What happens if your spouse brings your child to another country? International child abduction Singapore cases are becoming more common and it is not just foreigners who leave the country with their children.
Case study
An Australian man is married to a Singaporean wife. The Singaporean wife left with their 2-year-old son to Melbourne and he knew little, apart from the fact that she used to reside in Hougang. This led him to go around Hougang in search of his child for a month.
While they had couple fights, he did not know that she intended to leave Singapore with their child. Eventually, the wife blocked the Australian man on Facebook and stopped answering his phone calls.
Worried about his son, he sought help from the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction aims to return a child wrongfully removed from the country he/ her was living in, so that the appropriate jurisdiction can make decisions on his/ her welfare and custody. However, this only applies to countries which acceded to the treaty.
In the case of the Australian man, both Singapore and Australia are members to the treaty.
The Singapore Central Authority found out about the whereabouts of his wife and the Family Justice Courts ordered his ex-wife to allow his relocation to Australia with the boy.
See: Theresa Tan, “Hague Convention helps man find son taken to wife’s homeland”, The Straits Times, 2 April 2017
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