Mediation Newsroom

Child Custody Disputes

The Department of State in Washington and U.S. Embassies receive many requests for advice and assistance from parents whose children have been taken from the United States or prevented from returning to the United States by the other parent. The Department and its Foreign Service posts will do whatever they can to assist parents who are involved in child custody disputes; however, in most cases, the amount and type of assistance which can be provided is quite restricted.

If the parents cannot work out an amicable settlement of a child custody dispute, the only recourse may be a court action in the country where the child is located. The law of the country in which the child is physically present, even temporarily, is controlling.

Traditionally, the legal doctrine to which most countries have adhered is that the presence of a child within a particular country renders its courts competent to determine who should have custody of the child, regardless of any prior custody judgment issued by a court in another country. As a result, it is not unusual to find conflicting custody decisions in different jurisdictions. Courts in some countries have honored American custody decrees, but on the whole the outcome is unpredictable. The United States Government cannot force a foreign country to honor any American court order regulating custody or visitation rights.

Several States in the United States have entered into arrangements with some foreign countries to provide reciprocal automatic recognition of court child custody and support orders. The numbers of States and countries involved in such arrangements is slowly increasing.

Although U.S. consular officers can provide lists of attorneys in their consular districts, they cannot recommend any particular attorney, offer legal advice, represent U.S. citizens in custody or other hearings before foreign courts, or attempt to influence the outcome of those hearings. Consular officers have no legal authority to obtain physical custody of children and return them to the United States. They cannot assist a parent in acquiring physical custody of a child illegally or by force or deception. Officers cannot help a parent to leave a foreign country with child whose custody is disputed if the departure would violate a court order or the laws of the foreign country. They can, however, provide a passport for a U.S. citizen child whose custody is disputed if the child appears in person and the consular officers have not received a court order issued by the foreign government barring the child's departure from the country or awarding custody to someone other than the parent accompanying the child.