How to stop child abduction by a parent

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How can parents seek help from the ICA to stop their spouse from trying to abduct their children?

In Singapore, there have been instances of child abduction by one parent, that is, one parent attempting to illegally take the children out of Singapore without a court order without the other parent’s consent.  Previously, even if you had obtained a Court Order or an an Injunction to prevent any child from being taken out of Singapore,  there are no practical immigration measures to prevent the other parent from leaving Singapore.  Now, you may alert the immigration authorities so that they can stop the other parent from leaving Singapore.

From 1 January 2019, parents who have been granted a Court Order or an Injunction which restrains the other parent from taking the children out of jurisdiction can apply to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) to prevent the other parent from leaving the country with the children. This new measure with ICA’s help comes as a relief for many parents, who are now able to more effectively restrain any attempts to abduct their children. The procedure to seek the ICA’s assistance is laid out below.

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Procedure for seeking assistance to stop child abduction:

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(1)    Parent to sign an undertaking

If you have been granted a Court Order or an injunction restraining the other parent from bringing the children out of Singapore, and you wish to get ICA’s assistance, you will be required to sign an undertaking in the prescribed Form 190A of Appendix A to the Family Justice Court’s Practice Directions.

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(2)    File the undertaking on e-Litigation

The undertaking must be filed in the e-Litigation system, which is an online filing system for Court documents. The document should be filed under the document code “Other Supporting Document”.

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(3)    Service of relevant documents on ICA

After the undertaking has been filed, a copy of the extracted Court Order or injunction and the undertaking are to be sent to the ICA via a specific ICA email address, ICA_FJC_Notification@ica.gov.sg. The email must be sent during ICA’s working hours and at least one working day in advance before the ICA is to act on the Court Order or injunction. ICA’s working hours are as follows:

• Mondays to Fridays: 8am to 5pm
• Public Holiday Eves: 8am to 12pm
• Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays: Closed.

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(4)    Send a copy to the other parent or his or her solicitors

The email sent to the ICA containing the Court Order or injunction and the undertaking should be copied to the other parent or his or her solicitors via email or ordinary mail, whichever is applicable.

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(5)    Response from the ICA

If all of the steps above are complied with, the ICA will be able to assist and act on the Court Order or injunction by the next working day.

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ABOUT PKWA FAMILY LAW

At PKWA Law, our team of Family Lawyers are consistently named as leading Singapore family lawyers by respected independent legal publications such as Asian Legal Business, Singapore Business Review, Global Law Experts and Doyle’s Guide to Singapore Family Lawyers. 

Contact us at tel 6854-5336 for a free first consultation. 

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