There have been a number of recent international custody cases involving the Hague Convention. The purpose of the Act was to protect children from being abducted by a parent in a custody case and fleeing to a country outside of the United States as well as protecting children from other countries whose parent absconds to the United States. Only certain countries participate in the Hague. It is common practice in custody agreements to prevent travel to countries that do not participate in the Hague.

 In this case, out of the southern district of New York, the court found that the child of a marriage between a mother who was a Jamaican citizen and a father who had a dual citizenship in the United States and Jamaica was to be returned to the mother in Jamaica.  The court also ordered costs to be paid by the father to the mother. 

The parties were married in 2011, the mother was a Jamaican citizen who continued to live in Jamaica, while the respondent father had dual citizenship and traveled between Jamaica and the United States.  Their child was born in Jamaica in 2012.  The parties separated in 2015 agreeing the petitioner mother would have custody and that respondent father would have visitation in New York during holidays.  On August 1, 2020, the child left Jamaica to visit the father in New York.  In September, the father had still not returned the child to Jamaica to begin school.  The petitioner mother, sued for the child’s return to Jamaica under the Hague convention and International Child Abduction Remedies Act of November 2021.  The parties were also engaged in Jamaican divorce proceedings.

  The ongoing divorce proceedings impacted the court’s decision.  The father was ordered to return the child.  The court stated that there was an agreement that the child would return and Jamaica was the principal place of residence.  (Webster-Colquhoun v. Colquhoun, 21-CV-7101.

This case demonstrates the importance and effectiveness of the Act to protect children.