(The Center Square) – Dozens of victims of domestic and sexual violence and their families and supporters gathered in Olympia on Saturday for a “Safe Childhood Now Rally” to advocate for legislation that aims to lay out clearer guidelines for courts on when to limit parents’ residential time and decision-making authority.
Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1620, as it passed the full House on March 8, had bipartisan support, with only seven members voting against the bill. While some victims and advocates took issue with the House version, they are even more displeased with changes made to the bill in the Senate.
Rep. Jamila Taylor, D-Federal Way, is the bill’s prime sponsor.
“The wide discretion that is afforded to judges leads to inconsistent decisions in parenting plan cases,” Taylor said during a Jan. 29 public hearing. “The judges need more guidance and they need to be required to write down their findings.”
The bill is supported by the Superior Court Judges’ Association and some groups that serve survivors, like the Sexual Violence Law Center, and the Northwest Justice Project, but some survivors and advocates strongly oppose the bill, especially in its current form moving through the Senate.
Critics argue that it will increase judicial discretion, making it easier for courts to set aside or minimize the impacts of abuse.
Evangeline Stratton, former senior managing attorney for the Washington Family Violence Appellate Project, told lawmakers she fears the bill will decrease protections for survivors and their children.
“It enhances judicial discretion without any required judicial training and solidifies the false equivalency between abuse and other parenting behaviors,” Stratton said in testimony against the bill.
Stratton and other advocates told The Center Square that there is too much gray area for judges to ignore the harm that family violence causes everyone in the home.
Among the victims sharing their emotional stories during Saturday’s rally was 23-year-old Brea Burnett, who was adopted by Rep. Brian Burnett, R-Wenatchee, and his wife three years ago.
At the time, Burnett was the sheriff in Chelan County and helped rescue the young woman from abuse and sex trafficking.
“My mom’s boyfriend began to sexually abuse me, and soon after, he sold me and other girls into sex,” said Burnett, who shared her gut-wrenching story at a recent prayer breakfast hosted by Gov. Bob Ferguson.
“I was trafficked over the next nine years and sold to be raped by thousands of different men,” she continued. “I was beaten, tortured, and subjected to the will of any man who walked through the door in ways that most of you could never imagine.”
Burnett said when she tried to get help at the age of 16, the courts failed her.
“I tried to file a petition to move away from the town I was being abused in, and I went through all the legal motions but instead was called in as a runaway and threatened with an at-risk youth petition,” said Burnett, who ended up moving to Chelan County and being taken in by the Burnett family who eventually adopted her. “It is so important to have a support system who believe in you, and any child who is willing to speak up about abuse deserves to be heard because if we don’t listen to them and help them up out of a dangerous situation, they will either be subject to more tortures and abuses or may even die.”
Also attending the rally was Rep. Jenny Graham, R-Spokane Valley, who shared her own story of abuse.
“When I think back about being the little girl who was hiding under the bed, I was thinking I was not going to wake up the next morning,” she said. “Those fears were real because out of three children, I was the only survivor. The other two died as teenagers. One was murdered and one committed suicide because of the abuse.”
Graham’s sister, Debbie, was murdered by Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer. She and others said victims and survivors need a stronger voice in the courts because of their lived experience and they oppose the influence of outside advocacy groups on individual cases.
During a March 20 Senate Law & Justice Committee hearing ahead of executive action on the bill, majority party Democrats passed a striking amendment meant to strengthen protections for children and survivors in family law cases, particularly those involving domestic violence or child abuse, by clarifying and updating RCW 26.09.191. The committee gave a do-pass recommendation to the bill.
Critics of the striker amendment say it negates many of the provisions in the House version of the bill that were more centered on victim voices.
“I really wanted to support this today,” Sen. Nikki Torres, R-Pasco, said, “but it doesn’t allow some of the victims who are no longer with us [to have a voice].”
Torres said last year’s murder of Amber Rodriguez, a paraeducator in the Tri-Cities, is a prime example of a victim not getting the support she needs from the family court.
“She spent years asking judges to protect her from her ex-husband,” Torres said. “Unfortunately, she was gunned down in front of the elementary school and in front of her own son. They failed her, and she would have been an expert that would be able to render her voice and her life experience.”
Others who attended the Saturday rally told The Center Square they are concerned that the bill in its current form will give judges more power instead of protecting survivors, even though supporters of the bill state the goal is to provide further education and information for judges with victims at the center.
The Center Square contacted Taylor’s office about the bill’s current form in the Senate and growing opposition from victims and advocates but did not receive a response.
