Legal safeguards for children who witness domestic violence incidents

As a mother, I can think of nothing worse than an assault involving a child. While providing legal protection for children in cases of domestic violence has always been a top priority of our court system, children who are present and witness these acts but remain physically unharmed have not been afforded the same legal safeguards.

Existing law authorizes courts to issue specified protective restraining orders upon a good cause belief that harm or intimidation of a victim is reasonably likely to occur. Until now however, children who witness incidents of domestic violence, but who were not physically harmed, were not subject to these protective orders.

To remedy this situation, I introduced Assembly Bill 1850, which expands current statutes by declaring that children who are present during domestic violence incidents are, by definition, witnesses to a crime who have suffered harm, even though they were not physically assaulted. This clarification will allow the courts to issue restraining orders that safeguard these children.

I was very pleased that AB 1850 was one of just 24 bills endorsed by the Legislative Women’s Caucus. The bill passed both houses of the Legislature unanimously, receiving final legislative approval on Aug. 19. I am also happy to report that Governor Brown signed AB 1850 into law on Sept. 27.

It is my hope that taking this step will close a longstanding legal loophole by providing badly needed legal protections to children suffering through one of life’s most devastating emotional ordeals.