From Mom to Inmate: Julie Valadez Jailed in Wisconsin Because Son Ran to Her For Help

By Catherine Jones, NSPO Contributor

If you follow family court cases on social media, then you’ve probably heard of Julie Valadez.

She’s the protective mother in Wisconsin who was jailed last month, and is now being held on a $500,000 bond. And it’s all because her son ran away from an abusive situation and directly into her protective arms. By seeking her help, Julie’s son unknowingly caused his mother to “interfere” with the family court’s custody order. And now she’s in jail.

It all seems improbable, but it’s true. And it has many of us asking: How can a mother end up in jail for protecting her own child?

Jailed for Protecting Her Kids

“Julie’s case exposes a cruel paradox: the very courts which should ideally shield families from harm are retraumatizing survivors and punishing those who fight to protect their children,” Kevin Robertson, Former Florida state prosecutor, criminal defense attorney, and victims’ rights attorney, explains.

An error was made by Wisconsin family courts, and Julie, a mother of four, lost custody of her children to her abusive ex. She then filed an appeal, and with the help of a nonprofit which supports survivors of crime,  DV Leap, she won in the higher courts. But, when the case was sent back down to the lower court, the trial court did not give Julie’s children back to her. 

“This is not just a legal failure, it’s a humanitarian crisis in family courts. Julie should not be behind bars on a $500,000 bond, an amount even murderers and rapists are rarely held on,” Danielle Pollack, policy manager at the National Family Violence Law Center at GW, and founder of the National Safe Parents Organization says.
So how did this mother, once granted a rare appellate victory, end up in jail?

The answer lies in a court system that too often silences abused mothers’ and children’s voices in court and treats protective parenting as a crime.

A Family Court Battle Rooted in Domestic Abuse

Julie’s public story began in 2018, when she filed for divorce from her then-husband, Ricardo Valadez, in Waukesha County, Wisconsin. The filing came just months after Ricardo was arrested and charged with domestic abuse. According to court records, he pled guilty to disorderly conduct and domestic abuse.

Despite this, in 2020, Judge Michael Aprahamian awarded the father Ricardo custody and primary placement of the couple’s four children. Julie has never been accused nor found to have been abusive in any way.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, in 2021, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals reversed the lower court’s decision. They ruled there wasn’t “enough evidence to establish that Ricardo received treatment” from a certified program or professional, as is required by Wisconsin state statute.

The rare legal win in the appellate court drew national attention and offered a glimmer of hope for Julie and others advocating for survivors in family court. But then her case took another turn.

“As a former prosecutor and victims’ rights attorney, I’ve seen justice protect the powerful and punish the vulnerable, but Julie’s case is a chilling reminder of how our family courts can criminalize survival,” Robertson says. “When a mother is jailed for protecting her child, the system itself is what needs intervention.”

A Reset That Ignored the Appellate Court’s Concerns

As reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a new judge in the lower court, Waukesha County Judge Ralph Ramirez, took over the case and treated the appellate reversal as grounds for a complete do-over. Julie was exhausted and her attorney withdrew ahead of the new hearings. She didn’t secure new counsel in time.

Julie filed a written objection, arguing that the new lower court proceedings were unlawful and unfair and that the trial court should adhere to the intent of the appellate decision. She declined to participate in new costly, lengthy hearings when she felt it was clear the lower courts should simply fix their error and return her children to her. Despite the filing and appellate decision, on June 23, 2022, Judge Ramirez determined that custody and placement should remain with Ricardo Valadez.

Not long after this, feeling defeated and still without her children, Julie left the country for Canada.

Julie and her attorney Michael Bassett contend that the Waukesha County Circuit Court still has not properly complied with the appellate court’s instructions. The case has since been reassigned to Judge Jennifer Dorow.

A System Failing Abuse Survivors?

Wisconsin law includes a specific provision, Statute 767.41(2)(d), which presumes it is not in a child’s best interest to be placed with a parent who has committed serious or patterned domestic violence. For that parent to gain custody, they must rebut the presumption by completing treatment through a certified batterer’s program.

“If the court finds that a party has ‘engaged in a pattern or serious incident of interspousal battery’ or ‘domestic abuse,’ the court must presume that awarding that party custody – sole or joint – would not be in the child’s interest,” the Wisconsin Family Lawyer Blog explains. “The party that engaged in domestic violence can rebut the ‘domestic violence presumption’ and obtain custody of the child, but only under conditions specified in the statute. The party must show the court: (1) that they have completed a domestic abuse treatment program; (2) that they are not abusing alcohol or other drugs; and (3) that awarding custody to that party is in the child’s best interest.”

The Court of Appeals determined that Ricardo had not met that threshold, yet the lower court kept custody unchanged, despite a mandate to reevaluate Julie’s safety and her children’s well-being as “paramount concerns.”

As Jenna Gormal, End Abuse Co-Director of Prevention & Engagement, explains,  “The Court of Appeals decision may result in better custody and placement decisions for survivors statewide… [but] Julie awaits circuit court action on that decision.”

While she was still in Canada, Julie’s son fled the father’s home and tried to reach her. The child told law enforcement he no longer wanted to stay in the father’s home. For this reason, Julie is now being accused of custodial interference. A warrant was issued for her arrest. When she returned to the U.S. to address the matter, she was arrested upon arrival. She was so overwhelmed that she experienced a heart attack when she was detained.

‘Another Family Court Injustice’

The National Safe Parents Organization (NSPO), which advocates for improved child safety laws and practices across the U.S., including “Kayden’s Law”, has been following the Valadez case closely ever since Julie first appealed the initial decision in Wisconsin. NSPO founder and National Family Violence Law Center at GW policy manager, Danielle Pollack, says the case is tragically familiar.

 “A protective mother was concerned for her children’s safety, reported abuse, followed the legal process, and even won on appeal, but nevertheless her children are still with the dangerous parent,” Pollack says. “Julie has never once been found to be abusing her children, yet she is the one sitting in jail and her abuser still has custody of the children. One of the children is repeatedly running away from the father’s home, trying to reach safety – and yet the mother is punished for that.”
​
Supporters say Juile suffered a heart attack when detained and was too weak to attend court. Still, she appeared, frail but present, at her July 8 arraignment. Pollack raised concerns about Julie’s deteriorating health while jailed. “We’re very concerned that Julie may suffer grave consequences,” she told the NSPO community in a social media post. “It is unclear whether she is getting appropriate medical care in jail, and clearly she is under an extreme amount of stress.”

According to NSPO, the case illustrates how family court systems often punish survivors for speaking out, especially when they refuse to stay silent in the face of perceived injustice. Pollack says, “Her case illustrates why policy change is so badly needed in family courts. So many kids are needlessly being ordered into unsafe conditions like this, when a safe parent is available and the kids want to be with that safe parent, not the dangerous one.”

Visit Julie’s  official GoFundMe page.