Erasing Family (2020)

ERASING FAMILY follows young adults fighting to reunite their broken families. Part emotional roller coaster, part investigative exposé, ERASING FAMILY follows the money to reveal why over 22 million loving moms and dads are erased from their kid's lives by divorce courts.

Through the eyes of 23-year-old Ashlynn, ERASING FAMILY exposes the devastating consequences on mental health caused by profiteering high-conflict divorce court settlements. The most innocent casualties of custody battles-children-shoulder the adult responsibility of healing their families and investigating why profits were made at their expense. The legal establishment fights to keep family court adversarial, pitting parents against each other, as it increases their billable hours. But the children, and society, pay the ultimate cost. After a punitive divorce settlement erases Ashlynn's father from her life, she goes out alone to bring him back and heal her family's wounds. She fights to reverse her adoption by her step-dad, liberate her father from child-support payments that go to state coffers, and reunite with her sister who still thinks of their dad as a monster. The story takes an unexpected turn when she posts a video online and realizes that she is not alone, but one of millions. In the US alone, over 22 million parents are being erased from their children's lives after divorce and separation. This isn't a fathers' rights issue or a mothers' rights issue, but a human rights issue, as having a loving parent erased from a child's life can do them lasting harm. Determined to be a voice for other children, Ashlynn's journey leads to 29-year-old Brian, whose step-mother adopted him after convincing him to cut ties with his birth mother. Will he be able to reunite with his birth mother, who he still blames for the separation, or is she to be erased from his life?We hear from Lauren, 12, who lives in Canada and misses her older brother Brandyn, 16. A judge ruled that his father was brainwashing him to hate his mother after the divorce and ordered the family into therapy. But Brandyn ran away to England with the help of his father rather than see his mother again. Now, Brandyn is a ward of the court and Lauren's only contact with her brother is via text messages. Will her brother return home or continue to avoid a family caught in a web of restraining orders?The toll of court ruling on children have even extended to having a parent literally killed by the system, as in the case of Walter Scott, whose murder by a police officer in Charleston sparked national outrage. His family reveals that he was hounded by the child support system for debts and imprisoned twice, causing him to run from a traffic stop out of fear. A loving father who tried to catch up on debt, Walter, like many of the fathers in jail for non-payment, wasn't a deadbeat. He was dead broke. Ashlynn, a tattooed high-school dropout, transforms herself from manipulated victim of the courts into a voice for reform. We turn to alternatives from a Baltimore court encouraging mediation, to Sweden where removing lawyers and money has made shared parenting the norm. An emotive exposé that illuminates the harm of high-conflict courtroom divorce as a glaring cultural blind spot, ERASING FAMILY reveals how family courts play a major role in mass-incarceration and how attempts at reform are thwarted by bar associations who profit from custody battles. ERASING FAMILY will reveal how the legal establishment can be persuaded to give up practices that are actively destructive to millions, leaving a legacy of untold harm including family violence and suicide. While the stories told are tragic, happy endings are possible through their stories we can inspire other children to have a choice and reunite with their erased families.