“Family courts have become one of the deadliest places for children and the adults who try to protect them.”
Forensic Psychiatrist and Violence Expert Dr. Bandy Lee
A National Crisis
Family Court is not just failing families — it has become its own crisis. The system routinely dismisses or minimizes abuse, recasting clear patterns of danger as mere “high conflict.” When a survivor finally leaves, the violence doesn’t end; it simply moves into the courtroom, where abusers weaponize litigation to maintain control.
Despite this, judges receive little to no training in domestic violence, coercive control, or trauma, yet they are entrusted with decisions that determine a child’s safety and long-term wellbeing. The result is devastating: mothers who report abuse are statistically more likely to lose custody, often because courts still rely on the discredited concept of “parental alienation” — a pseudoscience that functions as a gag order on protective parents.
The crisis deepens when courts turn to unregulated “experts,” high-fee evaluators, and experimental reunification programs that operate without standards, oversight, or accountability. These private actors can override evidence, silence children’s disclosures, and dictate a family’s fate, all without any mechanism for complaints or outcome tracking.
Meanwhile, abusers exploit the system’s gaps through endless motions, hearings, and financial coercion. There is no check on litigation abuse, no protections for survivors who are dragged repeatedly into court, and no systemic review when judicial decisions place children in harm’s way.
This is not a series of isolated errors — it is a structural failure. Family Court prioritizes the appearance of neutrality over the reality of danger, parental rights over child safety, and procedure over truth. Until the system is rebuilt with trauma-informed standards, accountability, and child-centered principles, it will continue to produce preventable tragedies and retraumatize the very families it is meant to protect.
Yes, this is happening in Travis County.
“Family Court is a flawed system. We always tell victims to not rely on it, and it is also why so many women don’t leave because the system that is supposed to protect her and her children often fails.”
-CEO of one of the largest nationwide DV organizations (shared in private conversation)
Horror Stories of Travis County Family Court
“Travis County Family Court took everything from me — my son, my life as a mother, my career, my finances, my health, my peace of mind, my trust in the system.
My ex controlled all of the finances. So he had a lawyer and I didn’t. The judge didn’t seem to care.
I now know why so many women don’t leave abusive marriages.”
Anonymous
“I was the primary parent of our kids for years. I ended the marriage, and my ex just couldn’t handle that. In order for him to feel good about himself, he had to ruin me. And Family Court allowed this to happen. I can’t even wrap my head around what happened with the lawyers, “experts,” and Judge. I went from being a happy, healthy, engaged mother in the best and most normal ways, to being accused of abuse, having CPS called on me, and going bankrupt trying to defend myself and keep my children.”
Anonymous
“The fear of the judges and experts involved in Family Court is far worse than the fear of my ex. And I haven’t even done anything wrong. The fear is so debilitating, at the hands of the people who are supposed to help. I wake up gasping for air at night, I have no appetite, all of my money is going to lawyers and experts, and I am constantly worrying. This would never be happening to me if I didn’t have an ex who hated me and Family Court to use.”
Anonymous
“Pictured here — the day I told my story – and had (Travis County) Judge Maya Gamble scoff at the proof of abuse – and tell me to ‘let my kid toughen up.’ $100,000 dollars of lawyers, therapists and evidence, to be thrown out at the hands of the patriarchy.
[“Expert”] Daphny Ainslie suggested a 90 day detox from mom – because somehow that would help my son like his abusive father. She also had never met me or my child. I’ll never forget this day. I fell to the floor in disbelief that I would have to tell my son that he indeed would be receiving no protection from his father. It has damaged me to my core. 7 days later- my son came home from a forced visit with a bruise on the side of his body- from his dad shoving him into the car door. We fled the country 4 weeks later + have been gone, safe, thriving since.”
Anonymous
“The judge stated that the custody evaluation should not cost more than $4,000.00 and yet the custody evaluation was $22,000.00 and we are not sure how much the psychologist was paid extra to be their expert witness. I was left with NOTHING after it was decided to side with the expert witness psychologist. I lost a home, and was ordered to pay my ex’s $100,000.00 in attorneys fees. Being left homeless with no way to get back up on my feet.”
Anonymous
“Our daughter’s parental rights were terminated after a 2-week jury trial. The judge refused to terminate the rights during the 17 hearings leading up to the trial, even after the evaluator requested a court order to recommend termination. The judge voiced her concerns about our granddaughter having abandonment issues. The evaluator’s testimony at the trial was extremely damaging.
As a result of the termination, we have lost all contact with our 6-year-old granddaughter even after multiple requests. Up until the termination, we were in constant contact with her and she was well aware of her Arizona family. We have been erased from her life. We were never allowed to tell her goodbye and do not have any idea what she has been told. I’m not sure how any evaluator believes that this is in the best interest of the child.”
Anonymous
“There have been concerns of sexual abuse by my child’s father. Because we have open litigation in family court, no agency will help me. Police, the DA’s office, CPS, etc all tell me to handle this in family court. Yet family court is not helping, they do not pay attention to the evidence, and my children are left in an unsafe environment. I live with my mother, do not have a job, and am pro se because of this mess with family court.”
Anonymous
“The expert in my case completely disregarded everything. Spending days to prepare, being incredibly vulnerable, and showing all of the evidence, for this person to spend only an hour with me and two hours with my child and to ignore it all, yet having incredible power in my life if beyond comprehension.
She seemed to have already made up her mind about me before even meeting with both parents. And this person has no real life experience with children, a marriage, or co-parenting.”
Anonymous
“The judges have no understanding of the impact of their decisions. The judge ordered me to pay my ex’s legal bills simply because opposing party told a better story and we chose not to go after legal bills to look reasonable, even though he’s the one who took me to court time and time again. This action the Jugde took validated my ex and continues to put him in a position of power. And now every lawyer and judge that I meet finds it worrisome that a judgment was made against me. It haunts me.”
Anonymous
“Judge Gamble ignores serious evidence of abuse and neglect and awards the abuser. Especially if they cry parental alienation. Midway through the trial after she heard all of the abuse that my children and I had gone through, my ex told the story about parental alienation like I was talking bad about him when I was telling my daughter if these abuse occurred it’s not OK and you need to tell an adult. Gamble ignored the guardian ad litem’s recommendation for me to keep sole decision-making and that he should get no more time with the kids. Awarded him 50-50. He continues to pass out drunk when he’s supposed to pick our children up from school and drinks and drive with them.”
Anonymous
“My family has been tremendously adversely affected by family law and biased, unprofessional psychologists. My ex-husband and I have been able to resume 50/50 JMC OUTSIDE of COURT and WITHOUT THE INTERFERENCE OF AN ATTORNEY. But the damages that have been done to us are irreparable. We are both financially exhausted. I was bankrupted via the litigation and faced homelessness for a few years. My ex-husband who is a physician is facing bankruptcy, too, and has been unemployed for over a year due to the outcome of our family law litigation. My son is very angry; and at the age of 10 years old, he was robbed of the remainder of his childhood.”
Anonymous
“Dr. Sherry was ordered on our case as custody evaluator. She took 17 months for her report at a cost of $45,000. Out of 240 billed hours, Dr. Sherry spent a total of 40 minutes with the child and that was only in Dad’s possession. Out of 240 hours, only 20 minutes of phone conversation was had with the child’s therapist of 3 years. The amount of time spent with each side and their collaterals was very unequal as well as the number of collaterals contacted for each side was uneven, which is all evidenced in the invoices.
Prior to this custody evaluation, I was my son’s primary caregiver and primary residence for 12 years. My son had two therapists and a school counselor in the past 4 years that don’t see anything the way that the custody evaluator did. In fact, both my son’s therapists were willing to testify that this custody evaluation has placed my son primarily in a home where he is enduring some of the worst emotional abuse that they have ever seen.”
Anonymous
“I was pressured by my lawyers to take a deal. And what was filed was not what I signed. When I approached my lawyer about this, he then told me ‘you’re accusing me of something very big.’ After finding a support group in Austin for Family Court, I’ve come to learn I am not the only one who has had this experience. The Judges have no idea what we as parents are going through because of their system.”
Anonymous
“The court-ordered therapy providing services for my family is doing more harm than good. I am in utter shock. When I tried to speak up, she then started retaliating against me to invalidate my concerns. She is essentially holding us hostage, with the Courts backing. I have never in my life experienced anything like this before. It’s horrifying.”
Anonymous
“Instead of hearing from my teenage kids about their feelings, needs, and wants, the Judge spent time in Chambers giving them a lecture. It’s no surprise she ordered everything wrong for them: ‘experts’ with no oversight, practicing experimental therapy, and to live with their dad. Today, my older kids are back to living with me and do not speak with their dad. The Judge could not have been more wrong.”
Anonymous
“For the past four years, I have repeatedly appeared in Judge Arth’s courtroom for various hearings related to my child custody family law case. Throughout this period, I have observed a consistent pattern of dismissive, imbalanced and discourteous conduct toward me and my daughter.
Despite my daughter being nearly seventeen years old and fully capable of expressing her own wishes, Judge Arth repeatedly refused to speak with her, hear her input, or provide her an opportunity to advocate for herself. The Guardian ad Litem has stated that the child is old enough, yet the judge consistently denied any consideration of her perspective. My daughter was prepared and willing to provide information relevant to her best interest, but Judge Arth never allowed it.
In numerous hearings, when I attempted to raise concerns related to my daughter’s safety, emotional well-being, or issues involving the other parent, Judge Arth routinely dismissed my statements without inquiry. On several occasions, he interrupted me abruptly, spoke to me in a rude or demeaning tone, or told me to “hush,” creating an environment where I felt unsafe speaking or advocating for myself or my child. The judge frequently yelled at me in the courtroom without justification. His tone and demeanor are consistently aggressive and intimidating, causing emotional distress. Throughout my case, the judge’s decisions appeared to disproportionately favor the other parent. Despite my role as the primary caretaker bearing nearly all financial and emotional responsibilities for the child, I was never awarded attorney’s fees or financial support. However, Judge Arth repeatedly awarded attorney’s fees to the opposing counsel. This pattern contributed to a significant financial imbalance and created the appearance of favoritism.
Judge Arth also showed a willingness to impose harsh consequences on me without fully considering context. Early in the litigation, he signed a contempt order against me when I was unable to pay the opposing attorney’s fees. This occurred despite my circumstances and financial hardship. The opposing party, despite documented concerns and repeated litigation initiated by him, was consistently given leniency and increased privileges.
This ongoing pattern made me feel that no matter what evidence or concerns I presented, the outcome was predetermined. I felt silenced, dismissed, and treated unfairly. My daughter repeatedly questioned why the judge refused to hear from her, and I was unable to provide an answer. The lack of consideration for her voice, coupled with the judge’s dismissive treatment toward me, created an environment that felt deeply unjust and emotionally harmful.
Over the course of four years, I experienced what felt like a systemic refusal by Judge Arth to meaningfully consider my evidence, my daughter’s needs, or the realities of our situation. I am filing this complaint because I believe his conduct demonstrates bias, lack of impartiality, discourteous behavior toward a litigant, and a failure to uphold the standards expected of a judicial officer in a family law court.
In addition to the challenges of ongoing litigation, I am originally from Ukraine, and during the past several years my family has been living through the devastating consequences of the war. I carry significant emotional, financial, and personal hardship as I continue to support and care for my relatives abroad who are directly affected by the conflict. These responsibilities have placed additional strain on me, making it especially difficult to navigate complex legal proceedings alone. Despite these circumstances, Judge Arth did not demonstrate any understanding of the hardship I expressed and repeatedly dismissed my concerns without consideration. His conduct contributed to an already overwhelming situation and deepened the sense of imbalance and unfairness I experienced in his courtroom.”
Anonymous
Have a story to share?
Send anonymously.
The Reality of Family Court
Children Are Not Safe
= Children Are Harmed
Family Court repeatedly ignores abuse and places kids back with the parent they fear.
Kids are forced into unsafe homes, retraumatized, silenced, and in the worst cases, seriously injured or killed during court-ordered visitation.
Judges and “Experts” Are Unaccountable = Bad Decisions Go Unchecked
Unqualified professionals hold enormous power, and there is no oversight, tracking, or way to report harm safely.
Harmful rulings repeat, abusive parents win custody, and families have no meaningful recourse — allowing systemic failure to continue in secrecy.
Pseudo-Science Drives Decisions = Protective Parents Lose Custody
Debunked theories and experimental treatments lead courts to punish the safe parent, remove kids from the only parent protecting them, and hand power to abusers.
Our judges are falling for the Alienation Pipeline: accusations of enmeshment, gatekeeping, projection, Munchausen by Proxy, etc
Judges Ignore DV Data
= Family Court is Not Safe for Victims
Only ~4–5% of custody cases go to trial — but these are the most dangerous, complex, and often overlooked cases.
More than half of these contested custody cases involve allegations of domestic violence or abuse.
“The small percentage of cases that go to trial are not representative. These are the complex cases where the court’s failure to understand domestic violence and coercive control causes the most harm.”
— Professor Nicholas Bala, Queen’s University Faculty of Law
Family Court and Judges Label the Parties at High-Conflict
= Women are Disbelieved
“When courts treat high-conflict custody as a ‘both-sides’ issue, they ignore that in many cases, the conflict is a continuation of abuse by one parent — often the father — trying to regain control.”
— Joan Meier, JD, DV LEAP
Judges Treat “Experts” Like Doctors or Scientists = A New Narrative is Spun
Family Court “experts” are easily influenced by the parent who is louder, wealthier, or more aggressive, and many protective parents report their ex running a smear campaign that the experts simply accept as fact. Because judges rely so heavily on these unqualified or biased experts, their opinions carry more weight than evidence, lived experience, or patterns of abuse. The result is devastating: protective parents lose custody, children are forced into unsafe situations, and abusers are empowered by the very system meant to stop them.
A new survey reveals rising child removals from mothers in family courts, often linked to pseudoscientific ‘parental alienation’ claims amid domestic abuse concerns. – Right To Equity
At the start of Family Court proceedings, 83% of children lived with mom. At the end of proceedings, only 14% of children lived with mom.
When mothers allege abuse by fathers (intimate partner violence, child physical or sexual abuse) in custody litigation, they face a significantly increased risk of losing custody.
When a mother told the court that the father physically abused the child, the court believed her only 29% of the time.
When a mother reported that the father sexually abused the child, the court believed her only 15% of the time.
When fathers counter-claim “parental alienation” or the court refers to “alienation,” the risk for mothers increases further — custody loss can nearly double.
Data is very clear across decades of research.
False reports of child sexual abuse are extremely rare.
False reports by children are even rarer.
Most victims do NOT disclose immediately.
Domestic violence allegations are overwhelmingly true.
The real problem is NOT false allegations — it’s courts disbelieving true ones.
How & Why
1. The relationship ends
Roughly 65–70% of divorces in the United States are initiated by women, according to long-standing sociological research.
20-25% of divorced persons report abuse (physical/emotional) as a major contributor to the dissolution of the marriage.
2. A New Avenue
When the relationship ends, the unhealthy parent loses power and control, yet their need for it doesn’t end. They turn to controlling their co-partner through the children and Family Court.
Only ~4–5% of custody cases go to trial — but these are the most dangerous, complex, and often overlooked cases. Judges are ignoring the foundation of these relationships.
3. A Need for Power + Court Pipeline
The responsible and protective parent is preferred by the child. The unhealthy parent cannot handle this. The preferred parent begins to field accusations of gatekeeping, enmeshment, projection, and false reports to CPS of abuse.
4. A Booming Business
This adversarial model keeps all parties locked in. Lawyers and Judges get “experts” involved in the case. Lawyers and “experts” create more conflict and false accusations. The preferred and protective parent finds herself living in fear of the very people who were supposed to help. She spends all of her time, money, and energy trying to regain credibility instead of parenting in peace and protecting her children.
Judges are missing the mark. The unhealthy parent is emboldened by Family Court.
“History will look back and call Family Court one of the greatest civil rights injustices of our time. What is happening behind those sealed doors is not family law. It is systemic deprivation of liberty. Parents are stripped of their children without due process. Children are stripped of their voices and of their innocence without their consent. And truth is stripped of its meaning all together. This is not a women’s issue. This is not a men’s issue. It is a human rights issue.”
2025 National Conference of the Hidden Epidemic of Family Court Violence
More Horror Stories of Family Court
HBO: Women on Trial
Originally scheduled to air on HBO in 1992, the film played only a single night before being pulled from the public after inciting a million dollar lawsuit initiated Texas family court judge Charles Dean Huckabee. The story unfolds as woman after woman loses custody of her children to fathers who have either a documented history of abuse, or admittedly do not want custody of the children.
In 2019, distributor Hope Runs High programmed a Lee Grant retrospective at New York’s Film Forum, initially including Women on Trial. The announcement made headlines because it would have been the film’s first public showing since its 1992 HBO broadcast. But when the series opened in December, the screening was suddenly pulled for “legal reasons”—the same defamation concerns that suppressed it in the 1990s. Once again, Women on Trial was blocked from public exhibition, showing how decades later, legal pressure still keeps the documentary out of view.
Read more
17-Year-Old Testifies
Abbey O’Brien, a 17-year-old from Austin, Texas, and her mother, Tiffanie O’Brien, are bravely sharing their story in support of the Safe Haven Act (HB 3515).
What they’ve endured at the hands of Travis County Family Judges and “Experts” should have the attention of people around the world. Their willingness to speak out—to turn pain into purpose—is nothing short of inspirational.
Watch
Bias Against Women Obvious, Yet Ignored by Travis County Judges
The “Cases of Sherry” series exposes how Alissa Sherry, a forensic psychologist regularly appointed in Texas family courts, wields immense power over custody battles despite serious complaints about her practice. Defendants claim Sherry held little to no direct contact with children or parents, yet produced reports diagnosing parents with personality disorders and recommending custody shifts—often in favor of fathers even when mothers allege physical abuse.
Watch
Mother blames Hays County family court for failing her daughters
Several families have reached out to the Hays Free Press/ News-Dispatch in regards to what they believe are concerning experiences in Judge Karl Hays’ family law court. The following is the finale of a four part series discussing assertions against Judge Hays and the alleged failure to consider the best interest of the child(ren) involved in cases in his courtroom.
Read
Petition with 1k+ signatures
Bias Against Women Obvious, Yet Ignored by Travis County Judges
15+ Complaints and 800+ signatures for an investigation, yet Travis County Judges are still working with Dr. Alissa Sherry. Dr. Sherry opines that alienating parents are most often mothers.
She gives no valid and reliable scientific evidence to support her opinion. In fact, research on alienation states the opposite.
How can a custody evaluator with a preconceived known bias against women perform unbiased custody evaluations and psych evaluations? It is no surprise that she sides against the mothers around 80-85% of the time in family court cases.
Watch
Medium: From Mom to Inmate: Julie Valadez Jailed in Wisconsin Because Son Ran to Her For Help
6 min read· July 19, 2025
ProPublica: Parental Alienation: A Disputed Theory With Big Implications
The impact of junk science in criminal cases is well known, but family courts have allowed a disputed psychological theory to persist with little scrutiny.
August 19, 2023
Read
ProPublica: In The Child’s Best Interest
A child said he was being sexually and physically abused by his father. The father alleged the mother was brainwashing the child against him. One reporter dug into years of case files to understand how courts decided to interpret the facts.
August 19, 2023
Read
1,000 Signatures: Stand for Justice and Get Jrue Home to His Mother
We are calling on the Family Court of Wichita County TX Judge Gary Butler, District Attorney John Gillespie, to do the right thing, to stand on truth and challenge their wrongful decisions of jailing a protective Mother during an ongoing investigation of sexual abuse by his father in Louisiana.
Learn More
ProPublica: A Court Ordered Siblings to a Reunification Camp With Their Estranged Father. The Children Say It Was Abusive.
Family courts are increasingly using programs like Turning Points for Families to treat the disputed psychological theory of parental alienation. But little is publicly known about the programs’ controversial methods.
Continue Reading
Inside Investigator: High Conflict: Is Connecticut’s family court system ignoring abuse?
“And, they say, Connecticut’s family court system is not only ignoring those abuse allegations – some substantiated by police and social workers, others not – but enabling it. They claim their exes use the court system to exert control over them and their children through its web of judges, attorneys, and guardians ad litem (GAL) who dismiss their safety concerns in a concerted push to side with fathers, even in cases when there is abuse against both the children and mother.”
Continue Reading
FRAMED: Women in the Family Court Underworld:
These stories are five-alarm warnings from real women around the world who have been FRAMED. Just like you perhaps, they had no idea what happens in the gender biased family court underworld—until they found themselves in a divorce or custody fight.
Dr. Christine Cocchiola and Amy Polacko are both survivors of domestic abuse who work with family court victims daily. This exposé not only validates the experience of millions of women—but also warns about what mothers are up against in these battles, the harms inflicted on children, red flags to watch for while dating, and ways to protect yourself during marriage.
Learn more
He Said, She Said: Truth, Trauma, and the Struggle for Justice in Family Court:
In the family court, traumatized women seek safety and justice, often to find only disdain and cruel insensitivity. Survivors of sexual, physical and emotional violence are called liars because they lack evidence for their claims, and deemed unreliable witnesses compared to the men who abused them. They are forced to recall the worst moments of their lives in excruciating detail, sometimes face-to-face with their violent ex, and always confronted with a lawyer who will do anything to destroy their story.
Read
Travis County Family Court Judges:
Associate Judges are hired by the Elected District Judges, not chosen by voters, not confirmed by any public process, and not subject to public interviews or oversight. No public vetting, no hearings, no transparency. The “hiring” is essentially internal — judges choose someone they know or someone recommended by lawyers or other court actors. They serve at the pleasure of the elected judges. Elected judges can: appoint, reappoint, and remove associate judges, usually without explanation. This means associate judges are incentivized to keep judges and lawyers happy — not families. They are often former family-law attorneys, while many are former attorneys in the same courthouse and former colleagues of the same lawyers who appear before them. This can create a tight ecosystem of referrals, familiarity, and bias. They are essentially unaccountable to the public. Parents cannot vote them out. There is no safe way to complain. And they oversee life-altering hearings — temporary orders, enforcement hearings, emergency orders, visitation disputes — without ever facing the public whose lives they impact.
Travis County “Experts” Turning Trauma into Business
Most legitimate mental-health professionals avoid Family Court—not because they can’t handle difficult cases, but because the system is riddled with bias, misinformation, and a disregard for evidence. As a result, only a very narrow—and often problematic—subset of providers chooses to work in this arena. These providers refer one another, attorneys refer them, and together they form a closed referral loop that functions more like a business ecosystem than a safeguard for children.
Kelly Baker, PhD, LPC-S
Believes in pseudoscience: parental alienation. Provides and requires families to participate in experimental, harmful, and unregulated therapies: reunification therapy.
Amy Eichler, PhD, LPC-S
Believes in pseudoscience: parental alienation. One of only five Austin-area providers that is a member of the Parental Alienation Study Group. Provides and requires families to participate in experimental, harmful, and unregulated therapies: reunification therapy.
Alissa Sherry, PhD, ABBP
Believes in pseudoscience. One of only five Austin-area providers that is a member of the Parental Alienation Study Group. Uses outdated methods on psych evaluations.
800+ signatures on petition to investigate. Charges $30k-$50k per Court Ordered psych evals for parents, yet spends very little to no time with the parents.
15+ complaints to the Licensing Board.
Investigative Journalist Mini Documentary
Thao Phan, LPC, M.A., M.P.H., M.S
Believes in pseudoscience: parental alienation. One of only five Austin-area providers that is a member of the Parental Alienation Study Group. Provides and requires families to participate in experimental, harmful, and unregulated therapies: reunification therapy. Does not maintain a website, does not have a Google listing, and moves often, to avoid negative reviews.
15 parents have sought one another due to the harm Thao creates. 87% of the time she sides with dad.
Daphny Ainslie, PLLC
Provides subpar psych evaluations. Does not investigate abuse claims by mom. Recommends families to participate in experimental, harmful, and unregulated therapies: detox from mom, reunification therapy. Charges families $20k-$50k+ for services.
Lisa Rothfus, LCWS
Believes in pseudoscience: parental alienation. One of only five Austin-area providers that is a member of the Parental Alienation Study Group. Provides and requires families to participate in experimental, harmful, and unregulated therapies: reunification therapy. At the center of testimony to the Texas Legislature. Using a new last name now at times.
Loretta Maase, LPC
Believes in pseudoscience: parental alienation. One of only five Austin providers that is a member of the Parental Alienation Study Group. Provides and requires families to participate in experimental, harmful, and unregulated therapies: reunification therapy. Works with one the worst offenders: Linda Gottlieb
Summer Allen, PdD, LPC
Believes in pseudoscience: parental alienation. Provides and requires families to participate in experimental, harmful, and unregulated therapies: reunification therapy.
Have you been harmed by one of these “experts?”
We want to hear from you.
Arizona is Taking Action.
Will Travis County or Texas Be Next?
AFCC is a trade organization. Their interest is to protect the interest of their membership. AFCC has been influencing policy include custody laws.
“Family courts have become one of the deadliest places for children and the adults who try to protect them.”
Forensic Psychiatrist and Violence Expert Dr. Bandy Lee
To Our Travis County Family Court Judges, we ask: Are you part of the problem or the solution?
We’re afraid the answer is already clear. It is time for you to meet with the very people whose lives you reshape—the children and parents who walk into your courtroom and are forever changed by your decisions.
Right now, there is no safe path for families to speak up, share their experiences, or be believed. Instead, concerns are routinely dismissed as we are labeled “disgruntled” and “unhappy with the outcome.” Even if we are unhappy, that is our right—we are taxpayers, voters, and constituents, and we deserve to be heard.
You do not track the impact of your rulings. You do not review outcomes. You have no system to measure safety, success, or harm. You are making life-altering decisions without ever looking back to see what happened to the children involved.
This is unacceptable for elected officials charged with our community’s safety. This must change now.
We demand answers.
Do you believe children are safe in your courtroom’s decisions — and how would you know, if you don’t track outcomes?
Would you send your own child or grandchild through the system you preside over?
What safeguards do you have to ensure a child is not returned to the parent they fear?
How many children under your rulings have been harmed, traumatized, or placed in danger — do you even know?
Are you trained in foreign proven methods on how to communicate with children while meeting in chambers?
How can you rule on domestic violence when you have no real experience, trauma-informed training, or specialized education in abuse dynamics?
Why are abuse allegations from mothers believed so rarely, when research shows they are overwhelmingly true?
Do you understand coercive control — the main form of abuse in custody cases? If not, why are you deciding these cases?
Why does your court continue treating abuse as “conflict” instead of danger?
Why does your courtroom rely on “parental alienation,” a debunked, unscientific theory rejected by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and World Health Organization?
How do you vet the qualifications of court-appointed experts — and what makes them “experts” at all?
Are you aware that many of your experts are financially dependent on your referrals?
Why are unregulated, experimental therapies being forced on children in your court?
Why is there no safe way for families to provide feedback on their experience with your courtroom?
How do you evaluate the impact of your decisions when you track nothing?
Why are judges the only public officials who make life-altering decisions and face no meaningful oversight?
If you never speak with the people you’ve ruled over, how can you claim to understand the consequences of your decisions?
Are you aware that your courtroom is being used to continue financial abuse through endless litigation?
How do you justify ordering families into expensive therapies, evaluations, and experts with no regulation or scientific basis?
Do you believe your courtroom is living up to the responsibility of protecting children — or simply preserving a broken system?
When will you meet with the constituents your decisions affect most?
Are you willing to confront the failures of the system you lead — or will you continue dismissing families as “unhappy parents”?
Our Mission
Family Court is a public health crisis. We need help and we need to fix this for those who come after us. The family court system affects the safety of children and the lives of parents. This site brings together facts, personal experiences, and expert insights to ensure transparency and accountability.
Our Timing
Issues in Family Court have been going on for way too long. Travis County Judges are up for re-election in 2026.
The public needs to be aware of who and what they are voting for. Without public awareness and pressure, change will never happen.
Join the fight.
Have a story to share? Send anonymously.
Want to get involved or be a court watcher? Include your info.
To the Judges: We’d like to hear from you too, but due to retaliation in your Court Rooms, you won’t hear back from us at this time.
What You’ll Find Here:
- Data and research about Family Court
- Personal stories and anonymous reviews reflecting family court experiences
- Expert voices urging reform and safety measures
- Evidence around controversial practices—like overuse of unregulated custody evaluators and pseudo science being used
- How to be an informed voter in the upcoming 2026 election
