STOP HB 2237! Parents are under attack in Washington State!  We need your help to stop courts from removing custody from good parents in family court, bankrupting them in the process and harming children.  HB 2237 is no small matter, it completely rewrites the controlling statute on high-conflict child custody proceedings.

The issue:  HB 2237 opens the doorway for the divorce industrial complex to bankrupt families, remove children from good parents for completely legal and safe actions and place children in dangerous situations. The only beneficial language in HB 2237 is marginal or optional.  HB 2237 is not based on scientific research and these organizations oppose HB 2237 after doing their own analysis: Family Violence Appellate Project, Her Harbor, People Advancing Youth Equity and Safety, Jewish Family Service, and National Safe Parents Organization.  

HB 2237’s overall makeup expands the courts ability to make safe law-abiding parents endure costly and unnecessary services, often in excess of tens of thousands of dollars, in order to see their kids. First, it allows the court to bar any contact with that parent until they complete expensive "treatment" for “any” issue, including "misusing conflict." “Misusing conflict” has been slapped on parties for as little as improper litigation as pro se, miscommunication with a professional or with the other parent or even disclosing concerns they have with the other parent to a professional or the court.  Second, HB 2237 provides several additional avenues for the court to appoint required expensive professionals who can in turn recommend more required professionals to a case, perpetuating the harmful cycle of the divorce industrial complex.  Third, it allows the “misusing conflict” factor to outweigh more dangerous factors like child abuse or neglect.   Often these court orders are written by the vengeful other parent to be impossible to follow, whereby a judge just skims and signs off on it. HB 2237 would embolden judges to do this and streamline this horrific process.

HB 2237 delves into your personal life and puts both parents under a microscope and infringes on the parents’ constitutional right to litigate and appeal their case. First, because the term “misusing conflict” contains the open ended term “..but not limited to…” a parent can be tagged with “misusing conflict” for just about doing or saying anything a normal parent would.  Second, a parent is discouraged from good faith litigation, as any court action can be construed as "misusing conflict."   Third, the bill removes the current statute's several mandatory provisions that enable the party to appeal a dangerous or unnecessarily restrictive custody order, leaving that judge with no oversight and that parent with no corrective pathway to protect and/or see their child, and no recourse against the state if the child is seriously harmed.    

HB 2237 gives judicial officers a blank check to do whatever they want. Where family court has been described as a sales pitch, a popularity contest, or an auction where children are auctioned off to the wealthier party; we have a duty to enforce strict requirements so the system cannot be further manipulated. The only people who will benefit from HB 2237 are the expensive professionals who will be appointed and the parties who have the means to buy off the court through their attorneys and professionals. Many good parents currently under appeal for their children being bought by the wealthier party, will have their appeals become null and void due to this bill. Do not be fooled, the institutions designed to protect parents have aligned themselves with the divorce industrial complex and they are the ones pushing for this bill.   Please help us in protecting safe parents and children by helping us STOP HB 2237.  Thank you!