July 10 Hearing Update. CASE CLOSED!!!

For years, my children and I have been trapped inside a family court system that has repeatedly failed to protect them, ignored clear safety concerns, and prioritized procedural games over the wellbeing of a vulnerable child.

What happened in our July 10th hearing finally exposed what we have been living through, and why this system urgently needs oversight, transparency, and reform.

First, thank you to everyone who signed our petition, shared it, and showed up in court.

Our hearing was on July 10th.

Nearly a dozen court watchers from California Family Law Naked Truth (CFLNT) attended, demonstrating exactly why community oversight matters.

Court watchers are community volunteers who attend family court hearings simply to observe the process.  Their role is to promote transparency and accountability in a system that is otherwise rarely is exposed to the public. I learned about them 1 year ago, when I encountered Erik and Christine Flemming, the founders of California Family Law Naked Truth.   

Family Court operates in the shadows, and without watchers, the public would never see how deeply broken this system is. 

Court Watchers are volunteers who are essentially an adhoc oversight committee of lay persons.  

July 10th:   A Hearing Designed to Deter Oversight
The fragmentation was highly unusual. I have been in Judge Bird’s courtroom dozens of times and have never seen a hearing sliced apart like this. 

The energy was unmistakable: delay the hearing until the watchers are gone. 

Our hearing was scheduled for 8:30 a.m. I was called at 8:30, told to return after 10:30, returned at 10:20, then called again at noon, and offered only ten minutes to begin testimony before being told it would continue after lunch.By the time I was finally allowed to testify at 1:30 p.m., most court watchers had been forced to leave. I was wired and tired and my original testimony had been changed many times.  I felt at a major disadvantage. 

Yet a small group were able to remain, because they stayed, the truth was witnessed. 

Ms. Bennett did not attend in person and attended via her zoom office.

A Pattern of Pressure, Not Protection
I testified about the long‑standing pattern in our case:

• Safety concerns repeatedly dismissed
• Therapy used as a lever instead of a treatment
• Domestic violence minimized or reframed
• Enforcement hearings weaponized against the protective parent
  
  For the first time in eight years, Minor’s Counsel, Ms. Stefanie Bennett, was required to testify about her conduct. 

Ms. Bennett claimed  she's had training in DV and pediatric interviewing, yet has provided no evidence of either.    As an educator, I can clearly state, there is a difference in stating: "I took training" vs "Mandated Training with Oversight." 

Ms. Bennett dismissed my petition as a “glorified Google search,”  but her discomfort was clear: accountability is not something Court Officers are accustomed to.

She admitted threatening my son, and attempted to justify it by citing a January 28, 2026 enforcement order, an order issued during one of the many emergency hearings initiated because I questioned unsafe recommendations.

Her own testimony confirmed exactly what I have been saying: children in this system are pressured, not protected.  I felt she did my heavy lifting for me with her testimony. 

January 28: The Turning Point
At that hearing, Ms. Bennett requested an ex parte judiciary session against me because I questioned her recommendations following DV incidents. Her recommendations included:

• A ninth therapist for my son
• Three therapy sessions
• Sobriety testing for the father
• Immediate resumption of visitation
• I requested Safe Harbor Therapy, and Trauma Informed Care, treatment independent of court officers, focused solely on healing. Instead, I was threatened with:
  • Removal of my children
  • Monetary sanctions
  • Jail time
• All for requesting lawful, trauma‑informed care.

Six months later, the new therapist wrote a letter requesting Safe Harbor therapy herself, stating she would not participate in forensic behavior or analysis. Exactly what I requested, and was punished for.

Judge Bird had the letter in front of him at our hearing. :)

The Court Finally Acknowledges the Harm 
During the July 10 hearing, the judge stated for the first time in eight years:

“This court takes DV very seriously.”

"There has been too much pressure placed on the minor child"

However that was the FIRST time that I have heard Judge Bird take it seriously in our case,

I appreciate that after he heard Ms. Bennetts testimony, he finally prioritized the child welfare,  however it took CFLNT to shine the light on that courtroom, for that to occur. over 1 year after the DV incidents occurred.  

What I would have appreciated more was accountability for her actions and the impact of her actions, that seemed to be missing. 

Judge Bird acknowledged:

My son has been under (inappropriate) excessive pressure
Ms. Bennett’s authority and recommendations needed boundaries
Her recommendations were not always appropriate: A recent incident she dismissed was a safety concern, the judge felt was unsafe and adressed it. 

The Outcome:
While Bird not remove Minor’s Counsel,  he did restrict her authority, adjust the therapeutic structure, and leave visitation unchanged with me as the primary parent.

Most importantly, he closed the case without scheduling a review hearing, ending the cycle of monthly enforcement actions used to intimidate, terrorize and financially drain protective parents, or, maybe it was just because he no longer wanted observers in his courtroom.  

Remember, Court Watchers are volunteer public observers, that are exposing  judicial misconduct.

The Larger Problem

What happened to us is not unique. 

Family Court has become a system where:

• Accountability is nonexistent
• Transparency is avoided, using legal games and tactics
• Financial incentives drive decisions, especially by Minors Counsels
• Children fall through the cracks
• Protective parents are punished for speaking up and abusive parents are empowered
  
  I am not allowed to ask how much money Ms. Bennett has earned from our case, but based on eight years of involvement, it is likely well over $200,000.
  
  Families are being financially destroyed while court‑appointed professionals profit and rather than safety and issues being addressed, they are ACTIVELY and knowingly compounding them. 

I have met and spoken with mothers who have lost custody per the "enforcement arm" of the Court....to fathers who have a history of DV, etoh abuse, neglect, SA and other abuses. All for simple things, like requesting trauma informed therapy. 

MALICIOUS LEGAL TACTICS are used and even encouraged by Court Officers (as Ms. Bennett did), regardless of Minor Child Concern.   This is when I began questioning the system. 

The courts use minor issues like an F in math, or a missed MD appt to remove protective parents, they place children with parents that have a history of 1) alcohol misuse 2) DV, 3) SA 4) Neglect.  Its a common occurrence.  That should concern everyone.   

Court Officers like Bennett making these recommendations, and threats to minor children regardless of DV and other abuses, should concern everyone.   

What This Petition Stands For
This petition is not about one hearing.  Its not even about just my family.  Its about a system, and how one officer, Ms. Stefanie Bennett within the system can create so much wreckage, while earning so much money and disregarding the requests of her own minor clients, by threatening them. 

From my experience and my research, Family Court is about a system that:

• Punishes victims of domestic violence
• Uses legal threats to force compliance, even when compliance harms the child
• Allows professionals to operate without oversight
• Prioritizes billable hours over child safety
• Silences protective parents
  
  My sons will heal.
  
  I will continue to fight for them.
  
  But I will never forget what this system did to us and I will continue to fight that.  I was subjected to systemic terrorism, coercive control, financial abuse, emotional abuse, and stalking, all carried out through legal mechanisms.
  
  My children were subjected to worse, all approved, under the authority of Stanley Mosk Family Court, Downtown Los Angeles, under Judges Kazadi and Bird, using Minors Counsel Stefanie Bennett. 

Systems meant to protect victims should not destroy them. 

Thank you for standing with us. Thank you for signing. And thank you to Christine and Erik Flemming of CFLNT for building a movement that exposes what happens behind closed courtroom doors.

This petition will remain up.   Ms. Bennett will remain under my spotlight, however she will not be interviewing our son ever again, nor will she be the determinator of what is safe and what is not, for our small family. 

At this time, given her conduct, I believe even a lifetime of self geared education, will not make her competent, but I will attempt to address Minors Counsels education with the California Bar Association. 

I will use Ms. Bennett as an example of how Minors Counsels (and GALS, Guardian Ad Litem) are failing children.    She is exactly why "mandated" training is necessary.