About
In March of this year (2022), the U.S. legislature passed the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act of 2022 (VAWA). Buried within the new law is “Kayden’s Law” which poses a SERIOUS threat to efforts to address parental alienation. The law is based largely on the not replicable “findings” of Prof. Joan Meier et al. (2019). The law states, “scientifically unsound theories that treat abuse allegations of mothers as likely attempts to undermine fathers are frequently applied in family court to minimize or deny reports of abuse of parents and children. Many experts who testify against abuse allegations lack expertise in the relevant type of alleged abuse, relying instead on unsound and unproven theories.”
The legislative intent of this law is to prevent parental from being an admissible claim in court. If the law is enacted across US states, states will get millions of dollars to provide biased trainings to judges about DV, who will be given misinformation about PA, and then children and families will be harmed. A consortium of experts representing a large network of international organizations have produced this brief to demonstrate to Federal legislators that Kayden's Law should be repealed or amended to reflect the true science of parental alienation. Likewise, this brief was produced to prevent State legislators from enacting Kayden's Law within their States. This website speaks on the behalf of various organizations representing children, mothers, veterans and victims of abuse including The Hero's Circle, Servicemembers and Veterans for Children's Rights, Mothers against Child Abuse, The Eeny Minie Moe Foundation and others. |