[Source: http://www.legalmomentum.org/courts/violence.shtml#vaw2]
Blondin v. Dubois, 19 F. Supp. 2d 123 (S.D.N.Y. 1998), vacated and remanded for
further proceedings, 189 F.3d 240 (2d Cir. 1999), on reh'g, 78 F. Supp. 2d 283
(S.D.N.Y. 2000), aff'd, 238 F.3d 153 (2d Cir. 2001)
Under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abduction, a child taken from his or
her home country must be returned unless there is a "grave risk of harm." This case involved
the question of whether domestic violence can present a "grave risk" of harm to children
within the meaning of the Hague Convention. Dubois came to the United States with her
children after she and her children suffered significant domestic violence in France perpetrated
by the children's father, Blondin. Blondin sued under the Hague Convention for return of the
children to France. The district court held twice, the second time based on expert testimony,
that the children would suffer psychological risk if they were returned to France where the
abuse occurred. Blondin appealed for a second time to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and
the U.S. government filed an amicus brief urging return of the children to France. Legal
Momentum filed an amicus brief drafted by the law firm Crowell & Moring describing why
domestic violence can present a sufficiently grave risk to children to warrant departure from
the Convention's ordinary application. On January 4, 2001, the Second Circuit affirmed the
district court, holding that there was ample evidence in the record that return of the children
to the place where they witnessed and experienced serious domestic violence presented a
grave risk of psychological harm under the terms of the Hague Convention and return was
therefore not warranted.