Family Court Isn’t an Individual Fight — It’s a National One. And It’s Time We Start Acting Like It.

If your inbox looks anything like mine, you know exactly what I’m about to say:
People are fed up with the courts, but especially family court.

Every week, I get messages from people drowning in frustration: parents blindsided by inconsistent rulings, caregivers punished for trying to protect their kids, families begging the system to do its job. Some write with gratitude and patience. Others… not so much.

And a handful skip past everything happening in my world and jump straight to: “Where’s my article?”

Let me be blunt: I’ve unfortunately been preoccupied with keeping my own world spinning, paying bills, caring for my children, and dealing nightmare of an individual who has turned the last few months into a time-sucking obstacle course. It’s slowed down my work, delayed stories, and forced me to adjust my entire workflow. This is all hard enough work on its own before any of that nonsense (which is why I have invited guest posts and I haven’t had anyone take me up on it).

But here’s the surprising thing; it hasn’t all been a loss.

Because in dealing with my harasser, I realized something powerful and the people battling their custody battles, listen to me now: it is infinitely easier to survive a system designed to break you when you have a community behind you that understands the terrain.

People who’ve been through it.
People who can help you spot patterns.
People who can tell you what not to do again.
People who can say, “You’re not crazy; this is happening.”

And that is exactly the key ingredient I see missing from everyone’s individual family court crisis; you think this is all about you when it’s not.

Family Court Has Been Broken — Not for Months, but for Decades

Advocates like Christine Morrison have been sounding the alarm for nearly 25 years. The system didn’t suddenly break just for you; it’s been fractured, ignored, underfunded, politicized, and weaponized for decades.

But that’s precisely where every person I meet gets stuck:

Everyone thinks this is their fight alone.
Their judge.
Their bad ruling.
Their nightmare courtroom.
Their trauma.
Their impossible uphill battle.

I absolutely get it; when your kids, your safety, and your future are on the line, the world narrows. The forest disappears. All you see are trees.

But the truth is so much bigger, harder, and way more important: family court issues are NOT individual battles. They never have been. They are a national, structural, legislative problem and it’s going to take a TEAM to fight it.

You are not the only one.
You are not the first one.
And you are definitely not the last one unless you roll up your sleeves and get to work and band together with others to fight a systemic problem.

So What’s It Going to Take?

Because venting to Facebook groups isn’t going to cut it.

Here’s the civics reality we all learned in elementary and middle school but seem to forget in the chaos of litigation:

• Courts interpret law.
• Judges apply law.
• The legislature writes law.

The laws governing custody, evidence, domestic violence, GAL authority, judicial oversight, or due process are broken?

That’s a legislative problem. And legislative problems require legislative solutions.

And legislators?
They listen to money, organized people, and political pressure.

Not one-off angry emails that are going to get you in trouble later.
Not individual cases begging for unique attention.
Not “my judge is bad, fix it.”

They respond to collective power. And together, a team can channel their pain into something bigger than one’s self; make the road better for people behind them.

That’s why citizens in places like Arizona and Tennessee have started taking the fight directly to their legislatures; publicly, strategically, and together.

The truth is simple:

A single parent screaming into the void won’t move a legislature.
Hundreds of parents demanding systemic change absolutely will.

This Is How You Win: You STOP Running Alone

People need to stop treating family court reform like a solo sport.

You need:

• A coalition, not isolated cases.
• A strategy, not scattered outrage.
• A PAC, not a comment thread.
• Resources, not exhaustion.
• Collective power, not individual suffering.

Money talks in politics. Organization moves policy. And unified groups like PACs, nonprofits, advocacy coalitions… that’s who rewrite laws.

Family court will not fix itself. Your judge won’t fix it because they and industries around them benefit from the mess. Just like the probate court scandal playing out in Detroit; it’s not that different. Your county won’t fix it because they’re making money from it.
Your individual case won’t fix it, because they think you’re alone and no one is going to listen to just one person.

But a statewide, coordinated, well-funded movement of people who have lived the same pain?

That changes everything.

Read the Room, and Read the Moment

If dealing with my stalker taught me anything, it’s that survival is easier when people show up for each other, not just themselves.

Family court reform is no different.

If you want a better system, safer kids, fairer rulings, real accountability…you NEED a team. A community. A movement. A strategy.

There’s a proverb my friend Noah often quotes:

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

Right now, too many people are sprinting alone into burnout.
It’s time to stop the marathon.
It’s time to start passing the baton.

Seek out legitimate groups looking to make meaningful change in the system, lobbying law makers and writing bills. Sit at their table as soon as possible.

Because the only way to fix family court is to fix it together. And it is far better to do it now, than to do it after you’ve lost custody or paid too high of a price.

As a result: I WILL NOT be accepting another family court story here at clutch unless it’s about someone organizing to fix this garbage and looking for people to join the movement. Otherwise, things will NEVER change.