II 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2202

To amend title 28, United States Code, to give district courts of the United 

States jurisdiction over competing State custody determinations, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 11, 2004

Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself, Mr. FEINGOLD, and Mrs. LINCOLN) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on the Judiciary 

A BILL

To amend title 28, United States Code, to give district 

courts of the United States jurisdiction over competing 

State custody determinations, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bring Our Children 

5 Home Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. JURISDICTION OVER COMPETING STATE CUSTODY 

7 ORDERS. 

8 Section 1738A of title 28, United States Code, is 

9 amended by adding at the end the following: 
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1 ‘‘(i) If a court of 1 State makes a child custody deter2 mination in accordance with subsection (c) and if that de3 termination is in conflict with a determination made by 

4 another State in accordance with subsection (c), a contest5 ant for whom such a determination was made may bring 

6 an action in the district court of the United States the 

7 district of which includes the resident of such contestant 

8 to determine, on the basis of the best interests of the child 

9 involved, which determination shall prevail.’’. 

10 SEC. 3. NATIONAL REGISTRY OF CUSTODY ORDERS. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall estab12 lish a national child custody and visitation registry in 

13 which shall be entered— 

14 (1) certified copies of custody and visitation de15 terminations made by courts throughout the United 

16 States (and foreign custody orders concerning chil17 dren temporarily or permanently resident in the 

18 United States); 

19 (2) information identifying pending proceedings 

20 in courts throughout the United States for initial, 

21 modification, or enforcement orders; and 

22 (3) information identifying proceedings filed in 

23 any court in the United States pursuant to the 

24 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Inter-
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1 national Child Abduction and the International 

2 Child Abduction Remedies Act, and resulting orders. 

3 (b) COOPERATION.—The Attorney General shall seek 

4 the cooperation of Federal and State courts in each State, 

5 and the District of Columbia, in providing relevant infor6 mation to the registry on an ongoing basis. The Attorney 

7 General shall provide such financial and technical assist8 ance as necessary. 

9 (c) ACCESS.—The registry shall be accessible to 

10 courts, law enforcement officials, custody contestants, and 

11 their legal representatives. 

12 SEC. 4. DETENTION OF CHILDREN LISTED AS MISSING. 

13 Law enforcement officers of any State or local gov14 ernment may hold, for not more than 24 hours or until 

15 a disposition can be made, any child listed under any cat16 egory of the Missing Person File by the National Crime 

17 Information Center for the proper disposition of the child 

18 in accordance with the latest valid custody determination 

19 applicable to the child. 

20 SEC. 5. INTERNATIONAL CHILD ABDUCTION REMEDIES. 

21 (a) LEGAL ASSISTANCE FOR VICTIMS OF PARENTAL

22 KIDNAPPING.—Section 7 of the International Child Ab23 duction Remedies Act (42 U.S.C. 11606) is amended by 

24 adding at the end the following: 
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1 ‘‘(f) LEGAL ASSISTANCE FOR VICTIMS OF PARENTAL

2 KIDNAPPING GRANTS.— 

3 ‘‘(1) FUNDING TO LEGAL SERVICES PRO4 VIDERS.—The Central Authority shall establish a 

5 program to provide funding to legal services pro6 viders, including private attorneys, public officials 

7 acting pursuant to the Uniform Child Custody Ju8 risdiction and Enforcement Act, legal aid programs, 

9 and law school clinical programs, to provide direct 

10 legal or advocacy services on behalf of persons seek11 ing remedies under the Convention, or other civil or 

12 criminal remedies in interstate or international pa13 rental kidnapping cases. 

14 ‘‘(2) TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—

15 The Central Authority, directly or through grants, 

16 shall provide training and technical assistance to re17 cipients of funds under paragraph (1) to improve 

18 their capacity to offer legal assistance described in 

19 paragraph (1).’’. 

20 (b) LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION.—The Legal 

21 Services Corporation may use funds made available to the 

22 Corporation for programs to represent aliens in pro23 ceedings brought in the United States under the Conven24 tion— 
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1 (1) if the individuals to whom the representa2 tion is provided otherwise meet the criteria of the 

3 Corporation for eligible clients under the Legal Serv4 ices Corporation Act; and 

5 (2) whether or not such individuals are resident 

6 in the United States. 

7 (c) EXEMPTION FROM COURT COSTS.—Section 8(b) 

8 of the International Child Abduction Remedies Act (42 

9 U.S.C. 11607(b)) is amended— 

10 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and (3) as 

11 paragraphs (3) and (4), respectively; 

12 (2) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the 

13 following: ‘‘(1) No court costs may be assessed on a 

14 petitioner in connection with a petition seeking the 

15 return of, or rights of access to, a child located in 

16 the United States, pursuant to this Act. 

17 ‘‘(2) Petitioners may be required to bear the costs 

18 of legal counsel or advisors, court costs incurred in connec19 tion with their petitions (other than petitions described in 

20 paragraph (1)) and travel costs for the return of the child 

21 involved and any accompanying persons, except as pro22 vided in paragraphs (3) and (4).’’; and 

23 (3) in paragraph (3), as so redesignated— 

24 (A) by striking ‘‘paragraph (3)’’ and in25 serting ‘‘paragraph (4)’’; and
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1 (B) by inserting ‘‘(other than in connection 

2 with a petition described in paragraph (1))’’ 

3 after ‘‘or court costs’’. 

4 (d) RESPONSIBILITIES OF UNITED STATES CENTRAL

5 AUTHORITY.—Section 7 of the International Child Abduc6 tion Remedies Act (42 U.S.C. 11606) is amended by add7 ing at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(f) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The United States 

9 Central Authority shall encourage the Chief Justice of 

10 every State and the District of Columbia to designate a 

11 single court, or a limited number of courts, in which cases 

12 brought under the Convention may be heard. The Central 

13 Authority may provide technical assistance (including 

14 computers and Internet access) as necessary to foster con15 solidation of jurisdiction and implementation of the Con16 vention, consistent with the purposes of the Convention. 

17 ‘‘(g) TRAINING.—The United States Central Author18 ity shall provide or promote training of State court judges, 

19 lawyers, and law students on the civil and criminal laws 

20 pertaining to interstate and international parental kidnap21 ping. To carry out this subsection, the United States Cen22 tral Authority may make available funds under subsection 

23 (e) to State judicial educators, national, State, and local 

24 bar associations, and law schools. The United States Cen25 tral Authority shall require recipients of such funds to re-
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1 port on the training programs they present, including the 

2 number of participants.’’. 

3 (e) FEDERAL JUDICIAL CENTER.—Section 620 of 

4 title 28, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

5 end the following: 

6 ‘‘(c) CONTINUING EDUCATION AND TRAINING PRO7 GRAMS.—The Center shall include in its continuing edu8 cation and training programs, including the training pro9 grams for newly appointed judges, information on the 

10 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International 

11 Child Abduction, the International Child Abduction Rem12 edies Act, the International Parental Kidnapping Crime 

13 Act, and other Federal statutes pertaining to parental kid14 napping within the jurisdiction of the Federal courts, and 

15 shall prepare materials necessary to carry out this sub16 section.’’. 

17 SEC. 6. REPORTS RELATING TO INTERNATIONAL CHILD AB18 DUCTION. 

19 (a) REPORT ON PROGRESS IN NEGOTIATING BILAT20 ERAL TREATIES WITH NON-HAGUE CONVENTION COUN21 TRIES.—The Secretary of State shall prepare and submit 

22 to the Congress an annual report on progress made by 

23 the United States in negotiating and entering into bilat24 eral treaties (or other international agreements) relating 

25 to international child abduction with countries that are not 
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1 contracting parties to the Hague Convention on the Civil 

2 Aspects of International Child Abduction. 

3 (b) REPORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES.—(1) 

4 Section 116(d) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 

5 U.S.C. 2151n(d)) is amended— 

6 (A) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

7 end and inserting a semicolon; 

8 (B) in paragraph (8), by striking the period at 

9 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

10 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(9) the status of efforts in each country to 

12 prohibit international child abduction, including— 

13 ‘‘(A) efforts to expedite the return of chil14 dren to the country of their habitual residence; 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(B) the extent to which the country re17 spects the rights of custody and of access under 

18 the laws of other countries.’’. 

19 (2) Section 502B(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act 

20 of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2304(b)) is amended by inserting after 

21 the sixth sentence the following: ‘‘Each report under this 

22 section shall include information on the status of efforts 

23 in each country to prohibit international child abduction, 

24 including efforts to expedite the return of children to the 

25 country of their habitual residence and the extent to which 
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1 the country respects the rights of custody and of access 

2 under the laws of other countries.’’. 

3 (c) REPORT ON ENFORCEMENT OF SECTION 1204 OF

4 TITLE 18, UNITED STATES CODE.—The Attorney Gen5 eral, in consultation with the Secretary of State, shall pre6 pare and submit to the Congress an annual report that 

7 contains a description of the status of each case involving 

8 a request during the preceding year for extradition to the 

9 United States of an individual alleged to have violated sec10 tion 1204 of title 18, United States Code. 

11 SEC. 7. SUPPORT FOR UNIFORM CHILD CUSTODY JURIS12 DICTION AND ENFORCEMENT ACT. 

13 From amounts made available to carry out this sec14 tion, the Attorney General shall support, directly or 

15 through grants and contracts, the adoption and implemen16 tation by the States of the Uniform Child Custody Juris17 diction and Enforcement Act, as adopted by the National 

18 Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (in 

19 this section referred to as the ‘‘UCCJEA’’). The support 

20 provided under this section shall include the following ac21 tivities: 

22 (1) Activities to promote the adoption of the 

23 UCCJEA by States that have not yet adopted it. 

24 (2) Activities to provide training to lawyers and 

25 to judges and other appropriate public officials to 
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1 ensure that the UCCJEA is implemented effectively 

2 and uniformly throughout the United States. 

3 (3) Activities to provide guidance and funding 

4 to States to facilitate and expedite the enforcement 

5 by those States of the custody and visitation provi6 sions of the UCCJEA. 

7 SEC. 8. FEDERAL JUDICIAL CENTER EDUCATION PRO8 GRAMS ON PARENTAL KIDNAPPING. 

9 The Federal Judicial Center, in fulfilling its function 

10 to stimulate, create, develop, and conduct programs of 

11 continuing education and training for personnel of the ju12 dicial branch of the Government and other persons (as 

13 specified in section 620(b)(3) of title 28, United States 

14 Code), shall ensure that those programs include education, 

15 training, and materials on the Hague Convention on the 

16 Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, the Inter17 national Child Abduction Remedies Act, the International 

18 Parental Kidnapping Crime Act, and such other inter19 national and Federal laws relating to parental kidnapping 

20 as are within the jurisdiction of the Federal courts. 
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1 SEC. 9. USE OF SUPERVISED VISITATION CENTERS UNDER 

2 THE SAFE HAVENS FOR CHILDREN PILOT 

3 PROGRAM IN SITUATIONS INVOLVING THE 

4 RISK OF PARENTAL KIDNAPPING. 

5 Section 1301(a) of the Violence Against Women Act 

6 of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 10420(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘or 

7 stalking’’ and inserting ‘‘stalking, or the risk of parental 

8 kidnapping’’.

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