What to Do If Your Former Partner Refuses to Return a Child

Having children is no doubt one of the greatest gifts in our lives. When they are born, you expect to always be there for them and to care for them. Unfortunately, when relationships come to an end, sharing the care of your children with your x-partner going forward becomes a reality.

Sometimes things can get complicated.

So, what do you do when your ex-partner refuses to return your child to your care? 

Should You Call the Police If your Ex Refuses to Return a Child?

The moment you realise that your former partner is not going to return your children after their visit can be very frightening. Your reaction may be to call the police and request that they help bring your children home.

Surprisingly, however, police are often unwilling to get involved in parenting arrangements. This is true even if you have parenting orders in place. Under certain circumstance if there is a concern as to the children’s safety, then the police will go to the house to make an assessment and may insist on observing and speaking to the children to evaluate their safety. However, this will not ensure the return of the children to you. 

To enforce the return of the children will require you to obtain an Order from the Court.

What to Do If You Know Where Your Kids Are

If you know where your children are, then you will need to apply to a Family Court  to obtain a recovery order in accordance with the Family Law Act. This can be done under circumstances where either Parenting Orders have or have not been previously made. The court will evaluate a number of factors to determine whether they will issue the recovery order. These factors are based on the best interests of the children and will involve consideration of all the circumstances of your case including any risk factors, the living arrangements in the past and the history of the contact arrangements between your Ex-partner and the children.

If the court issues a recovery order, it may specify a date and time in which the children must be returned to you. You may if needed give a copy of the recovery order to your local police to enforce the order.

What If You Don’t Know Where The Children Are?

If you don’t know where your Ex-partner took your children, then you will need to take some extra steps to recover them. 

You will need to ask the court for a location order, to compel your Ex-partner to give information about the location of the children. The court may also issue a Commonwealth information order to get information about the children’s location from various Commonwealth Government departments. The court may issue a publication order which permits newspapers and media outlets to publish photographs and information about your children and your Ex-partner in order to successfully locate them.

Do You Need Help Enforcing Your Parenting Orders?

Incidents of child abduction or breach of orders are often very traumatic for the children, as well as the other parent. Under these circumstances it is extremely important to take the right steps as soon as possible to ensure that your children are located and returned to you safely.  It’s important that you have a lawyer who is well-versed and experienced in family law to help you prepare your application and affidavit and to put forward your case to ensure you have the best chance of a successful and speedy outcome. 

Often these cases will also lead to a necessary consideration of new parenting Orders or the alteration to old Orders to prevent such problems from happening again. The correct drafting of such Orders is imperative and requires the expertise of an experienced Family Lawyer. 

Do you need assistance with the enforcement of your Parenting Orders? Contact Solari and Stock today for a free 30-minute consultation.