{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/children-act-1975/section-52",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/children-act-1975/section-52.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/1975/72",
  "legislation_title": "Children Act 1975",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/children-act-1975",
  "path": "section/52",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "52",
  "heading": "Return of child taken away in breach of section 51.",
  "text": "A court in which an application for a residence order in relation to a child is pending may—\n(a) on the application of a person from whose care and possession the child has been removed in breach of section 51, order the person who has so removed the child to return the child to the applicant;\n(b) on the application of a person who has reasonable grounds for believing that another person is intending to remove the child from the applicant’s care and possession in breach of section 51, by order direct that other person not to remove the child from the applicant’s care and possession in breach of that section.",
  "extent": "S",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Words in s. 52 substituted (1.11.1996) by 1995 c. 36, s. 105(4), Sch. 4 para. 26(5) (with s. 103(1)); S.I. 1996/2203, art. 3(3), Sch."
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F2",
      "text": "Words substituted by Health and Social Services and Social Security Adjudications Act 1983 (c. 41, SIF 113:3), s. 9, Sch. 2 para. 26"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1975/72/section/52",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T10:35:55.776840+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}