Photo by Alex Jones via Unsplash.
Claiming Abuse, Losing Custody: National data shows that when women report abuse by their husbands in custody disputes, courts too often follow the controversial “parental alienation” theory and reduce plaintiffs’ custody rights. A new bill making its way through the Pennsylvania Statehouse aims to curb this trend.
But nearly five years after it was introduced, this bill has yet to pass either chamber of the General Assembly. Will this child protection bill finally be passed?
This morning PublicSource published a detailed investigative report from a team of writers including Kidsburgh events writer Meg St-Esprit. The story explains the story behind Kayden's Law — named after 7-year-old Kayden Mancuso of Bucks County, who was murdered by her father in 2018 during court-ordered unsupervised confinement, which was granted despite the mother raising safety concerns while in custody Litigation.
St-Esprit and her co-author Erin Yudt tell the story of women, including a mother named Inara, who was both relieved and frightened when a child development expert told her for the first time that they were filing a Childline report on behalf of her toddler would. St-Esprit and Yudt write:
The Pittsburgh mother of one feared that her then-husband would hurt her child once she disclosed the abuse, but her concerns turned to child development specialists. “One weekend I broke down in front of her about what had happened, and then she told me, 'You and your daughter are not safe here anymore,'” said Inaya, whose real name is being kept secret for fear of negative publicity entail consequences.
Inaya endured increasingly threatening tirades and promises of violence: she threw objects, broke down doors, and described physical harm that would be done to her and her child if they did not comply. When the Childline report was filed, Inaya knew the risk had increased and she had to leave.
“So I called the women's shelter and she said, 'Just pack two sets of clothes for you and your daughter and come right here.' Okay, and that’s what I did.”
She believed this would be the beginning of a new – and safer – life for her and her toddler.
Instead, five years later, Inaya's ex-husband has sole custody and she is only allowed to see her child for two overnight visits a week, which she says amounts to about 13 to 15 waking hours. The case also included testimony from an expert called by her ex-husband who said physical and sexual abuse may be less harmful to a child than “parental alienation.”
It's a difficult story to read, but an important one – especially for anyone fighting a custody battle in which abuse has played a role.
If you want to read the full story, you can find it here.
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