Children Deserve Protection, Not Trauma. Help Us Change Family Court.

No child should become a pawn in a custody battle. No loving, fit parent should have to fight endlessly to protect their relationship with their child. And no family should be financially or emotionally destroyed simply trying to obtain justice.

Yet across America, parents and children are experiencing exactly that.

The family court system is supposed to protect children and serve their best interests. But too often, families report a system where unproven allegations, coercive control, litigation abuse, prolonged delays, and failures of accountability can become weapons in custody disputes.

When children are unnecessarily separated from a safe, loving primary caregiver, the consequences extend far beyond a courtroom decision. Disruptions to secure attachment, chronic uncertainty, and prolonged stress can affect a child’s nervous system, emotional regulation, sense of safety, identity, and long-term development.

Childhood does not pause while courts delay. Every month matters. Every lost birthday, holiday, milestone, and opportunity to maintain a loving relationship matters.

And when the system gets it wrong, children may bear the consequences for years.

Why Fathers & Mothers United Exists

Fathers & Mothers United is a growing coalition within the National Family Rights Movement, bringing together parents, survivors, advocates, and concerned citizens who believe children’s safety must come before legal gamesmanship, institutional self-protection, and financial interests.

Our work is deeply personal.

The heartbreaking loss of 12-year-old Ryder Belisle helped inspire our Justice for Ryder community and strengthened our commitment to demanding meaningful family court reform.

Ryder’s story is a reminder of why concerns about children’s safety, custody decisions, and accountability deserve serious examination before irreversible harm occurs.

We cannot undo what happened to Ryder. But we can work to prevent other children and families from experiencing devastating, preventable harm.

This Is Not Just Awareness. We Are Taking Action.

For years, I have personally experienced the exhausting reality of navigating family court while seeking protection, accountability, and meaningful intervention.

I have spent more than four years documenting concerns, gathering evidence, contacting government agencies, filing complaints, communicating with legislators, and advocating for the rights and safety of children and parents.

My documented efforts include:

* 414 emails to 26 government offices and officials, seeking intervention, answers, and accountability.

* 20 grievance filings involving concerns about conduct and oversight.

* Multiple unresolved court motions, some awaiting decisions for years.

* Hundreds of additional phone calls, in-person visits, and attempts to reach elected officials, law enforcement, oversight agencies, and other authorities.

* Direct legislative outreach advocating for protections against coercive control, litigation abuse, unnecessary family separation, and prolonged court delays.

Rather than allow these experiences to end with my own case, I have turned years of research, documentation, and advocacy into an organized effort to help other families.

I am working directly on legislative proposals, identifying weaknesses in existing laws, communicating with Ohio lawmakers, building advocacy resources, developing technology that helps parents organize their evidence, and bringing parents together to demand measurable reform.

I am not asking others to do something I am unwilling to do myself. I am already doing the work. This fundraiser is about expanding its reach.

What Your Donation Makes Possible

1. Direct Legislative Action

We are developing tools that help parents identify their state representatives, understand proposed legislation, and communicate their own experiences and recommended reforms directly to lawmakers.

Our goal is to make civic participation accessible even to parents who have limited time, financial resources, or legal knowledge.

2. Stronger Laws and Real Accountability

We are researching, drafting, and advocating for legislative safeguards addressing:

* Knowingly false material allegations and deliberate misuse of legal processes, with appropriate due-process protections.

* Coercive control, domestic violence, and post-separation litigation abuse.

* Enforcement of custody, parenting-time, and protective orders.

* Reasonable deadlines for hearings and decisions involving children.

* Meaningful judicial and professional accountability.

* Trauma-informed assessments that consider children’s safety, attachment, and developmental needs.

* Protection against retaliatory filings and financial exhaustion through unnecessary litigation.

* Independent oversight and accessible complaint procedures.

3. Parent Case Organization and Evidence Tools

Through resources such as CourtBinder, we are helping parents better organize timelines, communications, court orders, exhibits, and other important case materials.

We are developing educational resources, case-organization templates, and practical tools that help parents document concerns clearly and prepare more effectively for conversations with attorneys, advocates, and legislators.

Our goal is to help parents move from scattered documentation and overwhelming circumstances to organized, evidence-based advocacy.

4. Legislative Meetings, Public Testimony, and Travel

Meaningful reform requires showing up.

Donations help cover the expenses associated with meeting lawmakers, attending legislative hearings, presenting proposed reforms, delivering documented concerns, and testifying when opportunities arise.

5. Coalition Building and Parent Education

We are connecting families, advocates, professionals, and community leaders to build a coordinated movement rather than leaving individual parents to fight in isolation.

This includes maintaining advocacy platforms, developing educational materials, organizing meetings, supporting volunteer outreach, and creating opportunities for families to participate in reform efforts.

6. Public Awareness and Documentation

We are working to bring attention to systemic problems through evidence-based public education, documented family experiences, outreach to journalists, and accessible information about proposed legislative solutions.

Our objective is not simply to expose problems. It is to turn documented failures into specific, actionable reforms.

Why Your Support Matters

Parents facing prolonged litigation often have already exhausted their savings, lost valuable time with their children, and spent years trying to navigate complicated systems.

Many cannot afford lobbyists, public relations professionals, expensive legal teams, or repeated trips to their state capitals.

Meanwhile, the issues affecting their children continue.

We are working to give ordinary parents something they have too often lacked: an organized, informed, collective voice with a direct path to legislative action.

Every contribution helps sustain and expand that work.

This movement is not about mothers versus fathers.

It is not about winning custody battles at any cost.

It is about protecting children, preserving safe and healthy parent-child relationships, supporting survivors of abuse, safeguarding due process, and ensuring that the institutions entrusted with children’s welfare are accountable for their decisions.

Help Us Turn Pain Into Protection. Evidence Into Legislation. And Advocacy Into Action.

Children have only one childhood.

They cannot wait indefinitely for hearings, investigations, or accountability. They cannot recover lost years simply because a court eventually corrects an error.

We are building a movement that refuses to accept preventable harm as the cost of doing business in family court.

Your donation helps us continue the work already underway and expand it to reach more parents, more lawmakers, and more communities.

If you cannot contribute financially, you can still make a difference by sharing this fundraiser, joining our coalition, volunteering, or helping us connect with legislators and other advocates.

Donate. Share. Volunteer. Help us protect children and change the laws that affect their lives.

Fathers & Mothers United | National Family Rights Movement

Because protecting children should never depend on which parent has the most money, the most powerful attorney, or the greatest ability to endure years of litigation.

Carey Ann George