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Sign the Petition
We are not asking anyone to take our word for it. We are asking that the record be produced.
What this petition asks
That every order of confinement in these cases be accompanied by the documents the law requires: the petition, the summons, proof of service, the hearing record, the evidence of ability to pay, the written findings of willfulness, the record of counsel or a valid waiver, and the current authority for confinement.
That no person be held on Rikers Island in a civil or Family Court proceeding without that record existing and being available for review.
Change the name "Child Support" to Title IV-D Court.
The label "child support" hides the federal enforcement machinery, the profit-driven incentives, and the civil-contempt power that strip parents of liberty without the protections the name implies. These proceedings are not what people think of when they hear "child support." They are Title IV-D Courts — and they should be called that.