Taking step grandchild on overseas holiday

[HolidayNana]

Our son married a Latvian national who has a daughter from a previous relationship. Our son has tried to adopt but due to the local authority backlog following Covid and other more critical adoptions, our case is not a priority. Meanwhile we see the child as our grandchild and would like to take her on holiday. She has a Latvian passport and clearly has a different surname to us. The Latvian embassy will not provide guidance unless we want to take her to Latvia. Travel Agents, who you would expect have experienced similar situations are no help. I've tried unsuccessfully to contact Border Force and have now sent email to the Home Office to see if they can assist. In the meantime is there anyone out there who could provide some assistance please. Granddaughter will be 15 at time of travel. some countries say letter from a parent others say both parents, which we can't get from her birth father as his address is unknown.

All the information you need is on the Govt website.
You'll need a consent letter from anyone with parental responsibility. In this case, presumably just the mother of the child, if the father isn't involved.

https://www.gov.uk/permission-take-child-abroad

Not got a clue but wanted to say that you sound like a lovely family.

Don't let the nationality or surname confuse you, OP. None of it is particularly relevant.

Any adult taking a child abroad without consent from anyone with parental responsibility is liable to be stopped.

Whether that is a step-grandmother, a teacher, a family friend or the mother herself (if the father has PR)

Read the link, get the mother's permission and something from her that proves she has no contact with the father. At 15, she's old enough anyway to express her own preference.

It will be the same situation if she goes on a school trip for example.

Easily resolved. You may not even be stopped.

It does help that she is 15, she can speak for herself if / when questioned at passport control.

@HolidayNana I regularly take my son to Latvia and other countries on my own or with my partner (Latvian) I do not share my sons surname and he has both Latvian and British passports but when I travel alone I ensure that my partner writes a letter and take the birth certificate. As long as you have written permission from her mother you should be okay. As for the father, your granddaughter will be old enough to tell border control staff that he is not present in her life and has no contact, her age is of benefit here. Maybe get the letter to include the permanent address of your granddaughter, assuming this will be a UK address?

You sound so lovely.