Washington Family Justice Project

04/30/2022

We will now be working on obtaining a Prime sponsor in the House and Senate.

Back history : Juvenile Justice system has long violated the rights of accused youth as well as parents accused of abuse and neglect. In 1936 the right to Jury trial was removed in the Juvenile Court venue. The philosophy during that time is that the Judges needed to act as a disciplining father because it was presumed that offenders were fatherless or the offspring of drunkens. The Judicial council proposed to the Legislature to remove the right to Jury trial from Juveniles because as they put it "Jury trial serves as a positve obstruction to social utility". They considered a fair day in court a hinderance to the courts ability to sweep in with harsh punishment. Because of this our youth have long been subjected to a system that considers "social utility" over ensuring a fair and just day in court and determination of fact.

I have with the help of an attorney who works in the Juvenile Justice system done the research , studied , included other advocates around the state and written an amendment for the law to restore Jury trial in the Juvenile court venue. I preduct that restoration of rights will decrease the number of children and families trapped in the dysfunctional Juvenile Justice system resulting in systematic change that will ensure were not setting these kids on a trajectory for failure.

What are your thoughts ? Have your child been involved in the Juvenile Justice system and would you be interested in joining our think tank group and advocacy in this area?

If you would like to join the Washington Family Justice Project think tank please email me at [email protected] ( Were currently working on our website as well as email addresses, and facebook account. We started our organization years ago but we did not get our momentum going until just recently when we decided to start it by creating a think tank ).

06/06/2021

We are a brand new organization and we will be taking on this issue with legislatures in the 2022 session. This action we will be doing very soon ! Please join the Washington Family Justice project and propose to us Family Justice issues that need to be advocated for and if we agree we will assist.

Following the lead of New Hampshire House bill 581 Changing the burden of proof in special education hearings and establishing a committee to study special education IEP and dispute resolution processes.

Washington Family Justice Project believes in the rights of parents in the educational decisions for their children and strongly believes in the district's duty to uphold FAPE without parents having to fight every step of the way to ensure their child is being provided an appropriate education. This is not a partisan issue it is an issue about equity for parents with children with special needs. Should parents with special needs children have to spend those precious years fighting for their child's education or should it be the district's burden be on the district to show the appropriateness of the IEP? Our answer is yes the burden should be on the district.

Currently, the Individuals with disabilities act does not specify whether parents or school districts have the burden of proof in special education litigation. If a parent disputes an IEP, the courts agree that it is the parent's burden to place in issue the appropriateness of the IEP.

Unfortunately, prior court rulings are split on assigning the burden to either parent or school district and it is now important that the States work this issue out individually by specifying in their own laws if the burden should be on the district or the parents.

Dissenting Judge Luttig wrote :

"I fear that, in reaching the contrary conclusion, the majority has been unduly influenced by the fact that the parents of the disabled student, in this case, have proven to be knowledgeable about the educational resources available to their son and sophisticated (if yet unsuccessful) in their pursuit of these resources. If so, it is regrettable. These parents are not typical, and any choice regarding the burden of proof should not be made in the belief that they are. For the vast majority of parents whose children require the benefits and protections provided in the IDEA, the specialized language and technical educational analysis with which they must familiarize themselves as a consequence of their child's disability will likely be obscure, if not bewildering. By the same token, most of these parents will find the educational program proposed by the school district resistant to challenge: the school district will have better information about the resources available to it, as well as the benefit of its experience with other disabled children. With the full mix of parents in mind, I believe that the proper course is to assign the burden of proof in due process hearings to the school district"

05/25/2021

Followers of this page. Years ago I started the Washington Family Justice project with a vision to change laws around dependency cases. Then it never got up and going. Over the years I have learned the political processes better, as well as my goals, have expanded to now include the following areas:

Rights of Families with Special need children in education system\
Rights of Families for the care of Special need adult children
Rights of families in the educational decisions for their children

I am preparing to file three important initiatives iand they impact a variety of issues from Dependency cases to parental rights in the decisions impacting the education of their children.

Years ago we planned an event that never got up and going that was going to bring advocates from around the State to mobilize. I myself am a Republican and hold positions within my party but I want those joining this page to understand that these are nonpartsian issues that impact the rights of families and that when joining this group you will be working with people of different political affiliations. The objective is to succeed on the common ground we all have and that is the restoration of parental rights in Washington State.

Please share this post and bring in those you know to this page.

The 3 Initiatives are :

1. An act to protect Parents of Children with Special Needs during investigations by Investigative agencies to include law enforcement and Child Protective Services. This one comes after a personal struggle that I will be sharing that has resulted in me learning the hardships of the agency itself to stop unfair practices against Families with Special needs. Some of the ideas come from Social workers themselves who have felt their hands to be tied because of how mandatory reporting is in this State.

2. Restoration of Jury Trial rights in Washington case in dependency matters

3. Reform in the complaint process for those parents in dispute with their School District's decisions regarding the IEP of their child.

April Ferguson

09/22/2017

09/22/2017

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B720g8iAkWHSaTJrSjdKUW41MVk/view?usp=sharing

09/03/2017

06/03/2017

April Ferguson Takes a Stand for Parental Rights and Children's Safety North Kitsap School Board Meeting February 11th, 2016