Hartnell Chanot: Divorce/Family Law Solicitors Exeter, Devon

Immediate risk of abduction

It is important to act quickly and to seek immediate advice from a family lawyer.

If you have reason to believe one or more of your children may be in danger of being abducted by their other parent there are measures you can take to prevent this happening.

It is important to act quickly and to seek immediate advice from a family lawyer - Jane Chanot is our Child Abduction expert. A family lawyer can help you obtain a court order A family lawyer can help you obtain a court order – like a residence and prohibited steps orders under the Children Act 1989, which can determine which parent will primarily look after a child and should also to stop your child being taken out of the country without your prior permission.

The charity Reunite has this advice for parents who suspect their former partner will attempt to abduct their child.

• Do not delay, seek immediate advice from a family lawyer. You may need to get a court order – like a residence and prohibited steps orders under the Children Act 1989, which determines which parent will primarily look after a child and should also to stop your child being taken out of the country without your prior permission.
• Write to the UK Passport Service and ask them not to grant your child a passport without your permission (this is only possible where you have got an order from the court in certain circumstances). But the Passport Office has no power to ask for a passport to be surrendered if it has already been issued.  If so advised they can however notify you if a passport has been applied  which may then alert you to taking further steps.
• Contact the police. If they are convinced there is a real threat they can issue a 'port alert' to alert possible points of departure in the UK. How effective a port alert will be depends a lot on how much information you can supply them with – make sure that you have available a recent photo of your child and the other parent which can be circulated and if you have details of which port – airport or sea port for example – your child is likely to travel through, that will help the police focus their efforts.