Bring Our Children Home Act

The Bring Our Children Home Act (H.R. 2688) was introduced to improve the legal and administrative processes for resolving child custody disputes, particularly those involving international child abduction. If enacted, the bill would allow individuals to bring cases to federal district court to resolve conflicting custody orders from different states and would establish a national registry for all state-level custody orders.

For citizens, the bill would provide law enforcement with clearer authority to temporarily hold a missing child for up to 24 hours to ensure they are returned according to the most recent valid custody order. Additionally, it would increase government accountability by requiring the Department of State and the Attorney General to report on progress regarding international abduction treaties and the status of extradition requests in parental kidnapping cases.