(1) by redesignating paragraphs (3) through
(6) as paragraphs (5) through (8), respectively;
(2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol-
lowing:
‘‘(3) promote cooperation between State and
tribal courts to protect parents and children from an
incident or pattern of domestic violence or sexual as-
sault;
‘‘(4) promote realistic and protective standards
for interstate relocation when parents dispute cus-
tody, particularly in cases where there is domestic
violence or sexual assault;’’;
(3) in paragraph (7) (as so redesignated), by
inserting before the semicolon at the end the fol-
lowing: ‘‘, consistent with not endangering or inap-
propriately punishing parents who are victims of do-
mestic violence or children who are victims of sexual
assault’’; and
(4) in paragraph (8) (as so redesignated), by
inserting before the period at the end the following:
‘‘or to abuse the child or exert coercive control over
the other parent, except when the removal is justifi-
able in an attempt to protect the parent or any child
in the parent’s care’’.
SEC. 503. DEFENSE TO CRIMINAL CUSTODIAL INTER-
FERENCE 
OR 
PARENTAL 
ABDUCTION
CHARGE.
Section 1073 of title 18, United States Code, is
amended by striking ‘‘Whoever moves’’ and inserting ‘‘(a)
Whoever moves’’ and by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(b) For any charge of parental abduction, of custo-
dial interference, or of felony criminal contempt of court
related to an underlying child custody or visitation deter-
mination, that would otherwise provide a basis for pros-
ecution under this section, it shall be a defense to such
prosecution that the individual against whom this section
is invoked—
‘‘(1) acted pursuant to the provisions of a court
order valid when and where issued—
‘‘(A) which granted the defendant legal
custody or visitation rights;
‘‘(B) which was obtained in compliance
with section 1738A of title 28;
‘‘(C) which is not inconsistent with such
section or with the Uniform Child Custody Ju-
risdiction Enforcement Act as promulgated by
the Uniform Law Commissioners; and
‘‘(D) which was in effect at the time the
defendant left the State;
‘‘(2) was fleeing an incident or pattern of do-
mestic violence or sexual assault of the child; or
‘‘(3) would otherwise have a defense under the
terms of section 1204.
‘‘(c) The Attorney General shall issue guidance to as-
sist the United States Attorneys and the Federal Bureau
of Investigation in determining when to decline to initiate
or to terminate an investigation or prosecution under sub-
section (b) due to the potential availability of any de-
fense.’’.
SEC. 504. FULL FAITH AND CREDIT GIVEN TO CHILD CUS-
TODY DETERMINATIONS.
(a) SECTION INTENT.—Section 1738A(a) of title 28,
United States Code, is amended by adding before the pe-
riod the following: ‘‘, except that no State shall be required
to enforce any order obtained in a proceeding which would
violate the constitution of the enforcing State if the pro-
ceeding were conducted in the enforcing State. This sec-
tion is intended to preempt any inconsistent State law and
to apply to every proceeding in the United States or its
territories that is not governed by inconsistent aspects of
any treaty to which the United States is a signatory or
has ratified that involves custody and visitation concerning
a minor child. Any provision of a protection order regard-
ing the custody and visitation of a minor child, whether
consensual or not, otherwise consistent with section 2265
of title 18 and with this section shall be given full faith
and credit by the courts of any State where the party who
sought the order seeks enforcement’’.
(b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 1738A(b) of such title is
amended—
(1) by amending paragraph (2) to read as fol-
lows:
‘‘(2) ‘child-custody proceeding’ means a pro-
ceeding in which legal custody, physical custody, or
visitation with respect to a child is an issue, includ-
ing a proceeding for divorce, separation, neglect,
abuse, dependency, guardianship, paternity, termi-
nation of parental rights, and protection from do-
mestic violence, in which the issue may appear;’’;
(2) in paragraph (3)—
(A) by striking ‘‘custody determination’’
and inserting ‘‘custody or visitation determina-
tion’’;
(B) by inserting ‘‘obtained in the context
of a child-custody proceeding and’’ after
‘‘court’’; and
(C) by striking ‘‘custody of a child’’ and
inserting ‘‘legal custody, physical custody, or
visitation with respect to a child’’;
(3) in paragraph (6), by inserting ‘‘or has had
physical custody for a period of 6 consecutive
months, including any temporary absence, within
one year immediately before the commencement of a
child-custody proceeding’’ after ‘‘of a child’’;
(4) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘actual pos-
session and control’’ and inserting ‘‘the physical care
and supervision’’;
(5) by striking paragraph (9) and inserting the
following:
‘‘(9) ‘domestic violence’ includes acts or threats
of violence, not including acts of self defense, com-
mitted by a current or former spouse of the victim,
by a person with whom the victim shares a child in
common, by a person who is cohabiting with or has
cohabited with the victim, by a person who is or has
been in a continuing social relationship of a roman-
tic or intimate nature with the victim, by a person
similarly situated to a spouse of the victim under the
domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction,
or by any other person against a victim who is pro-
tected from that person’s acts under the domestic or
family violence laws of the jurisdiction;
‘‘(10) ‘sexual assault’ means any conduct pro-
scribed by chapter 109A of title 18, United States
Code, whether or not the conduct occurs in the spe-
cial maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the
United States or in a Federal prison and includes
both assaults committed by offenders who are
strangers to the victim and assaults committed by
offenders who are known to the victim or related by
blood or marriage to the victim;
‘‘(11) ‘predominant aggressor’ means the indi-
vidual who has been determined to be the principal
perpetrator of violence, by factors including—
‘‘(A) history of domestic violence;
‘‘(B) relative severity of the injuries in-
flicted on each person;
‘‘(C) the likelihood of future injury to each
person;
‘‘(D) whether one of the persons acted in
self-defense; and
‘‘(E) the degree to which one of the per-
sons has acted with more deliberate intent to
control, isolate, intimidate, emotionally demean,
or cause severe pain or injury, or fear of harm
to the other or a third person’’; and
‘‘(12) ‘stalking’ means engaging in a course of
conduct directed at a specific person that would
cause a reasonable person to fear death, sexual as-
sault, or bodily injury to such person or a member
of such person’s immediate family, when the person
engaging in such conduct has knowledge or should
have knowledge that the specific person will be
placed in reasonable fear of death, sexual assault, or
bodily injury to such person or a member of such
person’s immediate family and when the conduct in-
duces fear in the specific person of death, sexual as-
sault, or bodily injury to such person or a member
of such person’s immediate family.’’.
(c) JURISDICTION
REQUIREMENTS.—(1) Section
1738A(c)(2)(A)(ii) of such title is amended by striking
‘‘because of his removal or retention by a contestant or
for other reasons, and a contestant’’ and inserting ‘‘but
a parent or person acting as a parent’’.
(2) Section 1738A(c)(2)(B)(ii)(I) of such title is
amended by striking ‘‘contestant,’’ and inserting ‘‘parent
or a person acting as a parent,’’.
(d) CONDITION FOR CUSTODY DETERMINATION.—
Section 1738A(c)(2)(C) of such title is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘he’’ and inserting ‘‘the child, or
a sibling or parent of the child,’’; and
(2) by inserting ‘‘, including acts of domestic vi-
olence or stalking by the other parent’’ after
‘‘abuse’’.
(e) CONTINUING JURISDICTION.—Section 1738A(d)
of such title is amended by striking ‘‘or of any contestant’’
and inserting ‘‘, a parent, or a person acting as a parent,
except that after 2 years have passed while a child is living
in another State after relocation due to domestic violence,
stalking, or sexual assault of the child, the court of the
original State shall decline jurisdiction if the courts of the
new State would have personal jurisdiction over the other
parent under that State’s law’’.
(f) NOTICE.—Section 1738A(e) of such title is
amended by striking ‘‘the contestants,’’ and inserting ‘‘all
persons entitled to notice under the law of the State as
in child custody proceedings between residents of the
State,’’.
(g) MODIFICATIONS.—Section 1738A(f)(1) of such
title is amended by inserting ‘‘or visitation’’ after ‘‘cus-
tody’’.
(h) CHILD
CUSTODY
DETERMINATIONS.—Section
1738A of such title is amended by striking subsection (h)
and by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(h) A court may decline to exercise jurisdiction on
behalf of a parent who has engaged in domestic violence
as a predominant aggressor, stalking, child sexual assault,
or child sexual abuse, if a court of another State has emer-
gency jurisdiction under subsection (c)(2)(C)(ii). A court
may decline to exercise jurisdiction on behalf of a parent
who has wrongfully taken the child from a State without
justification, or engaged in similar unjustifiable conduct,
unless no other State would have jurisdiction under any
provision of subsection (c). For the purposes of this sub-
section, justification includes removing the child to an-
other State in an effort to seek safety for the child, or
a sibling or parent of the child, from domestic violence
or sexual assault.’’.
TITLE VI—SENSE OF CONGRESS
SEC. 601. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that for purposes of deter-
mining child custody, it is not in the best interest of chil-
dren to—
(1) force parents to share custody over the ob-
jection of one or both parents where there is a his-
tory of domestic violence; or
(2) make ‘‘friendly parent’’ provisions a factor
when there is abuse of one parent against another
or a child.
Æ