Legal Rights for Formerly Ultra-Orthodox Parents
Each year in New York hundreds of men and women take steps to move beyond the insular ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in which they have spent their entire lives. The majority of people leaving the ultra-Orthodox world have very little secular education, inadequate English language skills, limited experience with the outside world and very few prospects for employment.
Unfortunately, their efforts to engage in the secular world often result in rejection by their family and friends, and denunciation by the community. When children are involved, custody proceedings are highly contested and the parent leaving the ultra-Orthodox community is at a great disadvantage.
Formerly Orthodox parents frequently cannot afford legal representation because they lack independent financial means, are typically cut off from community resources and support, and face adversaries who are well-financed and synchronized in their opposition. As a result, these parents endure a distressing legal process that often undermines their parental rights, infringes upon their constitutional rights and forever harms their relationships with their children.
Far too often, a parent who is leaving the community is viewed as a “troublemaker” or as too disruptive to the child’s religious education, and faces bias in the legal system that contributes to Courts disproportionately or inappropriately awarding custody to the parent who maintains religious orthodoxy.
Julie works with Footsteps, the only US organization whose primary purpose is to support people leaving ultra-Orthodoxy, on an initiative to raise awareness within the legal community, increase the availability of high quality and culturally-competent legal representation for parents leaving the ultra-Orthodox community, provide parents with greater support and pave the way for wider legal reform.