Similar narratives, sadly, are found across the country. Some child-welfare workers say they simply have too many cases, while others complain of inadequate training. Regardless of what excuse is used to explain the fate of so many abused and neglected foster children, one thing remains constant: these innocent children have rights and their abusers must be brought to justice, both civilly and criminally.

Further Reading: How to Report Foster Home Abuse

Over the last 10 years, thousands of businesses nationwide, from large corporations to small mom-and-pop shops, have started to use standard arbitration clauses as part of their contracts to effectively create an alternate system of justice. In arbitration, the rules tend to favor the businesses, and the judges and juries have been replaced by arbitrators who are unsurprisingly in bed with their company clients. The bottom line is that arbitration has deprived injured or wronged individuals of a fundamental right: their day in court.

For business, the allure of arbitration clauses became more appealing after a 2011 Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for them to use these clauses to ban class action lawsuits. However, for consumers, this ban of joining together as a large group to fight the large corporations often means giving up on their claims altogether. This is not because they are unwilling to pursue their legal rights, but rather that they cannot fight large corporations and their vast resources alone.

During arbitration, proceedings can easily evolve into a legal free-for-all. Companies can pay their employees to testify in their favor and what were once witnesses in favor of the plaintiffs can effectively work for the defense. Even more upsetting is the fact that most of the “neutral” arbitrators are in fact on the side of the companies accused of the wrongdoing.