The South Dakota Senate voted to pass Senate Bill 111, which creates a rebuttable presumption that courts should not order reunification or family therapy in custody or visitation disputes when one party or the child has been a victim of domestic abuse.

Sponsor Senator Reynold Reid told the Senate the bill is intended to protect survivors and children from further victimization by ensuring courts consider a history of domestic abuse before ordering therapy that places survivors and children in direct contact with an alleged abuser. "The most dangerous time for a victim in domestic abuse is when they leave the relationship," Reid said on the floor.

Under the bill, a court may not order reunification or family therapy if one party has been the victim of domestic abuse by the other party or if a child involved has been the victim, unless the court finds relevant and sufficient evidence to rebut the presumption and determine the therapy is in the child's best interest. Reid and other proponents linked the bill's protection to existing statutory language; floor remarks cited SDCL §25‑4‑56 (the state mediation statute) as an analogous example where courts may bypass mediation when domestic abuse has occurred.

Senator Grove and other senators raised concerns about evidentiary and enforcement issues for nonphysical forms of abuse; Grove said emotional and psychological harm can be difficult to prove but acknowledged the bill provides guardrails 'better than nothing.' The sponsor and supporters said the measure fills a gap by formally directing judicial discretion in therapy orders while allowing courts to override the presumption when supported by sufficient evidence.

On final passage the secretary announced 35 ayes, 0 nays. The president declared Senate Bill 111 passed.