Illegal Bristol Township day care operator sentenced to jail

Posted: Oct. 18, 2018
Before announcing the sentence for a Bristol Township woman who operated an illegal day care where a toddler died last year, Bucks County Judge Brian McGuffin predicted neither side would leave happy.

Alivia Sawicki (l) Jaimee Lee Gorman (r)

“This is a very, very difficult case in terms of what is fair,” said McGuffin, who presided over the case against Jaimee Lee Gorman, 37, who pleaded guilty last month to endangering the welfare of children. “No matter what I do in the case, someone is going to be disappointed, frustrated.”

On Thursday, McGuffin sentenced Gorman, a single mother of three, to 3 to 23 months in Bucks County prison and ordered $16,048 in restitution to the parents of Alivia Sawicki for uncovered medical expenses and funeral costs. She faced a potential maximum state prison sentence of five years.

Gorman was ordered to report to the prison in two weeks — on the day before what would have been Alivia’s third birthday.

“I don’t think you’re a bad person. I don’t think you’re evil. But you were overwhelmed that day,” McGuffin told a teary-eyed Gorman. “You took a lot of chances that day. There are consequences to actions. I cannot give you probation in this case. There has to be some teeth to this.”

But McGuffin also left open the possibility that Gorman could serve her sentence under house arrest, saying he would not oppose it, though that decision rests with the Bucks County Corrections Department. If that happens, the judge ordered that Gorman report to Bucks County prison at least once a week to spend eight hours in custody.

Defense attorney Michelle Grasso said that McGuffin clearly put a lot of thought into his decision.

“Judge McGuffin had a very difficult job to do today. He took a lot of time to consider a sentence he deemed fair and appropriate,” Grasso said after the hearing. “Our hearts go out to Sawicki family. It is my hope that both families will begin to heal.”

Christopher and Christina Sawicki enter court

Christopher and Christina Sawicki, Alivia’s parents, declined to address the judge Thursday, but previously submitted a victim impact statement. Christina Sawicki declined comment after the sentencing.

Throughout the hearing, McGuffin directly addressed the couple, expressing his sympathy for their loss and telling them he understood the significant impact on their family.

“I want the Sawickis to know what I’ve told you all along, my heart goes out to you folks. I thought a lot about you folks over the last month and the last few days. I’ll be thinking about you folks for a long time.”

In a courtroom packed with tissue-clutching supporters for both families, McGuffin explained that while deliberating the sentence over the last month, he reviewed extensive case materials including police and coroner reports, state child care regulations, even car seat recall lists to understand the circumstances surrounding what happened to the 19-month-old girl on June 16, 2017.

Christina Sawicki shows a tattoo of her daughter

Alivia Sawicki suffocated and died in a car seat after she was left alone for an afternoon nap in a second-floor bedroom. An autopsy determined the chest buckle pressed into her neck when she tried to get out of the seat. A 14-year-old relative of Gorman’s found the girl when she went to wake her. The death brought new attention to the potential risks of underground child care providers.

According to authorities, Gorman, a single mother of three, was watching nine children under age 16, plus her own kids, at her Fourth Avenue home in Croydon on the day of the death, including Alivia and her 4-year-old brother, Austin, who Gorman watched for about six months. A subsequent state human services death investigation found Gorman watched as many as 13 children at times without proper state licensing.

State licensing is required for all child care providers regularly supervising four or more children who are not their family members.

McGuffin asked Gorman how she thought she could take care of so many children at the same time, especially since one of her children has special needs that requires extra attention.

But Gorman responded that it wasn’t difficult because the similar-aged children followed similar schedules. She also had help from her older son and niece, and her younger child only required a full-time aide when he was in school.

Gorman told the court that the day she died, Alivia had woken from her nap earlier than usual. After a diaper change, Gorman said the girl was rubbing her eyes and seemed sleepy so she rocked her back to sleep in the car seat.

But McGuffin questioned why Gorman didn’t keep Alivia wake.

“Was it easier for you? That is the picture in my brain,” he added.

“No,” Gorman answered. “What was one more kid up? It didn’t matter to me. I had more kids than I usually do.”

“You had too many kids,” McGuffin replied.

Lower Southampton takes steps to restrict former zoning employee’s access to township building

Posted: Oct. 11, 2018

Lower Southampton has taken steps to restrict when a former zoning department employee can visit the township building while state and local investigations into the zoning department’s past practices are ongoing.

The issue was briefly discussed during the board of supervisors meeting Wednesday night, after Supervisor Kim Koutsouradis said that he heard a former employee had been seen in the township building during work hours.

Police Chief Ted Krimmel confirmed that he received reports a former employee was in the building socializing with current employees, and concern was raised whether her presence was appropriate since the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office is investigating past zoning department operations. The state Department of Labor and Industry also is investigating the department’s past permit practices.

Krimmel told the board that he consulted with the chief of Bucks County detectives about the former employee’s presence, and he was advised “it was probably a bad idea she was in this building.” Krimmel added that he planned to send the former employee a letter advising her to avoid the township building unless she was attending a public activity or she was invited for a specific reason.

Krimmel declined to comment further after the board meeting.

Koutsouradis and Krimmel did not identify the employee, but multiple sources familiar with the situation confirmed it is Carol Drioli, who oversaw the department’s zoning department for 17 years before retiring earlier this year.

Reached by phone Thursday, Drioli declined comment.

On Tuesday a reporter with this news organization saw Drioli in the township building talking with employees after leaving an area of the building where the township manager’s office is located.

At Wednesday’s meeting, acting Township Manager Joe Galdo told supervisors that the former employee came to the township building to review an issue with zoning permits, but he was unaware that she was socializing with employees.

“If she was in here, it was for historic value,” Galdo said.

Drioli has been a lightning rod for criticism since the release of an outside consultant’s report that reviewed two years of zoning project records and found an unusual number of common “irregularities” in the records, including misplaced or missing land development plans and “numerous” projects improperly issued permits without going through the land development approval process.

On Thursday, Supervisor Chairman Keith Wesley said that it was his understanding the employee was at the township building to help answer questions about roofing and siding permits.

Earlier this month, Lower Southampton stopped requiring building permits for some home renovations, such as roof replacement, after learning it had been improperly requiring the permits in violation of a 2004 change to the state’s Uniformed Construction Code.

Koutsouradis said Thursday that he is glad the police chief checked with county authorities.

“It baffles me that with a criminal investigation going that primarily deals with our former zoning officer that anyone would have thought it was a good idea to have her enter the township building,” he added.

The township this week also instituted new protocols for township building visitors and had locks changed on doors to the zoning office and hallway leading to the Township Manager’s office. Krimmel had been pushing for sometime to improve employee security.

Crisis hotline workers attribute dramatic spike in calls with coverage of Kavanaugh accusations

Posted: Oct. 7, 2018
The allegations of what happened at a long ago house party between a 15-year-old girl and a classmate has some Americans talking about sexual violence for the first time, according to victim advocates.

Debbie Nugent (Left) Penny Ettinger (R) of NOVA

In Bucks County, an elderly man last week called a rape crisis hotline, reporting he was sexually abused as a child. It was something he had never told anyone before. But now he was looking for support to deal with memories that he said were triggered by the media coverage surrounding the sexual assault allegations against Judge Brett Kavanaugh, whose nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court was confirmed Saturday afternoon.

“This was a big deal for us,” said Tarah Sellers, director of client services for the Network of Victim Assistance in Warwick, which operates the hotline.

Other rape and crisis hotline operators and victim services programs in Pennsylvania and New Jersey also have reported a significant spike in callers coming forward with allegations of past sexual assault. Local advocates say the attention surrounding the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings for Kavanaugh, coupled with the #MeToo movement’s momentum, has compelled sexual violence survivors to share their stories, many for the first time.

“People are feeling comfortable coming forward now they are not the only one,” said Martina Singleton, director of sexual assault services for the Coalition Against Rape and Abuse in Cape May, New Jersey, which has also seen an increase in calls and visits. “That is what we are trying to get across, ‘silent no more.’ We mean it. Speak up and let someone know.”

Over the last two months, CONTACT of Burlington County, New Jersey, has seen a more than 50-percent increase in hotline calls seeking sexual assault-related support compared to a year ago, said Jillian Allen, director of sexual assault services. Additionally, the agency’s Sexual Assault Response Team has responded to twice as many requests over the last two months compared to 2017. The agency declined to release specific call numbers.

In Montgomery County, where last month comedian Bill Cosby received a state prison sentence for a 2004 sexual assault, the district attorney’s office has experienced a jump in new sexual violence allegations, spokeswoman Kate Delano said.

“We have received several reports of sexual assault by women that date to 20 or more years ago, and we are investigating,” she added. “Beyond that, I can’t provide any details.”

In Pennsylvania, prosecutors have a 12-year statute of limitations for sexual assaults involving adults, but child sexual assault victims can file criminal charges until their 50th birthday. New Jersey has no statute of limitations on rape allegations.

National statistics suggest one in five women — and one in 71 men — are raped in their lifetime, but sexual offenses are the most underreported crime, with estimates that 60 percent to 80 percent of victims never contact police, though most know their attacker. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in six boys and one in four girls are sexually abused before the age of 18, and roughly one-third of those assaults occur between the ages of 12 and 17.

Fewer than one in five women who are raped or sexually assaulted sought assistance from a victim service agency, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Other law enforcement agencies in Pennsylvania and New Jersey have not seen increases in reports, though some officials said they would not be surprised if they did. In Pennsylvania, rape crisis hotlines are reporting a recent “substantial” increase in activity in larger cities, but not elsewhere in the state, according to Kristen Houser, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape.

“It probably has to do more with local dynamics,” she added. “People speak when they feel safe to do so and dynamics in small communities can be harder to overcome.”

Over the last week, the Network of Victim Assistance in Bucks County is seeing double the 50 hotline calls it typically gets, according to NOVA’s Sellers. They are triple the usual number of so-called third-party anonymous callers — people who claim to be calling on behalf of someone else.

While the hotline sometimes sees caller spikes around high-profile events, such as the Cosby case and the recent Pennsylvania grand jury report detailing 70 years of sex abuse coverups in Catholic dioceses, the recent jump in call volume has been the biggest, and fastest, spike Sellers said she’s seen in the three years she has been with the agency.

“People have been hearing these things over and over again, and this one hit home,” Sellers said.

Some callers have specifically mentioned the revelations surrounding the Senate hearings and Kavanaugh’s accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, as triggering memories of past undisclosed assault experiences, Sellers said. Most callers are people the agency hasn’t previously served, she added.

NOVA’s Executive Director Penny Ettinger believes Blasey Ford’s story serves as a critical piece in an evolving national conversation on sexual violence.

“While the #MeToo movement is a household word by now, this brought it home,” Ettinger said. “It has brought the discussion of sexual assault into our homes.”

Advocates believe the circumstances and details that Blasey Ford described in her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee are common shared experiences for many people, and it’s the reason her story has resonated with the public more than other recent high-profile sexual assault survivors.

Her inability to recall some details of the alleged assault while vividly remembering others is a common experience for sexual assault survivors, which makes it easier for them to emotionally connect with Blasey Ford, said Mary Onama, executive director of the Victim Services Center of Montgomery County.

“The ‘I’m not alone’ piece is very, very critical for healing and for reducing the sense of isolation,” Onama added. “Dr. Ford represents voices of victims, she really does.”

Creating that sense of community and support for survivors is critical, advocates said, to counter the social and cultural stigmas surrounding sexual violence and negative public reactions targeting Blasey Ford, which could discourage others from disclosing past sexual assault and abuse.

“It can be hard to hear someone talk about their experience in that level of detail. It can bring back those feelings of fear of not being believed,” Houser said. “When you hear all the doubters, that can make it feel like your own experience is being denied. That is what we have seen happen over the last two weeks.”

Lower Southampton wrongly charged for permits for a decade

Posted: Sept. 27, 2018
For more than a decade, the Lower Southampton Zoning Department improperly required building permits for some exterior home improvements, but most residents who were wrongly charged won’t get a refund.

Zoning Officer William Oettinger confirmed that a 2004 change in the Uniformed Construction Code excluded the need for permits for all residential alterations if there are no structural or egress changes. That means building permits aren’t required for replacements of residential roofs, siding, doors and windows in municipalities that did not previously require permits.

But Lower Southampton continued to require residents get the permits for the work. The township’s current fee schedule charged residents $82.50 for most door, window, siding and roofing work. It charged $97.50 for roof with “structural alterations.”

Earlier this month, the township stopped requiring building permits for those residential improvements, Oettinger said, after the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry — which oversees building code compliance — visited the zoning department and learned about the error. The agency is investigating the department’s handling of permit applications.

Acting Township Manager Joe Galdo did not immediately respond to questions emailed Thursday on the number of building permits the township has issued for roofing, window, door and siding replacement projects this year, nor did Galdo authorize Oettinger to answer.

The revelation about the zoning department error surfaced near the end of the supervisors meeting Wednesday night, after Supervisor Kim Koutsouradis mentioned a discussion on the topic he saw on a Feasterville community Facebook page.

Township Solicitor Frank Dillon said it appeared that the fee schedule was not updated to reflect the change in the state law.

“It was probably an oversight by somebody,” Dillon added.

Koutsouradis also expressed concern about whether the township could be liable to refund residents who paid for permits they didn’t need.

“I don’t know what you’d be liable for?” Dillon said, adding that claims would have to fall within a six-month statute of limitations.

The township’s zoning department past practices has come under intense scrutiny since the release earlier this year of an outside consultant report that found “irregularities” including an unusually large number of “common” errors in a two-year review of zoning records and operations. The consultant was brought in to review the department following the retirement earlier this year of longtime department head Carol Drioli.

In addition to the state review, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office is investigating the department’s past operations.

At least one other municipality, Middletown, confirmed Thursday that it does not require building permits for roofing or siding where there is no structural change; a permit is only required for windows if the applicant is changing the size of the window, Township Manager Stephanie Teoli-Kuh said.

Pennsylvania lawmakers to hear testimony on protecting kids in disputed custody cases

Posted: Sept. 13, 2018

Three years ago, state Rep. Tina Davis introduced a bill to make protecting children the first priority in custody cases where there are allegations of sexual abuse or violence, long before anyone heard of the name Kayden Mancuso.

Jeffrey Mancuso (L) and Kayden

On Monday, the Bristol Township Democrat, who represents the 141st district, will host a House Democratic Policy Committee hearing in Middletown to examine how child custody cases are addressed in the state and how courts can better address the needs of families. Davis plans to use hearing and expert testimony to update her 2015 bill, which remains in the House Judiciary Committee.

Her proposed legislation would require a professional who provides advice, recommendations or evaluations to the court in custody proceedings to have expertise in domestic violence-related issues and, where appropriate, child sexual abuse. It also would require judges and attorneys be trained to appropriately respond to allegations of domestic violence in custody cases.

The Davis bill also would mandate an evidentiary hearing to “thoroughly vet” allegations of abuse and domestic violence as part of custody proceedings, and it would require only supervised visitation for parents found to have committed abuse until the person can prove they are no longer a risk to the child.

Also expected to be discussed at the hearing is another bill before the House Judiciary Committee that would suspend visitation rights for an abusive parent in domestic violence cases or allow only professionally supervised visitation. The bill, introduced by Rep. Mark Rozzi, a Berks County Democrat, also would encourage the Administrative Office of the Pennsylvania Courts to develop and implement standards to improve the ability of the court to recognize and respond to the impact of abuse and domestic violence on children.

The hearing comes roughly one month after the high-profile murder of 7-year-old Kayden Mancuso, who was killed Aug. 6 during a scheduled overnight visit with her father, Jeffrey Mancuso, 42, of Philadelphia, who then killed himself. The murder-suicide came three months after a Bucks County judge awarded Mancuso unsupervised visits, despite a history of violent and erratic behavior, including alleged assaults on Kayden’s mother, Kathryn Sherlock, and Mancuso’s mother.

Following her murder, Kayden’s family has campaigned on social and traditional media to remove Judge Jeffrey Trauger from the bench for failing to follow a court-ordered evaluation that recommended Mancuso have unsupervised visits with Kayden “contingent” on him entering mental health treatment. In his May custody order, Trauger strongly urged Mancuso to get that treatment, but did not mandate it.

Kathryn Sherlock is among the panelists scheduled to testify Monday. She met earlier this month with Gov. Tom Wolf and his senior staff to discuss family court reforms the family is pushing to enact as part of what they have proposed as “Kayden’s Law.” Among the proposed ideas are mandatory court-appointed advocates for children in custody proceedings and requiring judges incorporate recommendations from expert testimony and court evaluations into final orders.

Pennsylvania most recently underwent dramatic changes in its child custody laws in 2010, with new rules designed to hold Common Pleas Court judges more accountable for the reasoning behind custody awards and assuring the best interests of the child are in the forefront. Changes included requiring the court to address 16 custody factors and explain decisions in orders creating a case history for a future judge. At least five of those 16 factors address violence and potential harm to a child.

But Davis said that what she hears are parent complaints that courts do not take their allegations seriously, even when they are shown proof, or when supported by expert testimony.

“I hear that sometimes the judges don’t listen to what the advocates say,” Davis said.

National research shows that state family courts have struggled to evaluate reports of child abuse and domestic violence, including the appropriate burdens of proof, but admissibility standards often dip below those required in the criminal and civil court systems, according to CHILD USA, a Philadelphia-based child welfare organization.

Pennsylvania judges can tie visitation to undergoing mandatory psychological evaluations and behavioral or mental health treatment as part of custody orders, but without evidence that a child has been abused or threatened, a parent’s past violent or criminal behavior doesn’t automatically prevent contact with children, according to family law attorneys.

Similar patterns are found in other family courts. U.S. Department of Justice statistics suggest that 75 percent of the time, family courts award alleged domestic violence abusers unsupervised access to children. Frequently, the most highly contested custody cases involve domestic violence allegations, according to domestic violence experts.

A 2004 Harvard University School of Public Health study in the American Journal, Public Health found that men who abuse female partners are also “highly likely” to abuse the children of these women “however, family courts are reported to often ignore risks posed by abusive men in awarding child custody and visitation.”

“Children’s continued exposure to abusive parents may place them at increased risk for a range of serious health concerns. Children of women who have been abused by a male partner are at very high risk of being abused by these same men with approximately half of all children of battered women abused by their mothers’ abusers,” according to the Harvard study.

Judge delays sentencing in Bristol Township day care death

Posted: Sept. 12, 2018

Christopher and Christine Sawicki enter the courtroom

Calling the court case before him complex, significant and tragic, a Bucks County judge delayed sentencing for a Bristol Township woman who operated an illegal home day care where a 19-month-old girl died last year after she was strapped in a car seat for a nap and left unsupervised for at least an hour, a case that shined a spotlight on the potential risks of underground child care providers.

“This is a difficult decision for any well-meaning judge,” Judge Brian McGuffin told a courtroom packed with supporters of defendant Jaimee Lee Gorman, 36, as well as the parents of Alivia Sawicki, the girl who died while in Gorman’s care on June 16, 2017. “I don’t know what I am going to do. I will try my best to be wise and just and fair.”

McGuffin decided to postpone sentencing 60 days for Gorman, who pleaded guilty Monday to endangering the welfare of children, a first-degree misdemeanor, so he can have time to digest the facts of the case and review documents including victim impact statements. The judge said that he was not made aware of the “significance” of the case until 30 minutes before he took the bench, and he wanted to take his time deliberating.

“It is a sad, sad, tragic event that occurred,” he said, adding he had empathy for both families. “It merits strong consideration.”

Gorman was operating an unlicensed child care business the day Alivia Sawicki suffocated and died in a car seat after she was left alone for an afternoon nap in a second-floor bedroom of the home Gorman rented. A state-mandated review of the death found it appeared the chest buckle on the car seat pressed into Alivia’s neck when the child tried to get out of the seat. A 14-year-old relative of Gorman’s found the girl when she went to wake her.

The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office initially declined to press criminal charges against Gorman.

The office reopened the case after this news organization investigated the death and learned that at least four of the nine children Gorman was watching — including the Sawicki siblings — were not her family, suggesting that she was operating an illegal, unlicensed child care business. State licensing is required for child care providers regularly supervising four or more children who are not their family members.

Alivia Sawicki (L) Jaimee Lee Gorman (R)

Gorman, a single mom of three, was initially charged in March with operating an unlicensed facility, a felony offense when a death occurs. The charge was later reduced to endangering the welfare of children to bar Gorman from providing child care services in the future. She faces a potential maximum of five years in state prison and up to $10,000 in fines and remains free on unsecured bail.

With her attorney beside her, a visibly upset Gorman told the judge that she and Alivia’s mom had a conversation about how the toddler liked to be rocked to sleep in the carrier with her blanket and a pacifier.

“She would just cry in the crib,” Gorman said.

But when the judge asked her, Christine Sawicki — wearing a purple T-shirt with “Alivia’s Fight” across the chest — contended her daughter only napped in car seats when she was traveling in a vehicle.

“We never physically put her in her car seat for a nap,” she added. “We never left her unattended in a car seat.”

Sawicki added that during the roughly six months that Gorman — a high school acquaintance she reconnected with on social media — watched their two children, she and her husband, Christopher, didn’t know Alivia was left in a car seat for naps. She told McGuffin they only suspected what was happening — and told Gorman to stop — after they noticed the car seat would be wet with urine in the afternoons when the kids were picked up, she said. The couple also warned Gorman to watch Alivia when she was in the car seat because she loved to rock in it, she added.

Christine Sawicki shows her tattoo of Alivia

In the hallway before the hearing, Christine Sawicki said she was fine with the judge taking more time to decide a sentence.

“I just want people to know it’s not OK to kill people,” she said.

Christine Sawicki’s mother, Christina Witman, described the loss of Alivia as a black hole of sadness. Roughly nine months after Alivia died, Christine gave birth to a son named Asher. Everyone tells the family he bears a strong resemblance to the big sister he’ll never know, she added.

Life has been especially tough for her older brother, Austin, now 5, Witman said. He talks nonstop about Alivia.

She recalled what Austin said to his baby brother one day when Asher was about a month old and acting fussy.

“He said, ‘Do you miss Alivia, too?’” Witman said, tears filling in her eyes. “That just broke my heart. It broke my heart.”

Related content

Hiding in plain sight: Pennsylvania turns a blind eye to unlicensed child care

July 12, 2018

Advocates: Bucks, Pennsylvania reports missed day care violations in Bristol Township toddler death

April 1, 2018

The death of a ‘little angel’ in Bristol Township

March 9, 2018

Pennsylvania lawmakers to hear testimony on protecting kids in disputed custody cases

Posted Sept. 14, 2018

Three years ago, state Rep. Tina Davis introduced a bill to make protecting children the first priority in custody cases where there are allegations of sexual abuse or violence, long before anyone heard of the name Kayden Mancuso.

Kayden Mancuso

On Monday, the Bristol Township Democrat, who represents the 141st district, will host a House Democratic Policy Committee hearing in Middletown to examine how child custody cases are addressed in the state and how courts can better address the needs of families. Davis plans to use hearing and expert testimony to update her 2015 bill, which remains in the House Judiciary Committee.

Her proposed legislation would require a professional who provides advice, recommendations or evaluations to the court in custody proceedings to have expertise in domestic violence-related issues and, where appropriate, child sexual abuse. It also would require judges and attorneys be trained to appropriately respond to allegations of domestic violence in custody cases.

The Davis bill also would mandate an evidentiary hearing to “thoroughly vet” allegations of abuse and domestic violence as part of custody proceedings, and it would require only supervised visitation for parents found to have committed abuse until the person can prove they are no longer a risk to the child.

Also expected to be discussed at the hearing is another bill before the House Judiciary Committee that would suspend visitation rights for an abusive parent in domestic violence cases or allow only professionally supervised visitation. The bill, introduced by Rep. Mark Rozzi, a Berks County Democrat, also would encourage the Administrative Office of the Pennsylvania Courts to develop and implement standards to improve the ability of the court to recognize and respond to the impact of abuse and domestic violence on children.

The hearing comes roughly one month after the high-profile murder of 7-year-old Kayden Mancuso, who was killed Aug. 6 during a scheduled overnight visit with her father, Jeffrey Mancuso, 42, of Philadelphia, who then killed himself. The murder-suicide came three months after a Bucks County judge awarded Mancuso unsupervised visits, despite a history of violent and erratic behavior, including alleged assaults on Kayden’s mother, Kathryn Sherlock, and Mancuso’s mother.

Following her murder, Kayden’s family has campaigned on social and traditional media to remove Judge Jeffrey Trauger from the bench for failing to follow a court-ordered evaluation that recommended Mancuso have unsupervised visits with Kayden “contingent” on him entering mental health treatment. In his May custody order, Trauger strongly urged Mancuso to get that treatment, but did not mandate it.

If you go

Who: House Democratic Policy Committee

What: Public hearing on child custody issues

When: 2 p.m. Monday

Where: Middletown Municipal Building, 3 Municipal Way

Kathryn Sherlock is among the panelists scheduled to testify Monday. She met earlier this month with Gov. Tom Wolf and his senior staff to discuss family court reforms the family is pushing to enact as part of what they have proposed as “Kayden’s Law.” Among the proposed ideas are mandatory court-appointed advocates for children in custody proceedings and requiring judges incorporate recommendations from expert testimony and court evaluations into final orders.

Pennsylvania most recently underwent dramatic changes in its child custody laws in 2010, with new rules designed to hold Common Pleas Court judges more accountable for the reasoning behind custody awards and assuring the best interests of the child are in the forefront. Changes included requiring the court to address 16 custody factors and explain decisions in orders creating a case history for a future judge. At least five of those 16 factors address violence and potential harm to a child.

But Davis said that what she hears are parent complaints that courts do not take their allegations seriously, even when they are shown proof, or when supported by expert testimony.

“I hear that sometimes the judges don’t listen to what the advocates say,” Davis said.

National research shows that state family courts have struggled to evaluate reports of child abuse and domestic violence, including the appropriate burdens of proof, but admissibility standards often dip below those required in the criminal and civil court systems, according to CHILD USA, a Philadelphia-based child welfare organization.

Pennsylvania judges can tie visitation to undergoing mandatory psychological evaluations and behavioral or mental health treatment as part of custody orders, but without evidence that a child has been abused or threatened, a parent’s past violent or criminal behavior doesn’t automatically prevent contact with children, according to family law attorneys.

Similar patterns are found in other family courts. U.S. Department of Justice statistics suggest that 75 percent of the time, family courts award alleged domestic violence abusers unsupervised access to children. Frequently, the most highly contested custody cases involve domestic violence allegations, according to domestic violence experts.

A 2004 Harvard University School of Public Health study in the American Journal, Public Health found that men who abuse female partners are also “highly likely” to abuse the children of these women “however, family courts are reported to often ignore risks posed by abusive men in awarding child custody and visitation.”

“Children’s continued exposure to abusive parents may place them at increased risk for a range of serious health concerns. Children of women who have been abused by a male partner are at very high risk of being abused by these same men with approximately half of all children of battered women abused by their mothers’ abusers,” according to the Harvard study.