Armed Forces Act 1981

14 Temporary removal to and detention in a place of safety abroad of children of service families in need of care or control. U.K.

(1) This section applies to a child who—

(a) forms part of the family of a person subject to service law serving in a country or territory outside the United Kingdom or of a civilian in a corresponding position;

(b) resides outside the United Kingdom with that family or another such family; and

(c) is under seventeen years of age and unmarried.

(2) This section also applies to a child who is staying (for however short a time) with a family other than the family to which he belongs but otherwise satisfies the conditions specified in subsection (1) above and so applies to him as if he resided with that family.

[F1 (3) If an officer having jurisdiction in relation to a child to whom this section applies thinks fit, he may, on being satisfied on one or more of the grounds specified in subsection (4) below that the child is in need of care or control, order the child to be removed to and detained in a place of safety.]

(4) The grounds which justify the making of such an order in relation to a child to whom this section applies are—

(a) that his proper development is being avoidably prevented or neglected or his health is being avoidably impaired or neglected or he is being or is likely to be ill-treated;

(b) that he is exposed to moral danger;

(c) that he is beyond the control of his parent or guardian or, in a case where the child resides for the time being with the family of another person, of that person.

[F2 (4A) A place of safety in which a child is required to be detained under this section may be situated either in the country or territory where the child resides or elsewhere (including in the United Kingdom); and an officer having jurisdiction in relation to a child detained in a place of safety outside the United Kingdom may make an order (including an order involving the return of the child to the United Kingdom) modifying the order by which the child is detained so as to require the child to be removed to and detained in another place of safety.]

(5) [F3 The officers having jurisdiction in relation to a child to whom this section applies or a child detained in a place of safety are]—

(a) the commanding officer of the person to whose family the child belongs;

(b) the commanding officer of the person with whose family the child resides [F4 or, as the case may be, was residing when he was removed to a place of safety]; and

(c) any officer who is superior in command to the commanding officer of either of those persons.

(6) Where a person’s commanding officer is absent or otherwise not available the power to make such an order shall, except where that person is a civilian, be exercisable, in the same circumstances and subject to the same limitations, by any officer under the command of the first-mentioned officer, being an officer of or above the following ranks, that is to say, captain, flight-lieutenant or lieutenant according as he serves in the military, air or naval forces of the Crown.

[F5 (7) An order made by virtue of subsection (3) or (4A) above shall specify the place of safety to which the child is to be removed and shall be sufficient authority for—

(a) the removal of the child to the place specified in the order;

(b) the detention of the child for the purpose of that removal in any other place or on board any ship or aircraft; and

(c) the detention of the child in the place so specified in accordance with the order.

F5 (8) An order made by virtue of subsection (3) above in relation to a child shall specify the period for which it is to have effect, being—

(a) in a case where the order is made by the commanding officer of the person to whose family the child belongs or with whose family the child resides, a period not exceeding the period of eight days beginning with the date of the order; and

(b) in a case where the order is made by an officer superior in command to the commanding officer of either of those persons, a period not exceeding the period of twenty-eight days beginning with that date;

and, subject to the following provisions of this section, neither that order nor any order under subsection (4A) above modifying that order shall authorise the detention of the child after the end of the specified period.

F5 (9) Where it at any time appears to an officer having jurisdiction in relation to a child detained by virtue of an order under this section—

(a) that the period for which the order is to have effect is less than the maximum period applicable under subsection (8) above in relation to an order made by that officer; and

(b) that it is appropriate, for any reason, for the effect of the order to be extended or further extended,

that officer may order the effect of the order to continue until a time no later after the making of the original order than the end of the said maximum period.

F5 (9A) Where a child is removed under this section to a place of safety in the United Kingdom—

(a) the order in pursuance of which he is so removed shall not authorise his detention in that place after the end of the period of twenty-four hours beginning with his arrival in that place; but

(b) the powers conferred by [F6 the Children and Young Persons Act M1 1933, the Children and Young Persons Act M2 1969][F6 the Children Act 1989], the Social Work (Scotland) Act M3 1968 and the Children and Young Persons Act (Northern Ireland) M4 1968 shall be exercisable in relation to the child as if everything which was relevant to the question under this section whether the child was in need of care or control were relevant, notwithstanding that the child is or has been detained in a place of safety, to the question whether the conditions for the exercise of any of those powers are satisfied.]

(10) No order shall be made under this section in relation to a child without affording the child’s parent or guardian and, in a case where the child resides [F7 or, as the case may be, was residing when he was removed to a place of safety under this section]with the family of another person, that person an opportunity to make representations to the officer by whom the case is being considered except where it appears to that officer that it would be undesirable to do so in the interests of the child or that it will be impracticable, or will cause unnecessary delay, to communicate with the parent or guardian or with that other person.

(11) In this section—

• “civilian in a corresponding position”, “commanding officer”, “service hospital” and “service law” have the same meanings as they have in section 13 above; and

• “place of safety” means any service hospital or other suitable place the occupier of which is willing temporarily to receive the child;

and any reference to the United Kingdom includes a reference to the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

Textual Amendments

F1 S. 14(3) substituted by Armed Forces Act 1986 (c. 21, SIF 7:1), s. 13(2)

F2 S. 14(4A) inserted by Armed Forces Act 1986 (c. 21, SIF 7:1), s. 13(3)

F3 Words substituted by Armed Forces Act 1986 (c. 21, SIF 7:1), s. 13(4)(a)

F4 Words inserted by Armed Forces Act 1986 (c. 21, SIF 7:1), s. 13(4)(b)

F5 S. 14(7)–(9A) substituted by Armed Forces Act 1986 (c. 21, SIF 7:1), s. 13(5)

F6 “The Children Act 1989” substituted (prosp.) for “the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, the Children and Young Persons Act 1969” by Children Act 1989 (c. 41, SIF 20), s. 108(2)(5), Sch. 13 para. 46

F7 Words substituted by Armed Forces Act 1986 (c. 21, SIF 7:1), s. 13(6)

Marginal Citations

M1 1933 c.12 (20).

M2 1969 c.54 (20).

M3 1968 c.49(31:3).

M4 1968 c.34. (N.I.).