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- Legal Information - France

 Child abduction    Article posted by Mark

Parental child abduction is a very real problem, in these days of step families it is a very real threat. As we all know it is some thing that happens to someone else and never you! That was our view as well up until July 2005. Here is our story; if you have children from a previous relationship please take steps to make sure that your children don’t become the innocent victims.

In 2003 we moved to France with 3 children from my wife’s 1^st marriage, when we moved we had sought and gained permission from my wife’s ex husband who is the children’s father.

In June 2003 we found the eldest daughter blue and not breathing on the bedroom floor, I tried to give her the kiss of life. After what seemed a life time she started to breathe again, we rushed her straight to hospital. She was examined and kept in for the next week; all we knew at this stage was that she was due for a brain scan and an ECG the next morning.

I returned home with the 2 other children, upon arriving at home I telephoned the children’s Dad to inform him of what had happened, his reply was “Thanks, keep me informed.”

The diagnoses was epilepsy, this information was duly passed on to their father.

Life continued, we took the children back to the UK a few times and their father had been to visit them twice in France. In summer 2004 he took the children back to the UK for a 2 week holiday, promising that he would get them to phone when they arrived at his home. The phone call never came so my wife phoned her ex mother in law as his phone number was unobtainable, only to be informed he had moved. To say the least she was not happy and was convinced he was going to abduct them. I told her there was no way he would abduct them. On the date they were due home they arrived back in France as per agreement.

No apology, no nothing just “Oh did I forget to tell you”? Life carried on as normal up until March 2005 when I returned to the UK with the eldest girl for a 2 night stay with her Dad. He returned her to me at 3am on March 21^st in order for me to drive back to France with her in time for her to be home for school the next morning.

Monday 22^nd March 2005 the children went off to school as usual. I returned home that night to a note saying the eldest girl had hurt her leg and had been taken to hospital. At about 8pm I got a phone call off my wife explaining that she had actually been run over by a school bus. So it was back on the phone to the wife’s ex to inform him of what little I knew before I set off for the hospital again. In fact this was actually the 3^rd time I had had to phone up her ex and tell him one of his children was in hospital; the other occasion was in 2002 when their son had been run over on his way to school. On this occasion I was in a wagon in Kent loaded for the south of France, yet I still managed to travel 200 miles north and reach the hospital 4 hours ahead of her ex.

I stayed the night in the hospital with the eldest girl, she had suffered 2 severed toes, a broken leg and several friction burns. You can imagine my surprise when her dad appeared at hospital just over 16 hours after my calling him. This should have started alarm bells ringing with us but it didn’t.

In July 2005 we took the children to meet their dad in Poitiers while they went for a holiday in France then back to the UK for 2 weeks. All together the children were due to be away for 4 weeks, after 2 weeks we received a phone call off her ex saying “The children don’t want to come back to France and want to live with me in the UK”. My wife’s world fell apart, numbness, anger and self doubt just a few of the emotions we both went through. After a sleepless night we contacted the UK police who informed us it is a civil matter and nothing to do with them. Some of the other problems we faced were all arrangements had been made verbally, the children were not actually due back for nearly 2 weeks. We spent the next few days trying to find out our legal position. The wife was unable to fly back to the UK without court permission, because if she did and had to return home to France for any reason she would be classed as giving her permission for the children to stay in the U.K. by default.

We could not do anything until after the date the children were due home, but at least that gave us time to have everything in order for the 9^th August. On the 10^th of August he was hand delivered a summons under the Haigue convention for child abduction at the Royal Court of Justice in London for the following week, along with his and the children’s passports being seized, there was also an all ports alert put out. What happened between then and the final court date was not pretty.

September 14^th 2005 the final hearing was in the Royal Courts of Justice in London, One day out of your life, without doubt this was going to be the best or worst day of our lives. We already knew that my stepson would not be returning home to France as he was 17 and out of the Haigue convention. As it happened we walked out of court with the best possible result we could have expected, the wife’s 2 daughters were returned to our care in France.

We are now 3 years down the line we have everything in place to stop this happening again, sadly this is a bit like shutting the door when the horse has gone. The aftermath is plain for us to see, we have a 11 year old who until recently was under a child psychologist, she doesn’t sleep after her Dad or parental grandmother have phoned and sometimes hides under the table when they are on the phone, when asked she says “I can hear my Dad and I’m scared he will take me away again”

If only you could rewind time this would be that one occasion, I’m not saying who was right or wrong all I know is 3 children have suffered and will continue to suffer. I just hope we can stop this happening to one child then this story has been worth telling.

However here are a few pointers to help anyone who is worried about being in a similar situation.

Try to get a court order stating the child’s “country of habitual residence” is France, and that you are the parent with day to day guard of the child, without this the French authorities cannot help you, however once you have this paper they can and will help you.

Get any agreements regarding visitation and holiday access in writing; do not trust a verbal agreement, anyone willing to abduct a child is also willing to lie!

Ask for statements from the child’s school, your local mayor, parents of friends and anyone else who has spent time with your children or knows the family. It helps if these statements confirm the child is happy and settled in France, is learning the language and integrating well.

If the worst happens and your child is abducted, do not hesitate to contact www.reunite.org they are a charity who specialize in helping families affected by child abduction, they were our sanity at a time when we felt as though our world had ended, and they were a great support for both of us through every stage of the legal nightmare.