OSHA or EPA, how to know which applies when?

Abrial’s Law, the Keeping Children Safe from Family Violence Act (T.C.A. § 36-6-701), is a new law in Tennessee that went into effect at the beginning of 2024. Abrial’s Law is intended to make four main changes to existing law to protect children who are in the court system as the result of abuse by their parents. Under prior Tennessee law, it sometimes happened that courts would order reunification between children and their abusive parents. Further, under prior law, parents who complained of abuse by their partners were sometimes penalized for speaking up. Abrial’s Law seeks to stop both those things from happening. The law does the following: Makes it a requirement that judges who hear child custody cases must receive training in domestic violence or child abuse. Here, the idea is that if judges are better informed of sound, evidence-based research, they will be better Abel to make decisions that protect the best interests of the children in their care. Prohibits judges from ordering reunification between an abused child and her/his abusive parent, unless it can be shown that the reunification will not result in further harm to the child and that it is in the child’s best interest. Requires judges to consider abuse against a child’s siblings—and not only the child herself—when making custody decisions. Prevents judges from removing a child from a parent in a custody dispute when that parent is competent, protective, and not abusive. The main goal of Abrial’s Law is to better-protect children. It attempts to close what its authors called loopholes in prior law that could result in bad outcomes. As examples, the bill’s authors, writing earlier this year in the Tennessean, cited two instances of regrettable decisions that would likely come out differently under Abrial’s Law: An abused child, after a PTSD diagnosis resulting from the harm her father inflicted, had a no-contact order in place against him. However, because her younger sister was still allowed to visit the father, the court ordered reunification treatments between the victim and her abuser. In another instance, following multiple investigations by the Department of Children’s Services and evidence of sexual abuse by the father, a judge ordered the children be placed in sole custody of the father for five weeks with no contact with the mother. Abrial’s Law seeks to avoid those types of outcomes through its evidence-based approach and tougher requirements that must be met before reunification efforts are ordered. Abrial’s Law was passed unanimously by the General Assembly, in a testament to both its virtuous aims and wide appeal to lawmakers.