Hague Convention and Child Custody Examined by SCOTUS

I'm dusting off an article which was never published previously because the case I covered has now reached the Supreme Court of the United States.

Judge Ann Donnelly, a President Obama appointee, has previously presided over this case

The SCOTUS blog has an interesting item about an international child custody case. Here’s more.

On Tuesday the justices considered what obligations, if any, U.S. courts have to consider measures that might reduce the risk of harm if a child who has been abducted is returned to the country where she lives. The oral argument in Golan v. Saada was the latest case asking the justices to interpret the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, an international agreement adopted in 1980 to deal with international child abductions during domestic disputes. During just over 80 minutes of deliberation, the justices searched for a solution that would provide standards for lower courts but also lead to the speedy resolution of cases – a difficult task indeed, particularly in cases involving domestic violence.

Under the Hague Convention, children who are wrongfully abducted from the country where they live must be returned to that country, so that custody disputes can be resolved there. The rationale behind this mandate is that a parent should not be able to gain advantage in a custody dispute by abducting the child and taking her to a different country. The convention carves out an exception to that general return requirement, however, for cases in which there is a “grave risk” that returning the child would expose her to physical or psychological harm.

A federal court in New York ruled that the son of an American mother, Narkis Golan, and an Italian father, Isacco Saada, would face such a risk if he were returned to Italy, where he was born in 2016 and lived until his mother returned with him in 2018 to the United States, because Saada had been abusive toward Golan throughout the couple’s marriage. But under the law of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, the trial court was also required to consider measures that would reduce that risk, and in this case the trial court ordered the return of the child, known as B.A.S., to Italy with a variety of measures in place to protect him. Golan came to the Supreme Court last year, asking the justices to review her case.   

One reason why this caught my eye is because I tried to do an article on this case in 2020 when it was still in front of the US Court of Appeals, but it was one of several denied.

Narkis Golan alleged her ex-husband was abusive. Here’s video of his verbal abuse.

Narkis was living in Italy with her husband and his family when she took a trip with her son to the US, where she is a citizen.

Rather than going back, she stayed and attempted to establish custody of their son. A legal fight began and this sort of dispute is governed by Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

I had done a story prior to do this about this type of a dispute in 2016. That story has also since been removed but it was about Geerte Frenken and Geerte has also documented her story herself.