---
title: "Contact with a Child Abroad — the 1980 Hague Convention"
url: "https://legal.ge/en/service/family-law-en/contact-with-a-child-abroad-the-1980-hague-convention-en"
field: "Family Law"
description: "Contact with a child abroad and return under the 1980 Hague Convention: central authority, court, evidence. Advocate support on Legal.ge."
updated: "2026-10-15"
publisher: "legal.ge"
---

# Contact with a Child Abroad — the 1980 Hague Convention

> Source: legal.ge, https://legal.ge/en/service/family-law-en/contact-with-a-child-abroad-the-1980-hague-convention-en

## The 1980 Hague Convention and Its Georgian Implementation

When a parent and a child are in different countries and contact or the child's return becomes the question, the matter concerns the Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. Georgia is a party to this Convention — Georgia acceded in 1997 and the Convention has been in force for Georgia since 1 October 1997, operating also in relations with the United States. The Georgian implementation of the Convention is defined by special norms of the Civil Code: the central authority — a structural subdivision of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia — and the court form the legal channel through which the parent enters.

This page describes precisely that Georgian layer: who is an applicant, what the rights of custody and of contact are, when a removal or retention is wrongful, and how an application is made to the central authority and to the court — in both directions: when the child has left Georgia, and when the child is in Georgia.

The full text is available on legal.ge after signing in: https://legal.ge/en/service/family-law-en/contact-with-a-child-abroad-the-1980-hague-convention-en

### What age of children does the 1980 Hague Convention cover?

Children under 16 — the age limit is set by the Georgian implementation norms, and on it depends the application of the return and contact mechanism.

### Where does a case begin if a child has been abducted abroad?

With an application to the Georgian central authority — a structural subdivision of the Ministry of Justice — which is forwarded to the central authority of the country where the child is.

### And if the child is in Georgia wrongfully?

The parent applies to the central authority or to the court — by mediation request or by lawsuit. The referral and enforcement procedures are approved by the Government.

### What does wrongful removal mean?

A breach of the right of custody: the child was removed without permission from the state of habitual residence and is not returned after a demand. Retention is qualified by the same logic.