By Dr. Leon Koziol

Parenting Rights Institute

My daughters called today, and our dialogue was wonderful. There is no way we can turn the clock back and make up for six long years of parental alienation but maybe  it’s a start.

I have been involved in the family court reform movement for over twelve years. I’m not sure how much I accomplished in that time; the lawsuits, rallies, conventions, news conferences, marches and lobby initiatives, but I like to think that with so many moms and dads joining our cause, great things may be right around the corner. The judges and politicians may finally be feeling the pressure to take real action.

And so maybe those victimized by the court system can obtain a measure of hope on this Christmas Day. I have come across some very special people during my reform efforts: the good folks out on Long Island exposing corruption, the ones in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania seeking to end parental alienation, the guys at the 2016 Super Bowl in San Francisco seeking judicial accountability, the advocates who joined me in conferences at the United Nations and those who rallied at our Parent March on Washington this past May.

From New York to California, and countless places in between, I was fortunate to meet so many fine parents wrongfully denied family relationships. They include victims from other countries, the ones I came to know in Paris where I sought international protection during Christmas season, 2014, the professionals like Dr. Mario Jimenez in Miami who joined four professionals at a 2016 news conference at the Supreme Court, Steve Boyd and the Boyd Foundation taking serious action to stop child victimization, the many groups represented on the Capitol lawn whose leaders gave victims profound hope with the realization that they were not alone.

There’s Dr. Carlos Rivera who sacrificed time in a child support jail and went on to demand justice for dads in debtor prisons, John Murtari who has been arrested countless times for his courthouse protests over a three decade period, Chris DiMaggio and Glenn Svoboda, two warriors I would want on either side of me in any foxhole. They show up regularly at crucial events.

I attended the 2014 Family Law Reform Conference sponsored by Dr. Joseph Sorge and Divorce Corp, I participated in his video series and cannot sing his praises enough in any website post. I will never forget Tamara Sweeney and all her good work to correct parental alienation, Christine out in Maui (Hawaii) who flew me out to write her memoirs.

Attorney Larry DeMarco, a great family man, dropped everything at the last minute to video our three day Parent March on Washington. Let us all applaud James Kelly, Chris DeVol, Anthony Paress, Rick and Wendy Sassone, Jack Frost, Missy Arnold, Lena Wilson, Doug Staneck, and those on social media keeping us all motivated, my good buddy Charles who supports the Title IV-D cause with a vengeance, Mike Whitney, Dan Barney, Jim Ginther, Eric Sinderman, the list goes on.

Finally there’s my family and countless personal friends like Brian Albert, Tom Barnaba and the “Gutter Rat” boys who, without my knowledge, started a “Save Leon” rally at our local family court last year. I don’t know how I would have survived without the profound commitments and concern from my adopted brother John in Saratoga and Tony Pappas in New York City.

The people and groups to be recognized here are far too great in number for this very special Christmas post, but I encourage all to stay the course. These are our children, our courts and our government, one nation still under God!