Two children per day abducted and taken abroad by parents, Foreign Office says

 
Abductions: the Foreign Office is seeking to avoid a repeat of last year's spike during Christmas
Staff|Agency12 December 2013

The number of parents abducting their children in the UK and taking them abroad has almost doubled in the past decade, the Government has said.

Almost two children every day are being reported as abducted or in international custody to the Foreign Office. In 2012/13, 580 such cases were reported.

Children's charity Reunite has taken on 447 new cases involving 616 children so far this year, it said.

And the Foreign Office fears there could be a spike in abductions over Christmas in line with an increase in such cases during last year's festive season.

It has launched a campaign with Reunite to warn parents of the "devastating emotional impact" that abducting a child can have on the entire family.

Mark Simmonds, minister for consular affairs, said: "I was very concerned to see an increase in child abduction cases.

"Parental child abduction has a devastating emotional impact on the child as well as the taking parent and the parent left behind.

"We are launching this awareness campaign in the lead-up to Christmas to try to prevent parents from doing something that would cause significant distress to themselves, their family and most importantly to the child.

"We also encourage parents to look for warning signs that their partner may be considering this.

"Once children are taken overseas it can be extremely difficult to secure their return to the UK. Many parents are not aware that by abducting their child, they may be committing a crime."

The Foreign Office said it can take up to 10 years for an abducted child to be returned to the UK and warned of a "very real possibility" that they could never come back.

It is harder for a family to fight for the return of a child from a country that has not signed the 1980 Hague Convention - an international agreement between certain countries which aims to ensure the return of a child who has been abducted by a parent.

The most common country where children are taken to which is not part of the Hague Convention is Pakistan, with 35 reported cases in 2012/13, followed by Thailand with 17 cases and India with 16.

The most common country where children are abducted to which is part of the Hague Convention is America, with 32 reported cases in 20102/13, followed by Poland with 29 cases and Ireland with 28.

The figures also reveal that around 70 per cent of the abducting parents are mothers.

Alison Shalaby, chief executive of Reunite, warned that the cases are not "faith or country specific".

"We see cases involving a range of countries from France and Poland to Thailand, Pakistan and Australia," she said.

"The holidays can be a particularly stressful time for families, especially if the relationship between parents has broken down.

"However, there is help available if you think that your partner may be considering abducting your children."

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