Kasem’s daughter urges visitation bill
House panel endorses measure to let families seek help in caretaker cases
The daughter of the late radio host Casey Kasem appeared before a legislative committee Monday to advocate for a bill intended to grant relief to family members who are cut off from their incapacitated relatives.
After the testimony of Kerri Kasem and several Arkansans who also shared stories of being denied visitation to their loved ones, the Senate Judiciary Committee recommended House Bill 1678 to the full Senate. Having already passed the House, HB1678 could be sent to the governor’s desk with a favorable vote in the Senate.
The proposal, sponsored by Rep. Rick Beck, R-Center Ridge, would amend the Adult Maltreatment Custody Act. HB1678 would allow someone to file a petition for visitation in court if he believes he has been unfairly denied access to his incapacitated or impaired adult relative by whoever is in charge of that person.
Kerri Kasem said that had such a law been in place in California, she would have not had to face a lengthy court battle to gain custody of her father after being denied visitation near the end of his life by her stepmother, actress Jean Kasem.
“Once we stop the isolation, we can stop a lot of the abuse,” Kerri Kasem said.
Casey Kasem was the co-creator and first host of the American Top 40 radio program, and the original voice of Shaggy in the Scooby-Doo cartoons. He died in 2014 after several moves between care facilities that were the result of legal battles among his family. He had been diagnosed with Lewy body dementia.
According to her nonprofit organization’s website, Kerri Kasem has successfully lobbied for a “visitation bill” in California and seven other states since her father’s death.
The other testimonials came from a nurse who said her stepmother denied her visits to her father with dementia, and from a man who recalled learning of his mother-in-law’s death from a newspaper after being cut off by a “drug addict” caretaker.
The speakers indicated on a committee signup sheet that they were speaking on behalf of Kasem Cares, a nonprofit based in California. No one spoke against the bill.