A heartbeat beneath mine.

A criminal conviction can establish what a parent did. It does not, by itself, answer what that conduct means for the safety of their child.

I learned that distinction while trying to protect my daughter.

Before I knew Addie’s beautiful face or heard her larger-than-life laugh, I knew her heartbeat beneath mine. It was months past COVID-19’s grip on our lives began to finally loosen, and the world was slowly opening up again. Our world was forever changed.

While I was 5 months pregnant, I found child sexual abuse material. I reported it immediately, and an investigation began. Addie was born while that investigation was still underway.

More than a year later, her biological father was convicted of Level 4 felony for child exploitation.

The conviction answered what he had done. It afforded us long-awaited safety. It did not answer the question I woke up with every day: What could I do to protect my daughter?

I have been a foster parent. I serve as a CASA, advocating for children in the foster care system. I have reported on countless high-profile criminal cases as a journalist and taught about domestic violence in schools, police stations, therapy offices, and churches.

I knew these systems were complicated. I thought I would at least know where to begin.

Despite my experience, I could not find a clear way to ask a court to consider what his conviction meant for her. The existing pathway appeared to depend on whether the child harmed by the offense was his own child or their sibling. Addie did not fit that definition. I kept wondering whether I had to wait for something to happen to her before I could be heard.

That is the question at the center of Addie’s Law.

The proposal would allow a protective parent to petition a court after a qualifying conviction involving children, even when their own child was not the direct victim.

A petition would begin a judicial review, not determine its outcome. Both parents would have the opportunity to be heard. A judge would consider the evidence and decide what is in that child’s best interests.

Addie’s biological father received the maximum prison sentence, yet he will be released during her childhood. He intends to pursue his parental rights.

That is why I began working on Addie’s Law.

I am not asking for a conviction to automatically end someone’s parental rights. I am asking for a way for a protective parent to bring a serious, proven offense before a judge and ask the question that matters: What is safest for this child?

I am doing this for Addie, most definitely. I am also doing it for the families who live with the same metaphorical timer over their heads, counting down the days until an abuser is released into their child’s life.

Please share our story.

If you have lived through something similar, consider sharing yours when you are ready. Help us show Indiana lawmakers why families need a way to ask a court to act before a child is harmed.

Childhood is short. Protect children now.