Prevention
of child abduction
If you
fear that your child may be taken abroad without your consent you
should consider the following:
Legal
advice
If your
legal position with regard to the child is unclear you should seek
legal advice.
If you
have parental responsibility for the child or a court order relating
to custody/residence, access/contact or guardianship (or if you
have applied for such an order) you or your solicitor should consider
taking the following steps:
-
Alert
your local police station, by telephone and then in person.
You should be asked to give a statement. Where threat of removal
is 'real' (more than a mere insurance policy) and 'imminent'
(within the next 48 hours) and there is evidence to support
the allegation, they will circulate details of the possible
abductor and child to all UK points of departure via the Police
National Computer. A court order is not necessary for the police
to act in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Police will take
a statement, which gives evidence of your responsibilities/rights
in relation to the child and of your objection to the removal
of the child out of the United Kingdom. However, if the child
is aged 16 or 17 years, then a court order in respect of the
child is needed. The police will need to see the order, as will
the Passport Agency for the procedure described below.
-
Write
to your regional office of the United Kingdom
Passport Service, asking them not to grant passport
facilities to the child(ren). They will usually need to see
a court order such as a custody/residence, prohibited steps
or wardship order. It should be noted that the United Kingdom
Passport Agency cannot prevent a person obtaining a passport
from another country's Embassy, High Commission or Consulate
in this country.
The
United Kingdom Passport Service
London Passport Office
Globe House
1 Eccleston Square London, SW1V 1PN
Tel: 08705 210 410 (UKPS Advice Line)
Website: http://www.ukpa.gov.uk/
If the
other parent is not a British national or has dual nationality,
you or your solicitors should consider writing a letter to the Embassy
or Consulate of their country asking those officials not to issue
a passport to your child. They are not obliged to comply with your
request, but may do so voluntarily.
Criminal
Law
The Child
Abduction Act 1984 makes it a criminal offence for a person connected
with a child under the age of 16 years to take or send that child
out of the UK without the appropriate consent. A person in whose
favour a residence order is made may remove a child from the UK
for a period of up to 28 days .The offence of Kidnap at Common Law,
of a child under the age of 18 years, can also be committed by a
parent. You should report any abduction to your local police station.
Civil
Law
If you fear that your child might be abducted, then you and your
solicitor should consider making an application to the court for
either a Prohibited Steps order, Residence order and or a Parental
Responsibility order under the Children Act 1989.
It may also be prudent to obtain an injunction preventing the other
parent from removing the child, or seeking that the child be made
a ward of the High Court. Wardship imposes an automatic prohibition
on taking the child out of the United Kingdom. Orders can, if necessary,
be made without notice to the other side (ex parte).
In addition,
where there is a contact/access order in force, and it is feared
that the child may be abducted by the person exercising contact,
an application may be made for a variation of the order to provide
for the contact to be supervised.
A wide
range of orders may be made under the High Court's inherent jurisdiction
with respect to children or within wardship proceedings, including
"Seek and Find" orders, orders restraining persons from
leaving the jurisdiction and requiring the surrender of passports.
In the
Family Law Act 1986 there are powers to order disclosure of a child's
whereabouts, to order the recovery of a child, to restrict the removal
of a child from the United Kingdom and to require the surrender
of any passport containing details of a child.
If it is
feared that a child might not be returned from a visit abroad, then
it is possible to ask the court to allow the visit only on condition
that the person taking the child abroad lodge a sum of money in
court, (a bond - or a charge on property) which will be forfeit
if the child is not returned.
