Kayden's Law On Child Custody Pushed By Bucks Co. Lawmaker

LOWER MAKEFIELD TOWNSHIP, PA —With the recent five-year anniversary of a Pennsbury school first-grader's death at the hands of her father, a Bucks County lawmaker is pushing for a bill to better protect children in child custody situations.

State Sen. Steve Santarsiero marked the Aug. 6 anniversary of the death of Kayden Mancuso by her biological father during an unsupervised, court-ordered visit.

"I am proud to once again co-sponsor Kayden’s Law with Senator Lisa Baker and call for its passage to protect children in contested custody cases. Kayden’s Law would ensure that the primary consideration in any child custody dispute will be the health and safety of the child," the senator said.

The bill has received bi-partisan support in previous sessions.

"I will work with my colleagues in the Senate to take up this important legislation this fall and pass Kayden’s Law," he added.

Santarsiero said Kayden’s Law is a rewrite of the state's child custody statute to better protect children in child custody situations.

The bill arises from a case in Lower Makefield Township in 2018 when Mancuso, a first grader at Edgewood Elementary School in the Pennsbury School District, was the subject of a custody dispute between her mother and her biological father that ended with her murder.

The court awarded unsupervised visitation with the father despite a history of violence on his part, Santarsiero said, and over a weekend in August 2018 while with her father in an unsupervised situation in Philadelphia, he murdered her and committed suicide.

"The bill, named in her honor, would make it clear moving forward that the safety of the child is the paramount concern for any court reviewing a custody dispute," Santarsiero said. "And if there is a threat of violence or abusive behavior, the most the court would be able to order is supervised custody with a preference on professionally supervised custody so that a child could never be in the situation that Kayden was in."

Two years ago, the bill passed the Senate, but it was not moved forward in the House.

With Democrats now in control in the House, Santarsiero said he's hopeful that he'll be able to once again move the bill out of the Senate, get it through the House and it to get to Gov. Josh Shapiro's desk for a signature.

Patch Writer Jeff Werner contributed to this story.