This covers the case of Alana, who was abducted by her Mother.

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One of the less known aspects of the work of LBT Global is our involvement in child abduction cases. In this case, 7 year old Alana disappeared from school, taken by her mother.

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Alana’s parents had split up a year previously, with her mother suffering severe mental health disorders compounded by alcohol and drug misuse. The court gave full custody of Alana to her father, with local social services involved. Alana’s mother was distraught that she was awarded supervised visiting rights.

 

On the day in question, Alana’s mother turned up at her school, with documentation showing she was Alana’s mother, and also medical documents referring to an urgent appointment. The school receptionist had not been fully informed about the separation, and the school records had not been updated to reflect that the mother was not permitted to collect Alana on her own.

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Alana took her daughter and drove to London. Police were alerted and they found the car near Paddington. CCTV showed the pair boarding a train to Heathrow airport.

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LBT Global was involved as soon as an international element was feared. Working with police, we found that Alana’s passport was not in the place it had always been kept at home, it being presumed that the mother had taken it on a previous visit.

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Records showed that the pair had taken a flight to Paris and our team immediately commenced enquiries with trusted partners. Within hours we had established Alana’s location. Social Services in the UK prepared the legal documents necessary to ensure Alana’s safety.

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LBT Global were asked to arrange the flights when all other options had been explored and exhausted by traditional routes. We used our connections with air travel partnerships to book seats to transport a team of social services staff to fly out to bring Alana back. 

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Working with the British Embassy in Paris and local police, Alana was found safe and well. She was brought home on an overnight flight sourced by LBT Global

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Thankfully Alana had not been harmed in any way.  LBT Global  were asked to contribute to a statutory ‘lessons learnt’ of the circumstances leading to Alana’s abduction. 

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Familial abduction cases are desperately sad. In time Alana’s mother returned to the UK and entered a series of therapeutic support programmes