Kayden's Law and VAWA — One Mom's Battle

This month was monumental in the world of family court reform and domestic violence advocacy. Not only was the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) reauthorized and signed by President Joe Biden after six long years of bi-partisan negotiation, it included an important new provision: Kayden’s Law. The adoption of Kayden’s Law in VAWA marks the first time in history that the federal government has so plainly acknowledged the need for improved child safety measures in the private family court system all across the United States.

As we celebrate this victory for children and protective parents, mostly women, and our communities in general, it is important for us to honor 7-year old Kayden, murdered by her father, and those who worked tirelessly to write, advance, and pass Kayden’s Law.

Kayden’s Story

During custody litigation before a Pennsylvania family court, Kayden’s mother, Kathy Sherlock, presented extensive evidence of past abuse and risk, including a protection from abuse order that was granted because Kayden’s father had threatened to kill family members. The evidence Ms. Sherlock presented should have functioned as a clear sign of risk posed by the opposing party, Kayden’s father, but nevertheless the court permitted him unsupervised parenting time with little Kayden. This custody award came despite a well-documented history of the father’s violence, illegal, threatening, and abusive behaviors towards family and others, including biting a man’s ear off in a fight and being banned from Kayden’s school, as well as a recommendation to the court from an expert who testified that the father should not have unsupervised contact unless he first had mental health treatment.

In transcripts from Kathy Sherlock’s hearing in December 2017, she sought (and was granted) a three-year protection from abuse order. In this hearing, evidence was submitted that he threated to kill family members. Despite this ruling and a custody evaluator who expressed “grave concern” about Kayden’s father needing mental health treatment, Kayden’s father was granted unsupervised parenting time with Kayden. In 2018, Kayden’s father brutally beat her to death during his custody time and then committed suicide, leaving a note of vendetta directed toward Kathy on Kayden’s body.

Click to watch Kayden’s story.

History of Kayden’s Law

After Kayden’s death, Pennsylvania lawmakers - both state and federal - made a commitment to reform custody laws to be more protective of children. The evolution of Kayden’s Law and the movement around protective custody reform is outlined in the Domestic Violence Report, “Custody Laws Put Safety First” by Danielle Pollack & Joan Meier of the National Family Violence Law Center at GW:

“Pennsylvania’s reforms began in 2017 when the preliminary findings from Meier and team’s empirical study of family court outcomes in cases involving abuse and alienation provided the empirical research needed to support critical policy changes. Pulling together a small group of experts including the second author [Meier], litigator Richard Ducote, and Legal Director of the Barbara Hart Justice Center, Jodi Lewis, the first author [Pollack] led a process of drafting proposed legislation to ensure courts’ prioritization of children’s safety in cases involving abuse allegations. In 2018, this proposal, HB2058, was introduced by Representative Mark Rozzi. This proposal was then propelled forward by the brutal killing of seven-year-old Kayden Mancuso by her biological father during a court-ordered unsupervised visit in August 2018.

The Pennsylvania court had ignored not only the mother’s reports of the father’s violent, erratic, and criminal history, but also an expert opinion urging that the father needed mental health treatment before having unsupervised access. Soon after the murder, Kayden’s mother testified at a Policy Committee Hearing before a panel of lawmakers and the public.

In that hearing, advocates shared Meier’s research and called on state lawmakers to advance the custody reform bill introduced by Rozzi. The Pennsylvania legislative bureau then analyzed both Rozzi’s bill and another proposal (a set of principles denominated the “Safe Child Act”), determining that only the first passed constitutional muster. The Rozzi bill was expanded in 2019 and reintroduced as Kayden’s Law SB868 by Senator Santarsiero, representing the district where Kayden had lived. For the following session, Santarsiero (D) joined with his Judiciary counterpart, Chair Baker (R), to successfully lead it through the Senate as SB78 in June 2021.”

From there, Representative Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), worked with the National Family Violence Law Center and introduced a family court protective provision to the draft of the Violence against Women Act (VAWA) with an emphasis on child safety measures. It was called the Keeping Children Safe from Family Violence Act or “Kayden’s Law”. This provision incentivizes states to improve their laws related to child safety in family court proceedings.

A statement from Representative Fitzpatrick’s office explained, “Kayden’s Law will strengthen our state courts’ abilities to recognize and adjudicate domestic violence and child abuse allegations based on valid, admissible evidence so that courts can enter orders that protect and minimize the risk of harm to children.” It passed the U.S. House in 2021, but still needed to pass in the Senate.

To help advance the reforms, a national umbrella organization made up of the leading advocacy groups working on this issue around the country came together as one united force with National Safe Parents Coalition. Instrumental in lobbying and shining a celebrity spotlight was actress Angeline Jolie who is known for her humanitarian work, “It is personal to everyone,” said Jolie. “Everyone who cares about family, everyone who cares about children, everyone who cares about their own safety and the health of their community. This country doesn’t recognize what a serious domestic violence and child abuse problem it really has,” she said.

Finally the day came. “Getting VAWA reauthorized, and getting Kayden’s Law in it, is a relief,” Kathy Sherlock, Kayden’s mother stated. “It means we’re getting somewhere, that we’re being heard. But it shouldn’t have taken so long, shouldn’t have been so hard, shouldn’t have had so much pushback.” Expressing the relentless work this has taken to achieve, Sherlock commented, “We are finally being heard. Congress is saying that this is a problem, and we need to do something about it by validating what we’ve been saying and screaming for years. We’ve been heard. And we’re not going to stop. We still have a lot of work to do.”

In March 2022, Kathy Sherlock attended the ceremony at the White House with co-authors of VAWA Kayden’s Law, Danielle Pollack and Joan Meier of the National Family Violence Law Center and Congressman Fitzpatrick.

During President Biden’s speech, he said, “This law broke the dam of congressional resistance and cultural resistance. And it brought this hidden epidemic out of the shadows. You know, its introduction — it introduced our nation to so many brave survivors who those stories changed the way America saw the issue,” he said.

With VAWA Kayden’s Law enacted, perhaps now the nation’s children being court ordered into harm’s way will move out of the shadows, the world will see what is repeatedly happening to at-risk children and their safe parents in family courts across the country, and the country will choose to protect them instead of punishing them for telling the truth about family violence.