a child was born in Cambodia, to a Cambodian mother, and a British father:
Does the father legally have to support this child, if the child is still living in the Cambodia, and the father goes back to the UK.
If not, what are the exceptions? If yes ,what steps should the mother take?
If not, what other options/ideas are there that would help mother support the child?
The mother may have to apply to the court in cambodia for a maintenance order, but it could be difficult to enforce.
It depends whether or not there is a child maintenance order in place, as:
Parents cannot enforce an arrangement made informally between them, it must be made legally binding first
[...]
if no (REMO, see below) agreement exists then, the receiving parent would have to apply via local courts and a payment may be much harder to enforce. Source
If there is a child maintenance order in place, then the relevant legislation is the Maintenance Orders (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1972 ( REMO).
REMO has two gateways to enforce such an order: either with "Reciprocal Countries" designated by s.1 of the Act, or with "Convention Countries" scheduled in the Recovery Abroad of Maintenance (Convention Countries) Order 1975
Unfortunately, cambodia does not appear on either list although, oddly, it is a signatory to the 1956 Convention on the Recovery Abroad of Maintenance but for some reason the UK Parliament decided against its inclusion in the 1975 Order.
