Parental Resposibility - Husband threatens to take my child to Africa

[boona40]

Hi,

My child is mixed race and her father (my husband who also has parental responsibility) lives in West Africa, yesterday on the phone he jokingly said "you can have her whilst she is a baby and I will take her when she is older" even though he said it as a joke I cant help feel that if we ever fell out he would try and take her out of the country without my consent. Can he do this and apart from preventing him being alone with her, what can I do about it? She does not yet have a passport would he be able to obtain this behind my back?

[ummmm]

Obtain one yourself and keep it in a safe place.

[boona40]

Yes I thought of that, but then would he be able to re apply for another passport saying it has been lost?

[ummmm]

How old is the child?

[ummmm]

If you both have parental responsibility you cannot legally take a child out of the country without the other parents permission.

[jackthehat]

As you live in the UK, I would have thought the prudent approach would be (as ummm says) to make enquiries *now* about whether you are able to obtain a passport for the child yourself.
Keep it safe, possibly with a close relative, so that he can't find it when he visits.
Don't wait until he forces the issue..........

[jackthehat]

I'm sure the passport Service would be willing to talk everything through with you. Tell them your worries.

[boona40]

My baby is only 3 months old! I am hoping that it will NEVER come to it, but he has planted that seed of doubt in my mind and has made me worried! I am on the passport website now.

[Captain-jack]

http://www.direct.gov...entsRights/DG_4002954

[boona40]

It says on the website you can obtain a court order for the child not to be taken out of the country without consent of the mother. Does anyone know more about this?

[karenmac60]

With regards to the passport, there was a similar question posted a while back (I can't find it now) and the problem seemed to be that the child could have dual nationality so the father could apply for a passport from the other country for the child. So your husband could, in effect, apply for African nationality and a passport for your child, making you having a British passport hidden somewhere completely irrelevant. I'll try and find the original question for you.

[mrskc]

Hi you will need a A Prohibited Steps Order (PSO)

which prevents either parent from carrying out certain events or making specific trips with their children without the express permission of the other parent. This is more common in cases where there is suspicion that one parent may leave the locale with their children if they have been given the chance to - such as on holiday.


We have all heard the stories of a parent taking their child for the weekend and then not returning them or going abroad with them and it becoming extremely difficult for the other parent to get their child back - this is one of the scenarios that the Prohibited Steps Order (PSO) seeks to prevent from happening.
hope this helps

[boona40]

Thanks for your replies. It looks like there is nothing I can do to prevent this from happening. As was stated, even if I apply for her uk passport my husband can apply for African passport from his end! I just pray to god that my husband never wants to take my daughter away from me.

[boona40]

Apparently you can only get a court order if both parents are from the uk.