DD’s dad has taken her overseas and won’t bring her back

DontGoChasinWaterfall - This response is the correct way to go. Your DD will be safe right now, I'm sure, so you need to act methodically and calmly, as they have suggested. I would follow this poster's advice to the letter. You have limited time and energy so focus it on the things that will make a real difference, not chasing employers and contacting the media.

And do you need one for Canada?

Good shout

I was just thinking about your predicament, OP.

As your daughter is 6, she would have been expected to go to school next week.

What did the Head say when you rang the school to let them know that she had been taken out of the country?

Except she would have needed an ESTA so there would be a record and thr US givernment won’t take kindly to a parent lying!

I take my children and my step children home to the US every summer. Not once has anyone asked if I have proof from their father or indeed their mother in the case of my stepchildren.

@CherryMummy1

What prompted you to contact a solicitor with no expertise in this field, OP?

I still don’t understand how the airline allowed her to board. When he text to say he was at the airport, my first action would have been to call the airport and explain that she was being removed from the country against your consent and you were on your way there with her birth certificate to stop it. They can’t let a child out of the country when a parent with parental responsibility has said no. I cannot believe it happened. You’ve been failed at every step - your ex fraudulently saying you gave permission, the airline letting her leave, and now a lawyer took this appointment when they can’t even do this type of law?

So sorry op hope this is resolved super quickly x

That wasn’t helpful, did this not become apparent when you booked the appointment? Did the solicitors office not ask for any details of the advice you wanted?

Such a waste of time.

@CherryMummy1 I think the best thing you can do now is start a facts based diary and capture your evidence in an organised way. This will help to keep the legal costs as low as possible because time won’t be wasted trying to explain things.
Date, Time, medium of communication, what was said. Then save the evidence in a file and label it in chronological order.
Also, have you checked your home insurance? Sometimes this comes with legal cover which might be helpful. Always worth checking.

The UK and America should both be on the same terms with this. I hope it is sorted quickly but will say your ex has made a massive mistake. He is hoping you give up. Don't though,

I’m not claiming expertise. What I’m stating is information provided by the relevant government bodies that you are more than welcome to peruse yourself, given that I have provided links (and not to ChatGPT, funnily enough). Perhaps, instead of simply stating I’m wrong, you could direct me to your sources?

It is entirely plausible that he has in fact taken her to the U.S, and done so without needing to forge any documents. It isn’t helping anyone to insist that this couldn’t possibly be the case simply because that is what you would prefer to believe.

That person is beyond tiresome. makes you wish mumsnet had a block functionality
They think because they asked chatGPT then they are an expert when they are just loudly wrong but they just keep doubling down and being annoying in the thread. they are not helping and it just clutters up the thread with their nonsense

it is not a wild scenario at all, but the most obvious route into the U.S that doesn’t involve forgery.

“There is no two-parent signature requirement for a form FS-240 with respect to permission to issue. In the case of a child involved in a custody dispute, either parent may apply for the form FS-240 regardless of which parent has been awarded custody. In the rare event that separate applications are received from both parents, as in the case of a divorce, approve the application received first. Once the form FS-240 has been issued, the other parent may obtain a form FS-240. Direct questions about a Form FS-240 and a child custody dispute to CA/PPT/S/A ([email protected]).“

Form DS 2029 is the application for the CRBA. The American parent can apply for it alone. If the non citizen parent applies for it, then the citizen parent needs to submit an additional form giving permission.

The two signature requirement is for the passport. Usually a CRBA and a passport are applied for at the same time, so yes, in those instances both parents need to present and/or give consent, but that is for the passport. Not the CRBA.

For the last time, you are misunderstanding this and creating imaginary scenarios. FS 240 is the CRBA itself, that link refers to basically issuing a copy of it. You can see right there it says you need to submit DS 2029 to get the CRBA, that process requires both parents to know. Go to the website of any British embassy anywhere, it will say both parents need to agree to the CRBA.

I don't know why you think you know more than those of us who have been through the process but it's not helpful to create these wild scenarios, if OP is going to find her DD she needs to focus on more likely paths.

@CherryMummy1

https://freemanssolicitors.net/team_members/nina-hansen/

@CherryMummy1 Of course you're distraught but try to take heart in the fact that if he's genuinely taken your DD to the US, he's committed a crime and he WILL face consequences.

No, he wouldn’t. Only one parent needs to apply for a CRBA. It isn’t like a passport that needs the signatures of both parents.

He'd have to forge something to get her CRBA though.

Your ex would be a complete fool if he forged your signature or submitted false information on a passport application. That is a very serious felony in the US.

Has anyone on the thread mentioned the Children's Passport Issuance Alert Program? If so, sorry to repeat this information. The program is precisely for situations like this one. They alert parents if someone has attempted to apply for a passport for their child.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/International-Parental-Child-Abduction/prevention/passport-issuance-alert-program.html

Not if she entered via the land border. He could have flown her into Toronto on her British passport, and simply driven over the border into New York with her CRBA. From Pearson airport it’s about an hour and a half drive to Buffalo. Once in the U.S she can take internal flights with just a boarding pass.

This would be incredibly simple for him to do. He had no need to forge documents to try and obtain a passport or visa for her.

I suspect it might be possible for him to have forged the consular record and passport approvals. So I'm not as sanguine as others about him failing to get a US passport.

In London the experienced lawyers firms for Hague abduction are Hunters Law, International Family Law Group and Dawson Cornwall - their contact details and others are on Reunite website

As the "left behind parent" you should get legal aid

Stay strong