If you are worried about your child being abducted overseas by theother parent or a relative, you should contact our Child abductionsection on 020 7008 0878 (or our switchboard on 020 7008 1500 outsideoffice hours).

Convention on International Child Abduction

If your child has been abducted, we can tell you whether the countrywhich your child has been taken to has joined the Hague Convention onInternational Child Abduction. If it has, we can put you in touch withthe relevant authorities in the UK which can ask the court in thecountry concerned to make an order for the child to be returned to theUK.

If the country to which your child has been taken has not joinedthe Hague Convention on International Child Abduction, we can give youa list of overseas lawyers who speak English. Some may be specialistsin family law. However, we cannot pay any legal fees ourselves.

We can give you basic practical information about the customs andlegal procedures of the country. We can also provide travel informationand, if necessary, offer guidance on finding accommodation locally. Wecan help you contact the relevant local authorities and organisationswhen you are overseas.

Interpol

If you want us to, we can contact Interpol directly for help intracing your child. If your child is found, and if the other parentagrees, we may be able to check on your child’s welfare for you if thecountry’s government cannot do this.

If you do not know where your child is, we can contact the relevantauthorities overseas to check what progress has been made in findinghim or her.

Courts

We will consider whether it is appropriate to ask a court overseasto handle any case as quickly as possible in the best interests of yourchild. With the UK court’s permission, we can tell the courts overseasabout any UK court orders in place. But often, UK court orders cannotbe enforced overseas and similar orders have to be applied for in thelocal courts.

We can consider ways to help establish and keep open lines ofcommunication between you, the other parent and your child.Grandparents may also be involved in custody cases, for example, whereone parent has died.

Local law

You should be aware that, in some countries, local law can favourthe paternal grandparents (the father’s parents) over the mother. Thatmakes it even more important to have formal residence arrangements inplace before giving permission for the child to leave the UK.

We cannot rescue a child or get involved in any abduction.

We have a leaflet called International child abduction (with more general information) and a separate leaflet on Child abduction in Pakistan (with details of an agreement with Pakistan about handling these cases).