Struggling with court-related custody issues? Do your family court, child protection, or criminal proceedings leave you feeling hopeless and as if you have no rights and no control over the outcome of your case? Is the system causing more harm to your children than good?
Even if your case has closed, come to one of our meetings to connect with resources, peer support, and to help us identify pervasive patterns of bias, misconduct, abuse of power, and ineptitude.
Come join us so we can heal together through our shared experiences and familial love. Come join us also in our fight to disrupt and dismantle these misguided and abusive systems.
To find out about meetings, protests and marches, upcoming judge recalls, or to fill out a questionnaire for research purposes, email us at:
California_Rise@outlook.com
Michelle Chan is the founder and director of California Families Rise, which evolved out of Parents Against CPS Corruption, or PACC, a Bay Area activist group. Michelle started PACC with Shonte Foster after they uncovered that systemic issues of misconduct and inequities existed in the child protection system in San Francisco and beyond: routine violations of state and federal laws, implicit racism and bias, the absolute power, control, and coercion of parents trapped in the system, how the system seemed to prey off the poor and perpetuate trauma and poverty. Both women had open cases and had no one to turn to for help, no one to fight for them to ensure their rights and the rights of their children were upheld. So the two of them embarked on a fool’s mission. The pair launched an aggressive outreach campaign and two months later began protesting the San Francisco Superior Court almost daily, demanding the removal of Judge Nancy L. Davis. Shortly after their first protest on Valentine’s Day 2017, the San Francisco Bay View newspaper invited Michelle to become a regular contributor. Less than eight months after the inception of PACC, Judge Nancy L. Davis retired halfway before the end of her elected term. After PACC’s success in San Francisco, Michelle went on to build a movement in Contra Costa County. PACC’s membership grew to represent hundreds of system-impacted parents and family members. The March for Family Rights protests demanded the resignations of Judges Rebecca Hardie, Lois Haight, and Jill Fannin. After the protests, PACC filed three recall petitions against the judges. Volunteers donated their time on a daily basis for six months gathering signatures. Although they were not successful in gathering the required signatures, the groups efforts led to a Civil Grand Jury investigation and report on Contra Costa Children and Family Services that led to some reforms. PACC’s activism was also influential in the audit of the judge oversight agency- the Commission on Judicial Performance- and the adoption of new judicial ethics guidelines by the California Supreme Court.
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