Opinion ID: 2572707
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: We come now to the modern version of the UCCJAthe UCCJEA. In 1997, the NCCUSL unanimously endorsed the UCCJEA. Patricia M. Hoff, The ABC's of the UCCJEA: Interstate Child-Custody Practice Under the New Act, 32 Fam.L.Q. 267, 267 (1998). As we mentioned above, our legislature adopted the UCCJEA in 2000, thereby replacing the UCCJA. The UCCJEA was formulated to clarify ambiguities and reconcile conflicting interpretations regarding circumstances under which a state has jurisdiction to make or modify custody orders. Hogan, 26-WTR Fam. Advoc. at 24-25. Colorado's UCCJEA provides clearer standards to guide states in exercising or not exercising original jurisdiction over child custody determinations. It also, for the first time, enunciates the standard for continuing jurisdiction and clarifies modification jurisdiction. The prefatory note adopted by our legislature and accompanying the UCCJEA provides a useful tool for fleshing out the differences between it and its predecessor, the UCCJA. The prefatory note to the legislation implementing the UCCJEA in Colorado indicates that the drafters of the UCCJEA sought to revise the law on child custody jurisdiction in light of federal enactments and almost thirty years of inconsistent case law. Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Prefatory Note, Art. 14, 5 C.R.S. (2003) (Prefatory Note). The drafters of the UCCJEA summarized the revisions made to the UCCJA in the Prefatory Note. We likewise summarize those revisions as follows: (1) unlike the UCCJA, the UCCJEA prioritizes home state jurisdiction; (2) the UCCJEA clarifies the parameters for exercising emergency jurisdiction; (3) unlike the UCCJA which failed to clearly enunciate that the decree granting State retained exclusive continuing jurisdiction to modify a decree, the UCCJEA provides for exclusive continuing jurisdiction for the state entering the initial custody decree; (4) the UCCJEA provides greater specificity as to what custody proceedings are covered within its ambit; (5) the UCCJEA eliminates the term best interests in order to clearly distinguish between the jurisdictional standards and the substantive standards relating to custody and visitation of children; and (6) the UCCJEA provides for other miscellaneous changes to the UCCJA. The most important and ultimately dispositive provision of the UCCJEA for our purposes is the one that provides that the UCCJEA does not govern an adoption proceeding. § 14-13-103, 5 C.R.S. (2003). The Prefatory Note acknowledges that the definition of custody proceedings under the UCCJA was ambiguous. Prefatory Note at § 4. To clarify this ambiguity and to harmonize conflicting decisions around the country, the UCCJEA includes a sweeping definition that, with the exception of adoption, includes virtually all cases that can involve custody of or visitation with a child as a `custody determination.' Id. (emphasis added). [16] While the UCCJEA's exclusion of adoptions clarifies the ambiguities created under the UCCJA, this exclusion also creates an obvious gap in the jurisdictional legislation governing interstate adoptions. See Hoff, 32 Fam.L.Q. at 276-77 (Because the [Uniform Adoption Act] has not yet been widely adopted, the exclusion of adoption cases from the UCCJEA creates a void in state jurisdictional rules applicable in interstate adoption cases. To avoid the confusion this can be expected to cause, states can either add adoption to the list of covered `custody proceedings' in [the] UCCJEA ..., or enact the jurisdictional provisions of the [Uniform Adoption Act] as part of the UCCJEA.). To fill this void, the drafters of the UCCJEA intended that state legislatures also adopt the Uniform Adoption Act (UAA). Specifically, the drafters stated that: Two proceedings are governed by other acts. Adoption cases are excluded from this Act because adoption is a specialized area which is thoroughly covered by the Uniform Adoption Act (UAA) (1994). Most states will either adopt that Act or will adopt the jurisdictional provisions of that Act. Therefore the jurisdictional provisions governing adoption proceeding [sic] are generally found elsewhere. Unif. Child Custody Jur. & Enf. Act § 103, cmt., 9 U.L.A. 660-61 (1999). Section 3-704 of the UAA covers the circumstance we address today as follows: If a court denies a petition for adoption, it shall dismiss the proceeding and issue an appropriate order for the legal and physical custody of the minor. If the reason for denial is that a consent or relinquishment is revoked or set aside pursuant to Section 2-408 or 2-409, the court shall determine the minor's custody according to the criteria stated in those sections. If the petition for adoption is denied for any other reason, the court shall determine the minor's custody according to the best interest of the minor. Unif. Adoption Act (1994) § 3-704, 9 U.L.A. 95-96 (1999) (emphasis added). Because this case involves Mother's revocation of her consent to the adoption, the provisions of section 2-408 of the UAA would apply. The comments to that provision state in pertinent part: This section and Section 2-409 deal with circumstances under which a consent or relinquishment is revoked or may be set aside. Revocation of a consent to a direct placement may occur, without judicial action, under two circumstances. First, a birth parent who executes consent before the minor is 192 hours old can decide to revoke within those 192 hours.... This right to revoke is absolute and requires the prospective adoptive parents or their attorney to return the infant to the parent if the infant had been placed with them.... Second is when the parent and the prospective adopter mutually agree to revoke the consent and not proceed with the proposed adoption. Any other effort to set aside a consent requires judicial action. Until a decree of adoption is issued, a consent will be set aside if the parent proves by clear and convincing evidence that it was obtained by fraud or duress.... A finding of fraud or duress is tantamount to a finding that a valid consent never existed and therefore the parent has never agreed to the adoption of the child and the would-be adoptive parents have no basis for retaining custody of the child. The adoption proceedings must come to an end. Actions to set aside consents for other reasons have less certain outcomes. Even if a parent establishes by a preponderance of the evidence that one or more of the contingencies specified in the consent has occurredfor example, the other parent's rights have not been terminated it does not automatically follow that the parent is entitled to the legal or physical custody of the minor. The Act provides that the court has to take into account the minor's circumstances at the time consent is set aside. Even though an adoption proceeding may have to be dismissed, the court has to make an order for the minor's care and custody. In making this order, this court must consider not only the status of the birth parent but also the needs and interests of the minor. It is therefore possible under some circumstances for the individuals who sought to adopt the minor to end up with custody of the minor. Much will depend on the relationship between the minor's birth parents, the length of time the minor has been out of their custody, whether independent grounds exist for terminating the rights of either birth parent, the recommendation of the minor's guardian ad litem [appointed in any contested proceeding, Section 3-201], the willingness of the would-be adopters to retain custody even if an adoption is not granted. Most importantly, the Act does not treat a minor as an object that belongs to a parent or would-be parent and has to be shifted back and forth in the event ownership rights are changed or reinstated. The fact that a birth parent's status as a legal parent may be restored or recognized upon the setting aside of a consent or relinquishment is not tantamount to a determination that the minor must be placed in that parent's custody. Unif. Adoption Act (1994) § 2-408, 9 U.L.A. 61-62 (1999) (emphasis added). Thus, the UAA contemplates that when an adoption fails after the child has been with the prospective adoptive parents for some period of time, the court must take into account the best interests of the child in making determinations about continuing placement. [17] The UAA's approach to custody determinations following a failed adoption is consistent with Colorado's statutory provisions and case law. See § 19-5-104(8), 6 C.R.S. (2003); C.C.R.S., 892 P.2d at 254. Our General Assembly has adopted the UCCJEA, but not the UAA. The drafters of the UCCJEA intended that the exclusion of adoptions be addressed by enactment of the UAA, which in turn would provide that Colorado should exercise jurisdiction over this dispute in order to determine the best interests of the child. In summary then, Missouri still follows the UCCJA, which would allow Colorado to exercise jurisdiction if we were to determine, like New Jersey, that the failure to examine the best interests of A.J.C. amounted to a declination of jurisdiction. Colorado has the UCCJEA, which does not apply to adoptions; however, it excludes these proceedings in reliance upon the expectation that state legislatures will enact the Uniform Adoption Act in its stead. The UAA would direct Colorado to exercise jurisdiction over the Verified Petition for the purpose of reviewing the best interests of A.J.C.