If you believe your child has been taken or kept without your consent, act quickly. Contact police if the child may be in immediate danger, preserve evidence, and speak with a family lawyer about urgent court relief. The available steps depend on the child’s location, your parenting arrangements, and any existing court order or agreement.
Child abduction can involve a child being wrongfully withheld after parenting time, moved elsewhere in Ontario, or taken outside Canada. The legal response depends on the circumstances, including whether there is a parenting order or separation agreement and whether the child has been removed from Ontario or Canada.
Contact the Police if Your Child’s Safety is at Risk
If you do not know where your child is and believe the child is in immediate danger, contact the police. Call 911 where there is an urgent concern for the child’s safety.
Provide the police with as much information as possible, including:
- a recent photograph and physical description of the child;
- the other parent’s contact information and possible location;
- vehicle, flight, hotel, or travel information;
- copies of any parenting order or separation agreement; and
- relevant text messages, emails, social media posts, or threats concerning the child.
An Urgent Family Court Motion May Be Available
A family lawyer can assess whether an urgent motion should be brought to locate or return the child or to prevent the child from being removed from Ontario. Ontario’s Family Law Rules permit a motion without notice where there is an immediate danger that a child will be removed from Ontario and delay in giving notice could have serious consequences.
Depending on the circumstances, a court may have authority to make orders concerning the child’s return, restrictions on removal or other measures intended to protect the child. Section 36 of the Children’s Law Reform Act also permits orders directing police to locate, apprehend, and deliver a child in specified circumstances.
An urgent motion without notice is not automatic. The circumstances must justify proceeding without notice, and the matter will generally return to court so that the other party can respond. The court will consider the child’s best interests, including the child’s safety, stability, established living arrangements, relationship with each parent, and any history of family violence or failure to follow court orders.
For more information about how a court determines the best interest of the child, where relocation is an issue, click here.
Sources: Children’s Law Reform Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.12, s. 36; Family Law Rules, O. Reg. 114/99, r. 14(4.2), (12)-(15).
Preserve Evidence About the Child’s Location and Removal
Preserve communications and other information that may help establish where the child is, when the child was taken or withheld, and what the other parent intended to do.
Save text messages, emails, social media posts, travel information, witness names, and records of missed exchanges or attempts to locate the child.
Avoid sending threatening or aggressive messages, as communications may later be used as evidence. Where communication is safe, remain calm and focus on the child’s immediate return.
Take Steps to Prevent International Travel
Where there is a genuine risk that the child may be taken outside Canada, speak with a family lawyer about requesting an order prohibiting the child’s removal and requiring the surrender of passports or other travel documents.
If the child is also a citizen of another country, the relevant embassy or consulate should be contacted to determine whether any steps can be taken concerning a foreign passport.
International Child Abduction Requires a Different Response
If a child has been taken outside Canada, the legal process may involve both Canadian family law and the law of the country where the child is located. The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction may provide a process for seeking the child’s return where the Convention applies.
The Hague Convention generally addresses the return of a child who has been wrongfully removed to or retained in another participating country. It is primarily concerned with restoring the appropriate jurisdiction so that parenting issues can be determined by the courts of the child’s habitual residence. It is not ordinarily a final decision about which parent should have primary care of the child.
The Convention applies only in circumstances that meet its requirements. Relevant considerations can include the child’s habitual residence, the countries involved, the child’s age, the nature of the removal or retention, and whether the parent seeking the child’s return was exercising rights of custody or parenting responsibility.
Canada has implemented the Hague Convention across the provinces and territories, with Central Authorities responsible for certain functions under the Convention.
For more information on international child abductions and Hague Convention applications, read here.
Sources: Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, October 25, 1980; Children’s Law Reform Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.12, s. 22(3).
Parents Should Act Quickly When a Child is at Risk of Abduction
A parent who believes a child has been abducted or is at immediate risk of removal should address the situation promptly. The first steps may include contacting police where appropriate, preserving evidence, obtaining legal advice, and determining whether an urgent family court application is available.
Delay can make locating the child and obtaining effective court orders more difficult. It may also affect an international return application, particularly where the child becomes settled in another jurisdiction.
Parents in Toronto, York Region, Peel Region, Durham Region, or elsewhere in the GTA who believe their child has been abducted or is at immediate risk of being removed should obtain legal advice.
Sources: Children’s Law Reform Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.12, ss. 22, 36 and 37.
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