An advice line run by an international parental child abduction charity has seen a nine per cent rise in calls, according to new figures.
The reunite International Child Abduction Centre received 506 new reports of abduction by a parent last year. It dealt with a total of 516 children abducted out of the UK over the same period, along with 167 children abducted into the UK.
The charity also reports 412 cases in which an abduction was prevented – an increase of more than a third in the last two years.
CEO Alison Shalaby said:
“Poland, USA, Spain and Pakistan were the most common destinations for children abducted from the UK but in 2012 our cases involved more than 100 different countries. This demonstrates that parental child abduction is not country or faith specific but is a truly global issue. What is especially concerning is that many abductions go unreported and so the actual number of children abducted is likely to be much higher.”
The charity describes itself as “…the leading UK charity specialising in the movement of children across international borders.”
