By Dr. Leon Koziol

Parenting Rights Institute

Maybe they just didn’t hear us last year. Or maybe our leaders in Washington were more focused on politics, the Mueller Report and impeachment inquiries than the needs of their constituent moms and dads pleading for an investigation of family court abuses.

Whatever the reason, since our first annual Parent March on Washington, May 1-3, 2019, the needless deaths of parents and innocent children due to family court abuses have grown. Untold emotional and financial suffering has grown with it.

Most recently, on January 17, 2020, an 8-year old boy, Thomas Valva, fell victim to a hypotheria-induced death in a Suffolk County, New York home caused by his NYPD father and fiancee. Both were indicted yesterday.

Three months earlier in Philadelphia, a mother, Damyra Jones, murdered her husband and two children before attempting suicide. On July 31, 2018, James Shield, who lost his Manhattan physical therapy practice to a custody battle, committed a triple murder-suicide, leaving his son, ex-wife and current wife dead.

Despite a growing epidemic, it’s business as usual in our nation’s divorce and family courts. That epidemic was described in great detail in our report delivered by victimized parents to all members of Congress on our second day of events (Lobby Day), May 2, 2019.

Even as that report was being prepared, on March 28, 2019, Brian Kennedy walked into a local Wawa Store in Delaware and gunned down his ex-wife with a semi-automatic rifle. That store was selected for child exchanges due to the many surveillance cameras.

Eclipsing that event one week later, the mother of a 17-month old child was shot dead in front of a Hawthorne, California police station during a similar exchange. Neither venue proved to have any deterrent effect.

For these and other reasons, I have been contacted by parent groups, reform advocates and victims of divorce and family courts across the country to sponsor a second annual Parent March on Washington. The goal this time will be to impact the upcoming presidential and congressional elections.

As explained in our report, the carnage is being caused by a federal funding law which rewards the states and their family courts by the number and size of child support orders they issue and satisfy. We’re talking about billions of dollars under this little known law.

Those dollars depend on the number of “custodial parents” that can be manufactured by our family courts even in situations where co-parenting is working without state interference. It is a gold mine for judges, lawyers and countless service providers, hence the vicious retaliations exacted upon reformers and judicial whistle blowers like me.

On the last day of our 2019 event, we featured a memorial to family court victims. They included 2-year old Gabriella Boyd who was murdered by her mother. It also featured the “walking dead,” parents and children who have fallen victim to severe parent alienation caused by the same antiquated custody system.

By numerous accounts of those involved in the reform movement, the Parent March on Washington was the most successful event to date. It occurred without a single glitch and only $475 in donations outside of those I obtained personally. And a common theme among speakers was the need to continue the momentum.

Therefore a tentative event along the same 3-day agenda as last year is set for May 27-29, 2020. This will give us one more month than last year to grow the numbers into the thousands. Given the proven success of last year, recruiting efforts will be highly effective.

Unfortunately, I was forced to take over many assignments that were abandoned or sabotaged. Sadly there are too many splintered groups with “moles and trolls” committed to killing all reform efforts. This past month I filed a major brief in federal court as part of my ongoing quest to have our petitions properly heard.

Therefore we need your help to make this work. If effective volunteers and sufficient donations are not obtained by May 1, 2020, the event will be cancelled.

PLEASE SHARE THIS POST AND JOIN US FOR AN EXCITING MARCH DOWN PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE UNDER POLICE ESCORT. Start by participating in our conference calls: e-mail me at leonkoziol@gmail.com or call the Parenting Rights Institute at (315) 380-3420. There are many permits that I need to process along with speaking venues and hotel accommodations, so time is of the essence.