Children's Act, 2005 (Act No. 38 of 2005)RegulationsRegulations relating to Children's Courts and International Child Abduction, 2010Chapter IV : International Child Abduction31. Assistance to prevent removal from jurisdiction |
| (1) | If a parent, guardian or person with parental responsibility of a child suspects that there is an imminent danger or a likelihood that the child may be wrongfully removed from the Republic, that parent, guardian or person with parental responsibility must immediately inform the Central Authority of the Republic of that danger or likelihood who must— |
| (a) | in the case of an imminent danger of wrongful removal, request the assistance of the South African Police Service to— |
| (i) | inform border posts directly when there is a real and imminent threat that a child is about to be removed unlawfully from the Republic; and |
| (ii) | liaise with Immigration Officers at the border posts in an attempt to identify the child at risk of removal; or |
| (b) | in the case of a likelihood of wrongful removal, request the Department of Home Affairs not to issue a passport in respect of the child without— |
| (i) | a High Court's permission; or |
| (ii) | the consent of the other parent, guardian or person with parental responsibility. |
| (2) | A request for police assistance as provided for in subregulation (1)(a) must be accompanied by the following information— |
| (a) | the name, gender, date of birth, physical description, nationality and passport number of the child; |
| (b) | the name, age, physical description, nationality, passport number and relationship of the person to the child, who is likely to remove the child; |
| (c) | whether the child is likely to assist the person likely to remove him or her; |
| (d) | the name and contact details of the person at the Central Authority of the Republic who is requesting the border post alert referred to in subregulation (1)(a); |
| (e) | the destination to which the child is likely to be removed; |
| (f) | the likely time of travel and border post embarkation; |
| (g) | the grounds for the border post alert referred to in subregulation(1)(a); and |
| (h) | the details of the person to whom the child should be returned if he or she is intercepted. |
| (3) | If a border post is alerted to the danger of a wrongful removal of a child from the Republic, the child's name must be listed and must remain on that list for four weeks, after which it may be removed, unless a further request of a similar nature is made. |