Youth and young adults who experience unsafe and threatening situations may seek legal protections for safety, but unfortunately the road to secure an order of protection is not easy. Beyond the exposure to a confusing and often complex series of documents, the process involves divulging traumatic experiences repeatedly. For adult victims seeking protection, getting in front of the court is difficult due to the nature of process - for traumatized young people it can be nearly impossible.
Despite these challenges, Lindsey*, a young person previously supported by LCYC, was recently able to successfully secure an order of protection.
Three years ago, Lindsey’s mother left the family and moved to Mexico with a new partner. During those three years, Lindsey lived with her father and younger siblings on their maternal grandmother’s property. During this time, Lindsey tried to contact her mother, but her mother had blocked Lindsey from all means of communication. In fact, Lindsey’s mother had cut off communication from the entire family.
This April, Lindsey’s mother unexpectedly returned to Washington with her partner and promptly filed for an order of protection against Lindsey’s father. Lindsey’s mother alleged severe domestic violence abuse against Lindsey’s father and included the children she had abandoned as “protected minors,” which is how minors are extended protections under a protection order. Multiple family members, including maternal relatives, and witnesses told the court that these allegations were false, and that the mother had been the aggressor towards her children.
After only three hearings, the court granted Lindsey’s mother’s request and ordered the children to be placed in her care. Lindsey’s mother removed Lindsey’s siblings from their schools, but Lindsey did not feel safe with her mom and refused to leave school. Child Protective Services began to investigate Lindsey’s mother for child sex trafficking and child abuse, and shortly thereafter, Lindsey’s mother and her partner fled to Mexico with Lindsey’s younger siblings. Lindsey was staying with her aunt when they left and could not say goodbye to her beloved younger siblings. No one has heard from Lindsey’s siblings since then.
Because of systematic failures to properly investigate Lindsey’s mother, Lindsey lived in constant fear that her mother and her partner returning to take her away. Lindsey was scared and wanted a protection order, but she was only fifteen years old. To file for a protection order in Washington state, the petitioner must be at least 16 years old. Otherwise, they must find an adult to petition on their behalf. Lindsey’s aunt stepped in to petition for an immediate order of protection with the court on Lindsey’s behalf.
The court was reluctant to act because to receive a protection order, a petitioner must notify the other party of the court proceedings. This was difficult in Lindsey’s case because Lindsey’s mother was out of the country and her specific whereabouts were unknown. Because of these strict services rules, the court only granted Lindsey a temporary order with limited protection. After multiple subsequent hearings on the matter, the court agreed Lindsey’s mother could be served by publication. Serving by publication includes placing a notice in the local paper of the area where the person you are notifying last lived, which is often costly at a few hundred dollars. The inability to pay for this process can cause delays to receiving permanent orders. These high fees create barriers to accessibility to safety. Financially, many are not in the position to spend a few hundred dollars to notify their abuser that they are requesting a protection order. When we place a financial burden above the safety of a victim, we defeat the intended purpose of an order of protection.
Through working with LCYC’s attorneys, Lindsey was not only able to access the order of protection, but learned about accessible legal options to work towards reunification with her father. Though there was a positive outcome for Lindsey, she regrets the same help was not available for her younger siblings before they were taken out of the country. Lindsey has not given up hope that she will reunite with her missing siblings.
Lindsey’s experience is sadly not unique for many young people who are victims of domestic violence perpetrated by their caregivers. This slow moving and unfair system continues to traumatize a very vulnerable population.
Your support of LCYC will allow us to continue to fight for more young people like Lindsey to have access to the justice that they deserve, and to influence changes in policies, practices, and procedures within the systems that we work within.
*The client’s name has been changed to protect their privacy. LCYC was given permission to share their story.