Where a person has been awarded the custody of a child and another person or agency has failed to return the child to that person, the person with legal custody can file a motion for contempt of court and request that some penalty or sanctions be imposed on the one who unlawfully failed to return the child.
Problems arise where a parent and a child do not reside in the same state. To deal with jurisdictional problems in establishing and enforcing child support obligations, the federal government enacted the Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act in the 1950s. Although it has been mostly replaced by the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act, enacted in 1998, URESA still applies in some situations.
Under the Federal Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act, the home state of a child has jurisdiction to establish custody and visitation of the child. That state court continues to have jurisdiction over custody issues, and all other state courts are required to give full faith and credit to the court orders of the home state.
In some circumstances a tribunal may decide that it is in the best interests of a child to modify the amount of a parent's child support obligation. More often, the modification results in an increase in the amount of support, but there are occasions when a court has found a reason to deviate downwards.
A parent who takes a child and fails to return him or her may be charged with a crime. There are state and federal laws that make it a crime to unlawfully retain, obtain, or conceal a child where someone else has lawful custody under an existing court order or where custody proceedings are pending.
