Two Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP attorneys worked pro bono on the passage of a provision in the recently enacted Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act of 2022 that, in exchange for grants, requires family courts to protect children from parental abuse during custody proceedings.

Former Texas congressman and Pillsbury senior counsel Greg Laughlin and Pillsbury public policy partner Craig Saperstein have spent more than five years trying to get federal legislation passed on behalf of their client The Center for Judicial Excellence to protect kids from abuse when their parents are embroiled in custody and visitation proceedings.

In the past 10 years, more than 800 children have been murdered by an abusive parent who had a case pending in family court, the lawmakers said.

"It's embarrassing that our courts have turned a blind eye on protecting the safety of the children," Laughlin said.

The VAWA 2022 reauthorization act provision requires court grant recipients to minimize further child abuse, adjudicate domestic violence and child abuse allegations based on credible evidence, and provide court personnel with education training on child abuse and the impact of trauma on adolescent brain development.

According to the children's advocacy center accreditation organization National Children's Alliance, nearly 80% of child abuse victims are victimized by a parent.

To get the court measures passed, Laughlin and Saperstein brought mothers and a father of murdered children with them to meet with members of congress to discuss the proposed legislation and hear the parents' stories.

"Those meetings when you left, after listening to these mothers present their horror story, it just left you raw," Laughlin said.

They said that the most challenging parts of getting this provision passed was finding an avenue for federal lawmakers to govern family courts, which are under state jurisdiction, and gaining congressional support.

Laughlin said that tying the child protection measures to federal funding gives the federal government authority over family courts that receive grants.

Laughlin and Saperstein were able to gain support for the bill once they got U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., onboard with their effort. Fitzpatrick authored a Pennsylvania child protection statute called Kayden's Law, named after Kayden Mancuso, a seven-year-old girl who was murdered by her father in 2018 during a weekend court-ordered visit.

In 2020, Mancuso's biological mother and stepfather, Kathryn and Brian Sherlock, sued county, local and state systems in a Pennsylvania county court for allegedly failing to protect their daughter and endangering her life.

Fitzpatrick included Kayden's Law, which has child protection measures championed by Laughlin and Saperstein, in the VAWA 2022 reauthorization act that he introduced at the beginning of March.

The VAWA 2022 reauthorization act was passed on March 10 by Congress as part of a $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill.

Saperstein said that he hopes the child protection measures will make courts aware that kids are being abused by parents who are in custody proceedings and incentivize them to implement policies that prioritize child safety.

"I hope it will make judges and court-appointed officials who participate in these family court proceedings think much more deeply about the implications of their decisions," he said.

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