A Child (Application of PD12J)

             On 30 September 2021 I gave permission to appeal to the mother of three children, aged 10, 8 and 5 and went on to hear her appeal from an order made by a district judge three days earlier that she return the children from the North of England to Dorset and for shared time with their father.� In default of return the district judge made a transfer of �residence� order.

             By way of brief background, the parents started their relationship in 2009 and in 2010 the mother moved to live with the father in Ireland where they married (in 2010, although they are unable to agree which month).� The family moved to England in 2017.�� The father is black African, the mother white English, so the children have dual heritage.

             On 9 July 2021 the mother removed the children from the family home where they all lived. The father came home from work to find them gone.�� He had no forewarning of the mother�s intentions. �Initially the mother took the children to Yorkshire and then to a refuge further north.�

             Initial messaging between the parents suggested the mother had no problem with the father having unsupervised contact with the children.���

             When that did not happen the father made an application to the court on 24 August, seeking a specific issue order requiring the mother to return the children to Dorset, a prohibited steps order preventing the children being removed from Dorset or England (he thought she might have removed them to Scotland as she did once before) and a child arrangements order so he could spend time with them.