Transformation: Policy for Real Reform

Washington’s family court system doesn’t need better “conflict resolution” tools or professional development workshops.
It needs structural change.

Because this isn’t about interpersonal conflict—it’s about unchecked power, profit-driven process, and the total absence of accountability.

- RCW 26.09.191 protections must be applied as written—not ignored or sidestepped.
- Coercive control and abusive use of litigation statutes must be interpreted correctly, not weaponized against survivors.
- Judges must be required to state findings tied to statute, not personal opinion.

If the law doesn’t matter in family court, there is no law.

Judicial discretion is not a legal doctrine.
It’s a permission slip for bias.

- Require objective criteria for custody decisions.
- Limit the use of blanket phrases like “best interest” without evidence.
- Force recusal when bias or repeated violations occur.
- End the practice of sealing decisions and gagging families to protect the bench.

- “in the Child’s best interest” is now an ambiguous term, a smokescreen to bypass constitutional protections and due process rights.

The more power a judge has, the more rules they should be bound to—not the fewer.

No profession should govern itself behind closed doors.

- Create an Independent Office of Family Court Accountability to oversee judges, commissioners, GALs, evaluators, and contractors.
- Require public audits of outcomes, appointment patterns, and complaints.
- Strip oversight authority from professional groups that rely on court contracts for survival.
- End the monopoly of court-affiliated trainers, evaluators, and “reformers.”

Oversight that serves the system is not oversight at all.

- Family court is the only court in Washington where there is no legal representation guaranteed—even when custody and safety are at stake.
- Establish public legal aid for family court litigants.
- Fund conflict-free advocacy that prioritizes protection, not appeasement.
- Stop funding nonprofits that stay silent on judicial abuse.

If your rights depend on your income, you don’t have rights.

Real reform means more than fixing loopholes.
It means replacing the values the system was built on.

- Statutes must center child safety—not ideology.
- Judges must lose immunity for gross misconduct.
- Court professionals must be held to evidence-based standards.
- Policy must be created with impacted families—not by judicial clubs and consultants.

This isn’t about improving the system from within.
It’s about returning it to the public it was supposed to serve.