H.Con.Res. 72: Expressing the sense of Congress that child safety is the first priority of custody and visitation adjudications, and that State courts should improve adjudications of custody where family violence is alleged.

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H.Con.Res. 72: Expressing the sense of Congress that child safety is the first priority of custody and visitation adjudications, and that State courts should improve adjudications of custody where family violence is alleged.

115th Congress · introduced 2017-07-24 · Families · Latest: Received in the Senate.

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Official title

Expressing the sense of Congress that child safety is the first priority of custody and visitation adjudications, and that State courts should improve adjudications of custody where family violence is alleged.

Plain summary

Expresses the sense of Congress that: child safety is the first priority of custody and parenting adjudications, and courts should resolve safety risks and claims of family violence before assessing other best interest factors; quasi-scientific evidence should be admitted by courts only when it meets admissibility standards for scientific evidence; evidence from court-affiliated or appointed fee-paid professionals regarding adult or child abuse allegations in custody cases should be considered only when the professional possesses documented expertise and experience in the relevant types of abuse, trauma, and the behaviors of victims and perpetrators; states should define required standards of expertise and experience for appointed fee-paid professionals who provide evidence to the court on behaviors of abuse victims and perpetrators, specify requirements for the contents of such professional reports, and require courts to find that any appointed professionals meet those standards; states should consider models under which court-appointed professionals are paid directly by the courts, with potential reimbursement by the parties after due consideration of the parties' financial circumstances; and Congress should schedule hearings on family courts' practices with regard to children's safety and civil rights.

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

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Needs sources: no published alternatives yet (for example a different bill, a law instead of an amendment, or keeping current law). We only show items backed by a published source. Suggest one.

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Officials and money

Sponsor: Rep. Meehan, Patrick [R-PA-7] · 86 cosponsors

Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.

Cosponsors on this site

Thomas R. Suozzi (D-NY), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), John R. Carter (R-TX), Tom Cole (R-OK), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Hakeem S. Jeffries (D-NY), Judy Chu (D-CA), Rosa L. DeLauro (D-CT), Scott H. Peters (D-CA), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Adam B. Schiff (D-CA), Doris O. Matsui (D-CA), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Gregory W. Meeks (D-NY), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Elise M. Stefanik (R-NY), J. Luis Correa (D-CA), John Garamendi (D-CA), Grace Meng (D-NY), Henry C. "Hank" Johnson, Jr. (D-GA), Salud O. Carbajal (D-CA), Maxine Waters (D-CA), Linda T. Sánchez (D-CA) and 26 more.

No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.

Sources

• Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House)
• Congress.gov
• Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-115hconres72.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/115/hconres>

Record fed-us-cong115-hconres72 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong115 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong115