In child abduction cases the Hague Convention allows for an abducting parent to present several defenses, the third main defense is that the petitioner, the left-behind parent who is asking the court to return the child to a home country, has not been using or utilizing the custodial time they were granted in the underlying action. Additionally if the left-behind parent has acquiesced or agreed to the removal or retention then the abducting parent has a valid defense.

If a parent is not exercising their custody rights at the time or removal or retention they do not have a firm footing on which to stand in asking a court, under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abduction to be asking that the child be returned to a home country.

Also, if the left-behind parent has agreed to the move, either in writing or in conduct, then they have no right to ask later that the child be returned under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abduction.