At the National Family Violence Law Center the safety and well-being of children always come first.
Specializing in the intersection of adult and child abuse in the family and its implications for family courts
The National Family Violence Law Center is the preeminent home for national research and expert support to better protect children in contested custody cases. The Center provides pioneering quantitative and qualitative research, training and education, state and federal policy development, and selective litigation.
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About NFVLC
About Our Work
Why Our Work Matters
Leadership and Staff
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What We Do
Research and Education
Policy
Litigation
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POLICY
The Keeping Children Safe From Family Violence Act “Kayden’s Law”
The Violence Against Women Act 2022 (VAWA), including the Keeping Children Safe From Family Violence Act or “Kayden’s Law”, was reauthorized and signed into law by President Biden in 2022.
Building on our state effort initiated in Pennsylvania, NFVLC Director Joan Meier and NFVLC Policy Manager Danielle Pollack are proud to have drafted this landmark federal provision together with Pennsylvania Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, and then advanced it together with Kayden’s family (pictured), colleagues at RAINN and CJE, and many advocates, including UN Special Envoy Angelina Jolie. We were honored to be invited to the White House event and attend with Kayden’s mother, Kathy Sherlock, to celebrate this momentous occasion for child safety.
Now, NFVLC is providing technical assistance to state lawmakers working toward adopting the Kayden’s Law provisions and render states eligible for a portion of the $25M authorized by Congress under this Act. Colorado recently became the first U.S. state to do so. Here is a one page overview of Kayden’s Law.
NFVLC also provides lawmakers with technical assistance on many related matters, including advising on expanding domestic violence definitions to include coercive control.
LITIGATION
Domestic Violence in the Supreme Court NFVLC Briefs
Drawing on our Director’s 15 years of appellate experience at DV LEAP, the non-profit she founded in 2004, the NFVLC participates in selective federal, Supreme Court, and state-level appeals. including those involving the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of international child abduction. The Center produces amicus briefs in partnership with pro bono lawyers from a selective network of law firms. The Center uses these friend-of-the-court briefs to bring together broad coalitions of concerned professionals and advocates to educate courts while strengthening the national grassroots movement for change.
NFVLC was riveted by the Supreme Court argument in a case concerning the Hague Abduction Convention and domestic violence, Golan v Saada. We co-signed and helped author an amicus brief in the case and also helped prepare the attorney for the mother. A short discussion of the case is on SCOTUSblog, as is the court’s decision.
In August, NFVLC, in partnership with DV LEAP and others, filed an amicus brief for United States v. Rahimi, regarding domestic abusers’ access to firearms as it pertains to harms to children. Included in the NFVLC brief are first-person case narratives written by surviving protective parents whose children were recently murdered by firearm by the other parent who had been under a protective order for abusing family members. Oral argument is set for November.
RESEARCH AND EDUCTION
The Child Custody Outcomes Study
Experts in the field of family violence know that the best predictor of future violence is past violence, yet family courts continue to make child endangering custody decisions.
Between 2015 and 2019, the NFVLC Director led a team in a federally-funded five-year national study, “Child Custody Outcomes in Cases Involving Abuse and Alienation Allegations” (2019) (“Family Court Outcomes Study”) that produced the first empirical data measuring national trends in family courts’ responses to abuse allegations. It is also the first research study to assess courts’ responses to child abuse as well as intimate partner violence claims. This new data proves quantitatively what many experts and survivors have reported anecdotally, that family courts adjudicating custody and access are failing to take seriously reports of a parent’s dangerousness, frequently reject mothers’ and children’s reports of domestic abuse, and award custody to alleged – and known - abusers at surprising rates.
NFVLC leadership regularly presents at national and international conferences and events to raise awareness about the systemic problems in family courts, and we consulted on the recently issued UNSRVAW Custody Report, presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council in June 2023.
