The US Family Court system is broken. It's a national disgrace. As the child of divorce, forced to live with the harsher of my two parents (who was emotionally abusive) for 30 months, and someone subjected to a CPS witch hunt that separated me from my autistic and bipolar son (until I proved he was autistic and bipolar using their resources instead of my own) for six months while he was abused in foster care, I am very cynical about their potential for doing right in the majority of cases.

These women are right. There are some good and fair family court judges, but many are sadly extremely prejudiced against women, inclined to view these mothers' vigilance as a challenge to their authority. And I am very sorry to say that what the children think and feel matters for very little. It broke my heart to hear that young girl sobbing and begging for her mother to come get her, a girl her judge had accused of manufacturing her allegations against her father.

What I really sensed, and what these women in these clips commented on so eloquently, is that there is a pervasive culture in Social Services agencies and the courts (Family Court is under the Social Services agency's umbrella) that encourages its personnel to blame mothers in general for the loss of control that led to the problems and/or abuse. And weirdly, it often punishes the kids for speaking up and seeking justice for what they have endured.

I'm still horrified when I think about how things might have gone for my kids, and when I think of what happens in so many cases that are bungled by Family Court.

I think of cases such as Ashley's in Florida and my friend Linda Souza's in San Diego, and my blood boils. And I have another friend whose kids are with their abusive grandparents for four years over a roach infestation in New Jersey. I am not kidding you. The mom was supposed to get rid of the roaches. She did that. She moved to a cleaner place, got a better job, and four years later, the courts are trying to terminate her rights and give custody to her abusive parents. To the parents who abused her. It's a nightmare.

I am so sad to hear that divorce and custody proceedings are so often as screwed up as CPS investigations are. Same judges. Same courts. Horribly corrupt system.

And we tolerate it. Most of us have no idea this goes on, and the media completely shirks its responsibility in educating us about any of this. So we let this happen. Not willfully, but because we aren't aware of the potential for error and the very real lack of accountability and checks and balances to off-set such abuses.