WASHINGTON, September 25, 2018—In a triumph for parents and
children who have been the victims of family violence, the U.S. House of
Representatives passed a concurrent resolution urging state courts to determine
family violence claims and risks to children before considering other ‘best
interest’ factors. The resolution encourages states to ensure courts rely only
on admissible evidence and qualified experts, and adopt qualification standards
for third-party appointees. It also affirms
that Congress is prepared to use its oversight authority to protect at-risk
children.
DV LEAP, the Center for Judicial Excellence and the California
Protective Parents Association (CPPA)—three well-known and established non-profit
organizations advocating for victims of abuse—have worked tirelessly with
Pillsbury, acting as pro bono counsel, to ensure H. CON. RES. 72’s
passage. Together they assembled a
coalition of more than fifty advocacy organizations supporting the initiative.
The bipartisan resolution, spearheaded by Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) and Rep.
Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), and cosponsored by more than 80 lawmakers, passed
without a vote earlier this evening.
“This day has been a very long time coming,” stated Founder and
Legal Director of DV LEAP Joan Meier. “We and our grass-roots allies have been
asking Congress to address this problem for over a decade and we are incredibly
grateful to our amazing pro bono lawyers at Pillsbury and leading co-sponsors
Maloney and Sessions for generating this outpouring of Congressional
support. It is not hyperbole to state
that this Resolution, by catalyzing improved state court practices, will save
some children’s lives and protect others from a childhood full of abuse.”
“California Protective Parents Association is incredibly thankful
to all who led, cosponsored and passed this important legislation to
help protective parents defend their abused children,” added CPPA Executive
Director Catherine Campbell. “By passing this resolution, Congress has assured those
kids that they will be heard and believed. They are avowing that, as a nation, we
consistently put a child’s right to be safe first.”
The Resolution is a direct response to state family courts’
difficulties hearing and evaluating claims of child abuse and domestic violence
during custody litigation. According to
the Leadership Council on Child Abuse and Interpersonal Violence, an estimated
58,000 U.S. children per year are court-ordered into the unsafe custody or care
of abusive parents, over the objections of caring parents. Over the past decade, the Center for Judicial
Excellence has documented 653 child homicides across the U.S. by a parent
involved in a conflict related to divorce, separation, custody, visitation or
child support.
“Many of these child homicides were preventable, if family courts
had just prioritized child safety,” said Kathleen Russell, the executive
director of the Center for Judicial Excellence. “This resolution commemorates
the lives of these innocents and helps ensure that more parents are spared the
immeasurable grief of losing a child at the hands of an ex-spouse.”
In just two examples of hundreds, Kyra Franchetti, age 2, was
murdered in 2016 by her father, who then committed suicide. Her mother’s claims
that Kyra’s father was suicidal, abusive and had severe anger issues were
repeatedly dismissed by a judge who at the time commented, “this is not a life
or death matter”. And just last year, 5-year-old Piqui was murdered by his
father after a trip to Disneyland, just days after a family court denied the
request of his loving mother, Ana Estevez, to supervise the father’s visitation.
The court minimized the father’s past violence toward the child and the
father’s threats to kill Piqui’s mother as simply “bad parenting.”
“While Kyra’s voice has been silenced by family violence, her
story resonated loud and clear,” said Jacqueline Franchetti, Kyra’s mother. “I
want to thank the Congressional members and staff who supported this Resolution
for their kindness and compassion. While I miss Kyra every second of every day,
this is an important first step to creating lasting change for so many children
left vulnerable by our divorce/family court system.”
Piqui’s mother Ana Estevez, a child advocate who has lobbied in
Washington on numerous occasions, continued: “Our children deserve to live full
lives—my Piqui deserved to live more than 5 years—and this powerful statement
by the House gives me real hope that the family court coverups and denials of
child abuse are finally being exposed. California passed Piqui’s Resolution a
month ago, in honor of my son, and like this federal Resolution, it urges family
courts to make child safety their number one priority.”
The
list of organizations that have been advocating for passage of H. Con. Res 72
includes Advocates
for Child Empowerment & Safety (ACES); California Protective Parents
Association (CPPA); Center for Judicial
Excellence (CJE); City of Covina; Domestic Violence Legal
Empowerment and Appeals Project (DV LEAP); ACTION OHIO Coalition For Battered Women; Azusa
City Council; Battered Mothers'
Custody Conference; Baldwin Park City Council; California Partnership to End
Domestic Violence (CPEDV); Center for Child Protection and
Family Support; Child Abuse Forensic Institute (CAFI); Child Abuse
Solutions, Inc.; Child Justice; Child
Protection Institute (CPI) at Liberty University; Child USA; Children’s
Civil Rights Union (CCRU); Children's Justice Fund; Coalition Against Domestic
Violence – Lynchburg VA; Courageous Kids Network (CKN); Darkness to Light; Distinction
in Family Courts (DFC); Families Against Court Travesties; Family Violence
Appellate Project (FVAP); Futures Without Violence
(FUTURES); Incest
Survivors Speakers Bureau (ISSB); Joan of Arc Lawyers Foundation, Inc.; Justice for
Children; Kids
Are Human; Legislative Coalition to Prevent Child Abuse; Legal Momentum; Los Angeles County
Sheriff’s Department; Lundy Bancroft; MassKids (Massachusetts
Citizens for Children); Moms Fight Back; Mothers
of Lost Children; National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV); National Coalition for
Family Justice (NCFJ); National Domestic Violence Hotline; National Network to End
Domestic Violence (NNEDV); National Organization for Men Against Sexism (NOMAS); National Organization for
Women (NOW); National
Partnership to End Interpersonal Violence (NPEIV); National Task Force to End
Sexual and Domestic Violence; Peace Over Violence; Piqui's
Justice; Senator Ed Hernandez; SOAR for Justice; Stop Abuse Campaign;
Support Network of Advocates for Protective Parents (SNAPP); Talk About Abuse to Liberate
Kids (TAALK); The
Hofheimer Family Law Firm; The Leadership Council on Child Abuse
and Interpersonal Violence; The Nurtured Parent; US Alliance to End the
Hitting of Children; and Wings for Justice.