Justice for Families
Justice for Families is a not-for-profit umbrella organization dedicated to working with other organizations as well as participants such as parents, families, lawyers, and others to effect in meaningful, substantive changes in custody matters.
A passion for justice
Here at Justice for Families, we have a deep-rooted sense of fair play. If we are all bound by that sense of sense of fair play, it would greatly reduce our reliance on the justice system. Absent that innate duty to fair play and fairness, we seek to promote justice formally by lobbying for meaningful and substantive changes in the law and court rules that affect families and children.
Legislative change
Lobby state legislature to pass legislation that promotes the best interest of families and children
Court reforms
Promote court transparency and accountability
Education
Educate parents and families about their rights and potential options
(This is not a legal service.)
Media
Work with media partners to tell the stories of families and to bring a spotlight on the justice system in custody cases
Support
Guide families and advocate for families through shared experiences
Compassion and kindness are the foundation for justice
We will advocate fiercely for justice for families and children and draw on the values of compassion and kindness and the principles of equality and liberty.
Recent legislative updates
- Senate Bill 2025-S146 same as Assembly Bill A532
- “Prohibits courts from ordering an evaluation of a party or child or allowing into evidence a forensic report created by a forensic evaluator on a party or child to assist such court in a child custody or visitation determination.”
- 2025-2026 Legislative Session; in committee in both chambers.
- Senate Bill S9784
- Relates to modifying the provisions regarding notice of a matrimonial action where the complaint is not personally served with the summons
- 2023-2024 Legislative Session; passed the NY Senate
- Assembly Bill A10353
- Relates to venue in matrimonial actions regarding the children of the parties; provides that the place of the trial shall be in a county in which either party resides or, if there are minor children of the marriage, the place of trial may also be in the county where one of such children resides.
- 2023-2024 Legislative Session; passed the NY Senate and Assembly
- Senate Bill S5385
- Establishes a moratorium on the use of forensic child custody evaluators in family court proceedings
- 2023-2024 Legislative Session; in NY Senate Judiciary Committee
Advocacy: how to take actions
- Write your legislators on proposed legislation
- Share your stories about your custody
- Court watch for other parents
To get started, please email us with your name, county and state that you reside in, the court case index number (if applicable), and a short description of your story.
“Justice for Families helped me navigate the complex legal system as I fought for my children for the last two years.”
Annie Steiner
Westchester NY parent
Watch, Read, Listen
Join 900+ subscribers
Stay in the loop with everything you need to know.
About Us
Justice for Families is founded as a non-profit, non-partisan, umbrella organization that seeks to work with other organizations to promote justice for families and children. We work with mothers’ rights groups, fathers’ rights groups, domestic violence survivors and advocacy groups, and direct stakeholders such as parents and families to further the best interests of families and children.
We are not affiliated with any government agencies, professional, trade, or industry organizations such as bar associations and forensic evaluator associations.
Eleanor Miller is the founder of Justice for Families. Eleanor is a parent in Westchester, NY and a mother of three beautiful children.
Through her own matrimonial and custody case, she met other parents in similar situations who were either survivors of domestic violence or had been falsely accused of improprieties. She began with informal advocacy such as court-watching their hearings and trials. Many of these parents are pro se litigants like her. She assisted them with doing research; they also traded tips on how to best navigate the legal system. She also wrote letters and arranged meetings with my state legislature representatives to lobby their support for legislation such as Assembly Bill A10087, which “prohibits forensic child custody evaluators who have been terminated for cause from appearing as an expert witness in family court custody and visitation proceedings.”
Over the last two years, she saw a need for these efforts to be better organized. Moreover, there are already a few non-profit organizations founded by parents with similar goals and interests. For the most part, these organizations work independently of one another. With the belief that there is strength in numbers, Eleanor founded Justice for Families as an umbrella organization to coordinate the collective efforts and promote common goals and to formalize the advocacy work that she was previously doing.
Through Justice for Families, Eleanor organized and mobilized parents to make our voices heard as constituents by our state legislature representatives. She created letter templates that other parents can use to contact their elected representatives to support legislation. One of the bills we supported was New York Assembly Bill A632, which “relates to training of a forensic evaluator in relation to court-ordered forensic evaluations involving child custody and visitation”. This bill passed both the NY state legislature and was signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul.
Another bill we advocated for is Senate Bill S4149, which “[p]rohibits courts from ordering an evaluation of a party or child or allowing into evidence a forensic report created by a forensic evaluator on a party or child to assist such court in a child custody or visitation determination.” We organized parents to write a letter to the sponsoring Senator, Anthony Palumbo, to support this bill.