The 1980 Hague Convention: The Need for an Advocacy Response to Protect Children in the Context of International Parental Child Abduction

This paper will focus on the practice of social work within the context of an international Hague Convention concerning children: the 1980 Hague Convention on The Civil Aspects of International Parental Child Abduction. After describing the programmes of International Social Service (ISS) Australia, this organisation's existing approaches to working with families affected by international parental child abduction will be specifically discussed as an example of practice within the context of that Convention. The paper highlights the benefits of social work practice and mediation-based services for families. Dilemmas of practice within a legal framework will then be considered, with particular reference to the trap of uncritical implementation of social work practice as a social control agent of the judicial system. Potential social work contributions in the area of analysis and critique through the perspectives offered by gendered analysis, human rights and children's rights, and the tradition of advocacy as an integral sphere of practice will be discussed, with the paper arguing that for social work to best meet the needs of children affected by this legislation, it must perform its vital functions of social and political critique, and individual and systemic advocacy.