Thank you, and thank you to our witnesses for being here with us.
I'll begin by saying that our previous witnesses, Mrs. Kagan and her husband—Mrs. Kagan is the mother of Keira—spoke a lot about the failures of the current system and the lack of education that judges currently have when it comes to intimate partner violence and domestic abuse in general, even when it relates to children. I don't know much about how things work currently in the justice system when it comes to violence, but can you maybe paint a picture of what that would look like right now?
I know that up until age 12 a child is not allowed to decide whether they're going to live with their mom or dad. They can't choose which parent they're going to live with. In some cases, even when there is abuse, the judge still decides that both parents have custody. How would a decision like that come to be? What other protections do you believe currently exist to ensure that the child is not abused or is protected from a father such as Keira's father?