Judicial Wandering through a Legislative Maze: Application of the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act and the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act to Child Custody Determinations

Authors

Juliet A. Cox

Abstract

The area of child custody determinations has historically been plagued by the problem of conflicting decrees among alternate forums. Conflicting decrees disrupt the lives of countless children and subject children to unnecessary interstate struggles Child custody determinations are unique in that they intimately affect the lives of innocent children caught in the web of parental discord. Originally, state legislatures responded to this dilemma by adopting the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJA) in an attempt to standardize and self-regulate jurisdiction over child custody determinations. Congress then promulgated the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act (PKPA), a federal statute governing full faith and credit for custody determinations.

Recommended Citation

Juliet A. Cox, Judicial Wandering through a Legislative Maze: Application of the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act and the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act to Child Custody Determinations, 58 Mo. L. Rev. (1993)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/mlr/vol58/iss2/6