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What is parental child abduction (pca)?

child abduction is the unauthorised removal or retention of a child from a parent* or persons with parental responsibilities for the child.

when the unauthorised removal of a child is committed by a parent, this is known as Parental child abduction or PCA.

PCA IS A COMPLEX ISSUE.

PCA SPANS BOTH CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAW, AND DEPENDING ON INDIVIDUAL CIRCUMSTANCE, MAY ALSO INVOLVE INTERNATIONAL FAMILY LAW. tHE LEGAL OPTIONS AVAILABLE FOR THE ‘LEFT-BEHIND’ PARENT WILL DEPEND ON A NUMBER OF FACTORS, NOT LEAST WHAT COUNTRY THE CHILD HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM. DIFFERENT PIECES OF LEGISLATION ARE USED IN DIFFERENT JURISDICTIONS OF THE uk - SEE BELOW FOR A BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE ABDUCTION LAWS IN eNGLAND, wALES AND Scotland.

*throughout this website, the term ‘Parent’ refers to any persons with legal responsibility for a child.

CHILD ABDUCTION act 1984: the United Kingdom

In the UK the Child Abduction Act 1984 establishes the abduction of children under the age of sixteen – by parents and other people – as a criminal offence.

In the UK, it is a criminal offence for anyone connected with a child under 16 to take or send that child out of the UK without appropriate consent of any other person who has parental responsibility for the child.

This is set out in the Child Abduction Act 1984 as follows:

● The people connected with a child are the child’s parents, guardians and people with a residence order or who have parental responsibility.

● Appropriate consent is the consent of the mother, the father (if he has parental responsibility), the guardian or anyone with a residence order or parental responsibility, or the leave (permission) of the court.

● Parental responsibility is defined as, “all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has”.

CHILD ABDUCTION (Scotland) act 1984

a crime of child abduction can only be recorded if there is a court order already in place dealing with the custody of the child or if there is an order prohibiting the removal of the child from the UK.

in Scotland it is not an offence for a parent to take or send a child out of the uk without the consent from the other parent.

unless…

There is a court order already in place that states the ‘left behind’ parent has custody (residence) of the child

or

a court order is already in place that specifically prohibits the removal of the child from the UK.

or

the child is a ward of the court in England, Wales or Northern Ireland (i.e. the High court has guardianship of the child).

SECTION 6 OF thE CHILD ABDUCTION act (SCOTLAND) MEANS THAT AUTHORITIES REGULARLY fail to RECOGNISE Pca AS A CRIMINAL OFFENCE.

THE SAME ACT CARRIES A JAIL SENTENCE OF UP TO 7 YEARS IN THE REST OF THE UK.

IF A PARENT HAS CONCERNS REGARDING THE POTENTIAL ABDUCTION OF THEIR CHILD BY THE OTHER PARENT, THEY WOULD NEED TO pre-empt the abduction and pursue A CUSTODY (RESIDENCE) ORDER OR A specific order prohibiting the removal of the child from the uk.

ONLY THEN WOULD THEN WOULD SCOTTISH AUTHORITIES RECOGNISE THE ABDUCTION AS A CRIMINAL OFFENCE.

IN MANY CASES THIS IS SIMPLY NOT POSSIBLE.

A brief History

  • wHERE IT ALL STARTED..

    The Child abduction act 1984 was originally intended to apply only to England and Wales.

    Fears arose that criminals could avoid abduction charges by simply traveling via Scotland where no such legislation existed.

    so SECTION 6 of the Act concerning SCOTLAND WAS INCLUDED AT A LATE STAGE OF THE BIll, WITHOUT CONSULTATION.

  • 'a holding operation'

    Section 6, concerning abduction from SCOTLAND, WAS NOT SUBJECT TO REVIEW OR CONSuLTATION by the time the bill was passed in parliament. instead, tHE SCOTTISH LAW COMMISSION WAS INVITED TO EXAMINE THE MATTER FURTHER BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR SCOTLAND.

    THE child abduction act 1984 WAS CONSIDERED At the time as A ‘HOLDING OPERATION’.

  • 'Reform is called for"

    by 1987 the Scottish law commission produced a report suggesting a complete reform of the child abduction act 1984. they noted “dissatisfaction with section 6, both as regards it’s content and its drafting”.

    In 1987,The slc stated, “reform is clearly called for”.

  • "Archaic" Scots law to be "abolished"

    THE old sCOTS LAW FOR THE THEFT OF A PERSON - plagium - was described as ‘archaic’ in the slc report of 1987.

    “Such a notion is totally at odds with contemporary thinking, which seeks to place the child first and to make the concept of the welfare of the child paramount. We would therefore recommend that the crime of plagium should be abolished and that a new statutory offence should take its place.”

    The same archaic law of plagium still exists in Scotland today.

  • New legislation recommended

    The Scottish Law Commission recommended new statutory laws to replace the 1984 ACT which was recognised as a

    “matter of great public concern”.

    But the recommendations were not implemented.

  • "the oldest of unimplemented reports"

    10 years later, between 1997 and 1998, the Scottish Law COMMISSION REPORTED THAT THEIR RECOMMENDATIONS REMAINED UNIMPLEMENTED AND WERE THE OLDEST OF THEIR REPORTS THAT PARLIAMENT HAD TAKEN NO ACTION ON.

  • "More work may be required" (Scottish gov, 1998)

    Parliament failed to implement the recommendations from the Scottish law commission and said:

    “more work may be required on the legislation.”

    no further details are recorded.

    35 years later and the recommendations made by the Scottish law commission have still to be implemented.

almost 40 years of no change,

and still waiting.

We will be continuing to update this page with more information over the coming weeks. For now, please do not hesitate to use our contact form if you have any questions and we will do our best to help.