A (A Child: Article 13(b): Mental Health)

Facts

The parents met in Australia in 2020, where their son B was born in 2021. The father, an Australian citizen serving in the Australian Defence Force, has an older son from a previous relationship. The mother, a paramedic born in the UK who became a naturalised Australian citizen after moving there in 2010, went on leave of absence from October 2024 suffering from a work-related adjustment disorder. On 16 February 2025 she travelled to England with B, with the father's consent, to help her father care for her mother, who has dementia. The visit became prolonged; despite the father's repeated requests for B's return, the mother enrolled him at a local school in September 2025 against the father's wishes. On 17 February 2026 the father applied under the 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention. The mother initially opposed a return order on habitual residence, acquiescence and Article 13(b), but by the hearing relied on Article 13(b) alone, the retention being agreed as wrongful from September 2025 at the latest. She relied on allegations of domestic abuse, on the effect on her mental health of leaving her seriously ill parents, and on a single joint expert report from a psychiatrist, Dr Una McDermott. Garrido J ordered B's summary return to Australia and the mother appealed.