SEC. 2.
(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(1) Approximately 1 in 15 children in the United States is exposed to domestic violence each year.
(2) Most child abuse in America is perpetrated in the family and by a parent, and intimate partner violence and child abuse overlap in the same families at rates between 30 and 60 percent. A child’s risk of abuse increases after a perpetrator of intimate partner violence separates from a domestic partner, even when the perpetrator has not previously directly abused the child. Children in the United States who
have witnessed intimate partner violence are approximately four times more likely to experience direct child maltreatment than children who have not witnessed intimate partner violence.
(3) More than 75 percent of child sexual abuse in America is perpetrated by a family member or a person known to the child. Data from the United States Department of Justice shows that family members are 49 percent, or almost one-half, of the perpetrators of crimes against child sex assault victims younger than six years of age.
(4) Research suggests that a child’s exposure to an abuser is among the strongest indicators of risk of incest victimization. One national study found that female children with fathers who are abusers of their mothers were six and one-half times more likely to
experience father-daughter incest than female children who do not have abusive fathers.
(5) Child abuse is a major public health issue in the United States. Total lifetime financial costs associated with just one year of confirmed cases of child maltreatment, including child physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, and neglect, result in $124 billion in annual costs to the economy of the United States, or approximately 1 percent of the gross domestic product of the United States.
(6) On April 13, 2023, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls called for a ban on highly traumatizing reunification treatments promoted through unlicensed, unregulated, for-profit industries, which result in children
being isolated through extended no-contact orders from the other parent, family, friends, schools, and communities.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to do all of the following:
(1) Increase the priority given to child safety in any state court divorce, separation, visitation, paternity, child support, civil protection order, or family custody court proceeding affecting the custody and care of children.
(2) To prohibit family courts from ordering reunification treatments, programs, or services, including, but not limited to, camps, therapeutic vacations, workshops, and parenting programs, that cut off the relationship with a parent or sequester the child from extended family, friends, and community under acutely distressing circumstances, such as utilizing professional transport agents that force a child into a threat-based, coercive environment to address, repair, or remediate the relationship with the other parent whom the child is rejecting or resisting.
(3) Ensure
that professional personnel involved in cases containing domestic violence or child abuse allegations receive trauma-informed and culturally appropriate training on the dynamics, signs, and impact of domestic violence and child abuse, including child sexual abuse.
(4) Ensure trainings are designed to improve the ability of judicial officers, referees, commissioners,
and if employed by the court, guardians ad litem, custody evaluators,
mediators, child custody recommending counselors, and others who are deemed appropriate
by the Judicial Council and who perform duties in domestic violence or child custody matters to recognize and respond to child abuse, domestic violence, and trauma in family victims.
(5) Ensure trainings are designed to improve the ability of judicial officers, referees, commissioners, and, if employed by the court,
guardians ad litem, custody evaluators, mediators, child custody recommending counselors, and others who are deemed appropriate
by the Judicial Council and who perform duties in domestic violence or child custody matters to prioritize children and to make appropriate custody decisions in the best interest of child safety and well-being that are culturally responsive and appropriate for diverse communities.
(6) Move California toward becoming eligible for additional grant funding through the United States
Department of Justice’s STOP Violence Against Women Formula Grant Program, as appropriated for states that meet the requirements of the federal Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act of 2022 (Division W of Public Law 117-103).
(c) The Legislature does not intend, by passage of this bill, to discriminate against parents or children based on either a parent’s or the child’s actual or perceived sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, race, color, ancestry, national origin, ethnic group identification, age, religion, marital or parental status, physical or mental disability or genetic information, or association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics.