It is the government's role to step in when a child is not being safely cared for, and if parents are judged unfit, the local social services department may seek to terminate their parental rights and to free the child for adoption or alternative care. A child may be placed in foster care while a custody case is pending. The case arose after a New York County social services department successfully brought neglect proceedings in state court against the Santoskys, a couple with three children. Courts and Jurisdiction Most custody decisions are made by family courts. However, where a juvenile court has found that a minor poses a threat to society if current custody arrangements continue, the juvenile court may turn over physical custody to the state.
Jurisdiction is an issue that has received much attention.
A court has the power to settle a custody dispute if a child lives for at least six months in the location where the court has jurisdiction or if it is demonstrated that the court has the closest connection with the child. All states have adopted the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act, originally adopted in 1967, which provides that a state's court will not accept a custody case unless that state has original jurisdiction or the state with original jurisdiction relinquishes it. A parent's interstate move sometimes blurs jurisdictional lines. For this reason, courts may restrict the geographic area in which a parent may live as part of the custody order, or may deny a subsequent request for permission to move if the move is viewed as an attempt to hinder visitation. Parental Kidnapping Parental kidnapping occurs when one parent deprives the other of his or her legal right to custody or visitation by illegally taking the child out of the jurisdiction.