There was some celebrity testimony on Wednesday, in support of legislation being proposed at the Capitol. The bill would allow adult children who are being kept from seeing a parent to petition a court for visitation.
Kerri Kasem has made that an issue since her father Casey’s death in 2014. “My father was dragged from hospitial to nursing homes to housekeepers homes to keep him away from us.” Kasem told members of the Assembly Committee on Children and Families. “Let’s give our judges the ability to just rule on visitation, without having to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to see their daying parent.”
Jeffrey Drach, a Wausau attorney, said the presumption should always be that the parent wants to see the child. “There are children who should not be allowed to visit their parents, but the presumption ought to be that would be the case.” Drach suggested several changes which he said could improve the legisaltion.
The bill (AB 674), from state Representative John Speros (R-Marshfield), applies to parents who are residents of a hospital, hospice, nursing home, or community-based residential facility.