I would really appreciate other people's experiences of this. My two stepsons have lived solely with their father (and then me and my children 18 months later) since they were 4 months old and 15 months old (mother was pregnant by another man and kicked OH and the boys out to move him in, I am not OW). Mother had sporadic contact until 4 years ago when all contact has stopped, they are now 6 and 7 years old.
There was a shared residency order between my OH and their mother, with her having them every other sunday and no overnights, in OH's care the rest of the time. She never showed up for her contact, has subsequently had 4 more children, abandoned next lot of children with their father, moved away and we expect never to hear from her again.
OH has their passports and is allowed to take them out of the country for up to 28 days without permission. However the passports have now expired, so we have applied for new passports. We have just been sent a letter stating that as it is shared residency, we need a letter from her signed stating she will allow us to get the passports. This is not going to happen as A) We don't know where she is other than in the next county and B) She would say no. She is that sort of person, she refused for the boys to have their immunisations (we needed her permission) even though she had taken her next lot of children to get theirs (so clearly wasn't for genuine reasons to not allow it).
So what is the likely outcome of this? Has anyone had experience of this from either being the mother or the father applying for renewed passports? I find it odd they need permission when we have had their other passports for the past 5 years, the check and send lady said it wouldn't be a problem as we are renewing. I am concerned that either the boys will never get to go abroad, or we will have a costly battle on our hands.