Taking children out of the country for a month.

[Justmeandme19]

Looking for a bit of advise.
Hope to take the children away for about 4 weeks in 2024. This will be just before they start secondary school.
Now there is a no contact order regarding their father. He is homeless and living on the streets. So I don't have an address to contact him. Also he's abusive (hence the no contact order). Do I need to do anything?
I will take the court paperwork with me and we all have the same surname.
Anyone have any advice please??

Just bumping. Sorry I don’t have any experience of this.

No problem . You can take them up to four weeks - it should say on your court paperwork
I took mine on a month long road trip and had no issues at all . No one asked to see any paperwork at the airports but you should take it just in case

Thank you.
Oddly enough it said it on my previous paperwork as it talked about me being the resident parent. But this time around it doesn't mention it. But given to the fact it's a no contact order I am dubious it would anyway!!! Guessing I don't actually need to let him know ?
Just don't want any problems on our trip.

If there’s a no contact order, then I see no reason to let him know. Your children are clearly better off without him in their lives so I wouldn’t do anything that might cause him to try to reach out to you or them.

Dert I totally agree. I'm more concerned about having problems at the airport.

My son and I have frequently flown since he was 6, he’s now 10. We fly without my wife frequently

we missed just under a years worth of travel due to covid but we regularly fly all over Europe to football matches, often indirect to take in 2/3 in different countries in a weekend

We’ve flown out of almost every U.K. airport I would say and between foreign countries, never once been asked anything.

our next trip is weds/fri next week, not anticipating any issues

Another guy. Brill thanks you

I'm also finding this all very useful, thank you. How about actually completing and signing off their passport does the father need to countersign. Can I complete the whole form alone with just my details? Also who do you generally use as reference? I have to sign passport pics?

Redvelvet

I applied last night for fltheir passports. I have to say it was easy. You just fill in the information you know and leave the rest blank. So I was able to put the name of their father and his dob but I wasn't able to say if he already has a passport or not. Also they give you a list of people who verify the pictures. But now a days the passport office send them an email and it's done electrically.
Lastly you are asked to send any court orders to the the passport office. As I was renewing their passports I will do this together with their old passport. It will all get sent back to you.

Oh great, thanks for thank you for your response. I will is it compulsory to send court papers? There's no mention of removing child out of country within the court docs.

I don't know tbh it just said it needed a copy of any court orders or residency agreements.

@Anotherguy

It depends, my friend has been stopped at Heathrow (she had her ex husbands death certificate with her as a precaution thankfully and I was stopped with my dd entering Canada - she was 16 too

Totally agree it can happen. But I’ve done dozens of flights where it hasn’t.

including between other countries, flights that never went anywhere near the U.K., eg Germany into Serbia or Russia to Kazakhstan and never been an issue.

I have been stopped a few times and had to present proof I am able to travel with my DD13.

Her father hasn't been around since she was 2.

This year we went in and out of the US and wasn't asked. But I always travel with the proof of RP/permission.

I am divorced and have different surname with my kids. I travel with them on my own often - did they before and after divorce. At Heathrow I have been asked for their birth certificates upon returning a few times. But other than that - there hasn’t been any ever question about my marital status or right to travel on my own with the kids.

Some countries - Canada, S.Africa (before pandemic) - suggest you have a letter from another parent saying they agree to kids traveling with the other parent. Sometimes it’s a ‘suggestion’ - as in the case of Canada, which will just talk to the kids if you have no letter - to ascertain if there are any abduction concerns. With S.Africa - you had to have such letter, or you couldn’t get on a plane. But the letter was just a piece of paper and didn’t need to be notarised or anything.

So - generally - most countries will be fine with you traveling with the kids on your own. No one will track or care that you are away for a month. You don’t need to let your ex know if he doesn’t see them regularly anyway.
If you are traveling to far away countries outside of Europe - do check their entry requirements to see if they mention anything about other parent consent and in what form.

I’ve never been asked and my eldest has a different surname. Flown in Europe, to Asia, to America and the Caribbean.

You will be fine. I've been stopped in a UK airport but only because me and DS have different surnames. I now carry the birth certificate