Asking for a friend. Her partner ditched her (and their 2 additional needs children) last year. She's a foreign national from a european country and doesn't ahve residency so she's been in a very difficult situation and relying on his sporadic financial assistance. She's been looking into her benefit options and has come to the reluctant conclusion that she'll have to move back to her country of origin even though she's lived here her whole adult life.
What is her legal situation regarding this? Does she need written permission from him? He's on their birth certificates but does very little actual care and has contributed little to their physical care over the years prior to his ditching them. He's making all the right noises about wanting to be involved but hasn't done much to back that up with actions but could possible cause issues just as another way to control her.