BRIELLE — Courtney Gilmartin, a Brielle mother of two, is also a co-founder of New Jersey Protective Moms [NJPM], a nonprofit organization focusing on child abuse prevention and the state legislation that can help counter abuse.
Ms. Gilmartin formed the organization in April after her own custody battle in state family court.
The NJPM website states that mothers in New Jersey are disproportionately losing custody battles and abusers are successfully manipulating the family court system to harm their victims.
“There’s this idea that society has that family court acts in the best interests of the children and favors the mom, and that could not be further [from the] truth,” said Ms. Gilmartin.
Ms. Gilmartin, a lifelong borough resident, said that the pro-contact culture of the state’s family court has resulted in an estimated 58,000 children per year put at risk as a result of dangerous court orders. She said she has seen children routinely forced to have contact, partake in traumatic reunification therapy and spend unsupervised time with an abusive parent.
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