How we verify

In this field, wrong information can cost a family its case. So every factual claim on this site follows the same discipline.

Source hierarchy

1. HCCH official materials (status table, Central Authority directory, statistical studies) — the only acceptable primary source for treaty status and authority contacts. · 2. Official government sources (ministries of justice, courts). · 3. Court decisions (INCADAT, official databases). · 4. Peer-reviewed research. Media reports and blogs are never the source of a published fact.

Per-fact accountability

Every dataset row and every factual block carries: the source link, the date we last verified it, and an internal confidence score. Facts below our confidence threshold are not published — you'll see "being verified" rather than a guess. Unknown is marked unknown; we do not infer.

What we refuse to publish

Anything that could endanger a child or a case: tracking or surveillance guidance, self-help "recovery" content, identifying details of children or families, accusations against named individuals, or promises of legal outcomes. Country-performance assessments are published only with a public methodology, official evidence, and a right of response for the country's authorities.

Update cycle

Treaty status is re-verified against HCCH quarterly and on relevant events; Central Authority contacts are spot-checked on a rolling basis. Every page shows its last-verified date. Found an error? Tell us: contact@safereturnalliance.org — corrections are logged.

Current data status (beta)

103 Contracting Parties verified 2026-07-05 · Central Authority contacts individually verified for 11 jurisdictions (more being added; others link to the official HCCH directory) · statistics quoted from the HCCH 2021 global study (updated edition) · Article 38 pair-by-pair acceptance data: in progress — the checker flags where it's needed.