{"id":34862,"date":"2018-10-31T14:11:41","date_gmt":"2018-10-31T08:41:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=34862"},"modified":"2018-10-31T14:11:41","modified_gmt":"2018-10-31T08:41:41","slug":"for-the-childrens-sake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/for-the-childrens-sake\/","title":{"rendered":"For The Children\u2019s Sake:\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/opinion\/columns\/for-the-childrens-sake-4864467\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For The Children\u2019s Sake<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Context<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">India needs to join the Hague Convention on child custody.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Why do child custody disputes occur?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Child custody disputes that sometimes erupt when a marriage dissolves create challenging and disruptive environments for children.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This disruption is magnified when parents cannot agree on living arrangements, especially if one parent takes unilateral action and removes children from their country of residence, often in violation of that country\u2019s laws.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Families may suddenly find themselves in legal disputes in multiple countries, resulting in significant financial and emotional tolls.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These legal battles can drag on for years, leaving children in limbo and potentially harming their development.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Consensus to address the problems<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A global consensus has emerged to address this problem.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ninety-eight countries spanning all continents, cultures and religions recognize that despite different laws and norms, we share a commitment to the best interests of children.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This consensus underscores that when parents cannot agree, the courts in the country where a child lives are best suited to settle custody issues.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This consensus also reflects another principle as more families elect to live in a foreign country, they agree to follow the laws and respect court decisions in their country of residence.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is the basis of the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, a vital international instrument that works to protect children from the harmful effects of international \u00a0\u00a0One of the Hague Convention\u2019s greatest strengths is that disputes are resolved within months, not years, allowing parents and children to move on with their lives.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Safeguards provided by the convention<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Convention offers multiple safeguards to ensure that the rights of all parties are protected.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This begins with a focus on preventing parents from unilaterally removing children.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Convention encourages all parties to seek mutually acceptable child custody arrangements in accordance with the laws of the country they are living in.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If a parent unilaterally removes the child to another country, the Hague Convention sets forth a process to resolve the issue.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Issues related to the convention<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Convention does not resolve the custody dispute; it simply stipulates that the courts where the family has been living are in the best position to make child custody decisions.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Children are not automatically returned to the left-behind parent.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If a court orders children to be returned to their home country, it is then up to the courts there to decide on custody, in the best interests of the children.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are many examples in which courts awarded custody of the child to the taking parent and the child then relocated abroad with that parent.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Critics sometimes worry that joining the Convention will force abuse victims to return to their abusers.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, Article 13 of the Convention allows courts to decide not to return abducted children if the return would expose them to physical or psychological harm or otherwise place them in an intolerable situation.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As the US-India relationship continues to expand and strengthen, India needs to join the community of 98 countries that have taken the important step of joining the Hague Convention. The children and families of both of our nations deserve better.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For The Children\u2019s Sake:\u00a0 Context India needs to join the Hague Convention on child custody. Why do child custody disputes occur? Child custody disputes that sometimes erupt when a marriage dissolves create challenging and disruptive environments for children. This disruption is magnified when parents cannot agree on living arrangements, especially if one parent takes unilateral&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/for-the-childrens-sake\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">For The Children\u2019s Sake:\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-test-1","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704801843},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34862\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}