International Child Abduction: Giambrone & Partners Secures the Return of a Child Illegally Retained in Italy

Giambrone & Partners, with Senior Partner Alessandro Gravante and Senior Associates Nicoletta Neglia and Alessia Federica Arbustini from the Family Team, successfully assisted a Canadian father before the Juvenile Court of Catanzaro in obtaining the return to Canada of his three-year-old child, who had been unlawfully retained in Italy by the mother.

Specifically, the mother had taken the child to Italy with the father's consent for what was supposed to be a one-month holiday. However, at the end of the agreed period, she refused to return to Canada, claiming that she lacked the financial means to live there.

As a result, the father, with the assistance of the lawyers Gravante, Neglia, and Arbustini from Giambrone & Partners’ Family Team, filed a request for return under Article 8 of the Hague Convention of 25.10.1980 with the Italian Central Authority. The Central Authority proceeded to locate the child, who, unbeknown to the father, had been taken by the mother from a northern region of Italy to Calabria.

After locating the child and noting the mother’s refusal to return voluntarily to Canada, a child abduction case was initiated before the Juvenile Court of Catanzaro.

The Juvenile Court of Catanzaro, having heard both parents, upheld the father's request, recognising that the child was habitually resident in Canada and had been unlawfully retained in Italy by the mother.

The Court therefore ordered the immediate return of the child to Canada, arranging for the child to be placed in the care of the father via the Child Social Services to ensure their return to their habitual residence.

Immediately after the ruling, the child was entrusted to the father, and two days later, both returned to Canada.

During the proceedings, it also emerged that the mother had brought two other minor children to Italy, born from a previous relationship, also without the consent of their father, who remained in Canada.

Following the ruling issued by the Juvenile Court of Catanzaro, the mother also returned to Canada, bringing the other two children with her, for whom the father had just initiated a separate return procedure.

As a result, the successful outcome of the child's return case effectively also resolved a second, simultaneous unlawful abduction of two other minors.