Stem the flow of UK-Poland child abductions

Who am I? - I'm a left-behind parent. That's what we're called in legal documents, when our children have been abducted and their contact with us has been eliminated. It is the most appalling situation, which I wish didn't exist, let alone for my family to be one among the statistics. My family's plight is similar to others among the terrible, growing number of affected families (other live UK-Poland cases), many of whom I'm in touch with.

Summary - My first marriage broke down shortly after the arrival of children. I wanted to work at it, but my ex abruptly ended things while the children were still small. My children's early years were lived in parallel with years of Family Court litigation in England, enabling me to be an involved and loving parent to them, in the face of a controlling and often frighteningly abusive ex-partner, who happened to be Polish. Eventually, once firm court orders were in place protecting the children, and following several rounds of enforcement, all our lives settled down, happily, and the children were doing really well. From before the marriage broke down, I'd been terrified by threats from the other parent that they would take the children and I'd never see them again. After many years I thought we were past that. The English litigation had included multiple "Leave To Remove" proceedings, where the other parent applied for court permission to take the children permanently away to Poland, and each time that was refused. Finally, we landed on "shared live with" arrangements, so the children were spending equal amounts of time with both of their parents – including time for holidays in Poland - which was going well for several years.

It seemed things had settled down for everyone, but in 2021 the children were abducted to Poland. They were taken without warning - no goodbyes with me, let alone grandparents or schoolfriends. The abduction was brazen, totally eliminating the children's contact with everyone over here, which was horrendous for me and, I believe, hugely damaging for them. Initially though, it seemed that the legal process would "quickly" (within a few months) secure my children's return to normal life. I secured a "return order" within a few weeks. That didn't progress though, because of direct intervention by the Polish government in the court process, which leads to my call for help today. This is help for my family in the face of an outrageous abuse of legal process, and also help for other UK families in future who could benefit from my case as a precedent, as I will explain.

Call to action - I and my support network are raising £15,000 for legal costs in Poland and England to enable action in the Polish Supreme Court. We hope this will work in tandem with diplomacy that wards off political interference in the Supreme Court. The aim is to secure my children's lawful return from Poland to England, many months after their abduction and isolation from everyone in their earlier life (except their abducting parent). After many legal twists and turns, in what should have been a very simple return case, this is my children's last chance in the Polish courts.

What are we trying to achieve? - This is a test case with wider importance. Please allow me to explain.

Weeks after the abduction, the Polish court made an order under the 1980 Hague Convention for my children's return. However, agencies from the Polish government intervened, themselves appealing the order, which was overturned at appeal a few months later. The interference at the level of Polish government ministers became clear partly through their public messages, including on social media, about getting involved. This was appalling, but the 1980 Hague Convention is apparently fairly open to this type of manipulation and it turns out this kind of intervention is pretty common in Poland. It’s part of an unofficial but widely recognised policy of “Polish children in Poland”, where nationalist interests override any consideration of the best interests of the children involved in these cases.

My legal advisors then checked our options. Before Brexit the next step would have been an application under the Brussels II bis process - an EU process dealing with abduction which is more dependable than the 1980 Hague Convention. This is where things get a bit more complicated.

We secured an order for my children's return under Brussels II bis within English Family Court proceedings that had started before the Brexit transition period finished. This was in accordance with Article 67 of the UK's EU Withdrawal Agreement. The order was sent to Poland to be processed, resulting in an order recognising the requirement for return and putting in place practical arrangements for my children's return. At the time all of that was an enormous relief.

However, before my children had been returned, the children's Polish parent and the same Polish government agencies made an application for the recognition of the order to be revoked. I was appalled when this was allowed to be heard, and after yet more months had passed the court ordered that my children's return should not be recognised because of the UK leaving the EU.

That isn't what the law requires. We had worked with the specific process defined in the EU Withdrawal Agreement. I appealed but my appeal, after more months, was dismissed, now directly implying that the rules under the EU Withdrawal Agreement have no practical effect.

Fundamentally, I need the Polish Supreme Court to uphold the law, and set a precedent whereby families in UK-Poland abduction cases like mine get the protection that is set out in law after Brexit as defined in the EU Withdrawal Agreement.

What is the next step in the case? - My Polish lawyer needs to make a submission for a "cassation" appeal to the Polish Supreme Court before a late summer deadline.

How much are we raising and why? - In some respects my case is quite simple, because we are just seeking the application of the law as it is defined in a section of the EU Withdrawal Agreement that appears clear cut. However, this is likely the first time this law has been tested in the context of Poland, so there is enormous scope for legal analysis which would not come into play in mature areas of law. The costs are therefore very difficult to estimate. They are mitigated by the fact that hourly rates for law in Poland are considerably lower than in England, which is allowed for in the estimate. I will likely also need to fund court correspondence and possibly hearings in England in parallel because live proceedings exist in both jurisdictions.

The costs we now expect come on the back of legal costs since the abduction that have been well over £100,000 already, which have been devastating for my family. I have other children who I do not want to risk losing the roof over their heads, but I cannot abandon my older children and the injustice they are suffering under in Poland. In the unlikely event of funds raised exceeding legal costs associated with the Supreme Court action through to my children's return, any spare funds will be contributed to similar action in other live UK-Poland abduction cases.

This story is anonymised by legal necessity, which I appreciate may be frustrating. If you have questions, please get in touch with me.

A heartfelt thank you for your support. We will provide progress updates to our supporters in line with what our lawyers advise can be shared.