Absolute astonishment.

The people who have willingly sworn to uphold the law and seek justice for all are responsible for aiding the crimes, and antagonizing the victims.

The people who are supposed to help are the people responsible for the enemy fire. They are responsible for the landmines and mortar fire. Taking bullied victims down horrific paths they’ve already traveled, they’re leaders and tour guides making victims retrace paths marked by little footprints they left behind like breadcrumbs from the insipid maiden voyage.

The stakes are far too high in the family court system, the proverbial/literal almighty “OZ” that sits behind the bench deciding if you’re good enough. This system isn’t one of refuge, it is corrupt backhanded, and a travesty to watch innocent children end up with abusers.

This is the first time I have spoken about my journey, fearing defamation and slander suits being served by one-eyed process servers long overdue for a shower and toothbrush. This is the first time I will call out the angels and demons of the Placer County Family Courts. I fear no suit, I come armed with mountains of substantiating documents to support my statements.

Placer County Family Court and the people sworn to uphold the laws and make life-altering decisions based upon balderdash spewed by the unbeknownst opposing party are the definitions of corruption, and cause of suicide, and are now coined the “sadists of desperation.” Who successfully silence voices that need to be heard. I found my voice and know, there is a time to sit down and shut up and a time to stand up and be heard. They may have knocked me down, but they didn’t knock me out. With the fortitude I possess and my annoying tenacity, I do not get knocked out. I’m standing now, and if it is the truth, it can’t be slander.

A few things I know to be irrevocable in life, there is no pill, booze, illegal drugs, or bandaids for grief. As I have trudged this journey without a GPS cutting new paths filled with landmines and dodging enemy fire I have made friends with grief, loss, and an unjust family court system. I also learned a person’s brain will put the most heinous torture that they’re not ready to deal with in a special pile that must be dealt with when they are, if they ever become strong enough to willingly go back down that path they have been so earnest in their attempts to ignore and face the pile of monsters, to eventually pack them up and send them off to the goodwill that’s where the next war starts, the last battles are seemingly in remission now it’s time to get this part of my recovery started.

My name is, Joslynn Smathers and I’ve got one hell of a story to tell.