Custody & Kidnapping

The issue that sometimes arises when a parent is traveling with a child to another country is that s/he may be questioned by immigration or security personnel to make sure that the child is not being kidnapped by the parent. In cases where there is no custody order and the father is not on the child’s birth certificate, a parent may bring the birth certificate to prove that there is no legal father listed. In cases where the father is listed on the birth certificate and there is no court order for custody or visitation, a parent may ask the other parent to write a notarized letter saying that s/he agrees with the trip. However, in a case where there is no contact with the other parent and custody/visitation rights were never established in court, I wonder if perhaps there may be another way to prove that the father does not have legal rights to the child - such as a printout from the court that shows that there is no case on file granting the father custody or visitation rights (if a court would produce such a document). Or a notarized statement from the mother in which she explains that the father has not been a part of the child’s life and has had no contact since XX date. I cannot say if any of these things might work in your situation but perhaps you may want to call the local airport that you will be flying out of to ask to speak to the person in charge of immigration/security to ask what you might need in your specific situation. And if you have that person’s name and phone number, hopefully you could let the immigration officer know if there are any problems on the day of your flight. This website from the Customs and Border Protection has some basic information about this topic as well as a sample consent letter: https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/268/~/children—child-trav…

In addition, sometimes a parent may decide to file for custody in order to get that document for the purpose of the trip. In general, if a parent files, s/he has to serve the other parent with the petition and that parent has the right to appear in court. The general risk of filing for custody, however, is that the other parent is sometimes inspired ask for custody rights or visitation rights at that point and then it’s up to the judge to decide. Also, often times, it takes months for a custody case to be resolved - but it can be possible that a court would grant some sort of temporary order for the purpose of traveling abroad if specifically requested. I cannot say for sure. You may want to talk to a lawyer for advice if this was something that you were considering. Here is a link for lawyers in STATE: LINK And here is information on custody in your state in case you want to read it: LINK

As an aside, I wonder if you may be able to connect with other parents in similar situations on a STATE single parents’ blog or website or on a STATE travel website where you can post a questions and others respond in order to see what other single mothers may have done in similar situations when traveling to COUNTRY - FILL IN.