I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4347

To amend the International Child Abduction Remedies Act to provide that 

the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and its employees, when carrying out activities delegated by the United States Central 

Authority under that Act, have the protections under the Federal Tort 

Claims Act, 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 

MAY 12, 2004

Mr. HYDE (for himself, Mr. LAMPSON, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. 

GREENWOOD, Mr. HOUGHTON, Mr. MCHUGH, Mr. WOLF, Mr. BURTON

of Indiana, Ms. HARRIS, Mr. FOLEY, Mr. KING of New York, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mr. SHIMKUS, 

Mr. BERMAN, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. TURNER of Texas, Mr. 

FROST, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, and Mr. CARDOZA) 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 

A BILL

To amend the International Child Abduction Remedies Act 

to provide that the National Center for Missing and 

Exploited Children and its employees, when carrying out 

activities delegated by the United States Central Authority under that Act, have the protections under the Federal Tort Claims Act, to amend title 28, United States 

Code, to give district courts of the United States jurisdic-
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tion 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 ‘‘International Assist5 ance to Missing and Exploited Children Act of 2004’’. 

6 SEC. 2. APPLICABILITY OF FEDERAL TORT CLAIMS PROVI7 SIONS TO NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING 

8 AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN AND ITS EM9 PLOYEES. 

10 Section 7 of the International Child Abduction Rem11 edies Act (42 U.S.C. 11606) is amended by adding at the 

12 end the following new subsection: 

13 ‘‘(f) LIMITED LIABILITY OF ENTITIES REGARDING

14 DELEGATED AUTHORITY.—For purposes of section 

15 1346(b)(1) and chapter 171 of title 28, United States 

16 Code, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Chil17 dren, when carrying out responsibilities of the United 

18 States Central Authority under this Act, pursuant to a 

19 delegation of authority by the Central Authority, and any 

20 other entity to whom such responsibilities are delegated 

21 by the Central Authority, when carrying out such respon22 sibilities, shall be deemed to be part of the Department 

23 of State, and any employee of the Center or such entity, 

24 while acting within the scope of his or her employment 
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1 in carrying out such delegated responsibilities, shall be 

2 deemed to be an employee of the Government.’’. 

3 SEC. 3. JURISDICTION OVER COMPETING STATE CUSTODY 

4 ORDERS. 

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

6 amended by adding at the end the following: 

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

8 determination in accordance with subsection (c) and if 

9 that determination is in conflict with a determination 

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

11 a contestant for whom such a determination was made 

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

13 States the district of which includes the resident of such 

14 contestant to determine which determination shall pre15 vail.’’. 

16 SEC. 4. NATIONAL REGISTRY OF CUSTODY ORDERS. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall estab18 lish a national child custody and visitation registry in 

19 which shall be entered—

20 (1) certified copies of custody and visitation or21 ders made by courts throughout the United States; 

22 (2) information identifying pending proceedings 

23 in courts throughout the United States for orders 

24 described in paragraph (1), and for modification or 

25 enforcement of those orders; and 
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1 (3) information identifying proceedings filed in 

2 any court in the United States pursuant to the 

3 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Inter4 national Child Abduction and the International 

5 Child Abduction Remedies Act, and resulting orders. 

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

7 the cooperation of the Federal courts and the courts of 

8 each State and the District of Columbia in providing rel9 evant information to the registry on an ongoing basis. The 

10 Attorney General shall provide such financial and tech11 nical assistance as necessary to carry out subsection (a). 

12 (c) DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION IN REGISTRY.—

13 (1) DISCLOSURE.—Upon request filed in ac14 cordance with paragraph (3), by a court, law en15 forcement official, or a contestant of child custody or 

16 his or her legal representative, the Attorney General 

17 shall provide information in the Registry to that 

18 court, official, contestant, or representative. 

19 (2) NONDISCLOSURE.—Information in the Reg20 istry shall not be disclosed to any person if the At21 torney General has reasonable cause to believe, 

22 based upon notice by a State or otherwise, that the 

23 disclosure of the information could be harmful to the 

24 custodial parent of a child or that child, except that 
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1 such information may be disclosed to a court or an 

2 agent of a court, if—

3 (A) upon receipt of information from the 

4 Secretary, the court determines whether disclo5 sure to any other person of that information 

6 could be harmful to the parent or the child; and 

7 (B) if the court determines that disclosure 

8 of such information to any other person could 

9 be harmful, the court and its agents shall not 

10 make any such disclosure. 

11 (3) FORM AND MANNER OF REQUEST FOR IN12 FORMATION.—A request for information under this 

13 subsection shall be filed in such manner and form as 

14 the Attorney General shall by regulation prescribe 

15 and shall be accompanied or supported by such doc16 uments as the Attorney General may determine to 

17 be necessary. 

18 SEC. 5. DETENTION OF CHILDREN IN CERTAIN CIR19 CUMSTANCES. 

20 (a) DETENTION OF CHILDREN.—Law enforcement 

21 officials of any State or local government or the Federal 

22 Government may detain—

23 (1) any child listed under any category of the 

24 Missing Person File by the National Crime Informa25 tion Center, and 
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1 (2) any child accompanying an adult who is ar2 rested for suspected abduction of the child in viola3 tion of a child custody order, 

4 for purposes of allowing the lawful determination of the 

5 proper disposition of the child in accordance with the most 

6 recent valid custody determination applicable to the child. 

7 (b) INTERIM CUSTODY.—Upon detaining a child 

8 under subsection (a), the law enforcement officials in9 volved shall ensure that the child is surrendered, at the 

10 earliest practicable time, to the appropriate State child 

11 protective services agency or child welfare agency. 

12 SEC. 6. INTERNATIONAL CHILD ABDUCTION REMEDIES. 

13 (a) LEGAL ASSISTANCE FOR VICTIMS OF PARENTAL

14 KIDNAPPING; TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—

15 Section 7 of the International Child Abduction Remedies 

16 Act (42 U.S.C. 11606), as amended by section 2 of this 

17 Act, is further amended by adding at the end the following 

18 new subsections: 

19 ‘‘(g) GRANTS FOR LEGAL ASSISTANCE FOR VICTIMS

20 OF PARENTAL KIDNAPPING; TRAINING AND TECHNICAL

21 ASSISTANCE.—

22 ‘‘(1) FUNDING FOR LEGAL ASSISTANCE; TRAIN23 ING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The United 

24 States Central Authority shall establish a program—
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1 ‘‘(A) to provide funding to legal services 

2 providers, including private attorneys, public of3 ficials acting pursuant to the Uniform Child 

4 Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, 

5 legal aid programs, and law school clinical pro6 grams, to provide direct legal or advocacy serv7 ices on behalf of persons seeking remedies 

8 under the Convention, or other civil or criminal 

9 remedies in interstate or international parental 

10 kidnapping cases; and 

11 ‘‘(B) to provide training and technical as12 sistance to legal services providers, State court 

13 judges, and law students on the civil and crimi14 nal laws pertaining to interstate and inter15 national parental kidnapping, in order to im16 prove the capacity to provide legal assistance 

17 described in paragraph (1) and adjudicate cases 

18 involving remedies described in such paragraph. 

19 ‘‘(2) PROVISION OF TRAINING.—The United 

20 States Central Authority may carry out subpara21 graph (B) of paragraph (1) directly or through 

22 grants to appropriate nonprofit organizations, State 

23 judicial educators, national, State, and local bar as24 sociations, and law schools. The United States Cen25 tral Authority shall require recipients of such grants 
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1 to report on the training programs they present, in2 cluding the number of participants. 

3 ‘‘(h) CONSOLIDATION OF JURISDICTION OF

4 COURTS.—The United States Central Authority shall en5 courage the Chief Justice of each State and the District 

6 of Columbia to designate a single court, or a limited num7 ber of courts, in which cases brought under the Conven8 tion may be heard. The Central Authority may provide 

9 technical assistance (including computers and Internet ac10 cess) as necessary to foster consolidation of jurisdiction 

11 and implementation of the Convention, consistent with the 

12 purposes of the Convention. 

13 ‘‘(i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—In addi14 tion to any other funds made available to carry out this 

15 Act, there are authorized to be appropriated to the United 

16 States Central Authority such sums as may be necessary 

17 to carry out subsections (g) and (h).’’. 

18 (b) 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: 
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1 ‘‘(1) No court costs may be assessed on a peti2 tioner in connection with a petition seeking the re3 turn of, or rights of access to, a child located in the 

4 United States, pursuant to this Act. 

5 ‘‘(2) Petitioners may be required to bear the 

6 costs of legal counsel or advisors, court costs in7 curred in connection with their petitions (other than 

8 petitions described in paragraph (1)) and travel 

9 costs for the return of the child involved and any ac10 companying persons, except as provided in para11 graphs (3) and (4).’’; and 

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

13 (A) by striking ‘‘paragraph (3)’’ and in14 serting ‘‘paragraph (4)’’; and 

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

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

17 after ‘‘or court costs’’. 

18 (c) FEDERAL JUDICIAL CENTER.—Section 620 of 

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

20 end the following: 

21 ‘‘(c) CONTINUING EDUCATION AND TRAINING PRO22 GRAMS.—The Center shall include in its continuing edu23 cation and training programs, including the training pro24 grams for newly appointed judges, information on the 

25 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International 
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1 Child Abduction, the International Child Abduction Rem2 edies Act, the International Parental Kidnapping Crime 

3 Act, and other Federal statutes pertaining to parental kid4 napping within the jurisdiction of the Federal courts.’’. 

5 SEC. 7. REPORTS RELATING TO INTERNATIONAL CHILD AB6 DUCTION. 

7 (a) REPORT ON PROGRESS IN NEGOTIATING BILAT8 ERAL TREATIES WITH NON-HAGUE CONVENTION COUN9 TRIES.—The Secretary of State shall prepare and submit 

10 to the Congress an annual report on progress made by 

11 the United States in negotiating and entering into bilat12 eral treaties (or other international agreements) relating 

13 to international child abduction with countries that are not 

14 contracting parties to the Hague Convention on the Civil 

15 Aspects of International Child Abduction. The Secretary 

16 of State shall include in the report the number of child 

17 abductions in countries that are not such contracting par18 ties. 

19 (b) REPORT ON ENFORCEMENT OF SECTION 1204 OF

20 TITLE 18, UNITED STATES CODE.—The Attorney Gen21 eral, in consultation with the Secretary of State, shall pre22 pare and submit to the Congress an annual report that 

23 contains a description of the status of each case involving 

24 a request during the preceding year for extradition to the 
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1 United States of an individual alleged to have violated sec2 tion 1204 of title 18, United States Code. 

3 SEC. 8. SUPPORT FOR UNIFORM CHILD CUSTODY JURIS4 DICTION AND ENFORCEMENT ACT. 

5 From amounts made available to carry out this sec6 tion, the Attorney General shall support, directly or 

7 through grants and contracts, the adoption and implemen8 tation by the States of the Uniform Child Custody Juris9 diction and Enforcement Act, as adopted by the National 

10 Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (in 

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

12 provided under this section shall include the following ac13 tivities: 

14 (1) Activities to promote the adoption of the 

15 UCCJEA by States that have not yet adopted it. 

16 (2) Activities to provide training to lawyers and 

17 to judges and other appropriate public officials to 

18 ensure that the UCCJEA is implemented effectively 

19 and uniformly throughout the United States. 

20 (3) Activities to provide guidance and funding 

21 to States to facilitate and expedite the enforcement 

22 by those States of the custody and visitation provi23 sions of the UCCJEA. 
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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’’. 

9 SEC. 10. DISCLOSURE OF TAXPAYER IDENTITY INFORMA10 TION TO NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING 

11 AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN AND DEPART12 MENT OF STATE. 

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

14 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to disclosure 

15 of taxpayer identity information) is amended by adding 

16 at the end the following new paragraph: 

17 ‘‘(8) REQUESTS FROM THE NATIONAL CENTER

18 FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN OR THE

19 SECRETARY OF STATE.—Upon written request by 

20 the National Center for Missing and Exploited Chil21 dren or the Secretary of State, the Secretary may 

22 disclose the mailing address and any business ad23 dress of any taxpayer or dependent thereof pursuant 

24 to section 404 of the Missing Children’s Assistance 

25 Act, for use only by the National Center for Missing 

26 and Exploited Children or the Department of State, 
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1 as the case may be, in locating and recovering miss2 ing and exploited children.’’. 

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

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

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

6 or’’, 

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

8 ‘‘(20)’’ each place it occurs, and 

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

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

11 (c) CRIMINAL PENALTY FOR UNAUTHORIZED DIS12 CLOSURE OF INFORMATION.—Paragraph (2) of section 

13 7213(a) of such Code (relating to State and other employ14 ees) is amended by striking ‘‘or (7)’’ and inserting ‘‘(7), 

15 or (8)’’. 

16 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

17 this section shall apply to requests made after the date 

18 of the enactment of this Act. 

19 SEC. 11. SUPPORT FOR INCREASED U.S. CONTRIBUTION TO 

20 HAGUE PERMANENT BUREAU. 

21 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds as follows: 

22 (1) The problem of international child abduc23 tion is complex, frustrating, and growing, with more 

24 than 16,000 reported cases in the past two decades 

25 according to the Department of State, and many 
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1 more unreported cases according to the National 

2 Center for Missing and Exploited Children 

3 (NCMEC). 

4 (2) Congress has listened to horror stories from 

5 countless ‘‘left-behind’’ American parents struggling 

6 to retrieve their children who have been taken 

7 abroad by an abducting parent, enforce orders from 

8 the courts of other countries directing the return of 

9 their children, or even simply to gain access to their 

10 children who are being detained abroad. 

11 (3) There is an international treaty relating to 

12 the prevention of international child abduction, the 

13 Convention on the Civil Aspects of International 

14 Child Abduction, signed by the United States and 73 

15 additional countries. 

16 (4) There is wide disparity and inconsistency in 

17 the application of the treaty by member countries. 

18 (5) If the United States is to truly address this 

19 serious problem, the international body, The Hague 

20 Conference on Private International Law, which ad21 ministers and oversees this treaty, must be strength22 ened and made more viable. 

23 (6) If the United States is to address the heart24 rending pain of so many left-behind parents, we 

25 need to build bridges to those parts of the world 
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1 that are not yet parties to the current treaty, and 

2 we must make those countries that are signatories 

3 to the treaty better able to deal with the complex4 ities of the challenge and ensure that more children 

5 come home. 

6 (7) In an effort to address this problem more 

7 aggressively and effectively, the International Centre 

8 for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC), the 

9 privately funded international affiliate of NCMEC, 

10 recently entered into a formal Memorandum of 

11 Agreement with The Hague Conference on Private 

12 International Law, which oversees a number of pri13 vate international law agreements, including the 

14 Convention on the Civil Aspects of International 

15 Child Abduction. 

16 (8) Through that Memorandum of Agreement, 

17 ICMEC will seek to generate private sector revenues 

18 and support in order to improve the functioning of 

19 the Convention on the Civil Aspects of International 

20 Child Abduction, including establishing a new Inter21 national Training Institute for judges and other 

22 practitioners, and undertaking an outreach effort 

23 with the Islamic world on these issues. 
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1 (9) ICMEC has conferred with leaders around 

2 the world on how best to strengthen the treaty and 

3 ensure its more effective implementation. 

4 (10) ICMEC has concluded that an integral 

5 part of the current problem is that The Hague 

6 budget includes two parts: 

7 (A) A core budget based on a formula that 

8 supports basic functions and operations. 

9 (B) A supplementary budget that the 

10 Hague Permanent Bureau must raise apart 

11 from its formula appropriations. 

12 (11) The core budget is relatively small and 

13 thus most of the activities necessary to address the 

14 inconsistencies and problems regarding the Conven15 tion on the Civil Aspects of International Child Ab16 duction are dependent upon supplemental funds. 

17 (12) The Permanent Bureau at The Hague 

18 must either request additional funds from member 

19 countries or be dependent upon nongovernmental or20 ganizations like ICMEC to generate additional re21 sources. 

22 (13) At the April 1, 2003, meeting at The 

23 Hague of the Special Commission on General Affairs 

24 and Policy, three member countries (the United 

25 Kingdom, Canada, and Australia) expressed support 
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1 for a fundamental shift in fiscal policy, that is by re2 examining the basic funding formula and increasing 

3 the core budget so that the Permanent Bureau is 

4 able to undertake the vital reforms necessary as part 

5 of its core operations. 

6 (14) Although this effort would increase the 

7 amount of the United States contribution required 

8 to support the Permanent Bureau at The Hague 

9 each year, it is central to addressing the complex, 

10 frustrating, problem of international child abduction. 

11 (b) SUPPORT FOR INCREASED U.S. SUPPORT FOR

12 HAGUE PERMANENT BUREAU.—The Congress expresses 

13 its support for increasing the United States contribution 

14 to the Permanent Bureau at The Hague to provide in15 creased resources for the prevention of international child 

16 abduction and other critical activities of the Bureau, in17 cluding—

18 (1) to address the inconsistencies and lack of 

19 uniformity in the implementation of the Convention 

20 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduc21 tion, signed at The Hague on October 25, 1980, in22 cluding the establishment of a training institute; 

23 (2) to establish guides of good practice for 

24 member countries in addressing the vexing problems 
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1 of access and enforcement of orders relating to 

2 international child abduction; and 

3 (3) to encourage more countries, from all re4 gions of the world, to become parties to the Conven5 tion on the Civil Aspects of International Child Ab6 duction.

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