Family court judges can’t produce judgments immediately after each hearing as they move from case to case with no time in between each sitting to write up their rulings, a court of appeal judge said.
The revelation raises serious questions about the accuracy of judgments in the family courts, where judges find themselves writing up rulings long after hearings have concluded.
The possibility that judges may also be mixing up facts from the several cases they oversee before writing their judgments raises further concerns.
There is currently no information available on the time periods that elapse between the end of a hearing and when a family judge writes up a ruling for that hearing.
Lady Justice King sitting in the Court of Appeal told the parties at the hearing that family courts were overwhelmed with care applications from social services chiefs and that the volume of applications was placing huge pressure on judges.
King was overseeing a child protection case involving a baby who had suffered unexplained skull fractures when she said, “Judgments in care cases are often given by a judge under immense time pressure… Judges at all levels often move seamlessly from one trial to the next without judgment writing time between them.”
Very little information about the case has been made public (we could not find it on BAILII, but if you are able to source it, please do let us know).
This is an incredibly important area and one which needs to be explored properly.
[Name Withheld] said:
Not just the family courts. ALL of our civil courts are corrupt and that is the reason why they need time to sift through the evidence to come up with the outcome driven judgement which suits their requirements. If I am wrong, how come the injustice in what happened to me so many years ago, so blatantly obvious??[edited]
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Alisha healing said:
sorry but i just dont beleive that they are doing the same thing over and over to victims and their children.
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Dr. Manhattan. said:
Really. what makes you think that ?
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Joe said:
Well you really should know the facts….of the all so familiar rulings of dads bad and mom’s safe, with no evidence and the slim chance of 50/50 in the country and around the world, but oh well we are good enough just to pay the child support and go in debt, but not see our kids!!
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Sam said:
Male entitlement needs to go away in order for these judges to stop doing this over and over to women and children. It’s only been about 50 years since women were granted equal rights in democratic nations. In countries where patriarchy is the norm, women have no rights and are forced to stay in abusive marriages or escape just to keep custody of their children. When they do manage to escape the abuse, mothers and children are punished because they’re viewed as property. And it often ends in death.
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dandymanyahoocouk said:
You are probably one of the conspirators too. Imagine, I can’t even get a Hearing even though my son has become obese, a thief and a dangerous sexual predator to young girls. He has been arrested again and his family must shut up. Is this Democracy or Draconian?
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[Name Withheld] said:
The high court judge in our case ignored evidence from witness, illegal documents & written evidence from a charity to prove la were giving incorrect information! The system is corrupt! Then the la didn’t follow what was agreed & even stopped the care package identified as needed in court. The la even lied in court.
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Dr. Manhattan. said:
Once a system become profit based you can bet Corruption will follow.
just like big business who want to do Fracking or develop some green belt for building property etc. if their proposals get declined they will lobby ministers and bombard Council officials to get what they want.thats when brown envelopes come into play.
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Ian Josephs said:
Many judges get round this problem by writing out their judgements before the hearing takes place !
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Dana said:
Yes, very noticeable in the Appeal Court in the misnamed Royal Courts if Justice, where Thorpe after 10 minutes, gave a very confusing verdict but ended by saying the case had been heard by another Judge & he knew the case. Makes one wonder why bother to appeal! Complete travesty of any kind of justice! The whole system is just to make money for those who work the system!
They certainly didn’t work to find out the truth!
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Dr. Manhattan. said:
I suspect they hardly ever do.
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sanchopanza4 said:
That is more often what happens I believe.
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[Name Withheld] said:
Or as I believe I experienced in the Court of appeal, having the judgements pre written by their underlings.!!
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Dana said:
Judges do make mistakes but maybe not so much from not having the time to write up verdicts between cases or having a time lapse & potentially mixing cases up but more from allowing others to write it up on their behalf.
In two different courts, with different Judges, I have witnessed the Judge taking direction from the LA Barrister in a Care Proceedings case & in the SG case, the LA Solicitor writing what she wanted rather than was was said. Needless to say both were biased in favour of the LA & the outcomes were detrimental to the family.
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Dr. Manhattan. said:
“allowing others to write it up on their behalf.”
in 2014 Justice Pauffley revealed the same thing when she found that a Judgement had been Cut & pasted from recommendations emailed to the court by a Social worker.
she said its widespread all across the country and that it must Stop.
unfortunately it hasnt.
Family court Judges must actually believe they are above the Law because nobody ever investigates them and their connections to Social workers.
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Roger Crawford said:
What do they mean, COULD be making mistakes??!
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Natasha said:
Hi Roger, that was me…. in the absence of hard evidence to show that any time lapse is responsible for specific errors, in specific cases, I have to be careful how I write.
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lonsb65 said:
Explains why many judgments seem to be nothing more than retrospective justifications for the decisions made. They omit facts that contradict the decision or brush over them in judgment without ascribing them the appropriate weight in a pretence that they were ‘considered.’ Some judgments are not designed to deliver justice but to protect the judge against appeal. Further; it’s a breach of Article 6 that judgments are not made swiftly and thoroughly explain the decision-making process.
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tummum said:
I read somewhere that Judge’s can choose what evidence goes into a Judgement and can even change their mind on contents.This is to the disadvantage of families who are been/were set up! where strong evidence went left ignored. I will add the link as a comment should I come across it again. I recall it was a male posted about it on his blog, I think a male barrister.
Another thing is when Clerk’s at Court refuse to send on evidence to the Judge and respond by saying- the Judge has come back to say…. If an Applicant has said or done something to upset them unintentionally desperate to have their evidence seen and heard, then how can one be sure it’s not just the Clerk making it up or which ever department you’re put through to at Court.
Can I ask, has anyone here made an Application to Court where e.g. a Clerk has refused to send your evidence onto the Judge and had the part you wrote refering to them they did not like crossed out? If they have, is this not tampering with evidence! xx
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tummum said:
Reblogged this on tummum's Blog.
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sanchopanza4 said:
What an extraordinary revelation. I can hardly catch my breath. They are ROUTINELY making catastrophic mistakes for children and families.
I think you will find the outcome has usually been decided before the final hearing commences and much of the content of the judgement written at that point as well.
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Dr. Manhattan. said:
I know of a case where a Foster carer was telling people in the school yard that she had been told by the Social worker that the Children were not being returned to the parents. that was in May 2015. the case was still ongoing at the time and didnt end till April 2016.
Possibly evidence of Scamming the Legal aid dept and the Tax payer.
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Dana said:
Dr Manhattan,
I know of someone who had her council house taken from her whilst the Child Proceedings court case was still ongoing. She asked the Judge in court for permission to leave early as the bailiffs were turfing her out later that same day. She had got into arrears due to the break up of her family & her her benefits were not up to date. The Judge gave permission but it was telling that he didn’t comment on why she was being evicted. After all, if her children were going to be returned to her they would need to be housed in their home. The Judge knew her children were not going home.
It had already been decided pre judgement to take the house back as she was not getting her children back. I don’t believe the housing department works in isolation of social services, who were clearly involved & her situation was known to them.
Losing her children & her home!
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[Name Withheld] said:
This is about time but for many of us it’s too bloody late but I think this is more of a cover up about family judges taking a bounce in there back pocket and nothing they say or do will convince me otherwise me and my wife loved and cared for our 2 oldest girls there is not one day we don’t talk about them
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Nicole R Case said:
I agree 100%
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Hannah Hiam said:
Well if the family Court is finally realising what they have done why dinelnt they re do the court cases and actually give the parents another shot at being parents and not listen to the social services
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Natasha said:
Thank you very much for your comments. They are heartbreaking to read, but I am doing everything I can to try to make things better and I won’t stop until I do.
For those of you who waived their anonymity on the site, I have to stick to reporting regulations in order to keep the site from being shut down, so please forgive me if I don’t print your names or the details of your cases.
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maureenjenner said:
This is surely a matter that demands much more attention.
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maureenjenner said:
Reblogged this on Musings of a Penpusher and commented:
This is surely a matter that demands more attention and publicity.
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Pingback: Family Court Judges Could Be making Serious Mistakes In Their Judgments – Support Not Separation
[Name Withheld] said:
Family Court judges make life destructive decisions, as they did in my case. There is bias in favour of mothers and family law solicitors are to blame to because they will minipulate their clients to fight and drag out the court proceedings purely to make more money. Judges should be spending 2/3 hours during the first 2-14 days of a divorce application resolving and processing the divorce. Potentially removing or reducing a solicitors input into divorce proceedings.
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Pingback: Family Court Judges Could Be making Serious Mistakes In Their Judgments | Researching Reform – GreatCosmicMothersUnite
[Name Withheld] said:
“Family court judges can’t produce judgments immediately after each hearing”??? really? so why did judge orrell pick up his pre-written judgment within seconds of summing up at the final hearing, then read it out. it was full of inaccurate information and he added his own medical diagnosis about my mental health, as well as lying to help the baby snatchers to make their case. i’ve said all along that i believe he either took a bribe or he was blackmailed, which is a very serious allegation, but no one cares.
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Paolo Farina said:
YES I strongly agree THAT JUDGES in FAMILY court and cafcass are all corrupted .their say that fathers has the same responsibility as the mathers. But in reality not the same rights. I found quite strange olso,why for the same case;there is there always a different judge with a really short knowledge of the case. .Can all this injustice be changed one day???
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[Name Withheld] said:
Omg please help me !!! I have a judge who is so dirty. I have no drug problem I’ve had the same job for over 10 years I have my own place to stay with the room for my only son… my wife was a full-time grad student did not graduate and get home from her internship to my son was 9 or 9 and 1/2.. he is 12 now.. she got home from her internship and she had a Percocet problem $75 a day and we ended up getting a divorce over it and she went to rehab because I called her parents on her.. I had my son 24 hours a day 7 days a week I even took him to work with me.. I worked at a baseballs Academy with tons of kids in it. I worked with kids for the last 20 years and I never had one issue ever with a kid I’ve coached hundreds of kids that were no relation to me.. anyway my wife got home from rehab and kidnap my son and I send text messages and she got a PFA on me.. I never touched a woman in my life ever nor will I ever.. I was with my wife for 19 years off and on no domestic violence ever.. this judge granted a PFA and I pretty much had no rights to my son for 2 years.. please help me I am so depressed and hurt.. and I don’t know what to do or who to ask to help all I want to do is be a father..my email is [edited] please I’m at the point I wanna give up.
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Natasha said:
Hi, thank you for your message. We are a UK based project but if you would like to be directed to Facebook groups who may be able to help we can do that. Please email us at sobk13 at gmail dot com.
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dick100 said:
this is simply NOT TRUE and the Appeal judge appears to be making excuses. A hand-written copy of the judgement has been hand-written for him by the “Lead Solicitor” and handed in to his chambers before he comes out for the final sitting. I was staggered to learn of and witness this Natasha is it possible for you to campaign on this ?
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dick100 said:
oh yes, has a Baby Shaking Syndrome accusation been checked out in this case, as “healed skull fractures” are held to be one of the three key markers of this theory, called SBS, by its enthusiastic supporters. it has however been disproved and also in Case Law.
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DavidMatthews said:
Australia will handle this problem simply by adopting the getm in getm out the door fast food style approach. Ethics and morals aren’t there anyway and only serve to slow the business down. It’s greed driven and lawyers will probably prefer it kept the same as it is but who knows, maybe they can milk even more money. Fathers will predominantly be kept out of their kids lives and have to pay for not being allowed to parent them.
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[Name Withheld] said:
The judge in my grandchildren’s lives would not allow me in court or let the parents speak ,the social worker told lies on oath and when parents tried to question it was told they couldn’t speak or they would be taken from court the judge only took notice of one person and as broken many hearts and broken the children .They are leaving parents suicidal and children have no voice .Give out babies back and forced adoption is so wrong and evil.
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Ian Josephs said:
GRAND PARENTS can be called as character witnesses to testify but they cannot go into court as mere spectators without special permission.
You probably had a bent lawyer who did not call on the mother to testify so of course the judge told her to shut up and sit down or words to that effect.
Next time the mum should represent herself ,avoid professional losers (family court barristers and solicitors).She can write out her statement in advance telling the judge why the children should stay with her and call you, the granny as a character witness.
She could then stand a reasonable chance of winning !
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Natasha said:
A polite reminder to our readers. Any advice given by posters on this blog does not constitute legal advice, nor does it represent advice given by this site unless we explicitly (i.e. in writing) endorse advice offered by third parties.
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[Name Withheld] said:
I let DPS agents see my child and had them bring Cps to see my child which I told him I never minded at all I just want to let Cps in my home to further make me self incriminate well today when I got off work another day where [edited] had knocked on my landlords door eight or nine times trying to get me kicked out calling my boss interfering with my job my work and just completely trying to prove my life I told them that I wanted to take a day to talk to a lawyer confer with my lawyer about my rights before I invested anymore of my families Time or potential he risk their future dealing with them because I threatened or told him I wanted to talk to a lawyer I showed up after work to find three marked cars to caseworkers they’re ripping my child out of our home leaving my fiancé and I balled up on the floor falling apart in tears completely broken emotionally. They never did a meconium test at the hospital and my fiancé and my baby passed drug screenings at the hospital the hospital lied it shows on my discharge papers that my baby was discharged on this could’ve been discharged on the ninth and I have phone calls from nurses trying to discharge my baby on the 10th and [edited] without a court order made the hospital keep my baby for me while talking to the nurses on the phone in the next room while they were refusing to show me the meconium paperwork. I swear to god it takes 3 to 5 days for a meconium test results to come back from Texas they wrote on the discharge papers that my daughter failed on the meconium test the day after she was born. We never gave consent to that type of test nor were we given the results when we demanded the paperwork or records nor have we been given them to this day there has been no records seen no paperwork nothing stating that she fell meconium test the sides one nurse and the CPS case worker‘s word saying so. I truly believe they’re trying to take my daughter and keep her forever for their own gain or financial profit or what have you and I don’t know what to do I’m scared I’m broke and I’m sitting here staring at and empty crib crying my eyes out. I don’t have the money to fight them which is why they’re taking advantage of me and my rights I don’t have the money to put up a fight that they have to steal my daughter from me and I’m afraid I might lose my rights to be a father in just a few days. I truly believe they came and snatched my daughter out of my home so they could get it affidavit and petition to have my rights terminated so they can get rights to the medical records and what not covering their own ass excuse my language.
[edited] is the worst government employee I have ever had the horrible diss honor of coming in contact with. A nurse at Citizens hospital overheard my fiancé telling another nurse about her other three kids well this nurse then decided to call CPS and tell them that my fiancé had three other kids who obviously weren’t in her custody and she was worried about their well-being. She lied to Cps and said that my baby had failed a drug test when that was not the case my baby cleared a drug test the day after my fiancé completely cleared a drug test the day my child was born. Both drug screens were taken by Citizens the day of and the day after birth both drug screen is completely negative for everything I have both of them in hand from citizens just the day before this nurse calls CPS and reports my fiancé with her insanely alleged allegations about her three children that are completely fine safe in their fathers custody out of town where they choose to live. My fiancé hasn’t lost her rights as a mother she still there legal guardian there’s no court order or anything that has garnished her rights as a parent she hasn’t done anything wrong, there was no reason for Cps to be called not to mention this nurse lied to the CPS state intake office and told them that my child had failed a drug screening and that my fiancé was never tested when again I have both drug screens in hand showing that they were both negative so this nurse completely lied and falsified and withheld information to initiate a CPS case against my family for whatever reason. I went with my fiancé to meet with [edited] the caseworker who is taking this case so absolutely Personal apparently because my fiancé didn’t cooperate with an anonymous tip that was made to CPS and the case was just closed this caseworker came out of her seat completely sticking her finger in my fiancé‘s face saying and you just got out of a case and had it closed didnt you and didn’t cooperate. When I try to interject and explain to the caseworker that both my baby and my fiancé had passed a drug screening there was no reason for there to be a safety plan she completely was caught off guard and surprised because the hospital didn’t tell her that my fiancé had actually been drug screen they just told her that my baby failed and my wife wasn’t tested both lies . The case should’ve been dissolved at that point but this caseworker started filling out a safety plan because my wife didn’t cooperate before and said I have the power to make this go away right now like it never happened or I have the power to drag this out completely I suggest you cooperate we offered up to take another drug screening and she said what’s the reason I already have yours that was just taken right away that’d be pointless. I believe at that point is when she crossed a line of professionalism and violated the position she holds as well as our rights because she had every reason for it to be dissolved and she’s choosing to completely crucify us because of her personal feelings it’s just not right now there’s a special investigator involved and they’re trying to take my newborn baby away calling my boss calling my friends telling them that I’m not cooperating and that I’m hiding from them when I’m clearly not and have phone records to prove. I’ve worked as director of personnel head mechanic and welder for edge landscaping and I’ve worked there for eight years straight now I am a contributing member to society here in [edited] Texas and uphold my greatest to represent my company and family in a manner to be respected. This case worker has withheld evidence in cases prior that have put children at risk ignored medical records the doctors have provided showing that there was no reason for a case to be taken up with other families and actually put babies in hospitals for 17 days life flighted etc. because she decided to ignore the facts and go on personal feeling and I fear that she’s going to in someway break my family apart and I don’t know who to turn to and financially can’t afford to fight the state or government as I would live paycheck to paycheck and I’m the only sole provider in my household. i’m currently talking to a civil rights lawyer and a constitutional lawyer trying to barter my services for theirs in order to sue Cps here in [edited] Texas for needlessly wasting state money carrying on their dues if you will and bending the law and policies to break families apart to justify their positions and titles. Cps started out with good intentions and is now turned into a corrupt power-play with nothing but financial gain in mind and they have to destroy families some if not most that don’t need to be destroyed just to prove and justify their cause. I’m going to include a couple documents showing the drug test that were taken from my wife and baby the same documents that I provided to Case Worker in the same documents that I waved around in front of the nurses in citizens Hospital that file divorce allegations to begin with. Not to mention a nurse that sent my paperwork through taking me off my baby’s birth certificate because I was at work it was lunchtime the day before Fourth of July and I told her I would be there in 20 minutes and she got an argument with another nurse there at Citizens and she pushed my paperwork through not allowing me to be on my baby’s birth certificate at lunchtime not even at the end of the day but at lunchtime and she’s had previous incidents of this before I’ve read complaints and heard about it on Facebook so now that’s a whole Nother battle where my constitutional rights, civil rights And parental rights have been violated by citizens employees. Please help me anyway you can I would greatly appreciate it any and all assistance or anything you can do to help would mean so much to me at this point.
I [edited] am writing this letter to request a former investigation for criminal activity by the following state agency being Department of Health and Human Services. The state worker name involved in said criminal activity is [edited]. That individuals supervisor through said agency of Department of health and human services , located at the address off [edited], in the county of The United States of America , supervisor name being , [edited]. The laws and criminal activity involved is of the following starting with Purgery to obtain invalid warrant under oath. Misappropriation of state funds of the state of Texas . Funds being misappropriated by this worker are funds applied to court cost in the following court case [edited], held at the following court of [edited] in the state of Texas. I the parent of [edited], has been accused of neglect, abuse , child endangerment. There hasn’t been any rulings on said allegations so by proceeding with said case this is further using an illegally obtained warrant through perjury for the Misappropriation of state and county resources being the local justice system. and courts. This also is clear violation of civil rights in the area of Malicious prosecution occurring in the court of [edited]. The following is the name of the judge or judges involved in the case [edited] . The attorneys involved in the case are self for the defendant being the parents of [edited]. The attorneys for the plaintiffs being [edited] and the plaintiffs in the case are [edited]. Again the criminal activity is further utilizing illegally obtained warrant gained through perjury Underoath by [edited] and the Misappropriation of state funds by state workers accused, Misappropriation of state resources being the courts , Civil right violation by case workers being Malicious prosecution, False pretense in court case, Misappropriation of Federal funds obtained for child involved in said allegations , intent to defraud the federal government by illegal placement of child in state custody and other civil right violation of Denial of due process in court case involving state workers.
[edited]
So we had a mini Christmas up at health and human services today with our baby got a new playmate boot socks I’ll kinds of stuff teething toys you name it. Something was off during visitation she was squirming around and didn’t want to sit like she normally would she would rather stand With a face against ours hands around my neck then sit down even couldn’t have her bottle because she couldn’t sit comfortably would you like to know the reason why she was so uncomfortable
Do you know what really breaks me down the most is it having my daughter taken falsely accused of being neglectful when I did nothing wrong what really hurts me the most is happened to see my daughter in pain and not being able to do anything about it what hurts me the most is having the people that accuse me of being neglectful sit there and play it off like it’s no big deal is it there I Daughter still have a smile on so much pain she couldn’t sit down and have a bottle Is the most pain I’ve ever felt in my entire life and sitting there watching your only daughter be a pain and not being able to do anything about it
It’s killing me
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[Name Withheld] said:
I had my children literally ripped from my arms, I was told by one LA to leave the abusive marriage or they would take my two 8 month old twins into care.
I tried to safe guard them as contact progressed the children began returning from contact alleging concerns about physical sexual and emotional abuse
To cut a long story short aided and abetted by Caffcass and Social services.
My kids where cruelly ripped from.me
As it was decided I’d coached my kids.
My ex had a high profile job and money.he got custody. My poor kids where sent back.to the perpetrators care.
Such corruption is common place now to women losing custody punishment for speaking out.The judge went on a tirade of bullying and said I was a malicious vindictive evil woman that’s gone on a campaign of hatred
Punishment for trying to protect my heart is broken.
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Ian Josephs said:
Appeal and ask for a rehearing on grounds of bias and misconduct by the judge
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[Name Withheld] said:
My child was removed from me. I want my child back. I didn’t do anything wrong to her I was blame for someone did to her. The judge sided on cps
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[Name Withheld] said:
My Judge is allowing the advocate attorney to write letters proclaiming summary Judgments and supplemental instructions that change custody and visitation without authority, an investigation, evidence, due process or a hearing. Reporting to judicial misconduct channels changes nothing even though its violating my constitutional rights and the law!
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