Unregulated Custody Transfers of Adopted Children - Nebraska

Date: August 2022

Definitions

Citation: Rev. Stat. § 43-4602

'Caregiving authority' means the right to live with and care for a child on a day-to-day basis.

'Custodial responsibility' includes all powers and duties relating to caregiving authority and decision-making authority for a child. The term includes physical custody, legal custody, parenting time, right to access, visitation, and authority to grant limited contact with a child.

'Decision-making authority' means the power to make important decisions regarding a child, including decisions regarding the child€™s education, religious training, health care, extracurricular activities, and travel. The term does not include the power to make decisions that necessarily accompany a grant of caregiving authority.

'Deploying parent' means a service member who is deployed or has been notified of impending deployment and is a parent or an individual who has custodial responsibility for a child under law of this State.

'Deployment' means the mobilization of a service member for more than 90 days but less than 18 months pursuant to orders that are designated as unaccompanied, do not authorize dependent travel, or otherwise do not permit the movement of family members to the location to which the service member is deployed.

'Family member' means a sibling, a parent's sibling, cousin, stepparent, or grandparent or an individual recognized to be in a familial relationship with a child.

'Service member' means a member of a uniformed service, including any of the following:

  • Active and reserve components of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard
  • The U.S. Merchant Marine
  • The commissioned corps of the U.S. Public Health Service or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  • The National Guard of a State

Prohibited or Required Actions Regarding Custody

Citation: Rev. Stat. §§ 30-2604; 43-4611; 43-4612

A parent or a guardian of a minor may delegate to another person, by a properly executed power of attorney, any of their powers regarding care, custody, or property of the minor child or ward for a period not exceeding 6 months, except their power to consent to marriage or adoption of a minor ward. A parent or guardian of a minor who is at least age 18 and who is not a ward of the State may delegate, by a properly executed power of attorney, to the minor the parent's or guardian's power to consent to the minor's own health care and medical treatment for a period not exceeding 1 year.

A deploying parent, by power-of-attorney, may delegate all or part of custodial responsibility to an adult nonparent for the period of deployment if no other parent possesses custodial responsibility under law of this State other than the Uniform Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act or if a court order currently in effect prohibits contact between the child and the other parent. The deploying parent may revoke the power of attorney by signing a revocation of the power.

An agreement or power of attorney must be filed within a reasonable time with any court that has entered an order on custodial responsibility or child support that is in effect concerning the child who is the subject of the agreement or power.

Exceptions

This issue is not addressed in the statutes reviewed.

Consequences

This issue is not addressed in the statutes reviewed.