I have personally knocked on many doors in my wasted efforts of seeking safety for my young daughter.  Every complaint I submitted was followed with the standard form letter "sorry, get a liar/lawyer".   I'm not sure what getting a lawyer had to do with the price of tea in china, because I had more then one...   Several of my lawyers told me they were in fear from threats that came from my opponents “Rambo’s”  (The GAL and the lawyer).  Further, when “justice is bought” – what good is it to throw thousands of dollars away on a lawyer anyway?

With no accountability, and no repercussions to face for unethical actions, leaves one ABOVE THE LAW…

My life has been forever altered and I am left with scars, and continually licking wounds that never heal.  The world screams; “say no to domestic abuse”.    I did, and for doing so, I lost my lovely, young daughter to my abuser. 

I was naive, and I believed the court system would do what it was designed to do, protect my daughter and I.  I was wrong.  How do you “move on” with your life, when your child is left behind on the front line of the battle zone?  How can you move forward?

Once upon a time ago, there was such a thing called The American dream… Where did that go? 

            I firmly believe that it is imperative that we, as "parents", ban together and let our legislatures, and government know that we have a UNIFIED voice and that our cries for our children will be heard, to stop this murderer from destroying one more child's life, and anyone processed through it.  We are in the day that we fear our government.  Years ago when the system worked, it was the other way around.  

Take a look at my friend Mario, his life, his fight and struggle to simply "visit" or have any communication at all with his children.  A man that baked Christmas goodies to mail to them in the hopes of demonstrating that he was thinking about them, and he loved them, when the court system told him he should not be.  Now, he's gone.  Now what?  What about his children?  Where is their "hope" to hold onto for tomorrow?  Where is their dad? 

Shame on family court!

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It is so sad to know that the greatest Nation in the world is based on a corrupt justice system.

We brag about bringing freedom and democracy to Iraq while in our own country we desguise our injustice under black robes.   

- Phyllis Steffek

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In Loving Memory of    MARIO E. YOUNG 1964 ~ 2003   May his children ~ Saylor and Mario Jr ~ know one day how much he loved them, and how hard he fought for them.    May his light continue to shine on through those whose lives he touched. Advocate for divorced dads dies in truck wreck   I sat here at my computer reading the tragic news of my friend Mario Young with disbelief.   Following that, visions of all the times we met flashed through my head. I remembered teasing Mario about wearing his white BVD's that cold day that he crucified himself outside of the Tacoma courthouse, in his demonstration of how horribly unfair "non-custodial" parents are treated by the family court system, to the detriment of our offspring.  I remember his big smile.   I remembered how he was there for me during one of my many court hearings, and our many conversations, but most especially I remember his grief as he shared his story about the injustice done to his children, Saylor and Mario jr. 

I remembered how deeply that hurt him, and how much he missed his children.   I'll never forget the night we sat at Denny's in Federal Way after a "parental rights meeting" - and his amazement at how the emptiness or void in his heart for his kids never let up.   He shared how he would just sit and look at their pictures sometimes, wanting so much to see them and spend some time with them.  He shared how he would touch their picture and talk to them, wishing things didn't have to be this way for them.   Then, I thought about his kids and the empty years when Mario was separated from them, not at all by his choice, but by the injustice of the family court system, a/k/a court ordered abandonment.   On that level, I completely understood his pain, as I am all too familiar with this same injustice.   At that moment, Mario touched me once again, and the tears streamed down my cheeks, just the same as they did driving home from the restaurant that night following this discussion.

Mario, I thought about your children, and how badly I want to tell them how much you loved them and missed every single moment they were not with you. I wanted to tell them how hard you fought for them, and how hard you fought to turn this situation around, not just for them, but for others as well.    I wanted to stand on a mountaintop and scream it to the world and every ignorant Judge out there who issues a ruling that restrains a parent from their children, for no good reason.  All these years, forever lost, all this time, wasted, when you should have (per federal law - parents have the right to a meaningful relationship with their children) been with your kids, building the memories that they would hold onto after your gone.    May every one of these Judges answer to God on Judgment day for the crime... of ordering our precious children to live with abusive people, and denying our children the privilege of knowing BOTH of their parents.

You are a Gem, Mario, a one of a kind and I'm really happy I had the privilege of crossing your path.  Although I know you are dearly missed here, I am comforted in knowing we have one of the best advocates in heaven fighting for us.   Farewell for now my friend...    NOTE: to review Mario's memorial service or to review his guestbook, click on his name above

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