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In 2001, former JTC director Daniel J. Henry warned Michigan that family courts were violating rights and operating without oversight. Twenty-four years later, survivor Christine Morrison is still fighting the same corrupt system.
In a detailed letter to then–Attorney General Jennifer Granholm, Henry described a judicial landscape that had abandoned its purpose entirely. Family courts, he warned, were acting with impunity; disregarding constitutional rights, retaliating against litigants, and operating without meaningful oversight. He called for immediate reform.
It was a chance for Michigan to course-correct before decades of damage piled up. But the state did nothing. And to this very day, it continues to do nothing.
It’s now 2025, twenty-four years since Henry’s whistleblower letter, and the system he tried to fix is still broken.
In many ways, it’s way worse.
Every week, new stories emerge of parents bankrupted by drawn-out custody battles, children placed with or forced to see abusive parents, and judges retaliating against litigants who dare to speak publicly. Family court still operates like a closed society, shielded from public scrutiny, insulated from legislative oversight, and free from consequences, yet raking in thousands in revenue through court and child support fees.
If you want proof that nothing has changed, look no further than Christine Morrison.
Clutch Justice is diving into Christine’s story; not just as one woman’s nightmare, but as a window into a broken machine that’s been grinding people down for decades.
We can’t undo the decades of harm that came from ignoring Daniel Henry’s warning. But we can refuse to let another 24 years pass without change. That means demanding:
- Mandatory transparency: Hearings, orders, and performance metrics must be public.
- Independent oversight: A new accountability body with investigative authority outside the judiciary.
- Real consequences: Judges who abuse their power must face removal, not quiet admonishment.
- Accessible appeals: Families must have realistic avenues to challenge unlawful decisions.
- Public pressure: Citizens, journalists, and advocates must keep this issue in the spotlight. Relentlessly.
Henry did his part. Christine is doing hers. The question is whether we’ll do ours.
Clutch Justice stands with the whistleblowers — past and present — and with survivors like Christine Morrison who refuse to be silenced.
[Ed: Interesting to see how similar these problems are to the continuing issues with the Australian Family Court. We need to make similar demands.]