Taking a Child Abroad

When You Need Consent to Take a Child Abroad

GOV.UK states the rule plainly: you must get the permission of everyone with parental responsibility for a child, or the permission of a court, before taking the child abroad, and taking a child abroad without permission is child abduction. A mother holds parental responsibility automatically and still needs the agreement of anyone else who holds it. This is the law of England and Wales, and GOV.UK notes that different rules apply in Scotland.

Section 1 of the Child Abduction Act 1984 makes it an offence for a person connected with a child under 16 to take or send the child out of the United Kingdom without the appropriate consent. That consent has to come from the child's mother, the father if he has parental responsibility, and any guardian, special guardian or person named in a child arrangements order as someone the child lives with, unless the court gives leave instead.

Where a child arrangements order about living arrangements is already in force, section 13 of the Children Act 1989 adds a second restriction: no person may remove the child from the United Kingdom without the written consent of every person who has parental responsibility, or the leave of the court. Written consent matters, because a spoken yes is hard to show at a border.

A permanent move is a different application, covered on our relocation with children page, and a child's own immigration position is separate again: see our child visa page.

The One Month Exception and Its Limits

If you are named in a child arrangements order as a person with whom the child is to live, section 13(2) of the Children Act 1989 allows you to remove the child for less than one month without anyone's consent, and section 1(4) of the Child Abduction Act 1984 gives you a defence for the same period. GOV.UK describes this as 28 days. Where the two differ, keep to the shorter period and take advice before booking a longer trip. Under the same defence, a special guardian has a longer period of less than three months.

The exception is narrower than it sounds. It does not apply where the trip breaches an order made under Part 2 of the Children Act 1989, so a prohibited steps order against removal, or a condition in your own order, overrides it. It belongs to the person the order names as someone the child lives with, not to a parent who spends time with the child under the same order.

A trip inside the month can still cut across the other parent's time under the order, which is a breach they can take back to court. Telling them early and offering to make the time up beats enforcement proceedings. Where the order no longer fits, ask about varying a child arrangements order rather than working around it.

Consent Letters, Passports and Documents

A letter from the person with parental responsibility is usually enough to show you have permission. GOV.UK says it should include their contact details and details about the trip, and that you may be asked for it at a UK or foreign border. Carry a birth or adoption certificate too, and a marriage or divorce certificate where your surname differs from the child's.

The letter is worth getting right:

• the names of everyone travelling and the child's date of birth
• the dates of departure and return, the destination and the address
• flight or crossing details and who is travelling with the child
• how the child will keep in touch with the parent at home
• contact details for everyone with parental responsibility staying at home
• a signature and a date from each person consenting

A child needs a passport of their own, and someone with parental responsibility has to apply for it. The application asks for both parents' details, and for a reason where you cannot give them. Countries differ on the age up to which they treat a person as a child, so GOV.UK advises contacting the embassy or consular office of your destination.

Many of these disputes are not really about the law: consent agreed by text and then withdrawn, a passport held by the other parent, or an objection to the destination rather than to the trip. Each is easier to settle weeks before departure than days before it.

How to Ask the Court for Permission

Where consent is refused, you ask the court to decide the question, usually by applying for a specific issue order about the trip. Section 13(3) of the Children Act 1989 also lets the court grant leave to remove a child when it makes a child arrangements order about living arrangements, generally or for specified purposes.

1. Ask in writing, with the trip set out in full, and give a deadline for the reply. A refusal in writing, or silence, is the evidence the court is likely to look for.
2. Consider mediation. You usually have to attend a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting before applying, and the exemptions are on our MIAM advice page.
3. Apply on form C100, giving the date of departure, when and how you are returning, and contact details for the people with parental responsibility staying in the UK. A longer trip needs more, for example the education the child will receive abroad.
4. Pay the court fee. The amounts are on the GOV.UK court and tribunal fees page, and you may be able to get help paying court fees.
5. The child's welfare is the court's paramount consideration, and where the application is opposed the court works through the welfare checklist in section 1(3), including the child's own wishes and feelings. It will not make an order unless that is better for the child than making none.
6. Permission can be given generally or for specified purposes, and section 11(7) lets the court attach directions and conditions, for example a fixed return date.

Section 1(2) of the Children Act 1989 treats delay as likely to prejudice a child's welfare, and a holiday has a date on it, so bring a disputed trip to us with time in hand.

If You Fear a Child Will Not Come Back

Where a removal looks imminent, the police can be asked for a port alert. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office guidance explains that this is for a child likely to be taken abroad within 48 hours, that it alerts UK points of departure through the National Border Targeting Centre, and that it runs for 28 days with a court order needed to extend it. It also covers asking HM Passport Office to stop a British passport being issued, which usually needs a court order. If you or your child are in immediate danger, call 999; the National Domestic Abuse Helpline is 0808 2000 247.

Take advice straight away. A prohibited steps order can forbid removal from the United Kingdom, and where an order prohibiting or restricting removal is in force, section 37 of the Family Law Act 1986 lets the court that made it require any person to surrender a United Kingdom passport issued to the child or containing the child's particulars.

Real urgency is recognised in the rules. Where the delay caused by attending a MIAM would create a risk of the unlawful removal of a child from the United Kingdom, rule 3.8(1)(c) of the Family Procedure Rules excuses attending one first. Orders made without notice stay exceptional, and the court expects a clear reason why notice could not be given.

If a child has already been taken or kept abroad, that is a different process on its own page: see international child abduction. Whether the police treat a removal as an offence under the Child Abduction Act 1984 is a criminal matter, and criminal proceedings are outside the scope of this page.

When Legal Advice Is Especially Important

Advice matters most where:

• the destination is a country where the other parent has family, a home or a job
• you hold an order naming you as the person the child lives with and want to rely on the month
• consent was given and then withdrawn close to departure
• the other parent gives no reason, or asks for something in exchange
• there are allegations of harm, which may lead to a fact finding hearing
• you are a grandparent or another relative, because section 10 of the Children Act 1989 lets only certain people apply as of right and others need the leave of the court, as our grandparents' contact page explains
• abuse is part of the picture, where domestic abuse and child arrangements and a non-molestation order may both matter

How RakLAW Solicitors Can Help

Our family team works from 42 Shad Thames in Southwark, a short walk from Tower Bridge, and advises on trips abroad. We start with whose consent your family needs, then either build the consent and the letter or prepare the application. RakLAW Solicitors was founded by solicitor Rakesh Prajapati.

We draft the request to the other parent, answer the objection instead of arguing with it, and put a trip in writing that is focused on the child. Where an application is needed we prepare it with the detail the court asks for, and we say honestly when a proposal is unlikely to be agreed. Where a removal has to be stopped, we advise on the order to seek and on how fast the court can be asked.

We are privately funded and do not offer legal aid. Our family law fees page sets out how we charge, and a free 15 minute consultation is available to talk the timing through. Read the rest of our children matters advice, or contact us on 0203 345 2000.