The Women’s Coalition, along with (now approximately 70!) similarly-situated plaintiffs, are filing a Discrimination against Women in New York Family Court lawsuit in the Southern District of New York [SDNY].
In May, we had a celebration at the Albany Hilton the day of the filing of this unprecedented lawsuit, which establishes systemic sex discrimination as the cause of countless mothers losing custody of their children.
Sarah Howland, the New York attorney representing Plaintiffs, along with Cindy Dumas, Women’s Coalition’s Executive Director, and Damon Dumas, Communications Director, spoke at the event.
Sarah speaks in legal terms about the lawsuit; Cindy speaks about the larger Custody Crisis issue, using her own case as an example; and Damon speaks about how how he was forced to live with his abusive father—and the damage that caused.
Unfortunately, the SD card used to film the event was corrupted, but audio was captured.
You may listen to it here on Youtube:
Alternatively, you may listen here on Substack:
0:00
-49:49
Please share to raise awareness by linking to the Youtube or Substack post!
Many more New York mamas expressed an interest in joining our lawsuit after it was filed, so we will be filing an amended complaint soon.
After that, it will be served on the defendants. They will have 30 days to file a response.
There will likely be motions to dismiss made, and then we will have an opportunity to object to the dismissal motions.
The judge assigned to our case is Judge Denise Cote. She has been a senior judge in the SDNY for 15 years.
Judge Cote will decide whether the case proceeds to a jury trial, i.e. a fair process, where we can make our case that women are not receiving a fair process in Family Court—because they are women.
Assuming it is not dismissed, the lawsuit will proceed, likely sometime in September!
If it is dismissed, we will appeal.
Stay tuned!
LINK TO COMPLAINT: https://bit.ly/WCdiscriminationlawsuit
Thankfully, Jessica Leigh did not commit suicide—she is still alive and that is a wonderful thing!
In last Sunday’s post, we reported that she had ended her life after losing her appeal of the termination of her parental rights, which was her last hope of getting her son back. See the post for more information about her backstory. (It will be updated.)
Someone, possibly a family member, had posted on her Youtube page Voice for Harrison, that she had ended her life.
A family member also reportedly confirmed her passing to a friend of Jessica’s.
Also, Jessica’s FB page was full of posts expressing anguish over the years at the loss of her son. So suicide seemed entirely plausible, especially considering how many moms have met that fate.
However, it has now been confirmed by some friends and family, that she is alive. Apparently she has talked with them but has not spoken out publicly yet about the the miscommunication or misunderstanding.
The announcement of Jessica’s suicide went viral with lots and lots of sympathy for her and her son and family.
But the minute it came out that she was still alive, it went viral in a bad way, with many detractors focusing on negative things from her past. They even denigrated her for using AI for her photos and other insignificant things.
It is unbelievable how cruel people can be when a mother has been stripped of her parental rights to her beloved son, possibly unjustly, like so many others have.
Meaning she may never see him again. No matter how flawed she may have been as a parent, that is still a horrible outcome for both mother and child.
People should not be saying bad things about her at this vulnerable time, even if she did have parenting or drug issues. She obviously loves her son immensely and is in great pain. This additional cruelty can lead to an actual, completed suicide.
Jessica is still very much at risk of suicide.
The serious allegations against her will not be repeated here, as she has not given her side of the story yet.
Jessica claims her FB page was hacked, and she does not have control of it. The page was made private for a while after the suicide announcement, and then public again with all the negative posts about her family deleted. This suggests her family may have control of it. The better to spin the story…
Thankfully, though, most of her other posts that so poetically and movingly capture her pain and loss are still there. Check them out at Voice for Harrison.
Whatever the truth about her suicide (or unsuccessful attempt), it is unacceptable to trash her. She is a mother who’s lost her precious son completely—after years of trying so hard to get him back, including going to the (useless) appellate court, which takes a lot of work.
We maintain our position that even if Jessica had drug problems or was not a great parent at some point(s) in the past, her parental rights should not have been terminated so quickly, and she should still be able to see her son supervised. To hug and hold him and tell him she loves him. That is what is best for both of them.
We support Mama Jessica, despite faults she may have. Shame on her family if they have anything to do with the loss of her parental rights or the viral negativity circulating online.
Maybe the blame is better placed at the feet of the family. It seems they are driving some of the negativity. Her baby daddy is married to one of her sisters, and they do not appear to be supportive, saying she’s “faked suicide” before and are calling it a “scam” by her.
Jessica has posted multiple times that much of her pain comes from her family betraying her, and that is driven by envy [now deleted.]
My sister MARRIED HIS FATHER—a SECRET, shared with the WORLD, while I suffered in SILENCE.
…I LOST MY SON.
And I LOST THE FAMILY I LOVED.They didn’t care how it hurt my SON.
They didn’t care how it DESTROYED ME.
They didn’t CALL. They didn’t SHOW UP.While I was DROWNING…
So, it sounds like she may be a victim of family scapegoating (or something similar) and, thus, may have betrayal trauma on top of child-loss trauma. It is amazing she is still alive and functional at all. Let’s give her some grace…
At any rate, it’s better for everyone to stop with the slurs against Jessica and instead pressure the family to allow her to see her son.
There are reports that Harrison is living with her sister and baby daddy. If that is true, they can allow her to see him, parental rights or not.
If he is in temporary foster care, the father can try and get him back and, being the only legal parent, can at least allow supervised visits with her. And then give her a chance to prove herself.
That would be best for both Jessica and Harrison. Severing their bond completely is not.
Comment if you support Jessica being able to see her son.
Women’s Coalition News & Views is a reader-supported publication. Please consider a paid subscription of just $5/mo, $50/yr or $200 founding member to support our important work of exposing and ending the Custody Crisis! [Check alternate inboxes.]
Or support the Coalition’s work through a one-time or recurring contribution through our Paypal Giving Fund.
All contributions are greatly appreciated!
No posts
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.