The modern world is increasingly interconnected. With the development of affordable international travel, and new methods of instant communication with people across the world, it is only natural that relationships are becoming more and more international. Many children are born to parents who hold different nationalities. Some children are born in a country that is not the country of birth of either of their parents. Whole families relocate to new countries to explore new opportunities, while some parents will end up living in different countries to their children for a variety of reasons.
Unfortunately, what is also natural is that some of these relationships will breakdown and come to an end. For these families, as well as having all of the usual heartache and arrangements to work through, there will also be the international nature of their lives that needs to be considered. This can cause the greatest fractures between parents. When parents cannot agree on crucial elements of their children’s futures, such as which country they will grow up in, this can lead to some incredibly difficult situations.
It may be that one parent makes a unilateral decision to move or keep their child in another country. This would be considered to be child abduction. Abductions can happen between every country in the world and can arise out of a huge variety of situations. However an abduction comes about, we are here to provide ongoing advice, information and support through whatever happens next.
Abductions are not the only difficult situations to come out of the breakdown of international families. Some parents have difficulty maintaining a meaningful relationship with their child who lives in a different country. Others would like to relocate overseas with their child, while some parents are concerned about their children being moved away from them. All of these situations are difficult for the families involved, and they are all situations in which we can provide specialist advice, information and support.
reunite was established by parents to provide support to each other. Today we continue to provide guidance and support to parents and family members who find themselves in the midst of such difficult situations. We are committed to raising the profile of the international movement of children in order to ensure the best possible solutions to these sensitive cases.
If you are looking for advice about your situation, please have a look at the Advice Line section and contact our advice line team on +44 (0)116 255 6234.