Sometimes ISS Australia’s Legal Service is contacted by parents who don’t know where their child is. They are unable to contact their child or their child’s other parent and they suspect that the other parent may have taken their child out of Australia without their permission.  

If your child's whereabouts are unknown, you can apply to the Family Court of Australia (FamCA) for a location order, which enlists the assistance of Commonwealth agencies in locating your child if they are within Australia.  

If you think that your child has been taken overseas, then you can obtain a record of your child's international movement by initiating parenting proceedings in the FamCA and subpoenaing that information from the Department of Home Affairs (Immigration and Citizenship). 

If you believe that is very likely that the other parent has removed your child from Australia to a Hague Convention country, a possibly more efficient option is to lodge a return application under the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. Once your application is lodged, the Australian government can review your child’s international movements into and out of Australia.  

If you are unsure about your child’s whereabouts and you think they might have been removed from Australia without your permission, please contact our Legal Service so that we can provide you with free legal advice about your best course of action. ISS Australia’s Legal Service can be contacted on 1300 647 843 (dial 1), complete our interactive intake form or email legal@iss.org.au.