Marissa’s Voice: A Mother’s Letter the System Tried to Silence

By Marissa Hernandez

My name is Marissa Hernandez, mother of Joshua, Isabella, and Justine. For a decade, I believed I was running from domestic violence. I was wrong. I was running from a system that allowed it to happen, then recycled me as another victim so the machinery could keep turning.

I was painted reckless, even manic—a caricature for court files—but every choice I made was to protect my children. I admit what I’ve done wrong when it matters, because real change demands we own our part as much as we demand accountability from the powerful.

The violence began quietly—tightening control, sharp words—then thundered into threats, assaults, and police visits. My children saw what no child should ever see. I obeyed the rules: signed plans, complied with social workers, followed law enforcement’s scripts. But the removal was never about protection. It was about numbers: capturing children, keeping the “gravy train” rolling.

From 2013 forward, DCFS and its allies acted not as guardians but predators wrapped in paperwork. Reports were twisted, facts omitted, hearings stalled until truth itself looked foreign. Every time I corrected the record, retaliation followed—visitation cut, filings multiplied, threats disguised as “safety.”

I embarrassed them. I made juvenile case files public. I brought four more pro pers into federal court. I ranked in the top six percent of my law school cohort. I contributed to the Ninth Circuit’s precedential work in Miroth v. County of Trinity. And for that, I was not rewarded with respect, but marked as a target.

Ten years of compliance, advocacy, and litigation have proven one ugly fact: the only thing that finally caught attention was an ambulance rushing me away. I look functional and “resilient” on paper—but my body tells the truth: I am collapsing. Resilience is not safety.

Still, the state doubled down. Two separate judges denied removal three times before DCFS seized my child without a warrant, without exigency, without consent. In court they silenced me—barred me from testifying, cross-examining, presenting evidence. My therapist called it what it was: a violation so profound it felt like the rape of the trust between mother and child.

This is not a plea. This is a ledger of cost. When the law itself becomes the abuser, Article III is not theoretical refuge—it is the only forum left that can hear the scale of the damage and, perhaps, stop the bleeding.

I have seen how counties defend their misconduct. In Hardwick v. Orange, officials argued it was “fine” to lie in court reports because no case law prohibited it yet. In Scanlon v. County of Los Angeles (2024), they argued judicial deception should be permissible because the “truth” was buried somewhere in the record. This is the machine I face every day—a machine that twists words, hides truth, and destroys families.

Today, I state this plainly: I believe the County of Los Angeles attempted to murder me by collapsing my body under the weight of this systemic abuse. If I die, it is not because I was “unhinged.” I have the ER ambulance report and emergency mental hospital documentation to prove what is happening to me.

My mind feels like it is flying out of my body. My heart races so fast it feels like it could burst. I have been unresponsive, transported by ambulance, diagnosed with altered consciousness—only to be forced into court the next day, weak and barely able to breathe, threatened with sanctions if I did not comply.

DCFS knew this would happen. They knew my mind and body were at the breaking point, and they leveraged that fragility as part of their control.

For these reasons, I seek systemic relief—not just for myself, but to prevent these harms from happening to any other family again. The record will show that should my life end, it was not by chance, but by the calculated hand of a system that thrives on breaking mothers and stealing children. Attachment: Email and Marissa's Letter References: https://www.stolenchildrenbycps.com/post/they-cannot-silence-us-marissa-s-voice-the-lmi-and-the-broken-oath-of-juvenile-courts https://www.stolenchildrenbycps.com/post/they-tried-to-erase-marissa-s-story-the-court-said-no

https://www.stolenchildrenbycps.com/post/marissa-s-lately-cases-they-want-silence-but-i-refuse

https://www.stolenchildrenbycps.com/post/dcfs-retaliation-against-parent-advocate-the-case-of-marissa-hernandez