The Hague Convention (Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction)

If you reside in a Hague Convention Contracting State and want to have access to your child in Japan as your rights of access have been breached, you can file an application with the Central Authority of Japan for assistance to realize contact (Assistance in Contact with Child in Japan).

Your application, however, is to be dismissed if one of the following conditions is met (Article 18, Paragraph (1), Act for Implementation of the Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction). Therefore, before filing an application, you are advised to make sure that your case does not fall under any of the following reasons for dismissal.

[Note] We use the word "contact" in the sense of "access" stipulated in Article 21 of the Hague Convention.

The documents required when applying to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Assistance in Contact with Child in Japan are as follows:

• Application for Assistance in Contact with Child (PDF)
• Supplementary Page for the Second or More Children (PDF)
  [Note] This page is needed only when you apply for more than one child.
• List of Attached Documents (for Application for Assistance in Contact with Child) (PDF)
• Attached Documents
• Power of Attorney [Sample Power of Attorney: Japanese (PDF) , English (PDF) ]
  [Note] If you wish to communicate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through an attorney, you will need to submit a power of attorney.

[Related Link]

• Child Abduction Legal System of Other Countries (Japanese only)

Please refer to the following when filling out the application form for Assistance in Contact with Child in Japan and preparing the attached documents.

• Guide to making an Application for Assistance in Contact with Child (PDF)
  [Note] Please be sure to read this Guide before you begin to prepare for application documents.

Please fill in the necessary items on the application form and submit it with the attached documents to the following address by email or postal mail. Submissions by means other than email or postal mail (e.g., in person, fax) are not accepted. Please note that emails exceeding 10MB cannot be received; if your email exceeds this size, please split the attached documents into multiple emails and send them.