# Displacement, Family Separation & Court Cases
by Laura M. Thieme
July 4, 2026
It is not Independence Day for this family, although I wish it were. I can think of several ways to obtain independence from our current situation, but meaningful change requires more than a change in my own thinking.
Around 2002 or 2003, I met a business associate and friend whose presentation focused on behavior and group behavior. His point was that there are always more people like you and more people like me. That was 23 or 24 years ago.
At the time, I was developing Bizresearch and working on my first patent involving business-process improvement, search-engine visibility, and monitoring rankings. I was preparing to speak on panels about “Measuring Success” and marketing database-driven websites. I distinctly remember a conversation with this individual about families.
In the past few years, our family has faced a series of extraordinary challenges. Each circumstance has contributed to where we are today: not independent, not emancipated, unable to fill a gas tank, pay rent or a mortgage, or reliably pay my Verizon phone bill. I have been a Verizon customer since 1998, as has my business.
In 2020, before joining a company, I was asked to assign prior art and inventions to the company. With assistance from two qualified attorneys, I reviewed and edited the contract. I submitted revised paperwork and disclosed two additional sources of income. I acted transparently.
From 2024 through 2026, artwork and other personal property have become unavailable to me. I have also raised concerns about interference with SMI Analytics, Inc., my work, and my ability to generate income. I am continuing to document and investigate these concerns. The financial consequences are measurable: debt, lost income, and a declining FICO score.
The painting you see here is my mom’s painting. Carole Anne Thieme, fine artist. She died in 2022, one month after suffering numerous broken bones and a blunt force trauma to the head, in Tallahassee, Florida. Just last month I was finally able to submit a police report. Earlier attempts prevented me from being able to get a police report filed. They said it was rejected because medical records were not available. Numerous attempts to get medical records were unsuccessful. It took in person visits (more than once) to get first set of medical records, along with pictures of my mom’s head injury. That’s absolutely unacceptable for it to be so incredibly difficult to report a serious crime, that in part, led to my mom’s early death. IF you want to help honor my mom, you could purchase a REPLICA of this painting. These poppies were painted by my mom, in response to a series of photos I took from Antelope Valley in 2019. At this very moment, while I have the digital versions of this painting saved in files, I don’t have this painting because it was removed and I haven’t been able to see it, or ensure all involved are safe, secure and without worries. This has been our life for the past 18 months. To help though, you can purchase a replica of it in a canvas print of various sizes.
We live in a world where decades of data may be collected or accessible: ancestry, heritage, family names, religion, health information, food consumption, emergency-room visits, financial information, device data, location information, and behavioral patterns. My professional work in analytics causes me to ask serious questions about what happens when data is inaccurate, combined across sources, or used to influence access to financial opportunities, communications, devices, or services.
During the past three years, particularly since 2021, I have documented events that concern me. A historical review of photographs, videos, records, and timelines has raised additional questions about specific periods, including July 2, 2018, and events in 2014 and 2020. I am not suggesting that every question is already answered. I am saying that unresolved questions deserve careful, evidence-based review.
When employment loss, financial instability, family separation, medical events, and court proceedings overlap, the consequences can be devastating. When crises occur in multiple states during the same period, a person may be forced to decide whom to help, where to travel, and which emergency requires immediate attention.
Family separation destabilizes families. Brothers, sisters, parents, children, and grandparents need reasonable opportunities to remain connected.
On this Independence Day, I am asking a broader question: What does independence mean when a family is separated, financially displaced, and involved in multiple court cases?
For my family, independence remains unfinished business.
## A Call to Action: Helping Restore Independence
This is also why I am building something for moms, young women, and teens who have experienced family separation, displacement, court involvement, or a profound loss of independence.
When decisions about your family, where you live, whether you can work, the job you can obtain, your professional title, your finances, your communications, and even who you are permitted to see are increasingly influenced by other people, institutions, data, or court orders, the loss of independence can happen quickly.
Sometimes decisions are legally authorized. Sometimes they are based on incomplete information. Sometimes one decision creates a chain reaction that becomes extremely difficult to reverse.
What happens when data follows a person from an emergency room to a school, from a school to a social-services agency, from an agency to a courtroom, or from one company or device to another? What happens when the original information is incomplete, disputed, misunderstood, or simply wrong?
We are, in some ways, entering a different society.
I want to build resources that help moms, young women, and teens document what has happened, preserve records, understand timelines, identify available resources, and begin rebuilding financial and personal independence after court cases and family separation.
If you believe this work matters, I am asking for your help.
I am currently building this initiative and developing the structure through which donations and other support can be accepted and responsibly used. If you are interested in donating, contributing professional expertise, providing technology or legal resources, or helping a mom, young woman, or teen regain independence, please follow Bizresearch for updates and contact me.
Independence should not depend on whether someone has the money, technology, professional title, or institutional access to be heard.
This July 4, I am working to change that. I or “we” may be temporarily displaced, without housing, without transitional housing (hotels), and a full tank of gas, but I’m determined to survive it. I pray every single person in my family is able to survive what we’re currently enduring.
I’d like to conclude with psychological abuse, financial abuse, physical abuse, threats, intimidation, by any method is never acceptable.
Help each other. You never know when hatred becomes automated, machine learning algorithms enable hatred to continue, even when the company and software developer have moved on. Trust me, we have to really pay attention to everything we do, say, and show every minute. Because right now, with AI and machine learning algos, it’s possible your actions are being recorded and coded. So, let love and kindness show above other actions.
Stealing something or someone is never the solution.
Donate towards filling up someone’s gas tank. We are NOT a 501c3. I have no intentions of becoming a 501c3 as of this moment, because then we’d be relying on 75% of our income as donations. I am not sure I can promise that to anyone as of this moment. So, donate because you can. I am trying to set this up as a gift card process. For now, we need the following:
Purchase an amount that can go towards a mom, her young adult daughter and teens who have survived a court case that has caused displacement and separation.
Peace. Compassion. Kindness. That is health and wellness.
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