Coalition for the Restoration of Parental Rights
IOWA CHAPTER
LEGISLATORS, IT'S TIME TO:
W A K E U P !!!
The Visitation Rights Enforcement Act
United States Public laws. 105th Congress--2nd Session.
Public Law 105-374 (h.r. 4164)
This bill, amending title 28, United States Code (with respect to the enforcement of child custory and visitation orders), was sponsored by New Jersey Congressman Andrews, signed into law by the President on November 12, 1998.
This guarantees that grandparents can visit their grandchildren anywhere in the United States as long as they have visitation rights in one state. This law does not impose a federal decision about a grandparent's visitation right in any state. It calls for reciprocal recognition of grandparents' rights once a state has established those rights.
Grandparent visitation laws are recent. Several decades ago, increasing numbers of grandparents were being legislated our of existence because of family feuds. In response grandparents joined together to get laws passed assuring grandparents the right to petition for visitation in the case of parental death or divorce. One by one these laws were adopted, in various forms, until every state had one.
But then a problem arose: once the laws were established it was found that grandparents who had visitation in one state would have to litigate all over again if their grandchild's custodian moved to another state.
This bill has solved this problem. It is a giant step forward in achieving a uniform state visitation law making provisions for grandparent visitation consistent from state to state.
This is a brief explanation as provided by Dr. Kornhaber, an advocate of grandparents rights. This website is not in favor of nor does it support this law.