National Family Court Watch Project
510 Highland Avenue
PMB #414
Milford, MI 48381
Phone: (248) 752-8623
Fax: (248) 684-0328
Email Contact

Who We Are - 

In 2004 Renee Beeker, a mother of six, founded the National Family Court Watch Project in Milford, Michigan.

The group launched a pilot effort by eight volunteers who observed 201 hearings held by 24 judges in California, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York and Rhode Island. Since the pilot, Beeker has traveled the nation to speak about the project and recruit volunteers to expand into all 50 states.

The National Family Court Watch Project believes that large-scale data will reveal national trends and ignite a call for change in the family court system. The project is a conversation springboard and a "quiet observer" to get a sense of what's happening in the family courts, report those findings publicly through a new conduit and work with judges and the public to find solutions.

Volunteers attend hearings and flag problems such as women having no legal representation, defendants not showing up and so-called neutral court evaluators who sit with litigants on one side of the courtroom. Court watchers are often paralegals or law students, senior citizens or women's studies students.

The NFCWP is the first (that we are aware) of program which uses a standardized observational instrument. Our goal is to observe and report trends that the data collection reveals.  We work with the Judicial system to create methods and procedures that help resolve the problems we are finding in family courts across the country.