Top judge reports rise in cases where dangerous parents flee country to avoid social services

There has been a rising number of cases where dangerous parents have fled a country when its social services have sought to use their protective powers, the Office of the Head of International Family Justice for England and Wales has said.

In its annual report the Office – led by Lord Justice Thorpe – highlighted a case where two children habitually resident in Poland were brought unlawfully to England by their father and uncle. The children were taken into police protection after being found in a make-shift shelter near live train tracks.

The children were the subject of ongoing care proceedings in Poland. Although the father and the uncle had the mother’s consent to take the children out of Poland, they did not have the consent of the Polish social services department which had a care order for the children.

The Office of the Head of International Family Justice was brought in because of communication problems between social services in the two countries and uncertainty surrounding the children’s legal status, which was delaying making meaningful plans for their future.

Lord Justice Thorpe’s team made contact with its judicial contact point in Poland to find out information on the present position under Polish law and to ensure collaboration between the two agencies.

The report said: “The tendency of dangerous parents to bolt when social services are exercising legitimate protective powers is all too common and much to be disregarded by demonstrating that there is no gain in flight. Judicial collaboration is required for the protection of children at significant risk of harm. We are seeing a rising number of these types of cases being referred to the Office, mostly involving Eastern-European countries.”

The annual report also revealed that the number of stalled cross-border family legal disputes where the Office is called in had grown tenfold in a decade and more than doubled in two years.

Lord Justice Thorpe’s team is principally called in to try and get international law enforced in abduction and other child custody disputes between parents living in different countries.

The Office handled 180 cases in 2011, compared to 92 in 2010 and 27 in 2007.

The report, written by Lord Justice Thorpe and Victoria Miller, the lawyer who supports him, can be downloaded here.