Under the bill unanimously approved by both houses of the Legislature, anyone living in a household with a child can be charged with endangerment. Previously, only parents or persons with custody or control of a child could be charged. The change in the law is good for children, because statistics about live-in boyfriends are not. Child abuse increases 33 percent when a mother has a boyfriend in the house. This legislation responds not only to the Shelby Duis case, but also to our changing times.
Families take many forms now.
More and more children are being raised in single-parent households, mostly by single mothers. Sometimes young mothers live with friends or family. An increasing number of grandparents are caring for their grandchildren. It acknowledges that family now takes various forms, and children have the right to be protected in all of them.