Petition: Family Court Reform in Illinois – Beyond High Conflict

Initiated by Janet Watts, Advocate and Founder of Beyond High Conflict
Date: June 26, 2025

We, the undersigned, call on the Illinois Legislature, Judiciary, and relevant oversight bodies to take urgent action to reform the handling of family court cases involving abuse allegations, protective parents, and “high conflict” labels.

Too often, protective parents are treated as equally responsible in cases of abuse, and critical safety concerns are dismissed under the vague and harmful designation of “high conflict.” This results in preventable harm to children and survivors.

Case in Point:
Janet Watts, a mother from Peoria County, experienced such injustice firsthand. Despite reporting abuse and providing documentation, she was treated as equally culpable. Supervised visitation for her children's abusive father was ended without a hearing or court order. Her children were hospitalized multiple times due to emotional and behavioral breakdowns following unsupervised visits.

Janet was told in open court that a recording of her abuser threatening to kill her was just “heat of the moment.” This minimization of threats and dismissal of safety evidence is not justice.

We Demand:
1. Clear standards requiring hearings and written orders for any change to parenting time, especially supervised visits.
2. Mandatory trauma-informed training for all judges, GALs, and custody evaluators in Illinois.
3. Oversight and accountability systems for GALs to ensure children’s safety and voices are prioritized.
4. Consistent access to remote hearings to accommodate vulnerable and financially limited parents.
5. Elimination of blanket “high conflict” designations that obscure real patterns of coercive control and abuse.

We stand with Janet Watts and all protective parents whose voices have been silenced. We demand a system that protects children, believes survivors, and stops equating abusers with the people trying to escape them.

Sign this petition to urge meaningful reform of Illinois family court practices.

#BeyondHighConflict