Location and recovery orders are provided for by Part VII Division 8 Subdivision C of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth). They cover the situation where a person is prevented from having contact with their children because the other parent has taken the children without disclosing their whereabouts. In appropriate circumstances the court can order anyone with knowledge of the other parent's whereabouts to disclose this information to the court. Such orders are commonly made to obtain information from Centrelink, the ATO, and banks.

Parenting orders required for location or recovery order

To apply for a location or recovery order, a person must also apply for a parenting order or have an existing order. If a person has only a parenting plan or verbal agreement about who the children live with and spend time with, they will need to apply for parenting orders when they apply for the location order.

Protection for family violence victims

Any information divulged to the court under a location order must not be provided to the person who applies for the order [s 67P]. Instead, the information is disclosed to other persons such as a lawyer, court official, process server or police officer. This is to protect a victim of family violence from being placed at risk of harm. In the case of an unrepresented party, if a location order is granted, the usual procedure would be for the court to either to supply the information to a marshal who can arrange for the other party to be served, or else to appoint a child representative to contact the other party.

Police powers under recovery orders

The court may order the return of the child by way of a recovery order which will be carried out by the Federal Police [Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) s 67R]. As an ancillary power, the police may stop and search any vehicle, vessel or aircraft on which the child is suspected to be. In practice, Federal Police may not have the resources at any given time to retrieve a child and this can lead to some delays or to the involvement of SA Police at the request of Federal Police.

The police will not usually execute a recovery order unless the parent entitled to the benefit of the order is with them at or near the place where the child is to be recovered. If therefore the child has been taken interstate, the parent seeking the recovery of the child will have to travel interstate at their own expense before the order can be executed. If a parent has no resources to make the journey, it may be possible to seek emergency financial assistance from the Department for Child Protection.

Children taken overseas

The Hague Convention provides for the return of children from a member country to the member country of their origin. These applications are dealt with by the Australian Central Authority. For more information about making an application for the return of an abducted child to Australia, call the Australian Central Authority on 1800 100 480 or visit the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department webpage on International parental child abduction, which includes a Guide for applicants - Applying for the return of a child under the Hague Convention. Assistance to complete applications may be available from the International Social Service, call 1300 657 843.