The Campaign for Judicial Reform
Reforming Family Courts and the Foster-care System
The Campaign for Judicial Reform is an effort led by the 501c3 non-profit Foundation for the Child Victims of the Family Courts (FCVFC) and its supporters to bring about crucial reforms in the family court and foster-care systems across America. Together, we can ensure that the desperately needed changes to bring about fairness and justice for all – not just the system and the elite, but children and families – can be achieved.
The problems are many, and the task ahead is daunting. Powerful entrenched interests will fight us every step of the way. But for the sake of the thousands of victims grinded up and spit out by the corrupt system every year – especially innocent parents, children and families – we must do what needs to be done.
The problems are many, and the task ahead is daunting. Powerful entrenched interests will fight us every step of the way. But for the sake of the thousands of victims grinded up and spit out by the corrupt system every year – especially innocent parents, children and families – we must do what needs to be done.
Thank you for checking out our campaign. We sincerely hope that you will help us in this massive undertaking, if not for yourself, then for the countless victims who are being literally destroyed by a corrupt, unaccountable system. Please read to the end to find out what you can do. If we can help you, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
The problems:
FCVFC has identified some of the key problems that must be urgently addressed. We hope you will join forces with us in the Campaign for Judicial Reform to help solve them. Of course, there are many others issues that need to be dealt with as well. Because of limited resources, however, we must focus on the most important ones first.
- In family courts all across America today, decisions are being made at the sole discretion of unaccountable judges and court-appointed figures with no special training, affiliation or insight in the fields that are critical to understanding the cases before them. This must end.
- The vast majority of cases involving children are conducted behind closed doors in total secrecy, permitting widespread abuses by judges and other actors, with the injustices never seeing the light of day. This must stop.
- Judges have what is known as “sovereign immunity,” allowing them to abuse their power and the people in their courts with no accountability whatsoever and no remedies for victims. This must end.
- The public welfare and the lives of children are being endangered by rogue judicial officials and key court functionaries who abuse their authority by making dangerous rulings, putting children in the hands of abusers and other atrocities. It must stop.
- Lawyers involved in these cases owe loyalty first to the court and others, then to the client, leading to unaccountable attorneys who go through thousands of dollars in fees and leave their clients exactly where they started, or worse off than before. This has to end.
- There are no real mechanisms to hold rogue officials accountable no matter how abusive or dangerous they might be, allowing them to continue abusing innocent people indefinitely. This cannot go on.
- Family courts rely far too heavily on profit-seeking “experts” who know that to continue receiving lucrative appointments and contracts, they must bow down to judges and other powerful figures no matter the damage done to families and children. This must stop.
- The amount of money charged for services like expert witnesses and other key players regularly places one party – often the true victim in a case who has fewer resources available to fight the battle – at a severe disadvantage. This must change.
- There are countless examples of connections and conflicts of interest between judges and supposedly unbiased court-appointed witnesses that contribute to flawed rulings, causing untold destruction in the lives of millions. Such conflicts cannot continue.
- The nexus of attorneys, mental health professionals, guardian-ad-litems, and other key players can create a gang-like atmosphere in which one parent is bullied, often resulting in unnecessary tragedies. This must stop.
- The influence of power, money and the potential to have more clients referred through networking sometimes results in the targeting as a scape-goat of one parent while the other is protected, creating a system were dangerous rulings can happen unchallenged. We must say no more.
- Many family courts have essentially become money-making operations for all involved, except, of course, children, parents and families who suffer at their hands. These corrupt incentive structures must be reformed.
- Toxic mental-health diagnoses are often fabricated to demonize a particular party, railroad parents or accomplish other corrupt goals with consequences that can cause unimaginable devastation. This cannot go on.
- There is essentially no real oversight or accountability mechanism in the whole system, which contributes to abuses of power and ruined lives as victims have no way to seek justice or even prevent future injustices against others. We cannot allow this to go on.
- Once in foster care, children – some of whom should never have been removed from their parents in the first place - are sometimes used as “guinea pigs” for pharmaceutical companies with deep pockets, often leading to devastating consequences for their physical and mental well-being for the benefit of profit-hungry mega-companies. These atrocities must end.
- All across America, even recently, children in state custody are sometimes used for sex trafficking, child pornography or even sexual abuse by staff. This is monstrous and should never happen in a civilized society.
- Whistle-blowers who expose corruption, conflicts of interest, abuse and other problems are frequently retaliated against in a vicious manner by courts, licensing boards, local officials and other powerful figures trying to conceal their crimes. Obviously, this must end.
What we want:
To rectify the wide-scale abuses being perpetrated in family courts and foster-care systems all across America every single day, the FCVFC Campaign for Judicial Reform is recommending that a series of actions be taken. We should also be pushing for several key reforms that would help address the underlying issues contributing the mass injustices in the system:
- Judges in family courts should be stripped of sovereign immunity immediately, ensuring that they can be held civilly and criminally accountable for abusing their power. This would allow legitimate victims to seek damages, put criminals behind bars where they belong and help put an end to the culture of impunity in family courts where judges feel like they can do whatever they want with no consequences to themselves.
- All cases involving violence or severe neglect should be transferred out of family court to criminal court, ensuring that justice is served and that public accountability is not lost.
- Grievances against judges or their courts should be handled by a separate prosecutorial agency with no overt or secret conflicts of interest, ensuring that rogue judicial officials can be reined in and brought to justice when they violate the law.
- All cases should be decided based on logic and law, not the discretion of a single family court judge based on his or her own biases and opinions. Lawmakers should clarify the laws and ensure that there is a well-defined system for dealing with legitimate issues. Judges must not be allowed to rule based on their opinions, which is tantamount to practicing medicine or mental health without a license.
- The profit motive should be eliminated in court actions involving divorce and child custody, helping to level the playing field while removing corrupt incentive structures that harm all parties involved. Children should have a say in high-conflict cases as well.
- Any crimes committed against children in or out of government custody including sexual abuse, neglect and other criminal acts should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. State governments should create independent oversight committees to review and oversee the work of foster-care and child-protection agencies to ensure accountability, fairness and justice.
- Corrupt incentive structures such as federal bonuses to foster-care agencies for taking a certain number of children away from their parents must be halted and outlawed immediately. Tearing families apart for no good reason cannot be allowed to continue, and if it does, all of us will pay the price in the long term.
- Any retaliation against whistle blowers who expose crimes or corruption in the family court or foster-care systems should be treated as a serious crime and punished appropriately to encourage others to come forward and to prevent intimidation of individuals who would otherwise blow the whistle.
- The U.S. Congress should create a special nationwide commission – open to the public with full investigatory and subpoena powers – to gather evidence and investigate allegations of corruption, abuse, conflicts of interest and more in family courts and the foster-care system across America. After concluding its investigation, the special commission should issue a report on its findings and offer a series of proposals and recommendations on how to solve the problems through reforms and accountability.
What you can do:
There is much to be done in this fight to ensure justice in the family courts and the foster-care system. It may seem like a daunting task – too huge for ordinary people to do anything effective. But together, we can bring about sorely needed reform. FCVFC has compiled a list of what you can do if you want to become part of the solution:
-Call Congress, as well as your representatives and senators at the state level, to demand reform and accountability. You can send them this statement or make up your own.
-Tell your friends about this campaign and ask them to get involved in whatever way they can. Everyone can do something.
-Share this information with friends and family through social media and help us get the word out. The more the merrier.
-Send us a contribution of $19, $5 or whatever you can afford to help us expand our multi-faceted campaign to rein in unaccountable judges and to end the injustices being perpetrated all across this country.
-Join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to get updates on our Campaign for #JudicialReform and other important FCVFC initiatives.
-If you have evidence of abuse in family court or foster care, please send it to us, even anonymously if you must. Encourage others to speak out.
About FCVFC:
The Foundation for the Child Victims of the Family Courts (FCVFC) is a 501c3 tax-exempt non-profit organization dedicated to obtaining justice for families and children facing tough circumstances. It has a truly distinguished and active board of international professionals composed of attorneys, a pediatric physician, teachers, advocates for children, parenting coordinators, therapists and writers.
FCVFC Executive Director Jill Jones-Soderman is the founder and chief of FCVFC and a pioneer in the field of forensic advocacy. A psychoanalyst by training with many years of education and hands-on experience taking on powerful interests in the service of her clients, she has been in private practice for almost four decades as a family therapist, mediator and forensic consultant with a long record of satisfied clients. She has also witnessed firsthand how corruption in the system can wreak havoc on innocent people’s lives – leading to a burning passion for justice that is at the heart of all her work.
To find out more about the FCVFC, the campaign for reform, or what you can do to get involved, please explore our website or call 855-552-2889 today. You can also reach us by e-mail at info@fcvfc.org. Ensuring justice will not be easy, but with your help, it is possible.FCVFC
We only support organizations who show an understanding that children need both parents, and that either parent is equally capable of the choice to perpetrate hate or declare peace.
