Maryland

• Senate Bill 17 (Child Custody – Cases Involving Child Abuse or Domestic Violence – Training for Judges and Child’s Counsel)

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: Introduced on January 12 2022 - 25% progression
Action: 2022-01-10 - Hearing 1/26 at 1:00 p.m.
Pending: Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee
Hearing: Jan 26 @ 1:00 pm Senate Judicial Proceedings Hearing
Text: Latest bill text (Introduced) [PDF] 

Requiring the Maryland Judiciary, in consultation with domestic violence and child abuse organizations, to develop a training program for judges presiding over child custody cases involving child abuse or domestic violence and to review and update the training program at certain intervals; requiring the training program to include certain information; requiring the Maryland Judiciary to make information on a certain training program available on request; etc.

Judicial training program should include: “parental alienation, including: the origins of parental alienation the invalidity of parental alienation as a syndrome; and the inappropriateness of the use of parental 24 alienation in child custody cases.”

• Senate Bill 41 (Family Law - Child Custody and Visitation)

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: Introduced on January 12 2022 - 25% progression
Action: 2022-01-10 - Hearing 1/26 at 1:00 p.m.
Pending: Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee
Hearing: Jan 26 @ 1:00 pm Senate Judicial Proceedings Hearing
Text: Latest bill text (Introduced) [PDF]
Summary Requiring a court, in a custody or visitation proceeding, to deny custody or visitation rights to a certain party if the court has reasonable ground to believe that a child has been abused or neglected by the party, unless the court specifically finds that there is no likelihood of further child abuse or neglect by the party and states the reasons for the finding; authorizing the court to approve a supervised visitation arrangement under certain circumstances; etc.

Text includes: "ANY REASONABLE EFFORT TO PROTECT A CHILD OR A PARTY TO A CUSTODY OR VISITATION ORDER FROM THE OTHER PARTY MAY NOT BE CONSIDERED AN UNJUSTIFIABLE DENIAL OF OR INTERFERENCE WITH VISITATION GRANTED BY A CUSTODY OR VISITATION ORDER". No definition is provided for "reasonable effort" and therefore this could be used to counter parental alienation allegations.

• SB336

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 2-1)
Status: Introduced on January 20 2022 - 25% progression
Action: 2022-01-20 - First Reading Judicial Proceedings
Pending: Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Introduced) [PDF]
Summary Requiring that an individual meet certain educational and experiential requirements in order to be appointed or approved by a court as a custody evaluator; requiring that, beginning October 1, 2023, an individual complete 20 hours of initial training in certain areas in order to be appointed or approved by a court as a custody evaluator; requiring that an individual receive 5 hours of ongoing education and training every 2 years in order to continue to be appointed or approved by a court as a custody evaluator; etc.
(XI) BACKGROUND AND CURRENT RESEARCH–INFORMED LITERATURE REGARDING PARENTAL ALIENATION, ITS INVALIDITY AS A SYNDROME, AND THE INAPPROPRIATENESS OF ITS USE IN CHILD CUSTODY CASES
(XIII) TOOLS THAT CAN HELP ASSESS THE CREDIBILITY OF A CHILD WITNESS AND INFORMATION ON HOW METHODS SUCH AS CHILD THERAPY AND EXPRESSIVE ARTS ARE LEGITIMATE THERAPEUTIC TOOLS TO MEASURE BOTH THE DEGREE OF TRAUMATIC IMPACT AND THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THERAPEUTIC AND SYSTEM INTERVENTION

• ​HB 104

This is the House version of SB 17.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: Introduced on January 12 2022 - 25% progression
Action: 2022-01-07 - Hearing 1/27 at 1:00 p.m.
Pending: House Judiciary Committee
Hearing: Jan 27 @ 1:00 pm House Judiciary Hearing
Text: Latest bill text (Introduced) [PDF]