Project Description: Raise Your  Rights is dedicated to bringing jury trial rights to parents in all states. Individual rights similar to the ones that only parents in Texas have. Starting with California’s family and juvenile dependency courts.

Executive Summary: A recent Gallup poll showed that trust in the Supreme Court reached record lows. We believe that this is a direct result of our state-run family and juvenile dependency courts unwarranted interference in families. The detrimental effects these courts have had on Americans is widespread across our nation. Jury trial rights were implemented to restore faith in our country’s governments, safeguard individual liberties, as well keep faith in almost every other American Institution. So, governmental institutions would operate fairly for all. Thomas Jefferson stated, “I consider [trial by jury] as the only anchor yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution.” RaiseYourRights.org is dedicated to stopping our nation’s state run family and juvenile dependency courts from taking away a parent’s legal rights to their own child without warrant. The massive amount of parents who have lost legal rights to their own children in every state is staggering and the generational damage that stems from children who lost one or both parents through one or more of these courts’ unwarranted governmental interference in families, demands change. Our country knew that jury trial rights were crucial in order for individuals to hold onto what is lawfully theirs, including children. 

Bold Sustainable Plan: Start over from the beginning to restore public trust in our core institutions by focusing on where they went wrong. Starting with stopping “Unwarranted Governmental Interference” or “UGI” in families with jury trial rights in these court systems.

Problem and Proposed Solution Challenge Statement: Almost every American has been adversely affected by a state-run family or juvenile dependency court in one way or another or has observed the damage these courts cause. The damage done is disparate. It mainly targets minority groups and underprivileged families. The damage continues because there are no checks and balances for the families forced to enter them. These court systems originally conspired to help secure their chosen “correct” outcomes. These conniving professionals became an organization, the AFCC, dedicated to supporting its own members, including judges. Jury trial rights are the one small shift that can undo over 60 years of collusion. Our founding fathers knew this and implemented jury trial rights in criminal courts, then, as agreed, implemented jury trial rights in civil courts as well. It is crucial to understand that the right to a jury all by itself can have a huge effect on the outcome. This is true even if a jury is never used decide the facts in a case. Once jury trial rights are implemented, this right sustains itself. Texas parents have jury trial rights and one of the main impacts, is that many Texas cases simply get dismissed each year because they are settled out of court for lack of prosecution. Jury trial rights support settlement outside of a courtroom. We are focusing our own efforts on California’s family and juvenile dependency courts. We asked the California Legislative Analyst office to determine the fiscal impact of implementing jury trial rights in California. It came back and stated that jury trial rights had the potential to save taxpayers money depending on how they were implemented after an initial cost of having to add jury boxes to courtrooms that didn’t have them.

We believe that American families will benefit from jury rights in every US family and juvenile court system: Jury trial rights not only provide momentum to solve unwarranted governmental interference in family and juvenile courts, but will also cause a positive change on almost all the other American institutions that are adversely affected by these court systems. Simply by ending conflict between parents outside of these courts. Jury trial rights will:

• Decrease homelessness: The foster care system is well known to be direct line to homelessness once a foster child turns 18. Family courts have repeatedly devasted both sides of a family that can’t live together. Jobs are lost, excessive fees paid, family members become homeless. and parental alienation has become the norm as a direct result of conflict created by these courts system. This leaves our youngest, most vulnerable citizens as the true victims.
• Decrease the mental health crises: The mental health community over and over again testifies to the mental health crisis affecting all ages as a direct result of conflict created by divorce and dependency courts. Helping to end conflict in divorces and create secure home environments with jury trial rights would reduce the mental health crisis we are experiencing.
• Decrease false allegations and prosecution of fraudulent domestic violence claims. Incidents of domestic violence claims rose dramatically in California, instead of declining when laws were implemented to adversely affect the alleged perpetrator in these court systems. The issue skyrocketed because of the “family” courts’ lack of evidence needed to determine who the perpetrator actually was. Alleging domestic violence in a pending divorce case has begun to be known as the silver bullet to “winning” with devasting social costs. Our law enforcement in every state has seen financial costs skyrocket investigating fraudulent accusations used by litigants in these courts systems to gain again advantage over the other parent. Reducing false domestic violence claims will reduce the burden place on law enforcement. It will also reduce the false allegations probate courts thrive on to separate families.
• Increase learning: Our schools are affected. The number of restraining orders and custody orders educators need to deal with impede learning. Not to mention that studies have repeatedly shown that a child affected by divorce or dependency court is much more likely unable to concentrate in any sort of learning environment if they have a court date pending versus unaffected students. Probate courts impede learning by purposefully separating extended familes forced to enter those courtrooms.
• Reduce extreme violence: Repeatedly, acts of extreme violence are done by people harmed by a family or juvenile dependency court and harmed by probate courts.

• Jury trial attendance steadily increases across the US as citizens have begun to understand that this civil duty results in freedom for all Americans against unwarranted governmental interference.
• The colluding organizations that relied on family and juvenile dependency courts are losing members, including child custody evaluators and judges, as these members have started to recognize that they are part of the problem and not the solution. Colluding members of these organizations rely on conflict in families in order to generate fees
• States are starting to mandate shared parenting laws. Some have even instituted shared parenting predetermined schedules to stop conflict before it can start. Hoping to end false claims of violence aimed at gaining an advantage in family and juvenile dependency courts.
• The Family First Prevention Services Act has resulted in millions of grandparents being supported to raise their grandchildren instead of these children being shifted from foster home to foster home.
• The CDC and Kaiser’s joint Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) study has resulted in completely debunking family and juvenile’s claims that children are resilient.
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We have a very specific change we want to see and our plans for achieving that change start with California’s family and juvenile courts systems. Our goal is for parents to be able to walk into one of these buildings housing family or juvenile dependency courts and immediately have the same protections that they would have if they walked into any law enforcement building, civil courtroom, juvenile detention centers, school building, mental health facilities, etc. We are now including probate courts after the Britney Spears fiasco, demanding jury trial rights in these California courtrooms as well. Britney’s probate judge went so far as to deny her the right to her own attorney.