On April 15, 2024, Gov. Josh Shapiro signed Senate Bill 55, widely known as Kayden’s Law, thus implementing sweeping changes to the Pennsylvania child custody statute by amending the child custody factors set forth in Title 23 to provide for greater emphasis on threats to children’s safety and well-being.

Kayden’s Law, which goes into effect on Aug. 15, 2024, is named after 7-year-old Kayden Mancuso, a Bucks County child who was killed by her biological father on Aug. 5, 2018. Three months before Kayden’s murder, a final custody order was entered that reduced Kayden’s father’s custodial time but left the same unsupervised.