Bill To Reform Child Custody Process Moves Forward
Legislation named after a Pennsbury School District student who was tragically murdered is moving forward in Harrisburg.
Senate Bill 78, known as Kayden’s Law, came before the Pennsylvania Senate Judiciary Committee Monday and was voted with bipartisan support out of committee.
Kayden was killed in Philadelphia by her father during a 2018 unsupervised visit. Her father, who killed himself, had a history of threatening actions and a Bucks County judge had approved unsupervised visits. The death of the student of Pennsbury’s Edgewood Elementary School in Lower Makefield Township brought spotlight locally to the child custody process.
A Lower Makefield couple has filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging county, local and state systems failed to protect their 7-year-old daughter, who was murdered in 2018 while on a court-ordered visit with her biological father.
Arguments on preliminary defense objections were held in Bucks County Court Wednesday in the suit brought by Kathryn and Brian Sherlock on behalf of Kayden Mancuso.
Last month, Montgomery County senior Judge Emanuel A. Bertin was assigned to the case at the request of Bucks County President Judge Wallace Bateman. The Sherlocks, who are not lawyers, are representing themselves in the lawsuit.
Among the defendants named in the suit is Bucks County Judge Jeffrey G. Trauger, who oversaw the custody case between Sherlock and her ex-boyfriend Jeffrey Mancuso.