Senate Bill (SB) 654, backed by Angelina Jolie and Dylan Farrow, would require a judge to consider a parent’s history of domestic violence and substance abuse before allowing unsupervised visits with children. SACRAMENTO, CA — Senator Dave Min (D-Irvine) announced today his bill to create and extend protections for children in family court advanced from the State Legislature and will head to … [Read more...]
Proposed Law Would Make it Tough for Abusive Parents to Get Unsupervised Visits With Their Kids
SB 654 is aimed at a problem that is sadly common. It's one of several anti-violence bills from State Sen. Dave Min. He cites the 2018 deaths of two Sacramento girls, Sophia Rouin, 12, and Sara Rouin, 9, at the hands of their abusive father during a court-ordered unsupervised visitation as inspiration for his latest piece of legislation, which would require courts to consider a parent’s history of … [Read more...]
Federal Lawsuit Claims NY Judge Anthony McGinty Favors Abusive Men in Custody Cases
An upstate New York domestic violence survivor, author, and family child advocate Francesca Amato said Ulster County Family Court Judge Anthony McGinty violated her rights by awarding custody of her teen son to her abusive ex — and she claims other female litigants are facing similar fates, an explosive federal lawsuit alleges. Judge McGinty placed her 13-year-old son with a father, who has a … [Read more...]
‘Women Are Routinely Discredited’: How Courts Fail Mothers and Children Who Have Survived Abuse
This report from The Fuller Project, in partnership with the Guardian, details the routine family court failure to believe and protect mothers and children who have survived abuse and how abusive partners using the courts to control and harass their current and former partners. “I’m losing everything,” says Marissa, who learned last September, in the middle of an already contentious custody … [Read more...]
7-Year-Old Julissia Batties Killed Inside Mom’s Bronx Apartment, Despite History of Abuse Detailed in Court Papers
The long and ultimately fatal custody battle lost by a devastated Bronx grandmother forced to return a 7-year-old girl to her mother and the apartment where the child was fatally beaten is detailed in court documents. Little Julissia Batties, removed from the custody of doting grandmother Yolanda Davis in April 2020, was punched eight times early Tuesday morning by a teenage half-brother, … [Read more...]