The following notice was posted on the Minnesota State Bar Association Family Law List Serve. Because the AFCC has a broader audience who may not all see that, I thought I would pass on this public service announcement. I don’t know how the program works, but this could be useful to members to explore. Jim Street
I’m a Special Agent with the U.S. Department of State (DOS) – Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DSS) assigned here in Minneapolis to our Resident Office. The reason I’m writing is to try to establish whether the Minnesota Judicial Branch has a mass email or distribution system in place to communicate directly to the state-wide family court system, in order to share information regarding the below DOS program vis-à-vis the issuance of U.S. passports to children who are the victims of ongoing custody disputes.
In an effort to reduce parental consent fraud and international parental abduction scenarios related to the issuance of U.S. passports, DOS has instituted a program known as the Children’s Passport Issuance Alert Program (CPIAP), in which separated / divorced parents can request to add their minor children to a watch list in cases of divorce, separation, other joint legal custody scenarios, etc. The purpose of this watch list is to affirmatively verify that consent of both parents has been obtained prior to the issuance of a child’s passport, in situations where there is a concern that one parent could try to violate federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1542) by circumventing passport issuance requirements.
Over the past year, DSS has seen a steady increase in passport fraud caseloads related to two-parent consent. The CPIAP program allows a parent to enroll their child/children and to be notified of a pending passport application and past passport issuances for the same. My goal is to try to share this information with parents, legal representatives, child welfare advocates, and judges state-wide in hopes of reducing our office’s case load related to fraudulent two-parent consent issuances and international parental abductions.
I’ve attached a pdf document that explains the program, in addition to the below link:
Any assistance in distributing this information would be most appreciated. Thank you in advance for your work and assistance on this issue and have a great day!
Best Regards,
Neil J Horn
Special Agent
Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) Minneapolis Resident Office
Office: 612-659-7070 • Mobile: 612-206-5417
Email: HornNJ@state.gov