Immigration Corner | Will I lose custody of my son?

Dear Mrs Walker-Huntington,

I am a Jamaican mother of a four-year-old boy who has always lived with me. His father and I are no longer together, but he visits his son occasionally. The father is now married and lives with his wife overseas.

The relationship between my son’s father and me is not good. We argue all the time, and he accuses me of withholding information about his child.

I am concerned now because the father wants the child to visit him, but he wants our four-year-old son to travel alone. I want to agree to the child visiting his father and stepmother if his father will travel with him.

I am concerned because my son has behavioural and communication issues. I am also concerned that his father will not send him back to me.

I want to know if I will lose custody of my child now that my ex is married even though I have never met or even spoken to his wife.

Thank you.

LB

Dear LB,

You are in a situation that several parents find themselves in when the non-custodial parent lives overseas – how do they facilitate a relationship with the child and the overseas parent? Unfortunately, there are many horror stories of children travelling overseas to visit one parent and that parent refusing to return the child to their home base in Jamaica. It is hard to determine when this is going to happen, but often, there are warning signs that should be heeded.

Before you send your child to visit his father, ensure that you have a custody determination from the court in Jamaica. This is to ensure that you are the custodial parent and that the child should reside in your custody and control. You can also seek a support order to ensure that the father is financially supporting the child. The custody order can also lay out visitation and communication with the father.

While a custody order will not stop a parent from defying the order and keeping the child overseas in violation of the order, it gives the custodial parent a strong position in the overseas court and grounds to have the child returned to Jamaica. Keep in mind that if the child stays in the foreign jurisdiction for six months, the new jurisdiction can take control of the matter of custody.

Dahlia A. Walker-Huntington, Esq. is a Jamaican-American attorney who practises immigration law in the United States; and family, criminal and international law in Florida. She is a diversity and inclusion consultant, mediator and former special magistrate and hearing officer in Broward County, Florida. info@walkerhuntington.com