Orange County’s First Reunification Therapist Removes Herself From All Family Court Cases

Orange County Family Court Crisis - The Victims of Jessica St. Clair, MFT

May 16, 2025

Jessica St. Clair, MFT, MS. Reunification Specialty Team About Page via Way Back Machine. June 2, 2023.

By Julie M. Anderson-Holburn and Robert J. Hansen

Originally published on NewsBreak, May 9, 2024. Updated.

Jessica St. Clair, MFT, the self-proclaimed first intensive reunification therapist of Orange County has left all of her family law cases in the county as of April 24, 2024, according to documents obtained by these reporters.

“The court informs the parties, the court is aware Ms. Jessica St. Clair has withdrawn from all of her cases, including this matter,” the documents read.

A formal letter to the family court by attorney Olivia Long, representing Jessica St. Clair, who is also her daughter, stated that St. Clair will no longer be involved in any Orange County Family Court cases.

“Last week, I broke my leg. I was taken to an acute care hospital and, after several days, put into an acute care rehabilitation facility. I will not return to my office any time soon,” St. Clair told a parent.

It is unclear just how many family law cases St. Clair was involved in Orange County at this time. Records requests continue to be denied by Orange County Superior Court.

Screenshot of St. Clair’s website rebranded as “Reintegration Specialty Team.” Photo by Online.

At the time of original publication, Jessica St. Clair was no longer listed on the Reunification Specialty Team website, which then named only Dr. Sue Tonkins, Clinical Psychologist. Since then, the website has undergone multiple rebranding—from “Reunification Specialty Team” to “Reintegration Specialty Team,” and most recently, to “Reintegration/Conjoint Therapy.” As of the latest check, the website is offline and returns a 404 Not Found error.

Reunification therapy gained widespread attention from the Maya and Sebastian Laing case out of the Santa Cruz Family Court when transporters physically removed the two children, then 12 and 15, from their grandmother’s home in 2022 and took them to a reunification therapist, Lynne Steinberg.

Public outrage helped fuel the movement to pass Piquis Law which banned the practice of reunification therapy and camps in California as of 2023.

St. Clair continued her reunification treatments after they became illegal in 2024.

Family Law Attorney Christian Conrad said St. Clair was involved in more than 10 cases over the last five years and became involved in cases usually when there was a dispute in custody that required additional input, sometimes as a therapist or as a custody evaluator.

Reunification therapists, minors’ counsel, and CPS social workers are commonly involved in custody dispute cases—often where one parent alleges the other has committed domestic violence, child abuse, or other forms of harm.

Conrad said there were two of his cases where St. Clair’s practices were particularly problematic.

“She caused trauma in a lot of my cases”, Conrad stated.

Conrad said that St. Clair failed for over a year and a half to provide a report in one case affecting the well-being of two children.

St. Clair made excuse after excuse delaying delivering a custody report for over a year and a half resulting in St. Clair’s removal from the case and her actions prolonged the abusive parent’s access to the children.

“The kids were screwed up by the abuser,” Conrad said.

This delay caused the children to turn against the protective parent, in this case the mother, to the point where they became violent, according to Conrad.

According to multiple parents, Jessica St. Clair has repeatedly issued damaging recommendations or caused prolonged delays in Orange County family court cases—often resulting in children being placed with the allegedly abusive parent and the protective parent being cut off from contact.

These reporters have learned of over two dozen parents, mostly women, being treated unfairly in Orange County’s family courts where St. Clair was assigned.

One parent, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation, said when St. Clair finally wrote a report for the court, she directly lied to the judge by letter and on the stand.

The parent said they were misquoted, and that St. Clair would misstate what happened on monitored visitations, in required therapy, and on monitored phone calls.

This protective parent was labeled an "alienator" and "liar" and St. Clair "strongly urged" to the judge that their ex get full custody and they be restricted from any contact because the children were in imminent danger in the protective parent’s custody.

“I could not believe that a ‘professional’ could tell such patent lies until I saw it happen,” the parent said. “I haven't been allowed to speak to my youngest in 4 1/2 years and she has been told by my ex and St. Clair that if [the child] speaks to me, I will go to jail which they believe to be true.”

Another parent said at their first session with St. Clair, the therapist told them that even if [a parent] sexually abused their kids that they can reform and to assume anything different is alienation.

“She ensured that my child was removed and separated from me completely. I was consistently ignored and belittled by Jessica. Email after email trying to set up sessions to see my child were all ignored,” this parent said.

St. Clair has told parents that in her sessions she is "correcting my child's memories of abuse” or “giving her new correct memories of the events.”

“On the times when I was alone with her, it was pure hell. She focuses on intimidation. She leans toward you and smiles in a sinister way and just stares you down. I remember not being able to avoid crying and shaking when I was alone with her,” one parent claimed. “It seemed the more I cried the bigger she smiled and the closer she would lean towards you but with the purpose to intimidate. There were never any words of en‐ couragement or empathy during these moments.”

These cases are similar to the current OC cases of Lucy Vellema and Julie Holburn.

In the Julie Holburn case, St. Clair arrived on the case in 2023 just after Judge Waltz flipped custody to a documented abuser.

Many of the parents claim that it is almost impossible to get documents from St. Clair and subpoenas are frequently ignored or objected to which is a violation of the ethical codes of the Board of Behavioral Sciences, which states therapists need to produce the documents within 5 days of the request.

In a recent communication, St. Clair’s attorney and daughter, Olivia Long, told parents that St. Clair would not produce documents or appear for a deposition.

“My office will tender to all counsel still active in this matter the formal objections to the attached in coming days,” Long wrote to parents.

Sources also claim that St. Clair has for years claimed to be enrolled in a PhD program and even held a PhD.

In a 2019 family law case St. Clair claimed in testimony she was a “doctor” and a PhD as recently as 2023.

St. Clair lists Pacifica Graduate Institute on her LinkedIn account and claims to be “in progress” of the PhD program in April 2024. However, St. Clair has not been enrolled at Pacifica Graduate Institute since 2011, for over 13 years, the school confirmed.

The parents claim they have seen judges congratulating St. Clair on obtaining her PhD.

“Yes, she referred to herself as ‘Dr. Jessica’ to my children and me. She told them they have to obey "doctor's orders" supposedly jokingly once or twice, too,” one parent said

One judge repeatedly thanked her for her "expert opinion.”

“Honestly, he fell over himself congratulating her for her long-standing service to the court in giving her expert opinion. I do remember him saying she was highly credentialed,” this parent said.

Several complaints have been made to the board of psychology, family law supervising Judge Julie Palafox and BBS. Nothing has come of these complaints.

Chicago-based investigative journalist Micheal Volpe has reported on Dr. Sue Tonkins, and four other therapists and minors counsel spearheaded the practice of cashing in on reunification therapy in OC.

St. Clair suggested to one parent that if they loved their child, they would be willing to sell all of their belongings, including their house, to pay for her therapy.

Public records show St. Clair owns a multi-million dollar home on the Newport Beach peninsula, according to Zillow. Sources say it is soon to be up for sale and St. Clair is leaving the state.

Public records show St. Clair has ownership in at least 10 different businesses profiting off of divorcing parents and children.

“Jessica will take your money for her profit margins with no shame of lying and making false accusations regarding your case to the court,” a parent said.

St. Clair and Tonkins could not be reached for comment.

The time for action is now. Justice and protection for our children must not remain distant ideals—they must become lived realities.

This ongoing investigative series on the Orange County family court crisis seeks to bring national attention to systemic failures and advocate for urgent reform and accountability. Lawmakers, the media, and the public must come together to demand justice for families and protection for children.

Are you committed to protecting American children and restoring integrity to our legal system?

Contact your legislative representatives. Speak out. Reach out to media outlets. And vote.

Whistleblowers and victims of family court, CPS, probate court, or foster care corruption anywhere in the U.S.—please contact this reporter at juliea005@proton.me.

Together, we can ignite a national movement and create lasting change.

Julie M. Anderson-Holburn is a California-based investigative journalist reporting on family court corruption, judicial abuse, and systemic failures. Her work is published on NewsBreak, Substack, and The Family Court Circus, and has been featured by the Center for Judicial Excellence and National Safe Parents. Julie believes that exposing the truth is the first step toward meaningful reform.

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