Orange County reunification therapist deceives courts about credentials

Jessica Jones St. Clair, LMFTPhoto bySocial Media

For years, Jessica St. Clair, LMFT, has positioned herself as a trusted expert in Orange County Family Court cases, promoting herself as “OC’s first intensive reunification therapist” on the courts approved evaluator list.

Recently, she withdrew from all OC family court cases due to a growing scandal about her qualifications and recommendations see the breaking story here, that this journalist helped investigate with investigative journalist Robert J. Hansen.

St. Clair’s recommendations have directly impacted many custody and visitation decisions, often involving serious allegations of child abuse and domestic violence. In numerous cases, her influence resulted in children being removed from protective parents, primarily mothers, and cutting off most or all contact, devastating families and harming children.

St. Clair Misleads Judges

Documents obtained show that Jessica St. Clair has not been a doctoral candidate at Pacifica University since 2011. Meanwhile she has been falsely claiming to judges during court proceedingd to be nearing completion or already holding a PhD in clinical psychology, a claim that has appeared on her LinkedIn profile since 2005 (view LinkedIn account here).

However, documents confirm she has not been enrolled in any PhD program since 2011 and has never completed one (view document here). Most of her documented education focuses on Spanish language studies, with little verifiable training in psychology. It is unclear if she falsifed her credentails to the court. Her other educational claims and required continuing education also remain unverified. The court has not yet responded to records requests.

It remains unclear whether Jessica St. Clair has committed any crimes, but she may have engaged in perjury by misrepresenting her educational credentials and doctoral status during court proceedings.

Disturbing Client Accounts

Parents who have interacted with St. Clair recalled how St. Clair manipulated their emotional state, pushing them to cry during sessions and using emotional blackmail to pressure them into paying for expensive therapy sessions.

“I told her I couldn’t afford the $375 per hour charge for her sessions,” one parent recalled. “She leaned toward me, looked at my wedding ring, and said, ‘That looks really expensive. You could probably get enough for a session.’ She then asked if I owned or rented my home. When I said I owned, she responded, ‘If you really loved your [child], you would sell the ring and the house to pay for my sessions.'"

“She always tried to make me cry. Once, she said, ‘It looks like you want to cry. Are you going to cry? Go ahead and cry.’ She also told me that if I cried during sessions, she wouldn’t allow me to see my [child] without a monitor,” another parent disclosed.

In her testimony to the court, Jessica St. Clair falsely claimed I was an ‘unempathetic mother’ who ‘didn’t deserve to see her son,’” said Lucy Vellema. “St. Clair made this egregious statement based on bias and corruption to increase her profit margins. She ignored the fact that I spent six months with my son during unsupervised visits, while another individual bartered sex for custody.” Vellema also shared how Jessica St. Clair’s false allegations in June 2022 led to the denial of her visitation and custody rights. Her full story, along with others, is featured in “Sex For Custody in Orange County” as reported by investigative journalist, Robert J. Hansen.

Whistleblower Allegations and Harmful Practices

Whistleblowers and parents have leveled serious accusations against St. Clair, claiming her decisions prolonged children’s exposure to abusive parents. In several cases, St. Clair misrepresented visitation sessions, wrongly labeling protective parents as alienators and falsely claiming children were in "imminent danger" under their care.

“St. Clair’s harmful recommendations caused significant trauma in my cases,” said family law attorney Christian Conrad, who has represented clients affected by St. Clair’s actions.

St. Clair delayed filing custody reports for over a year in several cases, allowing abusive parents to maintain access to the child, whistleblowers reported.

Another family law attorney disclosed, fearing retaliation, chose not to speak out publicly against St. Clair, worried about retaliation from the court and further harm to the children involved.

Whistleblowers also reported that St. Clair secretly recorded conversations with clients without their consent. One particularly disturbing allegation claims that St. Clair was aware a father was harming a child but failed to report the abuse, stating she knew the child would be removed from the father’s care if she did.

Courts Ignoring Red Flags

From 1996 until April 2024, St. Clair served as a therapist and custody evaluator for the Orange County Superior Court family law division. Before that, she supervised MFT and LCSW interns as a Senior Social Worker for Orange County Social Services from 1991 to 2007. She became well-known within both the OC family courthouse and child protective services departments.

As her recommendations began affecting more parents, many started questioning her ethics and qualifications. They speculated that she had lied about her PhD status, unsure whether she was still 'in progress' or had 'recently graduated' from a PhD program.

Despite her long history with the court, Orange County judges and officials failed to take action against St. Clair. Multiple judges in the family law division, some serving since at least 2010, even congratulated her, addressing her as "Dr. St. Clair" over the years, including as recently as 2023 and 2024. In one hearing, a judge remarked, "Ms. St. Clair, or should I say Dr. St. Clair, I hear congratulations are in order," to which she responded, "Thank you," without correccting the judge. For more than a decade, St. Clair routinely misrepresented her credentials to the court during these hearings.

Concerns about St. Clair’s work go beyond academic dishonesty. Numerous accusations point to her involvement in biased evaluations, perjury, and fraud. Her delayed or inaccurate assessments in abuse cases have placed children in dangerous situations with abusive parents.

Documents obtained indicate that despite receiving written complaints from parents, OC Superior Court judges routinely dismissed or ignored these concerns. According to parents who spoke on the condition of anonymity, judges also retaliated against those who attempted to raise these issues, gaslighting and admonishing them, which left children vulnerable and at risk of harm.

One whistleblower noted that most parents “aren’t aware of the existence of a complaint option or process.” They added, “Parents can file complaints regarding judges, evaluators, and minors’ counsel in Orange County, under California California Rules of Court 10.603 and 10.703, 5.240, local rule 712 E, to the Orange County Presiding Judges” (view compliant form here), and also to the Commission on Judicial Performance (view form here). Sources say that lawyers shy away from filing complaints against evaluators or disqualifications against judges citing it would be a “career ender”.

St. Clair's Business Interests and Influence

In addition to her controversial involvement in child custody cases, Jessica St. Clair allegedly owns multiple businesses that deal directly with divorce and custody services. These businesses, including Divorce Wizards, Center for Divorce and Custody, Creative Custody Solutions, and the Reunification Specialty Team (rebranded as “Reintegration Specialty Team” after Piqui’s Law passed), offer services such as divorce processing, court strategies, counseling, and parenting classes. Several of her websites, like Planet Divorce and Parenting Wizards, redirect to her primary site, Divorce Wizards, which provides advice on navigating the legal system. According to available information, she is described as the leader of Planet Divorce and Parenting Wizards—both joint ventures of Divorce Wizards, Inc. and Newport Beach Family and Psychological Services.

These business ventures raise further concerns about St. Clair’s qualifications, as they suggest a potential conflict of interest for someone influencing sensitive family court decisions. Through these enterprises, St. Clair continues to shape the fates of families entangled in the court system.

Systemic Corruption in OC Family Court

The Jessica St. Clair scandal is part of a broader pattern of behavior in the Orange County Family Court system, where children's best interests have been consistently ignored, as previously reported by multiple journalists (view stories here, here and here). Despite many complaints about St. Clair’s credentials, unethical behavior, and harmful recommendations, the courts continue to rely on her as an expert. This mirrors cases in other states, such as Rachel Pickrel-Hawkins, a Colorado mother jailed for protecting her children from therapist Shannon McShane (view story here), reunification therapist now indicted on a 15-count felony for fabricating credentials. (view viral story here).

California’s strict laws require custody evaluators to meet specific qualifications. Under Family Code sections 1815, 1816, and 3111, as well as California Rules of Court Court Court 5.220, 5.225 and 5.230, evaluators must complete extensive training and annual continuing education.

What’s Next for Orange County?

The outcry over Jessica St. Clair, along with concerns about other officials such as minors’ counsel and judges, has triggered a significant number of complaints. However, state and judicial officials have been slow to respond, if they’ve responded at all.

In a county already plagued by scandals—the OC “jailhouse snitch” controversy, the Anaheim corruption case, the recent shooting of a judge’s wife, the California Bar scandal and the OC Supervisor Andrew Do scandal, which involves his daughter and his wife, OC’s current Assistant Presiding Judge, Cheri Pham—the call for accountability grows louder. Pham has declined to move on to the Presiding Judge position amid the scandal (view story here) and is set to be replaced in January 2025 by Judge Sheila F. Hanson (press release).

Even though St. Clair voluntarily withdrew from all OC family court cases in April 2024, and refuses to appear or provide testimony in cases, parents report, she remains listed as an approved evaluator on the Orange County Superior Court’s "Family Law Panel—List of Child Custody Evaluators FL-326" (View approved therapist/evaluator list here).

Jessica St. Clair could not be reached for comment.

Whistleblowers and victims of family court, CPS, probate court, foster care corruption, please follow Julie and contact this reporter at juliea005@proton.me.

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