Family court opened my eyes to the absolute lows a human being can sink to. The father of my son lying under oath with ease. The grandmother of my son co-signing her sons lies under oath.
The attorney for my abuser, a woman, a mother defending a man that encouraged me to do the world a favor and un alive myself. The complete disregard of the system meant to protect to protect a safe parent.
I come from a long line of family in the judicial system, the government and law enforcement. The same injustice we see on the 10 o’clock news regarding police brutality is the same brutality in family court. Beating safe parents to a bloody pulp; the GAL and court appointed experts are the K9s they relentlessly release as safe parents plead for mercy. The difference is in family court nobody wears a body cam, nobody records it on a cell phone.
It gets swept under the judges chamber door and our lives remain in that heap of hopelessness on the floor of courtroom 4B.
Dr. Lee, thank you for shedding light on the psychological toll of institutional abuse. I wonder if you’ve encountered or studied what some refer to as Legal Abuse Syndrome. My daughter is currently being subjected to what can only be described as systemic abuse in family court. Initially, the court actors pretended neutrality while gaslighting her, but now, in the face of overwhelming evidence of abuse and fraud, they’ve dropped the pretense entirely.
They openly violate her constitutional and civil rights — calling her “despicable” on the record, denying her ADA accommodations, ignoring jurisdictional law, and enabling financial and emotional coercion. It’s not just judicial bias; it feels like state-sanctioned cruelty.
Is there a psychiatric framework for understanding what happens to victims who are targeted and retraumatized by the very institutions that are supposed to protect them? And how can families and advocates support someone navigating this kind of institutional betrayal?
Family court opened my eyes to the absolute lows a human being can sink to. The father of my son lying under oath with ease. The grandmother of my son co-signing her sons lies under oath.
The attorney for my abuser, a woman, a mother defending a man that encouraged me to do the world a favor and un alive myself. The complete disregard of the system meant to protect to protect a safe parent.
I come from a long line of family in the judicial system, the government and law enforcement. The same injustice we see on the 10 o’clock news regarding police brutality is the same brutality in family court. Beating safe parents to a bloody pulp; the GAL and court appointed experts are the K9s they relentlessly release as safe parents plead for mercy. The difference is in family court nobody wears a body cam, nobody records it on a cell phone.
It gets swept under the judges chamber door and our lives remain in that heap of hopelessness on the floor of courtroom 4B.
Dr. Lee, thank you for shedding light on the psychological toll of institutional abuse. I wonder if you’ve encountered or studied what some refer to as Legal Abuse Syndrome. My daughter is currently being subjected to what can only be described as systemic abuse in family court. Initially, the court actors pretended neutrality while gaslighting her, but now, in the face of overwhelming evidence of abuse and fraud, they’ve dropped the pretense entirely.
They openly violate her constitutional and civil rights — calling her “despicable” on the record, denying her ADA accommodations, ignoring jurisdictional law, and enabling financial and emotional coercion. It’s not just judicial bias; it feels like state-sanctioned cruelty.
Is there a psychiatric framework for understanding what happens to victims who are targeted and retraumatized by the very institutions that are supposed to protect them? And how can families and advocates support someone navigating this kind of institutional betrayal?
Thank you for your insights and your voice.
Renee Kitani
The entire system is one by sociopaths to aid sociopaths.