holiday season signals an increase in cases of child
abduction
Simon Burge, head of the firm's
Family
law team in Southampton, was interviewed recently by a local
radio station based on the south coast, Wave 105 FM. The station
had approached Simon in his capacity as Regional Press Officer
for Hampshire Resolution and had asked
him to comment on the news that attempted child abduction cases had
increased markedly during the summer holidays' when people use
foreign holidays as a cover for emigrating without obtaining the
permission of the other parent.
Simon explained: "The problem is that
not all countries have signed up to the Hague Convention, which
means that if your children are taken to such a
country, it may well be impossible to get them back.
Whilst child abduction is a criminal offence in this country,
prevention is better than cure and if a parent is concerned that
his or her ex-spouse or ex-partner is planning to abduct the
children, then he/she should waste no time in seeking legal advice
with a view to applying to the court for a Prohibited Steps Order
and an Order requiring the child's passport to be surrendered. In
some cases an Interim Residence Order may also be appropriate to
ensure that the children are not abducted.
"For example, seven years ago
I dealt with some years ago when my client (a Sudanese accountant
living in the UK) rang me from 30,000 ft to say that, in light of
my advice, he was not going to be successful in obtaining
custody of his three young children. He had therefore decided
to abduct them; they were already en route to Khartoum!
"He asked me to pass on a message
to his distraught ex-wife and her solicitors to the effect that she
would never see the boys again. So far he has managed to keep them,
despite strenuous attempts by his ex-wife to get them back!"
