The Hague Domestic Violence Project

The Hague Domestic Violence Project was formed to help battered mothers, attorneys, judges, and advocates incorporate child exposure to domestic violence as a defense to prevent the otherwise required return of the child to her or his home country, and to a potentially abusive parent. The project continues its work through the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence, offering national training and technical assistance on Hague Convention cases where domestic violence is an issue.

History of the Hague Domestic Violence Project

Sudha Shetty, Assistant Dean for International Partnerships and Alliances at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley, and Jeffrey Edleson, Harry and Riva Specht Chair in Publicly Supported Social Services in the Berkeley School of Social Welfare, worked together years ago on a Hague Convention case where domestic violence was an issue. The myriad issues that arose of that experience inspired Sudha to create the Hague Domestic Violence Project. Since 2003, the goal of the Hague Domestic Violence Project has been to clearly establish child exposure to domestic violence as an exception to the otherwise required return to her or his country of habitual residence under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. First started in Seattle University School of Law’s Access to Justice Institute, the project moved to the University of Minnesota in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Washington, and then to Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy. The project continues its work at the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence.

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The Hague Domestic Violence Project

Resources

Hague Convention Text

International Child Abduction Case Database (INCADAT)

Domestic Violence Report on Hague Convention

Multiple Perspectives on Battered Mothers and their Children Fleeing to the United States for Safety: A Study of Hague Convention Cases:

U.S. State Department international parental child abduction legal information page

ABA Resources

The ABA

Connect

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American Bar Association TM American Bar Association

Representing Battered Respondents under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction

Technical Assistance for Professionals Representing Victims in Hague Convention Cases

The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction in Cases Involving Allegations of Domestic Abuse Judicial Bench Guides

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