A personal tribute to Denise Carter OBE

This network quickly became an invaluable resource and information hub for parents. Some years later, the group changed its name to Reunite. In 1990, it became a registered charity with Denise becoming its first Director, working very closely with the late Anne-Marie Hutchinson OBE, a renowned practitioner in this field.

In 1995, Reunite launched the very successful Child Abduction Prevention Pack in collaboration with the Home Office, Foreign & Commonwealth Office, the Lord Chancellor’s office and the police services, outlining steps to prevent a child being taken out of the country.

In 1999 Reunite changed its name to Reunite International Child Abduction Centre and it remains the world’s leading non-governmental organisation looking after the interests of abducted children and lobbying for improved changes in law and practice internationally.

Denise life’s work was dedicated to the development of this Charity to ensure the voices of the parents and children involved in these high conflict cases was heard. She worked with politicians, senior judges and policy makers at an international level to help reduce the numbers of children affected by this growing global problem.

Denise was recognised with an OBE for her services to her work in this field; an honour so justly deserved having devoted her working life as a creative, inspirational leader and global innovator providing support and guidance to parents whose children had been abducted.

Denise knew family mediation could be a successful means of resolving family disputes, but the general perceived wisdom had been that it would be almost impossible to reach mediated agreement against the backdrop of the very fraught situation of a child abducted by one parent and taken across national borders.  Denise disagreed. She had a vision for such cases to be resolved within mediation, and not just the issue of the abduction itself but broader issues of parenting. 

Denise and others created and then launched a pilot scheme in 2000, with funding from the Nuffield Foundation for research to determine the best model and the surrounding circumstances to make mediation more likely to work.  Over the next few years, working closely with the High Court judiciary and with specialist solicitors and barristers and with distinctive support from the late Mr Justice Peter Singer, the pilot scheme proved very successful with agreements being reached between the parents in perhaps three quarters of cases.

The Reunite pilot project (as it was then named) demonstrated the effectiveness of mediation in resolving international child abduction cases. The successful launch of mediation in child abduction work was fully supported by successive Presidents of the Family Division.  Organisations elsewhere in Europe (notably in the Netherlands and Germany) have taken the pilot project model and adapted it for their jurisdictions.  This is a key part of Denise’s legacy, and, without doubt, many child abduction cases are now resolved in a very different manner as a direct consequence of Denise’s drive and unfailing commitment in this area.

Denise was herself a qualified mediator and became a leading international child mediator. She became one of the UK’s first child inclusive mediators, able to meet with a child so that their voice could be heard within the mediation process itself.

In 2013 Denise was awarded ADR Practitioner of the Year by LEXIS-NEXIS, then Jordans.

Denise co-founded Aim Mediation, a specialist mediation service, in Leicester and became their Director from 2012 to 2015 when she stepped back to focus fully on international case work.

In 2015 Denise became Head of Mediation Services at The International Family Law Group LLP, a specialist law firm based in Central London working with international families around the world.  She conducted many mediations in England, in the Emirates and the Middle East, and elsewhere around the world.  She also co-mediated with a finance specialist mediator on the basis that both the children’s issues and the financial consequences needed to be overall agreed before a settlement would be acceptable to the parents.

Denise was regularly invited to speak and train others by senior judiciary abroad, with the support of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the English judiciary.  This included Pakistan and Egypt. Throughout Denise’s career, she continued to lobby the government for improved changes in law and practice internationally. She was in much demand as a speaker at conferences throughout the world. She was invited to become member of the prestigious Hague group of experts in respect of the 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention; a Convention for which she was a strong advocate.

Denise had never anticipated becoming involved in child abduction work.  But having done so, she made sure that parents had support, that information was available to all family lawyers and she advocated, passionately, for the use of mediation in an attempt to resolve matters outside the fraught court arena.  Child abduction remains one of the worst experiences possible for any parent and child, but Denise worked tirelessly to support and assist families caught up in parental child abduction.

Under Denise’s guidance and Directorship, Reunite became a leading and well-established UK charity focussing on international parental child abduction and the movement of children across international borders. Denise was at the helm of reunite for over 17 years. For so many parents, lawyers, academics and judges, she will always be associated with this Charity.

The profession is saddened by the loss of this outstanding, innovative and dedicated practitioner who has done so much for countless parents and to promote awareness of international child abduction around the world for so many decades. Above all, those who worked with her saw Denise as wonderfully kind and supportive to them. She had an infectious personality and smile that I will always remember. Thank you too, Denise, for teaching me the correct way to drink tequila!

Ann Thomas
Senior Partner, The International Family Law Group, London
Ann.thomas@iflg.uk.com