By Kate Banerjee , Head of Jones Myers Children’s Department

Extensive studies and statistics highlight that cases of child abduction increase during the summer.

The psychological impact on children can be devastating and long-lasting – and it is vital to obtain the permission of everyone with parental responsibility for a child before taking them abroad.

Every year there are around 1,000 cases of British children under the age of sixteen being taken abroad by one parent without the other parent’s permission. This is a criminal offence if the offending parent has not obtained a Court’s permission.   

Many cases see children whisked away to countries that are not a signatory of the Hague Convention on International child abduction, an international agreement made in 1980.

Non-signatories of the Hague Convention extend to over sixty countries where there are no international systems to help parents find their children. They include Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Saudia Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Zimbabwe.

Tell-tale signs

• Behavioural changes/deteriorating relationship between parents
• Leaving a job
• Selling a house
• Seeking a copy of a child’s birth certificate
• Trying to obtain a child’s passport
• Increased contact with family or friends overseas
• Wanting to take a child away without the other parent

Preventative steps

• Apply to the Court for a Prohibited Steps Order (PSO) preventing either parent from taking their children to events/trips without the express permission of the other parent
• Apply for a Child Arrangements Order which clearly sets out the ‘custody rights’ each parent should be exercising. In cases where an abduction occurs, it demonstrates an infringement of custody rights  
• Ensure that parental contact is supervised or, in extreme cases, stopped altogether
• Keep passports safe – an option is for a solicitor to hold them
• Ask the Passport Agency  to block the other parent from applying for a new passport
• In term time, ensure the school know exactly who is allowed to collect your child from school

If you receive a threat of child abduction or if your child has been abducted:

• Contact the police immediately. They can issue alerts to airports/ferry terminals and liaise with Interpol who may be able to work with police forces abroad to help find your child
• Give the police recent photos of your child and the other parent, together with details of the airport or destination you think they may be heading
• Contact Reunite, a UK charity specialising in parental child abduction which operates a 24 hour emergency helpline
• Seek legal advice immediately

Guiding you through this complex process

Jones Myers is recognised nationally and internationally for managing cases of parental child abduction.

This includes children being wrongfully removed from England & Wales and unlawfully retained in a different jurisdiction – or being abducted from another jurisdiction to England & Wales and illegally retained.

Our consistently high success rate spans countries both inside and outside of the Hague Convention. We are highly experienced in liaising with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Home Office along with officials, police forces and politicians at the highest level at home and overseas.

Helpful websites include International parental child abduction – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and Reunite | International Child Abduction Centre | Child Abduction Charity

For queries on international child abduction or any aspect of family law, call us at Leeds on 0113 246 0055, Harrogate on 01423 276104, or York on 01904 202550. Visit www.jonesmyers.co.uk, email info@jonesmyers.co.uk or tweet us @helpwithdivorce

Jones Myers blog is ranked among the UK’s Best 25 family law blogs and websites to follow in 2024.

Image by David Reed at Pixabay

The post Child Abduction peaks in summer: What to look out for   appeared first on Jones Myers.

I am saddened but not surprised to hear that the Foreign and Commonwealth office (FCO)  dealt with 553 international child parental abduction and child custody cases across the last 12 months – and that Reunite witnessed a 30% increase in the number of children abducted to non-Hague Convention countries.

As the FCO and Reunite call on parents considering abducting their child to think through the devastating consequences for all involved in the countdown to the Christmas holidays, as specialists in this area, we are all too aware that this is a worldwide issue – and that the public’s understanding of parental child abduction is alarmingly low.

It is extremely difficult to return a child from a country such as China, Pakistan or Somalia   that has not signed the Hague Convention. The challenges a parent faces in such circumstances can be overwhelming and desperately frightening as they struggle to get their child back.

Even when the country is a signatory, the process is extremely traumatic for the parent left behind – invariably placing the child in the middle of an ugly dispute where the stakes are high – and where secretive actions often involve a myriad of deceptions.

It is also important to remember that whilst such situations are extremely traumatic for any parent, all cases are abusive for the child or children involved as they are subjected to significant emotional harm.

While most clients I speak to believe that the government can intervene to order and help with the return of a child to England and Wales – the reality is that although support is available, parental child abduction cases can take years to resolve.

The need to step up information campaigns is further reflected in a 37% increase in the volume of calls to Reunite’s advice line this year.

If you are concerned that your child may be at risk, here are some preventative steps to consider:

• Apply to the Court for a Prohibited Steps Order (PSO); this prevents either parent from taking their children to any specific events or any trips without the express permission of the other parent.
• Ensure that contact is supervised and, in extreme cases, you may wish to stop contact altogether.
• Keep passports safe and consider depositing them with a solicitor.
• Contact the Passport Agency and ask them to block the other parent from applying for a new passport.
• Notify the school about who is allowed to collect your child from school.

If you receive a threat of child abduction or if your child has been abducted:

• Contact the police immediately who can issue a port alert to airports and ferry terminals. Recent photos of your child and the other parent, together with details of the airport or destination you think they may be heading, will help the police to focus their search
• Contact Reunite, the UK’s International Child Abduction Charity which operates a 24 hour emergency helpline.
• Seek legal advice immediately.

For more information please e-mail us or call us on 0113 246 0055. You can also follow us on Twitter @helpwithdivorce

The post Why child abduction figures reinforce urgency for greater parental awareness appeared first on Jones Myers.

According to the Office for National Statistics, more than 500 children are abducted within the UK each year, either by a stranger, by someone the child knows or even by their own parent – which as a specialist in family law and international child abduction, we are sadly all too familiar with.

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) has had an active alert system in operation since 2005, and in the event of a child abduction, alerts have quickly been issued to the media.

Now, in an innovative move designed to harness the ever-growing power of social media, I am pleased to see that the alert system has been extended to include members of the public.  A UK wide campaign has been launched to encourage people to register online via the Child Rescue Alert website and to date more than 11,000 people have already done so.

The enhanced system, which will be launched on May 25 – International Missing Children’s Day – will issue alerts via text, email, social media and digital billboards to all registered users the minute a child is deemed as missing.  Anyone with information can then call a dedicated phone number, where a centralised team will be working quickly to collate all of the information gathered and pass it to the relevant police force.Inflatable Ball

The Child Rescue Alert can be activated by any British police force when a child is known to have been abducted or their life is believed to be in grave danger.  There are however three criteria which need to be met before an alert can be activated:

•           The child must be under 18

•           There must be ‘reasonable belief’ that they are in imminent danger of serious harm

•           There is sufficient information for the public to be able to help the police investigation.

The aim of this unique partnership between police, press and the public is ultimately to increase the chances of the child’s safe return.  The more successful the campaign is to encourage people to register, the more effective the system will become to the police.

We wholeheartedly welcome the introduction of this updated system and believe that encouraging greater public participation will prove hugely beneficial in helping to track down abducted children.

This very important service is free, simple to use and it could end up reuniting an abducted child, or even perhaps saving their life.

The adage says ‘that it takes a village to raise a child’.  If that is true, then it may well be that it takes a community to save one.

Concerned that your child is at risk from parental child abduction? Advice from our children’s department

Understanding of parental child abduction is alarmingly low and cases can take years to resolve. The situation is made more difficult if a child is taken to a country that has not signed the Hague Convention, an international agreement between certain countries which aims to ensure the return of a child who has been abducted by a parent.

If you are concerned that your child may be at risk, here are some preventative steps to consider:

• Apply to the Court for a Prohibited Steps Order (PSO); this prevents either parent from taking their children to any specific events or any trips without the express permission of the other parent.
• Ensure that contact is supervised and in extreme cases, you may wish to stop contact altogether.
• Keep passports safe and consider depositing them with a solicitor.
• Contact the Passport Agency and ask them to block the other parent from applying for a new passport.
• Notify the school about who is allowed to collect your child from school.

If you receive a threat of child abduction or if your child has been abducted:

• Contact the police immediately who can issue a port alert to airports and ferry terminals. Recent photos of your child and the other parent, together with details of the airport or destination you think they may be heading, will help the police to focus their search
• Contact Reunite, the UK’s International Child Abduction Charity which operates a 24 hour emergency helpline.
• Seek legal advice immediately.

If you have any questions about parental child abduction please call us on 0113 246 0055, leave us a comment below or drop us an e-mail.

You can follow us on Twitter @helpwithdivorce

The post People power – the ultimate weapon against child abduction? appeared first on Jones Myers.

In response to phenomenal support from the public and offers of financial help in the search for her daughter Elsa, our client Naomi Button’s has launched  a “Bring Elsa Home’’ Fundrazr Account this week to enable people to make financial donations if they wish.

These funds will be invaluable to widen the search in Egypt – enabling Naomi to fund investigations, pay search costs and cover the costs of media coverage in Egypt.  Donators will be updated regularly on how the funds are being used. In the event that there are funds remaining once Elsa has been returned home safely it is intended that those funds will be used to help locate other missing children who find themselves in a similar position to Elsa.

Elsa Salama turned six on 2 February and Naomi faces a second year without her daughter who was abducted by her father during a family holiday in Egypt in December 2011.  Tamer Salama remains in a UK jail for failing to reveal his daughter’s whereabouts.

Media interest in Naomi’s campaign continues with an exclusive interview for a women’s magazine due out later this month and interest from a national radio station.

Support for the campaign on social media continues to grow. There are now 3,500 ‘Likes’ on Naomi’s ‘Bring Elsa Home’ Facebook Page and several hundred people following her Twitter account @BringElsaHome.

Naomi’s campaign has also received support from Rachel Reeves, MP for Bramley, Leeds who met Alistair Burt, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to seek further help from the Foreign Office to step up the search for Elsa.

Increase in parental child abduction cases

Sadly, cases of parental child abduction are on the increase. The Foreign Office’s Child Abduction Section is receiving an average of four calls per day and at Jones Myers, we are receiving an average of one enquiry per week.

Naomi’s plight has brought messages and social media posts from parents concerned about their own children –  these tips and advice from Kate Banerjee, head of our Children Department and a Member of the Child Care Panel, may help those concerned that their child is at risk.

Kate has a wealth of experience in representing parents, guardians, Local Authorities and children – here are some of her preventative tips

• Apply to the Court for a Prohibited Steps Order (PSO); this prevents either parent from taking their children to any specific events or any trips without the express permission of the other parent.
• Ensure that contact is supervised and in extreme cases, you may wish to stop contact altogether
• Keep passports safe and consider depositing them with a solicitor
• Contact the Passport Agency and ask them to block the other parent from applying for a new passport
• Notify the school about who is allowed to collect your child from school
• If you receive a threat of child abduction or if your child has been abducted: Contact the police immediately who can issue a port alert to airports and ferry terminals – A recent photo of your child and the other parent and details of the airport or destination you think they may be heading to will help the police to focus their search.
• Contact Reunite, the UK’s International Child Abduction Charity which operates a 24 hour emergency helpline 0116 2556234
• Seek legal advice immediately

The post ‘Bring Elsa Home’ fundraiser launched for abducted girl appeared first on Jones Myers.

Naomi’s plight has hit the headlines following a High Court ruling that her estranged husband Tamer Salama will remain behind bars for failing to disclose where his daughter is hidden. The judge also gave the go ahead for global publicity in the hope that Elsa will be returned to Naomi who lives in Bramley, Leeds.

In the countdown to Elsa’s 6thbirthday on 2 February, Naomi has launched a social networking campaign comprising a dedicated Facebook Page and Twitter account – @BringElsaHome – in the hope that someone, somewhere may come forward with information be able to ascertain her whereabouts.

Length and breadth of support

Our grateful thanks go out to the public and media who are supporting Naomi’s campaign to Bring Elsa Home.

Naomi’s appeal is receiving widespread coverage across TV channels including BBC Breakfast, Sky News, Channel 4, Channel 5, ITV and BBC News 24 and national press including The Telegraph and The Independent. Our local press and radio / TV stations ITV Calendar, Yorkshire Post, Yorkshire Evening Post, BBC Look North, Radio Aire and BBC Radio Leeds are behind the appeal and are running stories about Elsa’s abduction. We must also give huge thanks to local news agency for their key role in spreading Naomi’s story to newspaper readers across the UK.

As a result of this tremendous coverage and support we are receiving e-mails offering help which we deeply appreciate.

Sadly, cases of parental child abduction are on the increase. The Foreign Office’s Child Abduction Section is receiving an average of four calls per day and at Jones Myers, we are receiving an average of one enquiry per week.

Below is Naomi’s story, which will resonate with parents everywhere. It is followed by tips and advice from our children’s department for anyone concerned that their child could be at risk.

Who to contact

Anyone with information about Elsa should ring the following numbers: within the UK dial 101 and ask to speak to Leeds District Safeguarding Unit at West Yorkshire Police and if dialling from outside the UK the number is 00 44 192 437 5222.

Naomi’s story – the abduction

As Naomi Button faces a second year without her daughter, Elsa Salama affectionately nicknamed as a “mummy’s girl”, her estranged husband – Egyptian born Tamer Salama, 35, – remains behind bars in England for refusing to comply with court orders to return Elsa to her mother.

Naomi, 39 from Bramley, Leeds, has not seen or heard from Elsa since she was abducted by Salama from the seaside resort of Sharm El Sheikh on 27 December 2011 while on a holiday to visit her paternal family in Egypt.

Naomi has a custody order in Egypt, the support of the Child Abduction Section of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and is backed by her MP Rachel Reeves.

High Court judge labels abduction as ‘gross act’

Only last week Naomi’s plight was reinforced in the High Court in London.

On sentencing Tamer Salama to a further 12 months in jail for his continuing failure to comply with court orders to return his daughter to her mother, His Honour Mr Justice Cobb said that Elsa was being deprived of the “love and care” of her mother “in circumstances where I am satisfied that her father has it in his power to achieve the restoration of her relationship”.

Mr Justice Cobb told the court that Salama had failed to return Elsa to the jurisdiction of England and Wales – as well as failing to give any information about the child’s whereabouts or provide any form of contact between the girl and her mother.

The Judge added that when Tamer Salama deprived Elsa of the love of her mother and arranged for her to be in the care of his own family that was a gross act that undoubtedly justified the most serious punishment available to the court.

Salama has been behind bars since early January 2012, having returned to the UK to launch a smear campaign against Naomi following the abduction.

At the initial sentencing handed down to Salama in March 2012 His Honour Mr Justice Mitchell said it was beyond his comprehension that as a human being and a father who loved his child Salama could place Elsa outside the reach of any form of communication. He continued, “It is unspeakably harmful to the emotional welfare of your daughter. It shows me that you are a man with a hard heart, determined only to get your own way.”

The plea from Naomi and her lawyers

Naomi has no information about Elsa’s whereabouts and does not have any proof that she is alive and well. Salama says that Elsa was moved from Sharm El Sheikh to Cairo by Elsa’s grandmother (who speaks no English) but neither Salama nor his extended family has provided any information as to her exact whereabouts.

Kate Banerjee says: “Elsa was abducted by her father in Egypt on 27 December 2011. He has consistently refused to reveal her whereabouts, although we believe she is still in Egypt.

“Elsa is without the love and care of either a mother or father in a country where she doesn’t speak the language or understand the culture. We appeal to anyone who knows Elsa’s whereabouts to just pick up the phone and help us return this little girl to her mother.”

Naomi says: “To snatch Elsa away from me was the cruellest thing anyone could do. For the family to hide her and prevent her from having any contact with me and prevent any information being released is devastating and I appeal from the bottom of my heart to Tamer’s family to please give her back to me. All they need to do is to make one phone call to the British Embassy.

“I know that Elsa will be desperately missing her mum, her friends and her home – not to mention her pet cats Buzz and Junior. I cannot imagine what she must be going through. Elsa could never bear being apart from me for even a moment; she is very much a mummy’s girl. The anguish I have suffered over the last thirteen months has been almost unbearable at times.”

Advice from our children’s department

Understanding of parental child abduction is alarmingly low and cases can take years to resolve. The situation is made more difficult if a child is taken to a country that has not signed the Hague Convention, an international agreement between certain countries which aims to ensure the return of a child who has been abducted by a parent.

If you are concerned that your child may be at risk, here are some preventative steps to consider:

• Apply to the Court for a Prohibited Steps Order (PSO); this prevents either parent from taking their children to any specific events or any trips without the express permission of the other parent.
• Ensure that contact is supervised and in extreme cases, you may wish to stop contact altogether.
• Keep passports safe and consider depositing them with a solicitor.
• Contact the Passport Agency and ask them to block the other parent from applying for a new passport.
• Notify the school about who is allowed to collect your child from school.

If you receive a threat of child abduction or if your child has been abducted:

• Contact the police immediately who can issue a port alert to airports and ferry terminals. Recent photos of your child and the other parent, together with details of the airport or destination you think they may be heading, will help the police to focus their search
• Contact Reunite, the UK’s International Child Abduction Charity which operates a 24 hour emergency helpline.
• Seek legal advice immediately.

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