U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
December 2001
A Message From OJJDP
America is a society with a substan-
tial divorce rate. Each year, more
than 1,000,000 children in the United
States are affected by the divorce of
their parents, and of all children who
are born to married parents this year,
half are likely to experience a divorce
in their families before they reach
their 18th birthdays.
America is also a highly mobile socie-
ty. On the dissolution of family ties, it
is not uncommon that a parent, per-
haps even both parents, may move
out of the State in which the family
resided at the time of their separa-
tion. Thus, it is not surprising that
courts in different States are becom-
ing involved in child-custody and visi-
tation disputes concerning the same
children.
The Uniform Child-Custody Jurisdic-
tion and Enforcement Act, which is
described in this Bulletin, has been
proposed by the National Conference
of Commissioners on Uniform State
Laws. The proposed uniform State
law is designed to deter interstate
parental kidnapping and to promote
uniform jurisdiction and enforcement
provisions in interstate child-custody
and visitation cases. The Act has
been enacted by 25 States and the
District of Columbia and introduced
into legislatures in several other
States.
It is our hope that the information
provided in this Bulletin will assist
those considering the adoption of
this model law in their States.
The Act requires State courts to enforce
valid child-custody and visitation determi-
nations made by sister State courts. It also
establishes innovative interstate enforce-
ment procedures.
The UCCJEA is intended as an improve-
ment over the UCCJA. It clarifies UCCJA
provisions that have received conflicting
interpretations in courts across the coun-
try, codifies practices that have effective-
ly reduced interstate conflict, conforms
jurisdictional standards to those of the
Federal Parental Kidnapping Prevention
Act (the PKPA)6 to ensure inte