Solano Families United is a community advocacy project founded by a group of concerned parents, litigants, attorneys, county employees, school staff and other community members in Solano County. All members volunteer their time to pursue the goal of fairness, transparency and oversight in the family court system.
Our plan of action is to use grassroots advocacy to bring change in the Solano Family Court system which, for years, has exercised unrestricted bias in court proceedings regarding custody, visitation and domestic violence. We plan to pursue government oversight, at the local and state level, and if necessary, petition for recall of elected officials abusing their position. We will spotlight violations of judicial canon, ethics and codes of conduct, to bring forth accountability and resolution for families negatively impacted by the unchecked bias.
We also serve as a lighthouse for impacted litigants to find resources, support groups, and share information, so they don’t feel isolated by the negative impact from the Family Court system.
Our Goals
- To have a Family Court System with fair and unbiased Jurists that rule in the best interests of the families involved in litigation, particularly in high-conflict cases and cases involving domestic violence and sexual assault.
- To have a Family Court System with Jurists that are unbiased against women, litigants of low socio-economic status, and litigants who do not speak English as a primary language.
- Ensure that victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault are able to obtain protective orders when they meet the burden of proof required by law. Ensure that Jurists review domestic violence cases in a fair and unbiased manner, even if that requires a different Jurist presiding over DV actions than the Jurist presiding over custody, visitation and dissolution actions. Solano County Superior Court has received grant money from the Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women, specifically to address domestic violence issues, and has routinely ruled in conflict with their intended use for grant funds.
- Ensure that Jurists follow family law code section 3044 (see below). Solano County Family Court Judges have routinely awarded custody to perpetrators of domestic violence and placed the victims on Supervised Visitation, requiring hefty monthly fees to agencies administered by parties with close social ties with Solano County Family Court Judges.
- Ensure that litigants of low socio-economic status, most of whom cannot afford legal representation, receive fair treatment in family court and do not statistically fare worse than litigants represented by attorneys.
- Ensure proper oversight for allegations of misconduct and bias from Family Court Judges, Clerks and Child Custody Recommending Counselors (often referred to as mediators), particularly in cases involving domestic violence.
- At minimum, audio recording of all family law hearings so that discrepancies in transcripts can be resolved. Many litigants in Solano County allege their transcripts have been slightly modified to reduce the appearance of improper conduct on behalf of Judges Ichikawa, Carringer and Unger, and that transcripts do not properly convey the improper comments and demeanor of Judges during hearings and trials.
California Family Law Code Section 3044
(a) Upon a finding by the court that a party seeking custody of a child has perpetrated domestic violence against the other party seeking custody of the child or against the child or the child’s siblings within the previous five years, there is a rebuttable presumption that an award of sole or joint physical or legal custody of a child to a person who has perpetrated domestic violence is detrimental to the best interest of the child, pursuant to Section 3011. This presumption may only be rebutted by a preponderance of the evidence.