Hague report lists countries who are not compliant; seek experienced International Divorce and Abduction Attorneys as early as posibile.
The U.S. Department of State Office of Children’s Issues has now submitted its annual report pertaining to compliance problems on international abduction matters for 2013. This “compliance report” identifies countries that are “Not Compliant with the Convention” and countries that show “Patterns of Noncompliance with the Convention”. This 51 page report lists cases that have remained open and active for 18 months or more after the convention application was filed. The report also lists countries with Convention enforcement concerns.
Highlights include:
- Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Honduras were determined to be “non-compliant” with the Convention. Both Costa Rica and Guatemala demonstrated non-compliance in the areas of judicial and central authority performance. Honduras demonstrated non-compliance in the areas of judicial, law enforcement, and central authority performance.
- Brazil and the Bahamas have showed “patterns of noncompliance” with the Hague. Bahamian courts improperly treat Hague cases as custody matters, not in an expedited fashion that is required. Brazil’s issues seem to center with the long court review process, problems locating the child and all the permitted appeals.
- Four countries were categorized as “Countries with
There have been many laws and treaties put in place in recent years to assist in the prevention of international abduction. However, I have been seeing a new complacency in the family court system that has begun to ignore the need for strong prevention, thus further thwarting a parent’s ability to be involved with their child. Judges in many jurisdictions have been ordering that the objecting parent cooperate in obtaining passports for their children so the foreign national parent can remove the child from the country, often to non-Hague signatory countries. Even though these issues have been addressed, the laws strengthened, and the public made increasingly aware of the dangers of allowing a child to … 
Supervised child visitation can be indicated in cases involving custody; shared parenting; grandparent custody or visitation; divorce; legal separation; post-decree matters; emergency custody situations; abuse/neglect/dependency cases; concerns about parental abduction; and, reintroduction of a parent after a long absence.
If you are looking to modify your divorce decree, one of the first major obstacles you will face is determining whether or not you have met the standard for a “change of circumstances” which is required before any modification can occur. There are a few resources we can look to that provide insight as to what this amounts to, including case law and statutes.
There are several issues that you need to address if you have decided that you need to modify your original custody order. The first is whether your case meets the necessary criteria for modification – the primary of which is a “change of circumstance”. One thing you must understand is that this does NOT include the myth that at a certain age the child can make a choice – this is not supported by law. A child’s wishes 
Very few states have statutes limiting the ability of a man who fathered a child through rape from asserting his parental rights. Rape and its aftermath is a serious and significant problem faced by our country. Though many rapes go unreported, it is estimated that roughly 25,000 women become pregnant through rape each year. A significant amount of women who become pregnant through rape each year choose to raise their children. Despite this, surprisingly little statutory protection exist for these women who chose to raise their children.
I have been asked repeatedly what is meant by “qualified” when selecting a therapist to deal with issues related to contentious custody situations. Too often much valuable time is wasted on counselors who have no experience dealing with the ramifications of custodial interference, parental alienating behaviors and repeated false allegations. Too many people just look at the words “family counseling” and don’t go the extra interview step to discover what experience the counselor has in custody issues and whether the person has even been qualified to testify in court. Often the random selection of therapists does more harm than good and the client finds himself back at square one after the therapist finally admits the situation is outside his/her abilities and expertise.