Recognizing that most States have already developed substantial bodies of law regarding child custody determinations and enforcement, including specifically the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA), the NCCUSL drafted UCAPA to be compatible with and to augment existing state law.
The party seeking the abduction prevention measures must file a petition with the court specifying the risk factors for abduction as well as other biographical information including the name, age and gender of the child, the current address of the child and the person against whom the measures are sought, a statement regarding any prior actions related to abduction or domestic violence, a statement addressing any prior arrests for domestic violence or child abuse by either party, and finally any additional information required by existing State child custody law including the UCCJEA.
If abduction appears imminent, a court may issue a warrant to take physical custody of the child, direct law enforcement officers to take steps to locate and return the child, or exercise other appropriate powers under existing state laws.
The court may authorize law enforcement officers to enter private property, or even to make a forcible entry at any hour, if the circumstances so warrant.
UCAPA sets out a wide variety of factors that should be considered in determining whether there is a credible risk that a child will be abducted.
The act also includes a wide range of activities that may indicate a planned abduction including abandoning employment, liquidating assets, obtaining travel documents or travel tickets, or requesting the child's school or medical records.
The adopters, in alphabetical order, are Alabama,[4] Colorado,[5][6] The District of Columbia,[7] Florida,[8] Kansas,[9] Louisiana,[10] Maryland,[11] Michigan,[12] Mississippi,[13] Nebraska,[14] Nevada,[15] New Mexico,[16] Pennsylvania,[17] South Carolina,[18] South Dakota,[19] Tennessee,[20] Utah[21] and Wyoming.
Louisiana inserted the word "INTERNATIONAL" into the state's version of the Child Abduction Prevention Act.
The full house passed the legislation with Berg, Ching, Marumoto, McKelvey, Pine, Thielen and Ward voting no.
It was tabled by the Senate committee after receipt of the New Jersey report and the Louisiana concerns of Rep Bowler and Atty Harold Murry.
The New Jersey law commission considered the UCAPA, and issued its final report on this bill in December 2008 but did not recommend its adoption.
HB5640 by O'Grady, Tanzi, Blazejewski, Guthrie, Carnevale on March 11, 2011 HB1207 by was filed on February 9, 2011, and referred to the Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence committee.
However, the law on which UCAPA is based—Texas's Prevent International Parental Child Abduction Act—had already been enacted in 2003 as Texas Family Code 153.501-503.