International Child Recovery Services
Specialist child abduction recovery support for families and legal advisers in the UK and internationally. Pegasus Ops conducts physical investigations to locate children and plans and coordinates lawful recovery operations, with the child’s welfare and the legal position guiding each engagement.
Child abduction recovery, from investigation to return
If your child has been taken abroad or has not returned after an agreed visit, the first questions are where they are, what has changed and what can lawfully happen next. We bring location enquiries, investigative work and recovery planning together around the circumstances of the case, working alongside the family’s legal advisers.
Jay Jordan’s experience includes sensitive cross-border child-recovery assignments, alongside military service and private family protection. The child’s welfare, the legal position and the reliability of the information shape the work from the first conversation.
20 recoveries.
Child-recovery work across 45+ countries.
Pegasus Ops has operated in 70+ countries overall, with child-recovery work spanning 45+ countries. Each assignment brings information gathering, careful planning and coordination together around the circumstances of the case.
Selected recovery locations
- United Kingdom
- Germany
- Ukraine2 recoveries
- Spain
- Japan2 recoveries
- Turkey2 recoveries
- Cyprus
- Lebanon2 recoveries
- Vietnam
- Switzerland
- Monaco
- Thailand
- Poland
- Serbia
- Romania
- Bulgaria
Individual cases have involved work across further countries. Client identities and operational details remain confidential.
Establishing the facts before action
An initial discussion helps establish what is known about the child’s location, the relevant family circumstances, professional advisers already involved and any immediate concern for welfare. The next step may require a review of information and documentation before an operational proposal can be considered.
Any proposed work must be assessed against the legal position and requirements in the jurisdictions involved. Pegasus Ops does not replace your lawyer, the police or the relevant public authorities. Appropriate professional coordination and permissions must be established for the work being considered.
From locating a child to planning their safe recovery
Pegasus Ops plans and conducts international child-recovery operations, drawing on military experience, investigative capability and detailed operational preparation. Our work can involve establishing a child’s whereabouts, assessing the circumstances, developing a recovery plan and coordinating its execution.
Each child abduction recovery operation is intelligence-led, with the preparation and discipline informed by military planning and operational experience. Each operation is shaped around the child’s welfare, the legal position and the requirements of the countries involved. The scope, responsibilities and authority for the proposed work are established before an operation proceeds.
A father, a child abroad and a difficult route home
In our published international child-recovery case, a father contacted Pegasus Ops because his son remained abroad despite the father holding full legal custody and a return order. Jay led the engagement, bringing information gathering, careful planning and cross-border coordination together. The operation concluded ten days later with the child safely returned to his father.
The case is part of the experience behind our work. Another family’s circumstances and legal position may be different, so a new enquiry begins with its own assessment.
Read about Jay Jordan, Founder and CEO, or explore authorised client testimonials for further background on our work. For preventive household support, see child protection and family safeguarding.
Child abduction investigations in the UK and overseas
Families and their legal advisers need to know what can be established, which decisions need professional input and what a proposed engagement would involve. The brief separates investigative work from any later protective or operational support.
Child abduction investigators and location enquiries
Our child abduction investigators conduct physical enquiries on the ground, check reported addresses and use lawful surveillance where appropriate to establish a child’s whereabouts. An agreed brief identifies the countries, information gaps, authority for the work and reporting requirements. We distinguish confirmed findings from assumptions so the family and its authorised advisers can decide the next step.
Coordination with the family’s advisers
The operational brief needs to sit alongside advice from the family’s legal representatives and the appropriate authorities. We agree the instructing contact, the information that can be shared and the responsibilities of the people involved before proceeding.
Protective planning where required
If circumstances call for personal protection or travel support, those requirements are assessed and scoped separately. Our close-protection service and travel-security planning can support an agreed brief, with coverage, personnel and coordination confirmed for the engagement.
Continuity after an engagement
A family may need to review household arrangements, school journeys, travel or trusted access after a serious concern. Child protection and family safeguarding provides a separate preventive route, with any follow-on work agreed around the child and the family’s circumstances.
From first contact to an agreed brief
Begin with the situation
Tell us the broad concern, the countries involved, the timing and your relationship to the child. Provide a safe way to contact you. Detailed documents and identifying information can be reviewed later through an agreed channel.
Assess the information and scope
We discuss what is known, which advisers are involved and what further assessment is needed. Any paid investigative or planning work is proposed with its scope, deliverables, fee and reporting arrangements before it begins.
Agree any next stage
An assessment may identify a possible next step or establish that a proposed action cannot proceed. Further work needs its own agreed scope, responsibilities and professional coordination; it does not follow automatically from an initial enquiry.
Questions families and legal advisers ask
My child has been taken abroad without consent. Can you help?
We can assess whether investigative support would help establish the facts, locate the child or inform an agreed next step. Contact the police about suspected abduction and seek advice from a suitably qualified family lawyer. The GOV.UK guidance on international parental child abduction explains official routes for children taken or kept overseas. Our role is considered alongside that professional and official support.
Can you help locate an abducted child?
An agreed child-abduction investigation can review existing information, assess leads and scope location enquiries across the relevant countries. We explain what is confirmed, what remains uncertain and what further work is proposed. For a broader search where the circumstances are not yet clear, see our missing person investigations. Any later recovery support requires a separate assessment of the child’s welfare, the legal position and the authority for the proposed work.
Can you guarantee a child’s return?
No. The outcome depends on the facts, the child’s welfare, the legal position and circumstances in the countries involved. We assess each enquiry individually and explain the proposed work and its limits before a decision is made.
Can child abduction solicitors instruct Pegasus Ops?
Yes. Child abduction solicitors and other family-law advisers can begin the conversation on a family’s behalf. We establish the instructing party, authorised contacts and the scope of information sharing, so the investigative or operational brief can be considered alongside the legal work.
What does a child-recovery assessment include, and what does it cost?
Costs depend on the countries involved, the information available and the agreed assessment, investigation or planning work. Before paying, establish the questions to be examined, the enquiries included, the reporting format, authorised recipients, timetable, fee and expenses.
Findings should distinguish confirmed information from unverified leads and identify what remains unresolved. Any further investigation or recovery operation needs its own decision and agreed scope. Our child-recovery assessment and cost guide explains the factors to compare in a written proposal.
What should I send with the first enquiry?
A short overview, the countries involved, any immediate welfare concern and a safe contact method are enough to start. Keep identity documents, court papers, exact locations and other sensitive details out of the general enquiry form. We can agree how necessary material will be reviewed.
What if my child has not returned after a holiday abroad?
We can discuss an enquiry concerning parental abduction or a child being kept abroad after an agreed visit. Explain the original arrangements, what changed and what is known about the child’s whereabouts. A suitably qualified lawyer should assess the legal position; Pegasus Ops can assess the investigative and operational work appropriate to the case.
Have you worked on child abduction cases involving Turkey?
Our child-recovery experience includes two recoveries involving Turkey, as shown in the selected locations above. A new enquiry involving Turkey or another country begins with its own assessment of the facts, the child’s welfare, the legal position and the work that can appropriately be undertaken.
Guides for families and their advisers
Practical guidance on urgent concerns, Hague and non-Hague cases, choosing support, prevention and aftercare. These ten guides complement the service information above.
My child has been taken abroad by their other parent. What should I do?
First steps, official reporting routes and organising the initial account.
My child has not returned from a holiday abroad. What information should I gather?
A practical checklist for expected arrangements, communications and location information.
Hague Convention Child Abduction: How the Return Process Works
Understand the 1980 Hague Convention, ICACU applications, return orders and the practical questions families should put to their advisers.
My Child Has Been Taken to a Non-Hague Country: What Can I Do?
Practical questions about local legal advice, reliable information and lawful support when the Hague child-abduction return route is unavailable.
Hague Return Order Not Enforced? What Families Can Do Next
Questions to ask about Hague return order enforcement, the child’s location, legal responsibilities and practical support for a lawful return.
What does an international child-recovery assessment involve, and what affects its cost?
Assessment, location enquiries, operational scope and comparing a written quotation.
How to Choose a Child-Recovery Company: Questions to Ask Before You Pay
A practical due-diligence guide to child-recovery companies: lawful scope, relevant experience, fees, information security, reporting and accountability.
How to Prevent a Child Being Taken Abroad Without Consent
A practical guide to raising travel concerns, specialist legal advice, prohibited steps orders, port alerts, passports and household safeguarding.
Worried Your Ex May Take Your Child Abroad? How to Assess the Concern
How to distinguish specific travel concerns from assumptions, preserve useful information and seek proportionate help about parental child-abduction risk.
When Your Child Comes Home After an Abduction: Planning the First Weeks
Practical aftercare planning after international child recovery: a calm handover, professional support, school coordination, privacy and reviewed safeguarding.
Explore related support
How to make an initial enquiry
Start with a brief outline and a safe way for us to contact you. Avoid sending a child’s identity documents, court records, exact location or other sensitive material through the general enquiry form. We can discuss an appropriate way to review any documents needed for an assessment.
If there is an immediate threat to a child’s safety, contact the appropriate emergency service. A website enquiry should not be relied on as an emergency response channel.