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Hague Mothers’ Project Team

Some of the women who are working with us have been involved for many years in the fight for justice, some are new to the campaign. Some have joined the project because of their personal experiences, others through knowing or hearing about mothers whose lives have been torn apart by the Convention.

Heartfelt thanks to all of you – including those who have to remain anonymous for reasons of personal safety.

*Our movement for justice is growing… we’ll update this page on a regular basis.

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International Strategy Group

Our stellar International Strategy Group will work to increase our influence and effectiveness on a global stage. In addition to the members listed below, three Hague mothers have joined our International Strategy Group. They have experience of the Hague in South America, India, Europe and Australia, and have also amassed extensive expertise about the implementation of the Convention and its devastating impact on mothers and children. They have asked to remain anonymous. We are enormously grateful for their input.

Adrienne Barnett (UK)

Adrienne is a Reader in Law at Brunel University London, and Divisional Lead, Private and Commercial Law. She practised as a Family Law barrister in London for over 25 years. Her specialist area of research for the past 26 years has been domestic abuse and family court proceedings and, more recently, parental alienation. She has published widely on these issues and has presented papers at numerous academic and professional conferences in the UK and abroad. Adrienne was commissioned by the Ministry of Justice to undertake a literature review to support their inquiry into domestic abuse and family court proceedings, published in June 2020. She is a member of the Advisory Group of Rights of Women, a founder member of the SHERA Research Group, and a co-director of Right to Equality’s campaign to end the presumption of contact with abusive parents. Her current research projects include domestic abuse and parental alienation in family court proceedings, and Hague Convention judgments in England and Wales.

Sally Jackson (UK)

Sally Jackson is a volunteer, the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) lead and Trustee for FiLiA Women’s Rights Charity. She has worked in the VAWG sector for over 35 years in the local, national, and international arena. Sally developed the first health-based domestic abuse advocate service and one of the first domestic and sexual abuse advocate services in the UK. She delivers training to professionals from a wide variety of sectors including doctors, magistrates, and international Police Commanders and was an independent expert advisor on Gender for ODIHR on Freedom of Assembly. As a feminist she is passionate about not just responding to but preventing VAWG in the first place. She believes male violence against women is both a cause and consequence of women’s inequality and is passionate about making the world better for women.
Stephanie Brandt MD is an Adult & Child Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst in private practice where her primary clinical focus is on complex diagnosis. She treats families in and out of litigation where domestic violence is a factor. She is an experienced forensic expert witness in child-focused litigation in both domestic (custody) and international litigation (Hague Convention). She has been appointed as a neutral expert witness in many cases in NY Family and Supreme court. In recent years she has concentrated on testimony in Hague Convention cases in both the EDNY and SDNY. 
Stephanie is also a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College and New York Hospital. She is a faculty member, supervising analyst, and Chair of the Ethics Committee at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute where she teaches ethics in clinical practice, child psychoanalytic technique, and theories of sexuality. Stephanie has published a volume on Domestic Violence in 2020 in the International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies. Another volume on Misogyny is forthcoming this fall.

Stephanie Brandt (US)

Stephanie Brandt MD is an Adult & Child Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst in private practice where her primary clinical focus is on complex diagnosis. She treats families in and out of litigation where domestic violence is a factor. She is an experienced forensic expert witness in child-focused litigation in both domestic (custody) and international litigation (Hague Convention). She has been appointed as a neutral expert witness in many cases in NY Family and Supreme court. In recent years she has concentrated on testimony in Hague Convention cases in both the EDNY and SDNY.  Stephanie is also a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College and New York Hospital. She is a faculty member, supervising analyst, and Chair of the Ethics Committee at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute where she teaches ethics in clinical practice, child psychoanalytic technique, and theories of sexuality. Stephanie has published a volume on Domestic Violence in 2020 in the International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies. Another volume on Misogyny is forthcoming this fall.
Merle is the Philip H. Knight Professor and the founder of the Domestic Violence Clinic at the University of Oregon School of Law, of which she was the faculty director for twenty years. She is an expert in domestic abuse law, family law, international and comparative family law, family law policy and the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. She co-wrote the first US casebook on international and comparative family law, entitled 'Family Law in the World Community', which is now in its third edition. Her latest article, 'You Can and You Should', was written to help trial courts apply the Hague Abduction Convention justly when the respondent is a domestic violence survivor.

Merle Weiner (US)

Merle is the Philip H. Knight Professor and the founder of the Domestic Violence Clinic at the University of Oregon School of Law, of which she was the faculty director for twenty years. She is an expert in domestic abuse law, family law, international and comparative family law, family law policy and the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. She co-wrote the first US casebook on international and comparative family law, entitled ‘Family Law in the World Community’, which is now in its third edition. Her latest article, ‘You Can and You Should’, was written to help trial courts apply the Hague Abduction Convention justly when the respondent is a domestic violence survivor.
Yvette is the CEO of Women's Legal Service Tasmania, a specialist service for women with a focus on family violence, with 22 years post admission experience predominately in the legal assistance sector in Tasmania. Yvette has a Masters of Law in human rights and has dedicated her career to addressing structural inequalities. Yvette is also the Women’s Legal Service Australia representative on the National Women's Safety Alliance.

Yvette Cehtel (AUS)

Yvette is the CEO of Women’s Legal Service Tasmania, a specialist service for women with a focus on family violence, with 22 years post admission experience predominately in the legal assistance sector in Tasmania. Yvette has a Masters of Law in human rights and has dedicated her career to addressing structural inequalities. Yvette is also the Women’s Legal Service Australia representative on the National Women’s Safety Alliance.
Miranda is an Associate Professor at UTS law school in Sydney. She teaches and researches family law. Her research is interdisciplinary, drawing on socio-legal research methods to investigate real world impacts of family law principles and procedures. Miranda uses qualitative research methods to make recommendations for improved access to justice. For example, with UTS colleagues, Miranda completed a study funded by the Australian National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) on the effects of self-representation in the Family Law Court in matters involving allegations of family violence. Miranda researched the Hague Convention and its impact on victims of domestic violence in the late 1990s and has revisited the issue over the last couple of years.

Miranda Kaye (AUS)

Miranda is an Associate Professor at UTS law school in Sydney. She teaches and researches family law. Her research is interdisciplinary, drawing on socio-legal research methods to investigate real world impacts of family law principles and procedures. Miranda uses qualitative research methods to make recommendations for improved access to justice. For example, with UTS colleagues, Miranda completed a study funded by the Australian National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) on the effects of self-representation in the Family Law Court in matters involving allegations of family violence. Miranda researched the Hague Convention and its impact on victims of domestic violence in the late 1990s and has revisited the issue over the last couple of years.

Nicole Fidler (US)

Nicole Fidler is the Director of the Pro Bono Project and the Narkis Golan Hague Convention and International Abduction Initiative at Sanctuary for Families, a New York-based non-profit organization dedicated to serving survivors of domestic violence, sex trafficking, and other forms of gender-based violence. Nicole represents survivors seeking help with orders of protection, child custody, child support, and Hague Child Abduction cases. Nicole is the former co-chair of the New York City Bar Association’s Pro Bono & Legal Services Committee and a member of the Public Interest Pro Bono Association. She regularly trains on issues related to domestic violence and trauma.

Sudha Shetty (US)

Sudha is the founder and director of The Hague Domestic Violence Project at UC Berkeley. Her research focuses on the intersection of international child abduction and battered mothers. She has been working with judges, lawyers and academics across the US to create judicial benchguides and training, to protect women and their children from the unintended consequences of The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abduction. Sudha is a founding member and chair of Chaya, a grass-roots South Asian domestic violence prevention program in Seattle. She is the recipient the Father Drinan Award for forwarding the ethic of pro bono and public service in law schools through personal service, program design and management.

Mothers’ Expert Group

Our 10-member Mothers’ Expert Group will help ensure that we stay focused on the realities of the Convention, and on solutions which will help us achieve our collective goal. They come from across the globe, and include mothers whose experience of being ‘Hagued’ was a long time ago, and those who are currently fighting to protect their children and retain custody. Heartfelt thanks to them for their generosity in giving their time and energy to help with the campaign. 

The majority have to remain anonymous. Others are listed in our Team Members’ section.

Team Members

Our team members support us in a host of ways; producing information and resources for Hague mothers and those at risk of becoming Hague mothers, extending our understanding of the impact of domestic violence, running undergraduate programmes on the HAC, producing training for organisations, helping us become more trauma-informed, heading up research, writing academic papers and media articles, hosting podcasts, lobbying politicians, raising awareness, and generally being wonderful.

Australia, New Zealand, Japan

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United Kingdom & Europe +

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United States, Canada, South America

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FiLiA Hague Mothers is woman-led and woman-focused. We wish, however, to acknowledge Jeffrey Edleson (UC Berkeley) for his continuing and much appreciated support for our campaign. A link to his 2013 book on the impact of the Hague Abduction Convention on mothers and children fleeing domestic violence can be found on our resources page.

Ruth Dineen is co-ordinating the project with invaluable help from FiLiA volunteers. 
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Ruth is a FiLiA volunteer and the co-ordinator of the Hague Mothers project. She is also one of the co-founders of Merched Cymru, a grassroots group of women from across Wales working to protect and promote the rights of women and girls. Ruth also co-founded the Co-production Network for Wales, based on Edgar Kahn’s principles of collectivism and social justice, and is a co-production trainer and facilitator. She was previously Head of Department of Creative Communications at Cardiff Metropolitan University.

Michelle Kerwin has been a FiLiA volunteer since 2018 and helping with Ruth on the Hague Mothers project since 2022. She is a radical feminist and passionate about the work she does with FiLiA, and was a key member of the team that made Glasgow 2023 happen. She is also the FiLiA Legacy Project Lead. When not fighting the patriarchy she is usually cuddling one of 3 cats, crafting, or out in a green space – especially on a cold day.

Partnerships

Our knowledge and networks are very much strengthened by a growing number of formal partnerships with both grassroots groups and NGOs. Our thanks to them for their willingness to collaborate with us and to share their expertise.

They are: Backbone Collective (NZ), Brunel University London, Global Lives Research Centre; Gambe; GlobalARRK; Hague Collective (US); Hague Explained CIC; Her Hague Story; Hague Mothers Japan; New Zealand Hague Collective; Revibra Europe; SHERA Research Group; Survivor Family Network; University College London, Institute for Risk & Disaster Reduction; Women Against Violence Europe (WAVE Network); Women’s Legal Services Australia.

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