Your Action
Can Make
A Big Difference
CHILDHOOD IS NOT A MARRIAGE CONTRACT
Maryland must end child marriage. No exceptions.
Every child deserves the freedom to grow up, pursue an education, discover who they are, and decide their own future. No child should have to navigate the legal, financial, and personal consequences of marriage before reaching adulthood.
Yet Maryland law still allows some 17-year-olds to marry under certain circumstances. A child's future should never depend on a legal loophole.
We are calling on the Maryland General Assembly to establish 18 as the absolute minimum age for marriage, without exceptions.
But this change will not happen without people willing to demand it.
Here's how you can help:
-
Join the coalition. Add your voice to the growing effort to end child marriage in Maryland.
-
Mobilize your organization. Partner with us to build a united front of advocates, professionals, community leaders, and organizations committed to protecting children.
-
Contact your legislators. Tell your Maryland state delegate and senator to support legislation establishing 18 as the minimum marriage age, without exceptions.
-
Spread the word. Share our mission, educate your community, and help make child marriage an issue Maryland can no longer ignore.
This is about more than changing a law. It is about recognizing that children deserve protection, that adulthood should come before marriage, and that no child's future should be compromised by an exception in the law.
Join us in making Maryland a state where childhood is protected and marriage is reserved for adults.
No exceptions. No loopholes. No child marriage.
JOIN THE COALITION
Our Proud Supporters
#MeTooFamilyCourt
#MeTooFamilyCourt stands with the Maryland Coalition to End Child Marriage.
Every child deserves the freedom to grow, learn, heal, and build a future on their own terms, not be bound by a marriage they are not developmentally or legally equipped to meaningfully consent to.
We are proud to support the Maryland Coalition to End Child Marriage and its work to close the legal loopholes that can leave children vulnerable to coercion, abuse, and lifelong consequences.
Ending child marriage is not about taking away a child’s future. It is about protecting that future.
As a survivor-centered movement, #MeTooFamilyCourt recognizes the importance of listening to those who have lived through systems that failed to protect them.
Meaningful reform requires us to center survivor voices, prioritize child safety, and ensure that every young person has the opportunity to make life-changing decisions when they are truly able to give informed consent.
We believe Maryland can, and must, do better.
We stand with advocates, survivors, families, and young people working to end child marriage and create a system where protection means protection.
No child should have to fight for the right to be a child.
Marissa K. Maginnis
Founder, #MeTooFamilyCourt
The Black Cat USA
The Black Cat USA proudly stands with the Maryland Coalition to End Child Marriage.
I started The Black Cat USA to build work with purpose and a better future for women and girls, including my own daughter. Every design we make celebrates women claiming their space, their voice, and their freedom. A girl cannot claim any of that if she is married before she is old enough to choose for herself.
Child marriage takes away a girl's education, her independence, and her right to decide her own future, often before she is old enough to leave. Maryland still allows some 17-year-olds to marry, and we believe that all child marriage needs to end. Eighteen, no exceptions.
We don't just say it, we fund it. A portion of the profits from every Black Cat USA purchase goes to our Support Women's Freedom Fund, which raises money to end child marriage in every state, starting right here in Maryland.
We stand with the survivors and advocates leading this work, and we are proud to help make Maryland a place where every girl grows up safe, free, and 18 before anyone asks her to make a lifelong commitment.
Tabby
Founder, The Black Cat USA
theblackcatusa.com