JUST SAY NO TO VALERIE HOUGHTON'S "REIGN OF TERROR" Ms. Houghton separates perfectly good parents from their children for no reason except to make money, She demands thousands of dollars from parents in exchange for contact with their own children who she has ordered kept from them without explanation. Concemed parents in custody cases were told that they could obtain better, more consistent attention to their cases by hiring and paying a private judge known as a "special master." These parents learned Ms. Houghton has a JD degree, and is an RN and a MFCC. With all these credentials and the crowded conditions at court, signing themselves out of court and into Ms. Houghton's office seemed like a good idea. Wrong. What they got was secret injustice that costs a fortune. "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Ms. Houghton has near absolute power over many innocent lives. She abuses that power by strong- arming parents into paying her exorbitant fees just to see their children while silencing objecting parents with punitive court orders. Ms. Houghton uses insinuation, innuendo, and intimidation to silence parents who rightfully object to her illegal and unethical practices. Retaliatory threats and court orders made by her include: Loss of contact with their children Supervised visitation at a facility run by her friend Tape-recording all conversations with their children Unnecessary, expensive and invasive drug testing Arrest by the police Attaching their wages Contempt charges ‘Through a loophole in the law, Ms. Houghton is not currently held accountable to any licensing agency or board for actions designed to destroy the bonds between children and parents for profit. Ms. Houghton takes full advantage of that loophole. Ms. Houghton has declared normal, average mothers to be dangerous and declared that they cannot see their children without someone to supervise them, like a guard. One mother must pay $1,200 a month to the supervisor to see her children. No money=no children. ‘The mother sold her house to get the money to see her kids. This is the kind of destruction Valerie wreaks on families. Ms. Houghton has kept many perfectly good mothers we know of from this community separated from their young children for years without good cause: ‘A second grade teacher has only seen her own 3 children on Sundays from 9-6pm for over two years. Ms. Houghton refuses to explain why she keeps this mother from her own children, This mother teaches 2nd graders full-time yet Ms. Houghton only allows her 9 hours a week with her own 2nd, 3rd, and Sth grade children. ~ A labor/delivery nurse brings other people's children into the world but Ms. Houghton will not bring this mother back together with the children she took away from her for no good reason, + Two mothers have been forced to leave the area and their children behind due to the orders and financial pressures exerted by Ms. Houghton. Houghton then suggests they abandoned their kids. Ms. Houghton took the children from 2 mothers within days of each other over 2 years ago and they have not seen their children except minutes or hours/month since that time. Three mothers have been limited to just hours per month with their young children with no overnights for over 2 years, again with no plausible rationale offered by Ms. Houghton for this, No need for these distraught parents to replace the outgrown jammies of the children they haven't kissed goodnight for more than 2 years. Ms. Houghton makes no effort to justify her actions or to reunite these parents and children,Ms. Houghton makes instant and even retroactive verbal as well as written court orders to gag victims so the public will not become aware of her activities. She grossly and blatantly violates First Amendment Constitutional rights of freedom of speech and association by issuing punitive court orders to parents who picket, speak up to warn others about her or attend meetings of the National Coalition for Family Justice. The National Coalition for Family Justice is a non-profit organization of parents dedicated to preventing the breakup of families due in part to the gross abuse of judicial authority by unethical persons like Ms. Houghton, Ms. Houghton's billing system is highly questionable. Her bills, often thousands of dollars per family, do not indicate any billing rate or detail the reasons for the charges. Ms. Houghton continues to add thousands of dollars in charges to bills sent to parents who have neither seen or spoken with her for months. Many parents are refusing contact with Houghton because she has fabricated negative information about them under oath in court. Many parents are refusing to pay her bills pending an investigation of her billing practices. California law states that itis in the best interests of the children to have frequent and continuing contact with each parent (California Family Code section 3011). Ms. Houghton was appointed to uphold the law and serve in the best interests of the children. ‘Ms. Houghton has failed to uphold the law and refuses to act in the best interests of children.The court needs to step in now. Valerie Houghton threatens the very essence of families by keeping good parents separated from their children for no reason other than her own profit. Her actions are clearly contrary to those of an objective judicial officer. Valerie Houghton's "reign of terror" over innocent lives must end.