Photo not that of the actual client
“Julia,” 26, a U.S. Army veteran and mother of three, became pregnant and moved to Jacksonville to begin a new life with children, her partner and their soon-to-be-born child. But with the stress of the pandemic, cracks appeared in their relationship. After being with her for their baby’s birth, the father told Julia that he was going to take the baby to see his parents, who were visiting from out of town. Julia agreed. But it turned out that the baby’s father was in fact headed out of state with the baby. When she begged him to return, he refused.
Julia contacted the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, which issued a warrant for interference with the custody of a minor. Eventually, the baby’s father was apprehended with the baby, and custody was given to Julia’s grandmother. Julia traveled out of state to retrieve her baby and then returned to Jacksonville. But meanwhile, the father had initiated a custody action in another state, where a court had temporarily granted custody to the father under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Enforcement Act (UCCJEA), which is designed to deter interstate parental kidnapping and promote uniform jurisdiction and enforcement provisions in interstate child-custody and visitation cases.
Attorney Declan Duffy of JALA’s Veterans Services Unit conducted in-depth research into UCCJEA, the rights of unwed fathers, paternity, and cross-state jurisdictional conflicts. Duffy also advised the court in Florida of the relationship between the parties, the cross-state-lines conflict, the circumstance of the temporary custody order, as well as issues related to the UCCJEA.
Meanwhile, the out-of-state court issued a summons requiring Julia to return the baby to the father under a temporary custody arrangement. JALA family law staff attorneys Stacey DeVall and Annie Rodriguez began working on a plan to help Julia retain custody. They filed an emergency motion for a UCCJEA Conference, which was approved by a Duval County, Fla., judge. The judges from the two states had a phone conference and determined that Florida, as the child’s home state, was the appropriate forum. The other state vacated its temporary custody order, and relinquished jurisdiction to Florida, enabling Julia to retain custody of her baby and have all of four of her children living with her.
