In a rare foray into custody issues, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently upheld a lower court’s decision in an international child-custody matter.

The appellate court was asked by the child’s father, Christopher Harm, a U.K. citizen living in Northern Ireland, if the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana correctly decided that his young daughter’s residence in Ireland was only transitory, making her habitual residence in New Orleans with her mother.