Are British immigration officers permitted to require evidence of a relationship between passengers and their children?

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I can't tie my suggestion for a notarized letter in with UK law, but it is recommended (not required) by the USA.

Because of increasing instances of child abduction in custody cases, and a growing number of children who are the victims of trafficking or p**nography, an immigration officer, airline, or travel company may ask you to provide some form of letter of consent if your child is traveling internationally with only one parent or with another adult, such as a grandparent, aunt, uncle, etc.
Canada has a similar recommendation.

This was recommended to me once on return to the USA with two teenaged sons who certainly could have advised the officer about something amiss. (I also had a print-out my wife's itinerary on a different airline for frequent flyer reasons.)

I would expect the UK to be even more stringent because according to my very quick glance just now, it is still possible for just one parent to obtain a passport for a child, while in the USA it requires a joint appearance by the parents except if a court order provides otherwise (or death certificate of other parent and other special cases). It is also possible for one parent to blacklist an existing American passport so that it should not be capable of use. I know someone who lost his son to his spouse (a non-US citizen) by a matter of hours before this was implemented.

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