The INCLUDE project aims to offer a set of good practices to legal professionals to improve children’s wellbeing when dealing with cases of international child abduction by a parent.
It was launched in September 2019 supported by the European Commission (JUST-AG-2018/JUST-JCOO-AG-2018). The project is coordinated by Missing Children Europe, and it is implemented in partnership with University of Antwerp, Hope For Children Cyprus and Hintalovon. Our Foundation is responsible for involving children in the research, developing the methodology of child participation, which is enrolled in two countries: Hungary and in Cyprus.
Previous research projects that were conducted by University of Antwerp and Missing Children Europe led to a set of recommendations on international child abduction. It is the aim of this current project to put in practice several of these recommendations that can help to enhance the participation and improve the situation of abducted children from the start of the civil proceedings until the enforcement of the decision and immediately after a return.
Therefore, 2 good practice guides will be developed to improve the daily life of children who are abducted by one parent during the abduction and to guarantee a more child-friendly enforcement of return decisions.
The aim of child participation in the research is to learn children’s views about what does safe and meaningful child participation mean in formal settings for them and what would make them feel more comfortable in court hearings. Children’s views and ideas will be incorporated to the good practice guides and children will participate in awareness raising too.
