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1/18/24 Testimony

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My name is Jane Doe and I am a victim of domestic violence. I have a gag order that prevents me from protecting myself or my children, specifically forbidding that I reference the words “any abuse”. Due to my gag order, I cannot fully disclose details about my case, or else I risk being further penalized, at the discretion of the trial court.

I lost custody of my children ex-parte style, driven by the guardian ad Litem. In the end, the JD Guardian ad that facilitated the removal of my children has been investigated by law enforcement and charged with first-degree perjury.

We have heard testimony on 1/18/2024 from various nonprofits about the help they presumably provide to survivors. The only non profit organization that has helped me and my children is the Family Violence Appellate Project. The organizations present during the 1/18/24 have all declined to help in my case, as well as hundreds of survivor parents I’ve spoken to.

HB 2237 exemplifies an abusers playbook, and if this bill passes, there will be a lot more mothers without their children, at the discretion of the trial court.

Back in August and September 2023 , I was heavily involved in the drafting of this bill, while representing a group of over 200 survivor parents in Washington. The Sexual Violence Law Center, Northwest Justice Project, DV LEAD and a few other organizations actively participated. When it became clear that this bill was being forced upon us under the guise that it would help survivor parents, by giving judges even more discretion to remove children from their mothers with impunity, myself, Shira Cole and the survivor parent community from Washington declined to further participate and support this proposed bill. On behalf of hundreds of mothers as victims of domestic violence, we ask today that less discretion is given to judges to allow for the financed abuse of women and children through our family courts. We respectfully ask that action is taken against our abusers, not against us and our children.

Why is HB2237 being rushed and why its opponents are silenced by the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence? Asking this question may not lead to a clear answer, as waters are made murky to conceal-- but what is clear, is that this bill is not the solution for survivor parents.