Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act
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The federal Parental Kidnapping Protection Act (PKPA), is an Act of Congress signed into law in 1980. The purpose of the Act was to establish national standards for the assertion of child custody jurisdiction within the United States. The Act does not explicitly state which is the proper state in which an initial child custody matter should be filed, but provides that the assertion of child custody jurisdiction by any State without consideration of the Act's requirements does not provide a resulting "full faith and credit" in other States.
The PKPA provides that only those child custody determinations made by a child's "home state" are eligible for full faith and credit (if there is, in fact a home state. Thus, entry of a child custody order on a jurisdictional basis other than "home state" may render that child custody determination unenforcable in any other other State’s courts. This is true even if jurisdiction was assumed under a provision unique to that state that would otherwise allow the State to assume jurisdiction over that matter within its own boundaries.
The passage of the PKPA was a reaction to some state's interpretations of the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act that the four basis stated in the UCCJA for assertion of child custody jurisdiction were alternative, rather than hierarchical. Thus, although the drafters of the UCCJA intended that the "home state" always be the state in which child custody actions were litigated, some states' courts determined that child custody jurisdiction existed merely because one or the other parent or the child had some “significant connection” with the state rather than because the child had lived there for six-months or more.
In addition to its provisions for full faith and credit, the PKPA explicitly provides that a State cannot modify the child custody decree of another state without complying with the terms of the PKPA. Thus, if a State modifies a previous child custody order without compliance with the PKPA, the modification is not entitled to full faith and credit in other states.
In 1999, Congress enacted an amendment that explicitly includes “visitation” rights in the definition of “custody” rights covered by the Act. Accordingly, the determination or modification of either legal custody, residence or visitation rights must comply with the PKPA or risk a lack of enforcement in other states.
