ATLANTA — Georgia lawmakers are proposing a shift in how court-enforced safety works in the state, with a new bill aimed at adding household pets to family violence and dating violence protective orders.
A temporary protective order, more popularly called a restraining order, can be used to prevent contact between individuals when safety is a concern. The TPOs are sometimes used to prevent spouses from seeing each other during divorces or to prevent harm between exes going through a rough breakup where one feels their life is in danger.
Now, in addition to children that couples may share, a group of state lawmakers want to also include household pets in protective orders, granting custody for pets in addition to a child or children, as well as setting rules for temporary visitation rights.
The bill is supported by the Georgia Network to End Sexual Assault, as well as multiple other victim protection and advocacy organizations.
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GNESA posted Wednesday about HB 177′s sponsorship, thanking Marietta Rep. Sharon Cooper for her support of the bill.
“When pets are included in protective order petitions, individuals are more likely to seek relief from intimate partner violence, promptly, without the fear of endangering themselves or their cherished pets,” the organization said.
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The group shared further details about the importance of adding pets to protective order petitions, saying Georgia was among only nine states that do not currently include them.
“71% of domestic violence survivors report that their abusers threatened or harmed their family pets” and “48% of victims delay leaving or return to an abusive situation out of fear for the safety of a beloved pet,” the organization shared. “30% of Georgia’s domestic violence shelters have become pet-friendly and three domestic violence shelters have added pet shelters adjacent to their human shelters.”
In Cobb County, Channel 2 Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell spoke with the Chief Executive Officer of LiveSafe Resources about the first pet-friendly domestic violence shelter being built in northwest Georgia to help with this issue.
According to the text of House Bill 177, courts will be able to negotiate agreements between parties that:
- Direct the respondent to refrain from such acts;
- Grant to a party possession of the residence or household of the parties and exclude the other party from the residence or household;
- Require a party to provide suitable alternate housing for a spouse, former spouse, or parent and the parties’ child or children;
- Award temporary custody of minor children and establish temporary visitation rights;
- Order the eviction of a party from the residence or household and order assistance to the petitioner in returning to it, or order assistance in retrieving personal property of the petitioner if the respondent’s eviction has not been ordered;
- Order either party to make payments for the support of a minor child as required by law;
- Order either party to make payments for the support of a spouse as required by law;
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- Provide for possession of personal property of the parties; including the care, custody, and control of any animal owned, possessed, kept or held as a household pet by either party or by a minor child living in the household or residence of either party. As used in this paragraph, the term ‘household pet’ means an animal kept for human companionship and enjoyment or an animal which is owned or possessed by either party or by a minor child living in the household or residence of either party. Such term shall not include livestock, laboratory animals, working animals, sport animals, or any other animal which is kept for a commercial purpose or for consumption.
- Order the respondent to refrain from doing any of the following with respect to any animal owned, possessed, kept, or held as a household pet:
- Harassing or harming such household pet;
- Taking, transferring, encumbering, or concealing such household pet; and
- Engaging in any conduct that would be a violation of Code Section 16-12-4;
- Order the respondent to refrain from harassing or interfering with the victim petitioner;
- Award costs and attorney’s fees to either party; and
- Order the respondent to receive appropriate psychiatric or psychological services as a further measure to prevent the recurrence of family violence.
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