The number of international abductions of children is a growing phenomenon. Under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, all children have the right to maintain regular personal relations with both parents. Abduction by a parent is a denial of this right.

When children are abducted by one parent, that parent often belittles the other. The children are deprived of one of their parents and their wider family for a long time – sometimes permanently – and their sense of security is threatened. Children are forced to accept a change of country, culture, schools, etc. Even if children are returned, they are marked by the abduction for the rest of their lives.

We started our journey in 2017 when our charity’s Founder had experienced parental child abduction by his ex-partner and he was left behind alone in the country (United Kingdom) without his kids for several months. As it’s a painful and really devastating time for any parent left behind, there was very limited information, support, and options available about parental child abduction and how to deal with it.

After the successful return of the children to the UK through the long legal process of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction—along with the heavy cost of legal expenses—the founder decided to devote his life to helping others. To prevent others from going through the same pain, he started a charity to raise public awareness and promote prevention of parental child abduction. It is better to prevent a child from being abducted than to have to seek their return.