In Re Baby Girl Clausen

The ruling asserted legal precedence of the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act over previous federal law by compelling states to honor custody requests from other states. Issues focused on the "best interest of the child" proved not significant for court custody determinations. Though issues of inconsistent interstate child custody processes had been the subject of much debate and reform efforts, inconsistency in court rulings and treatment of children as property still remained as chief concerns of child protection advocates.

Enforcement of interstate child custody orders long presented vexing problems. In early child custody cases, courts traditionally resolved jurisdiction (the power to hear and determine a case) disputes on one or more of the following factors: the father's permanent home, the child's place of residence at the beginning of the dispute, or the child's physical presence in a state other than the child's permanent residence. Uncertainty concerning jurisdiction was further complicated by the Full Faith and Credit Clause in Article IV of the U.S. Constitution under which courts could freely modify the custody orders of sister states. The clause only demands that a state court give the same respect to another state's judgement that it affords its own. Courts historically did not view custody orders as final, even in the state of issue.

In an attempt to reduce jurisdictional disputes, the Supreme Court in May v. Anderson (1953) limited the exercise of jurisdiction to courts possessing jurisdiction over the subject of the custody request. With confusion persisting due to inconsistent rulings and enforcement of child custody orders, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws lobbied for the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJA) of 1968. The UCCJA established a formal set of jurisdictional criteria to guide courts in making more consistent claims of jurisdiction over such disputes by largely deferring to states where the child had their most significant contacts. Despite widespread acceptance of the UCCJA by the states, variations in state laws implementing the federal law and differing interpretations resulted in continuing uncertainty about the enforceability of child custody decisions. In 1980, Congress responded again by passing the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act (PKPA) requiring states to enforce child custody decisions by courts of other states when in the best interest of the child. The act also defined the "home state" as "the State in which, immediately preceding the time involved, the child lived with his parents, a parent, or a person acting as parent, for at least six consecutive months, and in the case of a child less than six months old, the State in which the child lived from birth with any of such persons."

Concerning child custody orders in general, the U.S. legal system traditionally regarded children as the property of their parents, commonly resolving custody matters with a bias toward keeping children with their biological parents. As a result, the "best interests of a child" were overshadowed by the rights of the biological family. In the 1990s, the courts still tended to focus on the capabilities of the parents rather than on the children's needs.