Stand With Stephens Building Legal Literacy for Every American
Legal literacy is vital for every American, especially in cases of child abuse, corruption, and inequality.
About Our Family
We are the Stephens family — parents, children, and siblings who have walked through one of the most confusing and painful experiences a family can face: trying to protect a child through a legal system none of us were prepared to navigate.
We never imagined we would spend years learning the law, filing cases, representing ourselves, protesting, or building a national movement. We are ordinary people who were forced into extraordinary circumstances — and now we are using what we’ve learned to help others.
Everything we do is rooted in one belief:
No family should have to learn the law the hard way.
No child should stand alone in a courtroom.
Every American deserves basic legal literacy.
Our family is still healing, still fighting, and still standing together.
And we’re grateful you’re here with us.
What Happened in Our Daughter’s Case
How Our Family’s Fight Began
Our story began with a tragedy no parent ever expects. When our daughter was harmed by a politically connected family, we turned to the legal system for protection. We hired an attorney to guide us — but instead, we uncovered deep failures in oversight, transparency, and the basic protections minors are supposed to receive.
Medical Failures With Lifelong Consequences
When we brought Qadira to Providence St. Vincent Emergency Room, she did not receive the care her injuries required. She was:
- Not transferred to a burn center
- Not evaluated by a specialist
- Not reported to law enforcement, despite mandatory reporting laws
The next day — and in the years that followed — we returned to OHSU seeking help. But the pattern continued:
- No specialized treatment
- No safety assessment
- No mandatory report
- No intervention
Because these critical steps were missed, Qadira was left with permanent injuries and lifelong medical complications — injuries that should have been urgently treated, escalated, and investigated from day one.
These early failures erased the protections she was entitled to and set the stage for the years of systemic breakdowns that followed.
A Conflict of Interest That Changed Everything
The attorney we hired had an undisclosed conflict of interest. To control the case, he arranged to have me appointed as my daughter’s Guardian ad Litem, despite the fact that:
- I had no legal training
- I did not understand the role
- The court failed to perform its independent duty under ORCP 27 to assess my qualifications
This lack of oversight led to disastrous consequences.
A Rare and Damaging Trial — With an Unrepresented Child
Our daughter’s underlying case — a complex negligence case — was pushed all the way to a jury trial.
This is extremely rare:
- Only 1–5% of civil cases ever reach trial
- In child cases, it is even rarer
- Most families never see a courtroom
Yet our daughter, unrepresented and without protection, was subjected to a trial that insulated her abusers from liability — even after they admitted harming her.
The judgment against her was devastating, and its consequences continue to follow our family to this day.
Five More Cases — The Same Failure Repeated
Over the following years, I filed five more cases on her behalf —
three in state court, two in federal court — trying desperately to correct what had happened.
When Help Never Came
After our daughter’s initial case failed, we reached out to countless attorneys, agencies, and advocacy organizations — but no one would help us. We were left completely on our own to navigate a complicated legal system without guidance, resources, or support.
With no assistance available, I had no choice but to file those cases myself.
In every single case:
- She again appeared as an unrepresented minor
- No court revisited the original conflict
- No judge stopped to ask whether she had counsel or protection
- Each case was dismissed with prejudice, deepening the harm
These public dismissals severely damaged our credibility and our ability to be heard.
Charged for Protesting — And Forced to Represent Ourselves
When we began raising awareness publicly, we were charged with misdemeanor crimes for peaceful protest.
Unable to afford an attorney, we represented ourselves —
and we won.
This experience showed us something unmistakable:
Most Americans have no idea how to defend themselves in court because we were never taught how the legal system actually works.
Our Ongoing Federal Case
Today, we are navigating our current federal lawsuit pro se, following more than 200+ protests in Portland’s Pioneer Square and Multnomah Village. Our case centers on our First Amendment rights and highlights just how confusing and inaccessible the legal system is for ordinary citizens.
And this leads to why we are launching this movement.
WHY LEGAL LITERACY MATTERS
Why Every American Needs Basic Legal Literacy
Most Americans will interact with the legal system at some point in their lives — through school, employment, housing, healthcare, parenting, or criminal/civil matters. Yet almost none of us are taught even the basics of how the legal system works.
This gap leaves children unprotected, families vulnerable, and justice out of reach.
LEGAL LITERACY
Most Americans don’t understand their basic rights.
We aren’t taught how courts work, what due process means, how to protect a child legally, or what to do if we are charged with a crime or must represent ourselves.
Without legal education, people unknowingly waive rights every day — simply because no one ever taught them.
THE JURY TRIAL CRISIS
America is quietly losing its constitutional right to a jury trial.
• Only 1–5% of civil cases ever reach a jury.
• Only about 10% of criminal cases** go to trial at all.
Most cases are settled, dismissed, or negotiated behind closed doors.
A right unused is a right lost — and entire communities are left without a path to a public hearing or accountability.
COURT TRANSPARENCY
Courts are one of the least transparent institutions in America.
Hearings are difficult to access. Procedures are hard to understand.
Children, especially, are left unprotected when judges fail to enforce basic safeguards. Transparency, oversight, and legal literacy go hand in hand. You can’t protect your rights if you don’t know what they are — or how the system works.
BUILDING ACCOUNTABILITY & OVERSIGHT
A Citizen Legal Oversight Commission™
The legal profession has the Bar Association.
Judges have judicial councils.
Attorneys have disciplinary boards.
But ordinary citizens — the people the courts are supposed to serve — have no formal body to advocate for their rights, track systemic failures, or demand accountability.
We believe it is time to change that.
Introducing the Citizen Legal Oversight Commission™, a first-of-its-kind initiative that would:
- Advocate for the rights of self-represented litigants (“pro se” individuals)
- Monitor judicial conduct from a community perspective
- Review patterns of complaints and systemic failures
- Promote ethical courtroom practices
- Support legal literacy programs nationwide
- Provide a voice for minors, families, and citizens who lack representation
- Publish annual public reports on the state of the courts
This would be the civic counterpart to the Bar —
an oversight body created by the people, for the people.
Its mission is simple:
To hold the justice system accountable to the public it serves.
Why America Needs a National Court Observer Program
Courtrooms shape the lives of millions of Americans — yet they remain some of the least observed, least understood, and least accountable public institutions in the country. Most hearings happen with no public oversight, no transparency, and no mechanism for tracking whether people are treated fairly.
To bring sunlight into a system that often operates without public scrutiny, we are advocating for the creation of a nationwide Court Observer Program.
This program would establish trained volunteers who could:
- Attend hearings and trials as members of the public
- Document courtroom conditions and procedural fairness
- Track whether minors, families, and self-represented litigants receive proper protections
- Identify patterns of bias, misconduct, or due-process failures
- Report findings publicly to strengthen transparency and trust
Court observer programs in other cities and countries have already shown that public visibility improves fairness and accountability.
It’s time for the United States to develop its own version — beginning at the local level, and expanding nationwide.
Such a program would protect children.
It would safeguard families.
And it would help ensure that no one faces the legal system alone, unseen, or unheard.
LEGAL LITERACY FOR THE NEXT GENERATION
Why America Needs K–12 Legal Education
American students graduate knowing algebra and world history — but almost nothing about their rights, the court system, or how to protect themselves and their families.
We are advocating for nationwide K–12 legal education so future generations never enter the justice system as unprepared as most adults do today — and so young people have the skills to resolve conflict without violence in an increasingly unstable and polarized society.
What Students Should Learn
Elementary School:
- Basic rights
- Fairness and consent
- How to seek help
- Foundations of peaceful conflict resolution
Middle School:
- What courts and laws are
- Digital rights and personal responsibility
- How to communicate and de-escalate safely
High School:
- Constitutional rights
- How the court system works
- How to read legal documents
- How to prepare for a hearing
- How to advocate for oneself or a minor
- Basics of contracts, employment law, and civil rights
Why It Matters
- Prevents injustice before it happens
- Gives young adults real skills they need for life
- Reduces coercion, manipulation, and uninformed decision-making
- Creates informed, empowered future jurors
- Strengthens democracy by teaching citizens their rights
- Promotes non-violent responses to conflict at home, school, and in the community
A Systemic Solution for a Systemic Problem
No child should enter adulthood without knowing how the legal system works — or how to resolve conflict safely and nonviolently.
Legal literacy must begin before crisis, not in response to it.
We believe every student in America deserves these essential skills.
LEGAL ORIENTATION FOR ANY AMERICAN ENTERING THE COURT SYSTEM
Challenges Accessing Legal Help
Many individuals seeking legal assistance discover quickly that meaningful help can be difficult to obtain. Even when facing important or time-sensitive issues, it is often challenging for a layperson to find clear guidance on their rights or the steps they need to take. Traditional legal services are frequently expensive, overloaded, or inaccessible to those unfamiliar with the legal system.
While legal aid clinics and pro-bono resources are valuable, they can sometimes be confusing or limited in the support they can provide. As a result, many people end up navigating complex legal processes on their own, without the foundational knowledge needed to advocate effectively for themselves.
This gap highlights a much larger problem: every American would benefit from a basic legal education. Understanding fundamental rights, common legal procedures, and essential protections should not be reserved for those with specialized training. Improving public access to legal knowledge strengthens communities, empowers individuals, and reduces the vulnerability that comes from not knowing where to turn for reliable help.
Every year, millions of Americans enter the court system with no legal training, no understanding of their rights, and no idea how to navigate what comes next. Most don’t know what “jurisdiction” means, what a “motion to dismiss” is, or what deadlines they must meet. Many can’t read a court order, prepare for a hearing, or protect their children in legal proceedings.
This isn’t a personal failure — it’s a systemic one.
America is one of the few developed nations where you can lose your rights without ever being taught what they are.
This lack of basic legal literacy leads to:
- avoidable dismissals
- unjust judgments
- coerced agreements
- unequal treatment
- due-process violations
- and families being silenced simply because they don’t know the rules
We believe this must change.
PUBLIC ADVOCACY & COMMUNITY SUPPORT
What We Are Doing Right Now
We are not lawyers.
We are parents who were forced to become our own advocates.
For more than 18 years, we have navigated the legal system pro se, across multiple state and federal cases, while fighting for justice for our daughter. The knowledge we gained was not taught to us — we learned it through necessity, survival, and lived experience.
Today, we use that lived experience to help others who have been left to navigate the system alone.
Supporting Survivors Seeking Justice
Drawing from the tools, skills, and legal understanding we’ve developed over nearly two decades of navigating the courts pro se, we now use our lived experience to support others who enter the legal system with no help. Our advocacy begins at home: we continue to support and guide our daughter, Qadira, as she pursues her federal case seeking accountability for the individuals and institutions she alleges harmed her and violated her rights.
We also offer emotional support and basic pro se guidance to others facing similar barriers. One example is a childhood rape survivor who was silenced for more than 40 years. With encouragement and support, she has now filed her own federal action pro se — an act of profound strength and courage.
Helping Others Stand Up for Their Rights
Using what we’ve learned from representing ourselves, we supported a family member in understanding his rights, evaluating his public defender’s performance, and ultimately making the difficult decision to fire counsel who was not advocating for him.
With emotional support and pro se guidance, he represented himself — and won his criminal case.
Our experience becomes a resource for those who have nowhere else to turn.
240 Peaceful Protests Over 2.5 Years
Over the course of two and a half years, we carried out 240 peaceful protests in Portland — a city known for unrest.
Our protests were disciplined, consistent, and entirely nonviolent.
We did this not only for our daughter, but to bring attention to the issue of the systemic failures we experienced.
Representing Ourselves Against Criminal Charges and Continuing Our Fight in Federal Court
When we were charged for peaceful protest, we relied on the legal skills we had built over years of pro se litigation.
We represented ourselves — and won.
That experience strengthened our belief that every American deserves accessible legal knowledge and the ability to defend their rights.
Today, that same lived experience guides us as we continue two active federal cases:
- Our own federal lawsuit defending our First Amendment and constitutional rights.
- Our daughter Qadira’s federal action, in which we are seeking accountability for the individuals and institutions she alleges harmed her and violated her rights.
Together, these cases draw on nearly two decades of navigating complex court systems without legal support — and they reinforce exactly why legal literacy is essential for every family in America.
Our Lived Experience Is Our Advocacy
We haven’t won every case we filed.
But we have fought every step of the way — without legal help, without institutional support, and without giving up.
Our lived experience as long-term pro se litigants has shown us:
Most Americans fail in the legal system not because they are wrong — but because they were never taught how the system works.
This is why we now use our experience to guide others, support them emotionally, and help them understand the system that nearly crushed us. This is the heart of our movement.
About US
Meet the Founders
We’re Karellen and Renee Stephens — married since 1998 years, high-school sweethearts from Thomas Jefferson High School, and longtime members of the Portland community. Karellen was born and raised in SW Portland, and Renee has lived here since age 12. It’s the place where we built our lives and raised our four children. We are pacifists committed to peaceful, nonviolent conflict resolution. Our work is rooted in community, compassion, and the belief that change comes through calm, persistent, courageous communication. We share our story because people deserve to know who they are standing with. We’re not institutions — we’re parents, community members, and advocates determined to make the legal system safer and more accessible for every family. And we are deeply grateful for everyone who chooses to stand with us.