Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 2022, First published online, 29 August 2022

This article reports on interviews with ten women who had experienced the legal process of the 1980 Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (the ‘Hague Convention’ or the ‘Convention’). We refer to that experience as being ‘Hagued’. All the women were subjected to a Hague return order after fleeing family and domestic violence perpetrated by their previous partner, because they fled with their children across international borders. Subsequently, all women were ordered to return their children to the country where their abusive previous partner lived. Nine out of the ten women also returned with their children. On return the women experienced further harms: they were vulnerable to, further intimidation and controlling behaviour from previous partners; they became homeless; and they felt punished in ordered from returning country’s courts through reduced contact and custody arrangements. The article concludes by suggesting if the Convention, the domestic implementation laws and ultimately the courts assessing return applications, placed greater emphasis and understanding on family and domestic violence, then the women interviewed probably would not have been ordered to return their children and they would not have experienced further post-Hague harm. (Authors' abstract). Record 7810