How can you prevent your child from being abducted?

In an emergency situation, if your child is at immediate risk of being abducted, you should contact the local police. Call 02800. You can read more about this under Emergency situation.

Is your child at risk of abduction? 

If you are afraid that your child may be abducted, you should contact someone who can advise you, such as a family member, friends or a lawyer.

The following are important factors in assessing the risk of abduction:

• Has your relationship with the other parent broken down, or is in the processing of breaking down?
• Does the other parent have strong ties to another country (e.g., is originally from another country or has a foreign nationality, etc.)?
• Has the other parent expressed a wish to take your child from Norway on a permanent basis?
• Does the other parent have few or weak ties with Norway (e.g., is unemployed, has a limited social network, difficult housing situation, etc.)?
• Is the other parent sceptical about allowing your child to grow up in Norway and about him or her becoming too “Norwegian”?
• Has the other parent taken steps such as selling his or her home, giving notice to his or her landlord or employer, etc.?
• Would the other parent find is easy to plan, organise and carry out an abduction (e.g., are you afraid that your child will not return from a planned holiday)
• Has the other parent previously shown unwillingness to cooperate as regards care of your child, or disputed the child’s need for contact with both parents?

If you believe your child is at risk of being abducted

• Try to reach an agreement with the other parent. If you are afraid your child will not return for a holiday, you can propose entering into a temporary agreement that regulates when the child is to be returned. You can read more about this under Agreement between the parents.
  
  
• If it is not possible to reach an agreement, you can apply to the courts for a permanent / temporary travel ban, or an order requiring the other parent to deposit his or her passport. The court will require that you prove there is a risk that the child will be abducted or retained. The police can also impose a temporary travel ban until the case has been heard in court.

You should clarify the following before the case is dealt with by the court:

• What is the legal situation? Do you have joint or shared parental responsibility? You can read more about this under What is an international parental child abduction?
• Is there a judgment or ruling that regulates parental responsibility, daily care and access?
• Does your child have a passport and if so, where is it? When does it expire? Can you get a hold of it and keep it in a safe place?
• Does your child have dual nationality / more than one passport?

You can find out more about passports under Passports for children.

If you are considering going to the courts, you should contact a lawyer for advice and guidance. For information about lawyers who accept such cases, contact the Norwegian Bar Association.

The Norwegian Bar Association
Juristenes Hus
Kristian Augusts gate 9
0164 Oslo
Tel.: +47 22 03 50 50
Fax: +47 22 11 53 25
E-mail: dnapost@jus.no
Advokatforeningen