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BOISE, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — Gov. Brad Little signed a bill that gives foster care children more protection.
Senate Bill 1257, known as “Isaiah’s Law,” is named after a boy whose story exposed gaps in the system. The law strengthens foster child safety by allowing courts to deny in-person parental visitation when physical or sexual abuse is substantiated.
“Here in the Magic Valley, it’s huge. We have several cases right now where we struggle with that, where parents are continuing to try to influence kids not to testify or trying to get them to drop charges because of some abuse that’s already taken place,” said Anne Garcia, program manager at CASA. “But it also allows for some peace of mind.”
Garcia has adopted children of her own and is a proponent of the bill, which is named after nine-year-old Isaiah, who experienced abuse when visiting his parents while in the system.
His former foster mom, now adoptive mom, Monique Peyre, told our sister station CBS2 in Boise about the impact of those visits.
“I just think back to that time and I just remember a lot of darkness in our home surrounding visitation and after and I just I think it was so dark that I will never stop fighting for this to happen and I don’t want to see more children go through this,” Peyre said.
Garcia said she knows what these children go through and encourages anyone experiencing or witnessing abuse and neglect to call 211.
“So I live with the collateral damage of that every day. I see some of their unique struggles as a result of that,” Garcia said. “So that certainly makes me passionate about it because I live it day in and day out.”
The bill is scheduled to take effect on July 1.
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