Custody & Kidnapping

Are you concerned that the other parent will file for (and get) custody while the child is there. Or are you worried that the parent will refuse to return the child in violation of your current custody order and the police will not help?

Generally, under a federal law called the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction And Enforcement Act (“UCCJEA”), states are supposed to recognize and enforce other states’ orders. And for a parent to file for and get custody, when there is an exisiting order, generally the parent files in the same court to modify it. A parent may be able to file for emergency temporary custody in a different state if the child is subject to maltreatment or abuse or abandoned and then usually, the order lasts for as long as the judge thinks is sufficient for the parents to return to the original court that issued the original order.

If a parent holds a child in a different state and refuses to return the child in violation of a clear custody order saying otherwise, perhaps that parent may be able to get help from the police in the state where the child is being held to intervene. However, in many states, if a parent violates a custody order by taking the child out of state and keeping the child there, the police may not enforce another state’s court order. The parent may be able to file for contempt in the state that issued the custody order and get a bench warrant for the other parent to produce the child in court. However, in many states, the police will not enforce a bench warrant issued by another state’s judge. Often, the parent trying to enforce the custody order may have to go to the state where the other parent is holding the child to file for an emergency pick-up order in that state’s court, which could then be enforced by police. Sometimes the parent may be able to get a lawyer in the state where the child is being held to file it on his/her behalf without going to that state. You may want to talk to a lawyer in the state where the child is being held. Also, if you are a domestic violence victim, you may be able to get help from the Legal Resource Center on Violence Against Women, which specializes in interstate custody matters for abused women. Their number is 301-270-1550. Since I cannot give advice and am not knowledgable about the particular states involved, I cannot say whether or not you may have a hard time getting police in another state to enforce a court order. Since you are worried about this situation, perhaps you may be able to talk to the police there before going to find out how they would handle such a situation and/or talk to a lawyer there for advice on what to do if the father refused to turn over the child. Here is a link for sheriffs’ departments in [DAD’S STATE] LINK as well as lawyers: LINK

While talking to a lawyer, one idea you may want to get advice on is if you should first try to modify the existing custody order to put specific information in the order about the child’s trip (for example, the number of days of the trip, the return date/ time, etc.) I am really not sure what may be possible to put into a custody order in your state or whether you would have legal grounds to modify it or not. In some states, a court may not want to get into the specifics about visitation schedules, unless there is good reason to – again, I cannot speak to your state or your specific situation. You will have to talk to a lawyer for advice. And here, just in case, is some information in general on custody: LINK