Thirty years ago, the international community took a hard line against international parental kidnapping. The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction allows parental child abduction only in rare circumstances, such as when returning the child would create a "grave risk" of harm. Recently, mothers who have abducted their children when fleeing domestic violence have successfully pled this grave-risk exception, demonstrating the Convention's relevance to the realities of domestic violence. This Note welcomes that development, but argues that the rights of left-behind parents, who increasingly are fathers, must also be taken into account. Left-behind fathers, whether guilty of domestic violence or not, face significant challenges litigating their cases in the United States, and an overbroad interpretation of the grave-risk exception would only heighten these challenges. To remain fair, the Convention can-and must-consider the rights and realities of left-behind fathers.
