and is paid for by the Ministry of Security and Justice and the parents or by the Legal Aid Board if parents qualify.
• MiKK has a network of 140 mediators who can work in 28 languages. MiKK organises the mediation, putting together a co-mediator team consisting of a man and a woman, one from each party’s own country or at least with the ability to speak their mother tongue and one with a legal, one with a psychosocial background – thus adhering to the model of mediation propagated in the Wroclaw Declaration. The timeframe of MiKK mediations is dependent on the parents, but sessions usually take place on two or three days and deal with any topic the parents wish to settle. The mediation is financed by the parties themselves or in some special cases by the German Central Authority.