SB 5575

This bill strengthens protections for children by requiring courts to impose specific limitations on a parent’s residential time, decision-making authority, and dispute resolution options when the parent has engaged in serious harmful conduct—including sexual abuse, physical/emotional abuse, domestic violence, or willful abandonment. It also protects parents who act in good faith to protect their children and clarifies when restrictions can be lifted only under strict conditions.

• Requires courts to impose limitations on residential time, decision-making authority, and dispute resolution when a parent has engaged in serious harmful conduct—including sexual abuse of a child, physical or emotional abuse, domestic violence, or willful abandonment.
• Establishes a rebuttable presumption that a parent convicted of or found to have sexually abused a child poses a danger, and prohibits unsupervised contact unless specific, stringent conditions are met—including treatment completion, therapist recommendations, and two years of successful supervised contact.
• Expands restrictions to parents who knowingly reside with someone convicted or adjudicated of a sex offense against a child, requiring supervised contact or prohibiting contact unless rebuttal conditions are satisfied.
• Clarifies that 'protective actions' (e.g., reporting abuse to authorities, seeking restraining orders) do not constitute 'abusive use of conflict' and may not be used as grounds to limit a parent’s rights.
• Requires courts to consider specific factors—including risk of harm, past behavior, and compliance with treatment—when deciding whether to impose or lift limitations, and mandates detailed written findings for any deviation from mandatory restrictions.