San Diego Family Court System
Mia, age 16, and her younger sister, Ava, age 14, were both sent to Linda Gottlieb’s reunification camp, Turning Points for Families. This happened in the fall of 2022 after their biological father accused their mother (primary attachment figure and preferred parent) of “parental alienation.”
The girls completed the reunification camp and the 90-day black out period where they were prohibited from seeing their mother, or their mother’s family. In journal entries that Mia shared with us, she describes being coerced and threatened by the owner of the camp, Linda Gottlieb. Linda's demands for compliance were delivered with the threat that if the children did not go along with her rules, she had the power to extend the 90-day “no contact” period. The girls complied with everything requested of them however, 90 days passed and they were still not permitted to return to their mother’s home.
In Spring of 2023, feeling distraught and hopeless, Mia ran away from her father’s house. She fled to her maternal grandmother's house and that day, was joined by her younger sister, Ava. Shortly after, the court ruled that the children should be placed with different family members, and they were forced to move again. They currently remain in limbo and desperate to return to their mother’s home.
Mia is starting her junior year in high school and Ava is a freshman. Their future is suspended by a court system that places greater priority on parental rights than it does on a child’s thoughts, feelings or wishes. We have judicial officer’s whose personal beliefs and biases determine what they believe to be in the best interest of a child. The same case in front of three different judicial officers would have three different outcomes; there is no oversight or regulation in family court. What happens when they get it wrong?
There was a hearing held on August 21, 2023, in which Judge Daniel Segura stated, “Part of the goal is a positive relationship with both parents.”
What if that is not possible? You cannot force a bond between two people, it will never work. The actions taken in this case are illogical, they completely removed the primary attachment figure to force a relationship with a parent whom the child is rejecting which goes against the “goal” described by Judge Segura.
I logged on to today’s hearing several minutes before it started, I sat with my camera and microphone off, being respectful as I always am when watching online proceedings. Shortly after the hearing started, I was removed from the courtroom. When I tried to re-join multiple times, I was not permitted in which is highly suspicious. I was finally able to watch with my husband who had also logged in to the hearing.
The GAL on this case is Catie Young (if you’ve had a negative experience, tell us about it at www.intheirbestinterest.com). Ms. Young has been on our radar for quite a while. When asked to offer input on the case for today’s proceedings, she expressed concern about Mia’s online posting and our amplification of Mia’s personal advocacy efforts. According to Ms. Young, Mia should be allowed to be a teenager and this is not what she should be doing online. She expressed concern that Mia appears to be reading from a script, implying that she is being coached or that this is not her own personal efforts yet many people (myself included) read from scripts or bullet points to try to stay on track while recording videos. To counter Ms. Young's concerns, we believe that a court system that allowed children to be traffic based on the pseudoscience of “parental alienation,” should be more focused on how to correct the damage they’ve caused, rather than the fact that the damage they’ve caused is being exposed.
Mia walks beside other brave, young adults who are tired of being infantilized, gaslit and silenced. They refuse to be seen as case numbers or business transactions, and they are standing in their power and demanding justice for themselves (and often for their younger siblings). In less than six months since Mia first went to public with her story, she has testified at the Montana Senate in support of Kayden’s Law and also at the California Senate in support of Piqui’s Law. In her testimony, she stated:
“No real, loving parent would torture their child by sending them to these awful places. There are not enough words to express how deeply this experience has damaged my life. I’ve been able to deal with everything that has happened to me fairly well these past few years, but there was something about being sent away that I really couldn’t handle. Having no sense of control, even over your own freedom, no option or choice but to do what these so-called “professionals” are telling you is “in your best interest,” sent me down a spiral of darkness, loneliness, fear, anxiety, and depression. By allowing these camps to continue you’re saying “yes,” to controlling and manipulating children. You’re agreeing with the abuse that is taking place and because of this, you have ownership in the trauma inflicted on me, my sister and countless other children.”
There is a closed hearing set for October 5, 2023, in which judge Daniel Segura will hear directly from Mia and her younger sister, Ava. We implore Judge Segura to listen to this brilliant young lady, sans personal bias and opinions. It is not always in a child’s best interest to have a relationship with both parents and at the end of the day, we must start listening to these children. When they age out of the system, there will be a reckoning – and there will be accountability whether it is through public exposure or through legal avenues. There are many professionals who are monetizing the childhood traumas that they are directly causing – we hope they are forced to answer to the damage they have created. We know there is more money in believing allegations of "alienation" then there is in believing allegations or findings of abuse. This is the alienation industry.
We must infuse common sense and logic into family court proceedings, and now the whole world has started to pay attention, it’s time. In fact, it’s overdue. Children are not revenue streams, they have basic human rights that are currently being trampled on. Please join us in demanding #JusticeForMiaAndAva.
