Each year, according to the Leadership Council on Child Abuse and Interpersonal Violence, 58,000 children in the United States are ordered by the court into the full or partial care of an abusive adult.
In August 2018, Kayden Mancuso, a 7-year-old student at Edgewood Elementary School in Yardley, became the 647th child to be murdered by that abusive parent. Though Kayden’s mother Kathryn Sherlock pleaded with judges, explaining how her father Jeffrey Mancuso was mentally unstable and abusive, he was still granted partial unsupervised custody. During one of Kayden’s mandatory visits to his Manayunk apartment, he killed her before taking his own life.
Ever since, Kathryn, along with her husband Brian Sherlock, father Thomas Giglio and sister Heather Giglio, have made it their mission to ensure this fate doesn’t happen to another innocent child. Thanks to local government support, their efforts may soon become reality.
On Friday, Oct. 4, Sen. Steve Santarsiero (D-10th dist.) and Reps. Perry Warren (D-31st dist.) and Tina Davis (D-141st dist.) hosted a press call to discuss what Santarsiero said is a “desperately needed change to Pennsylvania’s child custody law.” SB 868, also known as Kayden’s Law, seeks to establish a procedure for handling custody proceedings to better ensure the protection of children in the family court system.
“First and foremost, it makes it clear that the paramount factor in considering any child custody case must be the health and safety of the child. Period,” said Santarsiero. “No custody may be awarded to a parent who’s found to jeopardize the health and safety of a child.”
When ruling in a separation or divorce case, the bill would mandate that courts consider a variety of issues, such as the parent’s history of abuse with household members; their history of violent, assaultive or abusive behavior that could potentially put the child at risk; the parent’s mental condition and whether or not it creates a risk to the child; and the child’s fear of the parent.
If there are allegations of child abuse or a history of domestic violence, an evidentiary hearing would take place. Santarsiero explained that if such an act is found to be true, the court would award sole custody to the safe parent and suspend physical custody to the abusive parent.
“The only exception is if the court were to find supervised physical custody would still be in some way in the best interest of the child and that it would still protect the health and safety of the child,” Santarsiero said.
In that case, visits would be supervised by a professional appointed by the court, and take place in a therapeutic setting. It would never be in the home of the parent, and would never include an overnight stay.
SB 868 would also urge the courts to draft and implement an ongoing education training program for judges, magisterial district judges and court personnel to make sure they understand child abuse, including sexual abuse, trauma and domestic violence, and how it may impact the child and any decision the court renders.
“This training is so essential and so crucial to this whole bill,” said Davis, who has been working for years on child custody issues. “It’s still up to the judges to make the decision in the end. We have to better prepare them.”
Warren echoed his colleagues’ sentiment on the importance of changing state law.
“The whole community was so saddened last August when we lost Kayden. As a person with five children, and having lost a child, I’ve tried to focus my 2.5 years in the legislature on child protection legislation,” Warren said. “Thanks to the work, persistence and love shown by Kayden’s family over these past 13 months, we are making headway and we are going to change the law in Pennsylvania and make Kayden’s Law the law.”
Kayden’s Law has been introduced in both the House and Senate, with Kayden’s family feeling a sense of mournful gratitude.
“Everything’s bittersweet that we do from here on out,” said Brian. “We’re thrilled that we can get this bill in front of the House and Senate, but the reason why we’re here, I wish I didn’t have to be here. But this is the kind of life that we have now, so if we can save other children and make sure that children’s safety is the No. 1 priority in any of these cases, then we won’t stop until this becomes a bill here in Pennsylvania and across the country. They’ve done such a great job with this bill that if it was in place prior to last August, she’d still be here.”
“There’s been so much done here by the community and by our representatives, and we can’t appreciate it enough,” added Thomas.
The Senate Democratic Policy Committee will hold a hearing on Thursday, Oct. 17, at 11 a.m. at the Lower Makefield Township Community Center, 1550 Oxford Valley Road, Yardley, to focus on SB 868 and its identical House counterpart. ••
Samantha Bambino can be reached at sbambino@newspapermediagroup.com
