Children at greater risk of abduction after court ruling

Child abductions by parents and private family law court cases could increase following a landmark ruling, a specialist law firm has warned.

Under previous convention, primary custodians of children were in most cases allowed to take children abroad against the wishes of the other parent, if they could show they had a “reasonable plan”.

But a decision in the Court of Appeal last month ruled in favour of a father, and refused the mother’s application to move the couple’s children permanently to Canada from the UK.

The court ruled that the welfare of the children should be the paramount consideration, and decided that their relationship with their father would have suffered as a result of the move.

Nigel Shepherd, partner at Mills & Reeve and member of the family law association Resolution, told CYP Now that the ruling has a number of implications for family courts, including parents taking their children abroad without entering into the proper legal process.

“If you make the process more difficult, there’s the risk that parents are going to bypass the law and do it anyway,” he said.

The success of the case will also encourage more parents to take cases to court in the hope of preventing moves both abroad and within the UK, according to Shepherd.

“The hurdle has been raised for the person wanting to move,” he said. “In situations where the stay-behind parent might not have contested a move because they had been advised they are not going to stand much chance, they are going to have a better chance now.”