Our country has come to a very sad state of affairs when it pertains to our children and unmarried parents. The divorce and child custody system is extremely expensive, cumbersome and lengthy and our children suffer from it.

My niece Gail was telling me how her best friend is dealing with a breakup and child custody and visitation issues. It breaks my heart. Her friend is trying to get out of an abusive relationship and because her boyfriend is a psychopath who will do anything to control her and abuse her, he has taken their baby daughter and left the state and there is nothing she can do about it.

It must be terrifying to know that your baby girl who cannot even talk yet is under the complete control of a man who is a violent criminal and yet you cannot even file a police report or do anything to get her back home with you safely.

The only thing she can do is hire a lawyer with money she doesn’t have and go through the court system, which takes thousands of dollars and months – if not years – to resolve. This is unacceptable. Her daughter is the victim in this situation and there is nothing in our justice system to actually protect her. How does our society allow this to go on?