Victoria Legal Aid Handbook for Lawyers

VLA may make a grant of legal assistance in limited circumstances in matters relating to international child abduction, under the following guidelines:

A grant of legal assistance will not be available in following kinds of international child abduction proceedings:

  • where a child has been wrongfully removed from Australia to another country (or kept in another country) to apply for a child to be returned to Australia under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (the Hague Child Abduction Convention)

or

  • to intervene in proceedings under the Hague Child Abduction Convention relating to the return of a child who has been removed from Australia to, or kept in, a Hague Child Abduction Convention country.

In matters where a child is removed from a parent or carer within Australia, assistance for the location and recovery of a child may be available. See Guideline 2 – recovery, location and information orders.

For commentary relating to this section, see Notes on Guideline 3.

Reviewed 12 April 2023

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