Child Abduction

Child Abduction

When a child is removed from one of the parents without the other parent’s permission or a child is not returned at a pre-arranged time, it is important to act quickly to reinstate the child’s normal or pre-agreed routine. You should contact the police immediately and report the incident, especially if you have any concerns about your child’s safety or believe they could be at risk of harm from the parent. Unfortunately in most cases unless there is an order already in place or the child is at risk, the police will be unwilling to get involved beyond checking on the child’s welfare.

Providing there is a court order in place, normally a Child Arrangements Order, which sets out with which parent the child lives and with which parent the child shall spend time with and when, the resident parent can apply to the courts to enforce the order. Our specialist lawyers will be able to act quickly and make an emergency application to the court for the return of the child.

Where there is no court order in place if a parent does not return a child, no laws have been broken. If it is not possible for parents to resolve the matter between themselves, our family solicitors can help the parties to attempt to reach a resolution. If the matter is still not resolved it will be necessary to seek resolution through the courts. A Child Arrangements Order can be applied for to ask whether the courts consider it to be in a child’s best interest for the child to be returned to a parent’s care.