NCJ Number
204050
Journal
Children's Legal Rights Journal Volume: 23 Issue: 2 Dated: Summer 2003 Pages: 52-53
Date Published
2003
Length
2 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the International Child Abduction Attorney Network-Law School Division Project.
Abstract
The United States is a party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (Hague Convention). The U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Justice have designated the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to handle all Hague Convention applications when children from other countries are abducted to, or wrongfully retained in, the United States. The International Child Abduction Attorney Network (ICAAN) is a group of attorneys who are willing to represent, on a pro bono or reduced fee basis, left-behind parents of children from other countries that have been wrongfully removed to, or retained in, the United States. NCMEC recently started the ICAAN-Law School Clinic Division Project to expand ICAAN to student-lawyers in law schools around the country. The project is designed to: serve the immediate legal needs of parents who have submitted applications to U.S. courts under the Hague Convention; expose law students to private international law practice, and provide them an opportunity to shape rapidly developing Hague Convention jurisprudence in the United States; and prepare the next generation of attorneys to handle international child abduction cases when they go into practice. In October 2002, professors from law schools in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area and four States that have a high volume of incoming Hague Convention cases (Florida, Illinois, New York, and Texas) were invited for a training session at NCMEC on handling international child abduction cases. Following the training, NCMEC forwarded incoming Hague Convention cases to each of the participating law clinics. Professors and students also have an extensive collection of resources for litigating Hague Convention cases available to them at the NCMEC Web site. NCMEC invites inquiries from law professors about the law school clinical education project. Contact information is provided.