Oppose HB 2237: this misguided attempt to address family court issues in the high-risk child custody statute will have disastrous consequences. HB 2237 functionally gives judges the ability to do whatever they want regardless of the facts of the case. This does not solve the family court problem that children are being significantly harmed; HB 2237 only makes it easier for judges to apply their misguided false findings and place children with abusers. These judges are already doing this against the law, this bill just makes it legal for them to continue doing this and to do it more frequently.  

Attorneys have identified the following flaws in HB 2237:

• HB 2237 harms children by opening up the door to unending litigation for an abuser to get custody of a child that they abused

• HB 2237 removes mandatory protections for domestic violence survivors and abused children

• HB 2237 removes any remaining recourse for a domestic violence survivor to appeal their case

• HB 2237 further removes liability of the court if the child is harmed

• HB 2237 makes it easier for the wealthier party to buy the child in family court

• HB 2237 increases the already unaffordable cost of divorce by allowing the court to take a child away from a safe parent until they complete unnecessary and unaffordable services.  

• HB 2237 enables the court to remove all contact with a child for as little as “misusing conflict” a proxy for the “parental alienation syndrome” commonly used against safe parents, this syndrome is debunked by the United Nations.

• HB 2237 downgrades the importance of child abuse and domestic violence–while making it easier for the court to remove children from a parent for “misusing conflict,” and mental illnesses as insignificant as even ADHD, PTSD or anxiety.

This bill is not what it presents to be:

• HB 2237 is not based on science or research instead wipes away a 35 year old statute that is based on science and research

• HB 2237’s incompatibility with the federal Violence Against Women Act raises concerns, as parents advocating for safer practices have seen its effectiveness in saving children's lives.

• HB 2237 domestic violence survivors advocated strongly for consensus recommendations to this bill, none were put into this bill.

• The “survivor friendly language” is only 10% as impactful as the harmful language in the bill.

• Domestic violence survivors are telling orgs they don’t want this bill, while many these orgs are instead telling survivors to not talk about this bill but support it.

This bill has been opposed by Family Violence Appellate Project, the authority on domestic violence custody cases; Her Harbor, People Advancing Youth Equity and Safety and A Case for Ace, Washington orgs specifically addressing the needs of domestic violence custody cases; Jewish Family Service, another family law advocate for domestic violence survivors; 215 survivors petitioned to oppose this bill; and nationwide orgs such as One Mom’s Battle, National Safe Parents Organization, a world renowned DV Expert and more.