I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3941

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 11, 2004

Mr. LAMPSON (for himself, Mr. CHABOT, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Ms. 

DELAURO, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. FROST, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. 

FOLEY, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. BERRY, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mrs. 

NAPOLITANO, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr. MOORE, Mr. WYNN, 

Mr. TIERNEY, Mr. ETHERIDGE, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Mr. SANDLIN, Mr. 

TURNER of Texas, Mr. BAIRD, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. FARR, Mrs. 

TAUSCHER, Mr. POMEROY, Mr. CARDOZA, Mr. HONDA, Mr. RUSH, Mr. 

PASCRELL, Mr. GORDON, Mr. EDWARDS, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. MATSUI, 

Mr. PALLONE, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mrs. MALONEY, Ms. LINDA T. SA ́NCHEZ

of California, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. WEINER, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. DEFAZIO, 

Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. SOLIS, Mr. 

GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. VISCLOSKY, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. ISRAEL, Mr. PRICE of 

North Carolina, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. REYES, Ms. 

ESHOO, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. BECERRA, Ms. NORTON, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. 

BURTON of Indiana, Mr. KIND, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. OLVER, Mr. ACKERMAN, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. JOHN, Mr. BACA, Mr. BRADY

of Pennsylvania, Mr. HOLT, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, 

Mr. KANJORSKI, Mr. KING of New York, Ms. LEE, Mr. MCINTYRE, Ms. 

ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California, Mr. WEXLER, 

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, 

Mr. DOYLE, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. STUPAK, Mr. HOYER, Ms. 

MCCOLLUM, Mr. EVANS, Mr. GEPHARDT, Mr. HEFLEY, Ms. DEGETTE, 

Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. HILL, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. CROWLEY, Mrs. LOWEY, 

Mr. OSE, Mr. DAVIS of Tennessee, Ms. HART, Mr. BELL, and Mr. BEREUTER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on International Relations, and Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently 

determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
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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: 

10 ‘‘(i) If a court of one State makes a child custody 

11 determination in accordance with subsection (c) and if 

12 that determination is in conflict with a determination 

13 made by another State in accordance with subsection (c), 

14 a contestant for whom such a determination was made 

15 may bring an action in the district court of the United 

16 States the district of which includes the resident of such 

17 contestant to determine, on the basis of the best interests 

18 of the child involved, which determination shall prevail.’’. 
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1 SEC. 3. NATIONAL REGISTRY OF CUSTODY ORDERS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall estab3 lish a national child custody and visitation registry in 

4 which shall be entered—

5 (1) certified copies of custody and visitation de6 terminations made by courts throughout the United 

7 States (and foreign custody orders concerning chil8 dren temporarily or permanently resident in the 

9 United States); 

10 (2) information identifying pending proceedings 

11 in courts throughout the United States for initial, 

12 modification, or enforcement orders; and 

13 (3) information identifying proceedings filed in 

14 any court in the United States pursuant to the 

15 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Inter16 national Child Abduction and the International 

17 Child Abduction Remedies Act, and resulting orders. 

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

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

20 and the District of Columbia, in providing relevant infor21 mation to the registry on an ongoing basis. The Attorney 

22 General shall provide such financial and technical assist23 ance as necessary. 

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

25 courts, law enforcement officials, custody contestants and 

26 their legal representatives 
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1 SEC. 4. DETENTION OF CHILDREN LISTED AS MISSING. 

2 Law enforcement officers of any State or local gov3 ernment may hold, for not more than 24 hours or until 

4 a disposition can be made, any child listed under any cat5 egory of the Missing Person File by the National Crime 

6 Information Center for the proper disposition of the child 

7 in accordance with the latest valid custody determination 

8 applicable to the child. 

9 SEC. 5. INTERNATIONAL CHILD ABDUCTION REMEDIES. 

10 (a) LEGAL ASSISTANCE FOR VICTIMS OF PARENTAL

11 KIDNAPPING.—Section 7 of the International Child Ab12 duction Remedies Act (42 U.S.C. 11606) is amended by 

13 adding at the end the following new subsection: 

14 ‘‘(f) LEGAL ASSISTANCE FOR VICTIMS OF PARENTAL

15 KIDNAPPING GRANTS.—

16 ‘‘(1) FUNDING TO LEGAL SERVICES PRO17 VIDERS.—The Central Authority shall establish a 

18 program to provide funding to legal services pro19 viders, including private attorneys, public officials 

20 acting pursuant to the Uniform Child Custody Ju21 risdiction and Enforcement Act, legal aid programs, 

22 and law school clinical programs, to provide direct 

23 legal or advocacy services on behalf of persons seek24 ing remedies under the Convention, or other civil or 

25 criminal remedies in interstate or international pa26 rental kidnapping cases. 
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1 ‘‘(2) TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—

2 The Central Authority, directly or through grants, 

3 shall provide training and technical assistance to re4 cipients of funds under paragraph (1) to improve 

5 their capacity to offer legal assistance described in 

6 paragraph (1).’’. 

7 (b) LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION.—The Legal 

8 Services Corporation may use funds made available to the 

9 Corporation for programs to represent aliens in pro10 ceedings brought in the United States under the Conven11 tion—

12 (1) if the individuals to whom the representa13 tion is provided otherwise meet the criteria of the 

14 Corporation for eligible clients under the Legal Serv15 ices Corporation Act; and 

16 (2) whether or not such individuals are resident 

17 in the United States. 

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

19 of the International Child Abduction Remedies Act (42 

20 U.S.C. 11607(b)) is amended—

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

22 paragraphs (3) through (4), respectively; 

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

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

25 petitioner in connection with a petition seeking the 
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1 return of, or rights of access to, a child located in 

2 the United States, pursuant to this Act. 

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

4 of legal counsel or advisors, court costs incurred in connec5 tion with their petitions (other than petitions described in 

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

7 involved and any accompanying persons, except as pro8 vided in paragraphs (3) and (4).’’; and 

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

10 (A) by striking ‘‘paragraph (3)’’ and in11 serting ‘‘paragraph (4)’’; and 

12 (B) by inserting ‘‘(other than in connection 

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

14 after ‘‘or court costs’’. 

15 (d) RESPONSIBILITIES OF UNITED STATES CENTRAL

16 AUTHORITY.—Section 7 of the International Child Abduc17 tion Remedies Act (42 U.S.C. 11606) is amended by add18 ing at the end the following new subsections: 

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

20 Central Authority shall encourage the Chief Justice of 

21 every State and the District of Columbia to designate a 

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

23 brought under the Convention may be heard. The Central 

24 Authority may provide technical assistance (including 

25 computers and Internet access) as necessary to foster con-
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1 solidation of jurisdiction and implementation of the Con2 vention, consistent with the purposes of the Convention. 

3 ‘‘(g) TRAINING.—The United States Central Author4 ity shall provide or promote training of State court judges, 

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

6 pertaining to interstate and international parental kidnap7 ping. To carry out this subsection, the United States Cen8 tral Authority may make available funds under subsection 

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

10 bar associations, and law schools. The United States Cen11 tral Authority shall require recipients of such funds to re12 port on the training programs they present, including the 

13 number of participants.’’. 

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

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

16 end the following: 

17 ‘‘(c) CONTINUING EDUCATION AND TRAINING PRO18 GRAMS.—The Center shall include in its continuing edu19 cation and training programs, including the training pro20 grams for newly appointed judges, information on the 

21 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International 

22 Child Abduction, the International Child Abduction Rem23 edies Act, the International Parental Kidnapping Crime 

24 Act, and other Federal statutes pertaining to parental kid25 napping within the jurisdiction of the Federal courts, and 
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1 shall prepare materials necessary to carry out this sub2 section.’’. 

3 SEC. 6. REPORTS RELATING TO INTERNATIONAL CHILD AB4 DUCTION. 

5 (a) REPORT ON PROGRESS IN NEGOTIATING BILAT6 ERAL TREATIES WITH NON-HAGUE CONVENTION COUN7 TRIES.—The Secretary of State shall prepare and submit 

8 to the Congress an annual report on progress made by 

9 the United States in negotiating and entering into bilat10 eral treaties (or other international agreements) relating 

11 to international child abduction with countries that are not 

12 contracting parties to the Hague Convention on the Civil 

13 Aspects of International Child Abduction. 

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

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

16 U.S.C. 2151n(d)) is amended—

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

18 end and inserting a semicolon; 

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

20 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

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

23 prohibit international child abduction, including—
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1 ‘‘(A) efforts to expedite the return of chil2 dren to the country of their habitual residence; 

3 and 

4 ‘‘(B) the extent to which the country re5 spects the rights of custody and of access under 

6 the laws of other countries.’’. 

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

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

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

10 section shall include information on the status of efforts 

11 in each country to prohibit international child abduction, 

12 including efforts to expedite the return of children to the 

13 country of their habitual residence and the extent to which 

14 the country respects the rights of custody and of access 

15 under the laws of other countries.’’. 

16 (c) REPORT ON ENFORCEMENT OF SECTION 1204 OF

17 TITLE 18, UNITED STATES CODE.—The Attorney Gen18 eral, in consultation with the Secretary of State, shall pre19 pare and submit to the Congress an annual report that 

20 contains a description of the status of each case involving 

21 a request during the preceding year for extradition to the 

22 United States of an individual alleged to have violated sec23 tion 1204 of title 18, United States Code. 
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1 SEC. 7. SUPPORT FOR UNIFORM CHILD CUSTODY JURIS2 DICTION AND ENFORCEMENT ACT. 

3 From amounts made available to carry out this sec4 tion, the Attorney General shall support, directly or 

5 through grants and contracts, the adoption and implemen6 tation by the States of the Uniform Child Custody Juris7 diction and Enforcement Act, as adopted by the National 

8 Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (in 

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

10 provided under this section shall include the following ac11 tivities: 

12 (1) Activities to promote the adoption of the 

13 UCCJEA by States that have not yet adopted it. 

14 (2) Activities to provide training to lawyers and 

15 to judges and other appropriate public officials to 

16 ensure that the UCCJEA is implemented effectively 

17 and uniformly throughout the United States. 

18 (3) Activities to provide guidance and funding 

19 to States to facilitate and expedite the enforcement 

20 by those States of the custody and visitation provi21 sions of the UCCJEA. 

22 SEC. 8. FEDERAL JUDICIAL CENTER EDUCATION PRO23 GRAMS ON PARENTAL KIDNAPPING. 

24 The Federal Judicial Center, in fulfilling its function 

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

26 continuing education and training for personnel of the ju-
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1 dicial branch of the Government and other persons (as 

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

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

4 training, and materials on the Hague Convention on the 

5 Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, the Inter6 national Child Abduction Remedies Act, the International 

7 Parental Kidnapping Crime Act, and such other inter8 national and Federal laws relating to parental kidnapping 

9 as are within the jurisdiction of the Federal courts. 

10 SEC. 9. USE OF SUPERVISED VISITATION CENTERS UNDER 

11 THE SAFE HAVENS FOR CHILDREN PILOT 

12 PROGRAM IN SITUATIONS INVOLVING THE 

13 RISK OF PARENTAL KIDNAPPING. 

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

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

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

17 kidnapping’’. 

18 SEC. 10. DISCLOSURE OF TAXPAYER IDENTITY INFORMA19 TION TO NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING 

20 AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (m) of section 6103 of 

22 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to disclosure 

23 of taxpayer identity information) is amended by adding 

24 at the end the following new paragraph: 
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1 ‘‘(8) REQUESTS FROM THE NATIONAL CENTER

2 FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN.—Upon 

3 written request by the National Center for Missing 

4 and Exploited Children, the Secretary may disclose 

5 the mailing address and any business address of any 

6 taxpayer or dependent thereof pursuant to section 

7 404 of the Missing Children’s Assistance Act, for 

8 use only by the National Center for Missing and Ex9 ploited Children in locating and recovering missing 

10 and exploited children.’’. 

11 (b) SAFEGUARDS.—Paragraph (4) of section 6103(p) 

12 of such Code (relating to safeguards) is amended—

13 (1) by striking ‘‘(16) or’’ and inserting ‘‘(16), 

14 or’’, 

15 (2) by inserting ‘‘or in subsection (m)(8)’’ after 

16 ‘‘(20)’’ each place it occurs, and 

17 (3) by ‘‘or (7) of subsection (m)’’ and inserting 

18 ‘‘(7), or (8) of subsection (m)’’. 

19 (c) CRIMINAL PENALTY FOR UNAUTHORIZED DIS20 CLOSURE OF INFORMATION.—Paragraph (2) of section 

21 7213(a) of such Code (relating to State and other employ22 ees) is amended by striking ‘‘or (7)’’ and inserting ‘‘(7), 

23 or (8)’’. 
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1 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

2 this section shall apply to requests made after the date 

3 of the enactment of this Act.

Æ