The iCare project aims to develop and implement a set of comprehensive tools and activities to enhance the condition of children in relation to International Child Abduction by promoting judicial cooperation and by integrating International Family Mediation as an adjunct to legal proceedings.

Facts about the topic

The main persisting problems in the area of international child abductions concern:

  • a shortage of comprehensive systemic data and overall information on abduction cases is a persisting issue;
  • the lack of information, coupled with language barriers, cultural gaps and diverging definitions of what constitutes ‘child abduction’ lead to a decrease in judicial cooperation and hinders the judicial process, slowing down the processing of return applications;
  • differing national approaches to the exceptions regarding the return of the child are a pressing concern for Central Authorities and other professionals dealing with child abduction cases.
Aim

Short-term:
Improve the knowledge on the ways different national legal and administrative frameworks deal with cases of international child abduction and international family mediation.

Mid-term:
increase the capacity of the concerned stakeholders and consolidate a multi-stakeholder community for the collection and exchange of good practices.

Long-term:
improve the situation of children in international child abduction cases by
• improving the overall cooperation between the stakeholders when handling cases of international child abduction
• mainstream international family mediation as a viable method to be frequently applied during the judicial process


Contact person

Aagje Ieven
Secretary-General and contact point for International Abduction & Cross Border Mediation

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Partners

The iCare project has received funding from the European Union’s Justice Programme (2014-2020) under Grant Agreement No 101007436. This document has been prepared for the European Commission however it reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

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