Faster court-to-agency communication
Exploring whether a court order identifying abduction risk can reach the right federal systems faster and more reliably than today.
Developing policy proposal
Katia’s Law
A developing policy proposal exploring whether the United States’ existing prevention systems for international parental child abduction can be made more reliable — and how, without overreaching.
Honest status — please read this first
Katia’s Law is a developing policy proposal. It is being researched, drafted, stress-tested, and reviewed for constitutional, privacy, due-process, domestic-violence, and unintended-consequence concerns. It is not current law, not an introduced bill, and not endorsed by Congress or any government agency. Nothing on this page describes enacted law, and to our knowledge this proposal has not been formally filed with any legislature. If you face an active or imminent abduction emergency, contact courts, law enforcement, or an attorney immediately — this site is not an emergency service.
What it is
A policy question, explored carefully.
Katia’s Law is a separate program from Project KATIA. Project KATIA is a technology, information, and humanitarian initiative. Katia’s Law is a legislative and policy reform question. They inform each other, but they are not the same work.
The proposal does not assume one simple rule solves everything. International parental child abduction is a complex problem involving courts, passports, border systems, law enforcement, foreign governments, and families — and some gaps have no easy fix. The proposal explores targeted, defensible improvements and is candid about the limits.
The problem
The prevention tools exist. The chain between them can break.
The United States already operates important prevention tools. The Children’s Passport Issuance Alert Program (CPIAP) alerts a parent when someone applies for a U.S. passport for their child. CBP’s Prevent Abduction Program can place travel alerts on an at-risk child when a valid, enforceable court order is presented and the case is enrolled with the State Department’s Office of Children’s Issues.
But today, protections may depend on a parent reaching the right court, obtaining the right order, contacting the right agency, and getting the right information into the right federal system quickly enough. Each step is a place where an at-risk child can slip through — a delay measured in days while a flight departs in hours.
Katia’s Law explores whether that chain — from a court identifying risk to a federal system able to act on it — can be made faster, more standard, and more reliable.
Potential reforms under study
Ideas being researched and stress-tested — not settled proposals.
Standardized international-travel restriction orders
Exploring a consistent, machine-readable format so travel restrictions can be acted on across systems — without changing state family law.
Better interoperability
Exploring whether passport, border, and court systems can share the right information, under clear rules and safeguards.
Emergency notification pathways
Exploring a fast path for imminent-removal situations, with verification and safeguards against misuse.
Domestic-violence protections
Ensuring any reform protects families fleeing abuse — no reform should penalize a parent protecting a child from harm.
Sole-custody and emergency-travel exceptions
Exploring exceptions that preserve legitimate travel by sole custodians and in genuine emergencies.
Privacy safeguards
Exploring data minimization, strict limits on how information is used, and protections against misuse or surveillance.
Dual-national and foreign-passport considerations
Exploring how to handle children with more than one passport or nationality, with honest limits on what can be detected.
Left-behind-parent resources
Exploring better information, referral, and support resources for the parents who must navigate these systems alone.
How the proposal is being tested
The drafting program deliberately attempted to break its own proposal — adversarially examining how it could be abused, opposed, or fail in practice, including domestic-violence concerns, privacy objections, due-process questions, federalism concerns, and operational failure modes. That process identified areas requiring revision before anything could advance, and those revisions are part of the work.
This adversarial review is a feature, not a weakness: a proposal that survives its own hardest questions is more credible than one that has never been challenged.
Current status
To our knowledge, nothing has been filed with any legislature, and no member of Congress or government agency has endorsed this proposal.
- Problem analysis and gap research — in progress, from verified sources.
- Draft policy language — exists only as an internal working draft, not for circulation.
- Legal review — constitutional, privacy, due-process, and domestic-violence analysis underway.
- Stress-testing — opposition, failure-mode, and abuse analysis underway.
- Expert consultation — being sought from qualified professionals.
For experts and professionals
Help pressure-test this proposal.
Katia’s Law seeks review from policy experts, attorneys with legislative or family-law experience, child-advocacy experts, technologists, researchers, and government or agency subject-matter experts — including people who can argue against it.
Feedback is welcome through the public contact route. No attorney-client relationship is created by contacting us, and do not send confidential case information, children’s records, or sensitive evidence through public channels. For a specific situation, contact the relevant official organization or a qualified professional directly.
Legal boundary: This page describes a developing policy proposal and general information about existing programs. It is not legal advice. If you face an active or imminent abduction emergency, contact the appropriate court, law enforcement, attorneys, and government agencies immediately.
Privacy notice for visitors: Project Katia is a developing humanitarian initiative. This website provides general information and links to official resources. It is not a law firm, government service, emergency service, or case-management provider, and it does not collect or accept personal case information. Do not send children’s records, identity documents, court files, medical information, or sensitive case evidence through this website.