The New Child Abduction Prevention Law in Oklahoma
- Kyle Persaud
- Sep 22
- 5 min read
This year the Oklahoma State Legislature passed the Uniform Child Abduction Prevention Act (UCAPA). UCAPA takes effect on November 1, 2025. The goal of UCAPA is to strengthen the power of the court to prevent abduction of children. Under UCAPA, if a judge, district attorney, parent, or other person with custody or visitation rights to a child, believes that there is a risk that the child will be abducted, the person may file a petition in court showing the facts that demonstrate the threat of abduction. The Court may then grant a wide variety of relief, including prohibiting the potential abductor from visiting the child or obtaining a passport for the child, and even issuing a warrant directing law enforcement to take the child into custody.
What is child abduction?
UCAPA defines “child abduction” as “the wrongful removal or wrongful retention of a child.” UCAPA defines “wrongful removal” as taking a child in a manner that breaches the custody or visitation rights of another. The law defines “wrongful retention” as keeping or concealing a child contrary to the custody or visitation rights of another person.
Who can initiate action under UCAPA?
Under UCAPA, either a judge, a district attorney, or a person who has the right to seek a child custody determination may initiate an action under UCAPA, if there is “credible risk” that someone else will abduct the child. A “person who has the right to seek a child custody determination” may include a parent or guardian.
How does a court determine whether there is “credible risk” that a person will abduct the child?
The court must consider any evidence that a person:
Has previously abducted the child
Has attempted to abduct the child
Has threatened to abduct the child
Has quit his job
Has sold his home or terminated a lease
Has closed a bank account, liquidated assets, hidden or destroyed financial documents, or conducted “any unusual financial activities”
Has applied for a passport, visa, travel tickets, or reservations for himself, a family member, or the child
Has sought to obtain the child’s birth certificate, school records, or medical records
Has committed domestic violence, stalking, child abuse, or neglect
Has failed to follow a child custody order in the past
Does not have strong ties to the U.S.
Has strong ties to another country
Is changing his immigration or citizenship status that would harm his ability to stay in the U.S. legally
Has applied for U.S. citizenship and been denied
Has forged identifying documents or mislead the U.S. government
Has used aliases to mislead or defraud people
Is likely to take the child to a country that:
Will not likely return the child to the U.S.
Poses a risk to the child’s physical and emotional health
Has laws that would enable the abducting party to prevent someone having custody or visitation rights to the child from contacting the child
Has laws that would prevent someone having custody or visitation rights to the child from entering or leaving the country
Would restrict the child from leaving the country
Is on the U.S. State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism
Does not have a U.S. diplomatic presence in the country
In engaged in war to which the child may be exposed
Has engaged in “any other conduct the court considers relevant to the risk of abduction.”
If a judge finds that there is a risk that the child will be abducted, what may the judge do?
The UCAPA has “teeth” and gives judges broad powers to do what is necessary to prevent child abduction. A judge may:
Place restrictions on travel, and order a party traveling with the child to give the other party
The child’s itinerary
Addresses and telephone numbers where the child may be reached
Copies of travel tickets
Prohibit the other party from
Taking the child outside of a designated geographic area
Taking or keeping the child
Taking the child out of school or day care
Approaching the child without supervision
Order a party to register the order in another state, before taking the child to that state
Order a party to place the child’s name in the U.S. State Department’s Child Passport Issuance Alert Program
Order a party to surrender the child’s passport to the court or to the other party’s attorney. This includes any foreign passport, and any passport in the name of both the parent and the child
Prohibit a party from getting a new or replacement passport of visa for the child
Order a party to give a copy of the court’s order to the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Children’s Issues, and ordering the party to provide proof to the court that he gave a copy of the order to the Office of Children’s Issues
Order a party to provide, to the court, documentation from any relevant foreign embassy or consulate that no passport application has been made, and no passport issued, to the child
Order a party to provide, to the other party, proof of registration with the U.S. Embassy in a foreign country, and proof of registration with the Central Authority for the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction
Order a party to provide, to the other party, a waiver under the federal Privacy Act, which allows the other party and the judge to obtain, from the federal government, information relating to the child
Order the other party to obtain an order from a foreign country which contains terms similar to a child custody determination which a U.S. court issued
Limit visitation with the child
Order that visitation with the child be supervised
Require the other party to post a bond in an amount that is sufficient to deter abduction. If the child is abducted, the party seeking return of the child may use the proceeds of this bond to pay the costs of recovering the child, including attorney’s fees.
Order a party to take education on the harmful effects of child abduction.
Issue a warrant to law enforcement to take physical custody of the child. If necessary, the court may issue this warrant without notice to the party who has the child.
Order law enforcement to “take any action reasonably necessary” to find the child or get the child returned to the person who has custody
Are you concerned about your child being abducted? Contact the Persaud Law Office
If you fear that someone is about to abduct your child, we can help you.
Or, perhaps you are a parent, and the other parent is falsely accusing you of attempting or threating to abduct your child.
Either way, you have found yourself in a very difficult, painful, and nerve-racking situation. The Persaud Law Office has handled many contested child custody cases, including case that have had to be handled on emergency basis. If you need help regarding a child abduction issue, contact us today.