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The Unknown special report: an interview with Gwen and Grace Girard

Despite allegations of abuse- and three judges recusing themselves- their child custody case continues.
Gwen and Grace from their Instagram account

No matter what the Cook County family law judge orders, Gwen and Grace Girard said they will not live with their mom.

“We feel like we’re in extreme danger when we’re with our mom,” Grace Girard said during an exclusive interview with me and Richard Luthmann, “There’s this pattern. We already know what she’s done in the past. She’s abused us physically and sexually.”

Jane Girard’s abuse

Gwen and Grace Girard became something of an internet sensation in 2023, when they put out some videos on Instagram describing their mom’s abuse and the court’s malfeasance in their child custody case.

Since first putting out those videos, they have, along with their father and stepmother, filed a lawsuit describing the abuse in more detail.

The never-ending court case

While they remain safe in their father’s home, the court case continues.

Though both fraternal twins turned seventeen in February 2025- and they’ve barely seen their mom since the summer of 2022- a trial is tentatively set for May 1, 2025.

The trial is set despite there being a longstanding court order everyone refuses to follow.

Since refusing to go back to their mom, the court has held a lot of hearings, but the court has refused to force their mom, Jane Girard, to have the custody time she was previously ordered to have.

The court may order Gwen and Grace to spend time with their mother, but they won’t go.

“It’s not like he {their father Kenton Girard} can force us to go,” they said.

While they spoke about safety and longing for a stress-free childhood, the court has a different narrative.

The Parental Alienation narrative

In court, the problem is Gwen and Grace’s father, Kenton Girard, who is- according to the court- alienating them from their mother.

The repeated disclosures of abuse are manifestations, in the court’s mind, of this alienation.

“It’s very real that our mom abused us,” Grace Girard said, “that’s the whole reason that we left our mom’s house.”

“I’m dehumanized in a way,” She noted further about not being believed.

The court scam

For a long time, the two girls have been on to the court’s scam. The court doesn’t believe them, because the lawyers and court appointees make a lot more money if they’re not believed. They made a video about it in 2023.

“Mom, do you know why this is happening? It’s because you have money…More and more professionals keeping being brought into our case, but no one attempts to listen to us.” Gwen Girard said in the video in 2023.

I asked them how they figured it out.

“You see that all of the people that they’re hiring to do things for them and for us are all either have been employed- or money gets paid to them- from this court case continuing. The fact that we were like oh my goodness why is this court case still going. We have all of this evidence. It’s not being presented, and it’s not helping us at all. Why is this happening? When we broke it down a little bit, we saw it was all about how much they were each making individually.” Gwen Girard said.

Both will be eighteen- and aged out- in about nine months. and they firmly said they will not have any relationship with their mom. Their court case continues, in a cynical attempt to extract even more fees.

The girls said it was always a rigged game when any of the court appointees interacted with them.

“When they hire people, like the guardian ad litem or our child representative or other people that we just talk to like therapists, or reunification therapists and stuff like that.” Grace Girard said. “Every time we talk to them, they’ve already made a decision before we’ve opened our mouths. It’s seems like they’ve already gotten paid, they’ve already made a decision… No matter what we say, we’re going to be wrong. I don’t think we’re actually listened to- we’re actually cared for in the system”

Gwen said that the only thing that was consistent were the costs both their parents were ordered to pay.

“What can we do to exploit the people we are running against. In this case our dad,” Gwen Girard said, describing the cynical strategy of those appointed ostensibly to look out for their best interests.

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