WHEREAS:

• ”Family Law” in the United States is the only field of law wherein citizens can lose otherwise inalienable rights simply because they can’t afford a lawyer; and
• State legislators have granted the courts broad powers to investigate and enforce standing state and federal laws against crimes such as domestic violence and sexual assault, yet these issues are routinely ignored by commissioners and judges unless the victims come up with tens of thousands of dollars for expert witnesses, depositions, etc; and
• Law Enforcement and Prosecuting Attorneys refuse to investigate criminal offenses, including violations of parenting plans, and insist that the victims alone are responsible for raising criminal allegations in Family Court (IF they can afford an attorney); and
• The poor, working poor, disabled, women, immigrants and other “protected classes” are disproportionately at risk of losing their right to parent simply because they cannot afford an attorney (most of whom charge $200-$500 an hour); and
• In most states, decisions are the result of “judicial discretion”, and litigants have no recourse for addressing judicial bias or the absence of due process guaranteed by our Constitution; and
• The right to a “fair and impartial hearing” by a “neutral party” does not apply in the practice of Family Law; and
• ”Family Law” has become a “Pay-To-Play”, multibillion dollar industry with little regulation or oversight; and
• Most Americans would prefer that parents spend their hard-earned money on our children’s futures rather than further enriching lawyers; and
• Nearly 1/3 of parents accused of child abuse are granted full custody over the protective parent alleging the abuse, further endangering children and subjecting protective parents to their worst nightmare; and
• In most states, judges and commissioners are not required to have any training on issues such as intimate partner violence or child abuse; and
• The right to parent one’s own child without the interference of government is one of the most fundamental of human rights and liberties; and
• Only 2 Family Law cases have made it to the US Supreme Court, despite thousands of parents losing the right to parent their own children because they could not afford a lawyer.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED as follows:

1. We, the undersigned, direct our US Department of Justice to investigate claims of wrongdoing and Constitutional violations by Family Court commissioners and attorneys.
2. We will call on our representatives to form working committees which will solicit input from parents and children who have been harmed by Family Court decisions in the last 20 years. We pledge to find an alternative method for deciding the disposition of our nation’s children which is affordable, just, transparent and accessible to all regardless of income or social status.
3. We call on concerned citizens across America to write to their elected representatives and demand immediate action. We call on all Americans to peacefully assemble in front of their local Superior Courts until these issues are addressed. 
4. We recognize that stopping child abuse and intimate partner violence is every citizens’ responsibility, and pledge to hold perpetrators of violence and abuse accountable within our own families and communities. We believe that victims should never be responsible for litigating justice on their own. 

For more information on how Family Courts abuse their power in America, please review this excellent recent study: https://www.law.georgetown.edu/georgetown-law-journal/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2022/06/Meier_Denial-of-Family-Violence-in-Court.pdf