ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the specific issue of child abduction, where a child is unlawfully moved between two European Union (EU) member states. It explores how the management of cross-border family legal rights may have a significant impact on the broader care responsibilities of international families. Cross-border relationships present practical challenges of continuing family responsibilities for the care of children on the breakdown of the parental relationship. The legal response to the breakdown of international families is not, therefore, shaped only by domestic law, but also by European law. The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980 is based upon a male abductor model, directed at ensuring the return of children to their primary female carer and preventing an alternative jurisdiction being seized of the substantive custody decision. Despite the economic origins of the European policy encouraging the free movement of persons within the European space, individual choice to migrate is not solely based on economic imperatives.
