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Pennsylvania State Senate
10/31/2024 08:15 PM
Pennsylvania State Senate
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?SPick=20150&chamber=S&cosponId=20794
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Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2015 - 2016 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: September 29, 2016 02:45 PM
From: Senator John N. Wozniak
To: All Senate members
Subject: Safe Child Act
 
In the near future I will introduce legislation providing for the safety of children in our custody courts based on integrating current scientific research.

The CDC released groundbreaking research called the ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) Research that can protect the health and safety of our children. The research shows that children exposed to domestic violence and child abuse live shorter lives and suffer more illness and injury. The Saunders’ Study from the National Institute of Justice found many evaluators, judges and lawyers do not have the specific knowledge needed to recognize and respond to domestic violence cases.

Most custody cases are settled more or less amicably and the Safe Child Act will not impact these cases. The problem is the 3.8% of custody decisions that go to trial or beyond. These are overwhelmingly domestic violence cases involving the worst abusers, abusers who believe their victims have no right to leave. Courts often fail to recognize the risk because these cases often do not involve severe physical assaults.

The Safe Child Act is a comprehensive proposal based on current research, a multidisciplinary approach and trauma-informed practices designed to keep our children safe.

The act will safeguard children through:
  • using the latest available research, specifically the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study from the CDC and the Saunders Study from the DOJ.
  • requiring courts to make the health and safety of children the first priority in all custody and visitation decisions.
  • adopting a multidisciplinary approach.
  • requiring an early hearing limited to family abuse issue which will resolve cases in one or two hours that now often take many months or years.
  • providing new training based on current scientific research to help courts recognize and respond to abuse cases.


Please join me in co-sponsoring this bill. If you have any questions contact Josh Myers of my staff at 787-5400 or by email to jmyers@pasenate.com. Thank you for your consideration.


Introduced as SB1400