Use of Parental Alienation Syndrome Soon to Be Outlawed in California….

 

Family Court Crisis; Our Children at Risk

www.CenterForJudicialExcellence.org

http://blip.tv/file/1199654/

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.817865&w=425&h=350&fv=]

Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis/GH) Testifies About Personal Ordeal

By Michele Dargan | Monday, April 27, 2009, 10:46 PM

An interesting press release arrived today that I thought I’d share with you.

When I saw Nancy Lee Grahn’s name in the headline, it immediately got my attention.

And as I read on, it became even more interesting.

As a soap fan, I have - for years - enjoyed Nancy Lee Grahn’s portrayal of the strong, smart, ever-so-efficient attorney Alexis Davis.

But I had no idea that she was involved in a court battle regarding her child.

According to this release, Grahn is testifying Tuesday at the California Assembly Judiciary Committee Hearing on behalf of Bill AB 612. If passed, the bill would outlaw the use of Parental Alienation Syndrome to gain custody of children in divorce situations.

The syndrome describes behavior where one parent turns a child against the other by convincing the child the parent has treated him or her badly, even when they have not. Many call it “junk science” and are trying to get it banned from being used to gain custody in divorce cases.

Below is the press release which describes Grahn’s participation in these hearings and her support for this bill.

T.V. Star Nancy Lee Grahn to Join Dozens of Family Court Victims to Urge Passage of Assemblyman Jim Beall’s AB 612

What: Pre-Hearing Press Conference

Who: Daytime TV Celebrity Nancy Lee Grahn & dozens of family court victims & court reform advocates

When: 8:30AM on Tuesday, April 28 - Press Conference; 9:00AM Hearing in Room 4202

Where: State Capitol- Room 444

Acclaimed television star Nancy Lee Grahn will address reporters tomorrow about her personal family court ordeal before she testifies on behalf of AB 612 at the California Assembly Judiciary Committee Hearing. Grahn will join dozens of parents and children to speak about the ravages of Parental Alienation Syndrome, or PAS, on their lives, and the desperate need for family court reform.

Like thousands of parents in California’s family courts, Grahn was falsely accused of alienating her child against her father, yet she eventually prevailed in her protecting her child. AB 612 would outlaw the use of this unscientific theory that is typically responsible for placing more than 58,000 children per year in the U.S. into dangerous homes with parents the children have identified as their molesters and abusers (Leadership Council on Child Abuse & Interpersonal Violence). Beall’s bill is just one of a handful of measures addressing the need for family court reform in California this year.

PAS is a controversial, unscientific theory that does not meet legal evidentiary standards, yet it is commonly used in family courts everywhere. PAS and related alienation theories are not accepted or endorsed by the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, American Psychological Association, American Prosecutors Research Institute, National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse, and nearly all credible researchers on the subject.

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Rape. It is about power, not sex.

Sometimes, You Gotta Do What You Gotta Do

Rape. It is about power, not sex. Supposedly the hardest crime to prove because it is she said and he said. We know these things.
Men's groups will have you thinking that women are just running around reporting false rapes just to get their panties wet. Denial. Do they know what it is like to file a rape report? Not any more than a male gynecologist knows what a pap smear feels like.
I don't know who is believed less, women or children? 
I suppose sometimes, women must take things into their own hands...until people start listening.

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Happy Abusers Awareness Day!

 

Happy Abusers Awareness Day!

Filed under: Activism, Alec Baldwin, CSPAS, Child Abuse, Child Custody Battle, Child custody for fathers, Children and Domestic Violence, Children's rights, Custody Evaluators, Domestic Violence, Dr. Richard Gardner, Family Courts, Fatherhood groups, Fathers Rights, Getting Screwed by the Whores of the Court, Getting screwed by the Family Courts, Getting screwed by the politicians, Help for Victims of Domestic Violence, Judicial Immunity, Legal abuse, Maternal Deprivation, Mother Child Relationship, Noncustodial Mothers, Parental Alienation Syndrome, Protect yourself from FR groups, Psychologists, Rachel Foundation, Raving lunatics, Speak Out, Violence against women, fathers fighting for custody —

Thanks Anonymums for the great graphic!

Father’s Rights groups ran wild trying to get our governors to proclaim today “Parental Alienation Awareness Day.”  Of the few governors that signed, I believe most were duped about this claim often used by abusive parents, being such an easy online process for the most part.  One state even states on their website when applying for a proclamation:

“Issuance of a proclamation does not constitute an endorsement by the Governor.”

Good try guys.  People are learning the truth of the “Parental Alienation” scam meant to support the Whores of the Court by the abusers who hire them.  Your cult even had to run to Canada to hold a conference on this.

The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges discredited the theory.  It stated:

The discredited “diagnosis” of “PAS” (or allegation of “parental alienation”), quite apart from its scientific invalidity, inappropriately asks the court to assume that the children’s behaviors and attitudes toward the parent who claims to be “alienated” have no grounding in reality. It also diverts attention away from the behaviors of the abusive parent, who may have directly influenced the children’s responses by acting in violent, disrespectful, intimidating, humiliating and/or discrediting ways toward the children themselves, or the children’s other parent.

Yes, they really did report this.  Family court judges should be made to read this!  See Page 24 of the report below.

Navigating Custody & Visitation Evaluations in Cases with Domestic Violence: A Judge’s Guide by Clare Dalton LLM, et.al., please click here.

Are good fathers sucked in by this?  You betcha.  With all due respect to several fathers who respectfully comment here, you guys have been duped too.  Call it what it is….if your child has been turned from you, don’t allow someone to label it parental alienation, call it what it is….parental kidnapping, parent-bashing, whatever.  Call it what it is.

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Kim Gandy, President of NOW, in Kansas (thank you jason croucher-KansasJackass)

Kim Gandy, President of NOW, in Kansas

“I was not able to make it to the lecture, but was able to watch it full below.”

(The full video of Gandy's lecture for the Jana Mackey Distinguished Lecture Series can be viewed here)

 

Yesterday, April 20, 2009, 3:11:49 PM | kansasjackass@gmail.com (Jason)

Last Wednesday, while the rest of the world was teabagging, I was having lunch and attending a lecture with one of the bright lights in the women's right's movement in the United States- Kim Gandy, the President of the National Organization of Women.
Let me tell you- it was an honor.
I tell the pro-choice lobbyists at the Statehouse that I was raised by feminists and that's absolutely true. My mother and grandmother and all of my various aunts made sure I knew as a very young boy that women can do anything men can and that supporting women as they struggle to gain equality in society with men is of supreme importance.
Because of that upbringing, nothing scares me or riles me more than when Republicans start screwing around with the rights of women, and I do everything I can to bring their manuvering to hurt women out front and center. Yes, this 25-year-old male blogger takes particular pleasure in screaming from the rooftops about the men in the Legislature who work every day of every session to limit a woman's rights.
I think (I hope) I've been helpful, and I think my friends in the pro-woman lobby think I have been. I was truely honored to be the guest of Kansas NOW at the invitation-only luncheon with Gandy and other supporters of women that Wednesday before we all traveled to the Dole Institute to hear her deliver the very first in a lecture series named after my friend Jana Mackey.
From the Lawrence Journal-World:

“Jana was an incredible, amazing young woman who has left a legacy for so many people who come after her,” Gandy said, “and I hope to inspire some people to follow in Jana’s footsteps and really work to make change.”
[...]

Gandy’s main message for the crowd that packed Wednesday night into the Dole Institute of Politics was that there is still a lot of work to do to achieve one of Jana’s main goals: Equality for all.

Gandy said some of the biggest issues women face today include pay equity and job segregation.

She said 16 seems to be the magic number: only 16 percent of partners in law firms are women, 16 percent of firefighters and police are women and 16 percent of the United States military are women. When it comes to Congress, 17 percent of our congressional representatives are women.

Gandy said getting more women into leadership roles is something we, as a society, need to address.

But the issue that was on everyone’s mind, given Jana’s tragic death, was the issue of violence against women, something Gandy called “an epidemic.”

“Jana’s life and her death really send a lot of messages to us, and one of them is that no one is immune to domestic violence,” Gandy said. “The fact that someone who worked as an advocate for domestic violence victims becomes one herself, really tells us that no one is immune and this has got to be something that we all work to change.”

16 percent of partners in law firms are women, 16 percent of firefighters and police are women and 16 percent of the United States military are women. When it comes to Congress, 17 percent of our congressional representatives are women.

Gandy said getting more women into leadership roles is something we, as a society, need to address.

But the issue that was on everyone’s mind, given Jana’s tragic death, was the issue of violence against women, something Gandy called “an epidemic.”

“Jana’s life and her death really send a lot of messages to us, and one of them is that no one is immune to domestic violence,” Gandy said. “The fact that someone who worked as an advocate for domestic violence victims becomes one herself, really tells us that no one is immune and this has got to be something that we all work to change.”

Great strides have been made in efforts for equality in our society over the last 100 years for women, gays, and racial minorities. None of those groups, though, have achieved real equality, because people continue to believe it's OK to hate because we're different and people believe it's OK to treat someone different because they aren't the same as they...for hundreds and hundreds of reasons people aren't all treated equally under the law and by their brothers (and sisters) in our society.

Because we still have work to do, it's wonderful we have leaders like Gandy at the forefront leading the way.

I want to relate one little thing from the luncheon that I got a kick out of- when I introduced myself to Gandy, I said, "Hi, I'm Jason Croucher, I write a progressive blog here in Kansas called 'Kansas Jackass,'" and Gandy said, "Oh, I've read you."

I said, "Oh, no you haven't!"

She said, "Do I need to let you check my browser history?"

I guess she'd read the little blog when she was doing research about the efforts to approve the Kansas Equal Rights Amenemdnet, since it got scant mention in the mainstream press.

I'm flattered to be Gandy's source for the good work of Kansas women, and I'm proud to be there for the women of the state I love so much.

(The full video of Gandy's lecture for the Jana Mackey Distinguished Lecture Series can be viewed here)

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Houston we have a problem-The shooters are all men

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/04/18-8

Published on Saturday, April 18, 2009 by CommonDreams.org

Denormalizing the Signs of Impending Disaster

by Michael Schwalbe

Warning signs can go unheeded because we normalize them. According to some analysts, this is what happened in the case of the Challenger space shuttle disaster. On January 28, 1986, less than two minutes after taking off, the shuttle's solid rocket boosters exploded, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
In her book The Challenger Launch Decision: Risky Technology, Culture, and Deviance at NASA, sociologist Diane Vaughan asks why NASA managers decided to launch the shuttle, despite warnings from engineers that the mission should be delayed because of potential problems with the solid rocket boosters in the below-normal January cold.

Vaughan's answer points to what was normal in the social world of NASA at that time: minor compromises in design and performance; equipment that deviated slightly from specifications; and pushing ahead with flight schedules, despite engineers' worries over seemingly small technical anomalies.

According to Vaughan, the recommendation to delay the flight was ignored because having problems and anomalies on the shuttle were taken-for-granted aspects of NASA culture. So was the tendency for engineers to worry. Against this backdrop, Vaughan says, signals of danger appeared mixed, weak, and routine, and thus were not taken seriously enough.

So far this year, eight mass shootings have resulted in nearly 60 deaths. As at NASA in the case of the Challenger, there have been ample warning signs. But because these signs are so commonplace in our culture, we have either ignored or failed to see them.

After each shooting, the question has been asked, Why do people do this sort of thing? The experts typically consulted are psychologists, who cite depression, social isolation, anger, and shame as causes. The most often mentioned contextual factor is the easy availability of guns.

But to ask, Why do people do this sort of thing?, is already to ignore the obvious pattern. It is not people of all kinds who kill because they are depressed, isolated, despairing, angry, or feeling shame. The shooters are all men. So the question we should be asking is, Why do men do this sort of thing?

One reason this question is seldom asked is that violence and manhood in U.S. culture are thoroughly normalized. As anti-violence educator Jackson Katz documents in his film "Tough Guise," over the past twenty years violence has come to be the defining feature of manhood in America. Violence and masculinity have become nearly synonymous.

This is not to say that all men are violent, or even that all men go around pretending to be Rambo just beneath the surface. Of course not. Yet all men are judged by a cultural standard that says a real man -- one who deserves all the privileges of being a member of the dominant gender group -- should have a capacity for violence and a willingness to use it when necessary.

The same cultural standard says that real men are able to exert control over the environment, over others, and over themselves. To be a victim of external forces is thus nearly the opposite of what it means to be a man in U.S. culture. It is hard to feel put upon, demeaned, or controlled by others, and still feel worthy of respect as a man.

The great contradiction, however, is that in a capitalist society most men don't have much power. A relative handful of men control vast economic resources, make laws, control the police, and command armies. These men can indeed make decisions, backed by force, that deny most other men and nearly all women control over their own lives.

On the one hand, then, real men are expected to be able to exert control; on the other hand, they lack the resources -- wealth, status, institutional authority -- to do so. Under these conditions, it is not surprising that some men try to compensate for their lack of power by displaying a capacity for violence, or a lack of fear of other men's violence.

Most of the time, most men are not overtly violent. But when a man tries to exert control and then rages against people and circumstances that frustrate these efforts, we are not necessarily alarmed. We are not alarmed because he is doing what we expect men to do.

Fortunately, such frustration does not usually lead to mass killing. Yet this is simply the logical extreme to which violent masculinity leads. When the burden of shame for failing to meet the cultural standards of manhood becomes unbearable, and a man feels there is nothing left to lose, mass killing may be a perverse attempt to restore, with irreversible finality, a sense of control.

As at NASA, the warning signs today are abundant. But they are mixed, weak, and routine.

Not all men are violent. Nor are men who occasionally commit acts of violence always violent; they can often be kind and gentle, too. And because it is possible to point to rare instances when women are violent, we can be misled into thinking there is nothing special about men that should compel our attention.

But the most serious problem is that we normalize the relationship between manhood and violence, and thus we take for granted what should be clear warnings about the potential for violence that our society instills in every man. When men learn to stake their self-worth on having power and being in control, and yet live under conditions that frustrate and humiliate them, we should not be surprised when explosions occur.

It may be strangely comforting to see the problem of mass shootings as a psychological one. If the problem stems from psychopathology, then we don't have to look critically at our culture of manhood or at how our society concentrates power in a few hands. Certainly, men suffering from depression and excessive anger may benefit from support and therapy. But therapy will never solve our collective violence problem.

If we understand the problem in cultural terms, we can see that the dangers go beyond being the victim of a "random" shooting. The logic of violent masculinity puts the whole planet at risk. By this logic, the natural world has no value in itself, but exists mainly to provide resources for expanding one's power. By the same logic, which is also the logic of U.S. imperialism, it is better to destroy the world than to fail to dominate it.

What we need is a cultural shift away from defining manhood and nationhood in terms of a capacity to dominate. We need to reject the worship of power and of "commanders-in-chief," and instead make democracy the primary value by which we judge our social institutions. The warning signs are all around, writ small in every mass shooting and writ large in every war. Our survival depends on denormalizing these signs and heeding them soon.

Michael Schwalbe is a professor of sociology at North Carolina State University.  He can be reached at MLSchwalbe@nc.rr.com.   

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Family Abuse: Court Psychiatric Ploys of Child Custody

 

Family Abuse: Court Psychiatric Ploys of Child Custody

 

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Another Mother Hero: Shirley Riggs

Another Mother Hero: Shirley Riggs

Justice and Safety for Shirley Riggs and her Children

My name is Shirley Riggs, I’m 39 years old and the mother of 4 beautiful children. I’m writing this inside the Thurston County jail, Olympia, WA, waiting for extradition to Kansas City, Missouri to face charges of custodial interference. My bond stands at $500,000 cash only. This secures that I as a mother will sit in jail because I chose to protect my children from further sexual abuse and because of a broken system. My heart aches for my children in a way few will ever realize….

…. My children and I have suffered great injustices in our lives in the past 4 years. We have been denied our right to due process and protection. Laws have been swept under the rug, resulting in my children being placed with their father and grandfather, who both have substantiated sexual abuse findings involving my oldest daughter. My children have been illegally ripped from the home, family, society, and way of life they love, the place they felt safest and the community they held so dear.

Thus begins a letter dated Oct 8, 2008 by Shirley Riggs , who twice fled with her children from Independence, Missouri  to rescue them from court ordered unsupervised overnight visits with their sexually abusive father and grandfather.

In what can only be termed a perversion of justice, Shirley has been extradited back to Missouri, where she sits in a jail cell awaiting 2 trials – one to terminate her parental rights and give full custody to the sexually abusive father; the other a criminal trial for felony custodial interference in which she faces a possible 16 years in prison.

Even worse, both these trials will take place under Judge Stephen Nixon – the same judge who has sanctioned unsupervised visits with the abusive father, and who has a record of giving light sentences to convicted pedophiles.

Meanwhile, Shirley’s four children (2 girls, 2 boys, ages 7-15) are currently in foster care under the legal custody of the Missouri Children’s Division, where unsupervised visitation with the pedophile father continues with the stated aim of reunification.

BACKGROUND

Don't be mislead by the statements in the above video by the father's lawyer and the Independence Police Department saying that there are no criminal findings of abuse and that the case is closed.  There are multiple reports finding that abuse has occured.  One wonders why the police failed to confirm the abuse that so many others had no problem seeing.

The March 2007 report from Oregon substantiating the father’s abuse, which was subsequently accepted and filed by the Missiouri Children's division states that there is:

...reasonable cause to believe this referral is Founded for Sexual Abuse, Fondling, on Raymond Riggs for making his daughter … touch his bare penis.  The referral will be Founded for Sexual Abuse, Exposure and Voyeurism on Raymond Riggs for repeatedly showing his children pornography on the TV, computer and in Magazines.

Ray Riggs sought administrative appeal of this report and was denied. Currently he has an appeal before Judge Nixon – the same judge who ordered the unsupervised visits -  to reverse this finding; decision is pending.

A more recent report (1/29/08) by a therapist at the Synergy group home in Kansas City where the children were placed by the court states:

[The daughter] disclosed in the first individual session that her paternal grandfather “touched her in a private place”…..[ The daughter] seems very afraid of her father, paternal grandfather, and paternal aunt.  [The daughter’s] reports were very consistent with her siblings’ accounts of events, but [the daughter] and her siblings’ reports never seemed rehearsed.  Due to the behaviors displayed by [the daughter], and the consistency of the disclosures, my therapeutic judgment is that the abuse did occur when she was in the care of their father and grandfather.  I believe that having contact with anyone in the father’s family would be detrimental to [the daughter] and her siblings’ physical and emotional well-being.

A MISGUIDED COURT

Despite these findings, the Family Court’s order upon review advocating termination of Ms. Riggs’ parental rights, signed by Judge Nixon, says:

•  the Court finds that …visitation with the parents…. including unsupervised and overnight visits… was reasonable….
•  with regard to mother, the Court finds that permanency by way of Termination of Parental Rights is in the best interests of the children….. 
•  The Court finds continued reunification efforts of the children with the father to be in the best interests of the children…
•  …visitation with the paternal grandparents…. may take place….and may include unsupervised visitation…

SERIOUS CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

The profound and blatant conflicts of interest in Ms. Riggs’ case make the State's actions against Ms. Riggs highly suspect.

The father’s sister, Leslie Riggs, works as an attorney in the Jackson County office of the Missouri Children’s Division – the very office that has been investigating the abuse allegations against the father and grandfather and making recommendations that the mother lose her parental rights.

Until recently, Leslie Riggs lived in the same house with her father and brother, the substantiated abusers.

The father’s first divorce attorney was a co-worker of Leslie Riggs who worked in the Children’s Division while representing Ray Riggs and while Riggs was being investigated by that office for child sexual abuse.  He resigned abruptly when threatened with exposure of the conflict of interest.  Riggs’ current attorney formerly worked in this same office.

Commissioner Molly Merrigan ordered  the investigation of sexual abuse allegations against the grandfather be transferred from Jackson County DSS to an independent agency because of conflict of interest re: Leslie Riggs.

Case was transferred to Cornerstone for Care in Kansas City, but abuse allegations were not investigated by them.  Instead, two other Jackson County DSS employees and co-workers of Leslie Riggs determined that abuse allegations against Al Riggs were unfounded.  This finding contradicts the substantiated determination in Oregon and the opinion of the children’s therapist at a court assigned group home in Missouri.

Cornerstone regularly conducts Family Support Team (FST) meetings to oversee status of Riggs’ case.  Leslie Riggs regularly attends these meetings as a family member.  In addition, Leslie brings a friend, Maureen Patton, a social worker and frequent consultant to Jackson County DSS and the Family Court.

Patton has written a letter to the FST members offering her professional opinion “as a friend”, suggesting that Shirley is not a fit parent, that Ray and Al do not fit the profile of sexual predators, that the children “have been coached to have negative feelings about the paternal side of the family” and that reunification with the father and his family should be encouraged.  Patton has also recommended consultation with specific experts, including psychologist Gregory Sisk who has diagnosed  Shirley with Borderline Personality Disorder despite normal mental health evaluations, and  Shirley’s court appointed therapist ,Karen Allen, who determined that Shirley committed Parental Alienation.

Last, the attorney representing the Children’s Division in the TPR proceeding is Leslie Riggs’ supervisor.

All proceedings against Shirley Riggs should be halted and these blatant conflicts of interest should be independently investiated.

WRONGFUL JURISDICTION AND DUE PROCESS VIOLATIONS

At the time of the divorce proceedings in Nov 2006, Ms. Riggs had lived out of state for almost 3 years.  Further, Ms. Riggs had initiated divorce and custody proceedings in New Mexico in May 2005, and her husband had been served.  Last, Ms. Riggs raised the issue of her children being of Native American heritage but the court failed to follow through appropriately in notifying the Tribe.

Although she was living in Oregon at the time, Ms. Riggs was given a mere 24 hours notice regarding the April 24, 2007 case management meeting during which Judge Nixon gave temporary custody to the paternal grandparents.  Further, there was no notice that a change of custody would take place at this meeting.  What’s more, the grandparents were not a party to the case, nor had the father or grandparents made any motion re: a change of custody.  Additionally, Ms. Riggs did not have competent representation at the meeting as her attorney withdrew just prior to the hearing, and someone else from that attorney’s office  who had never spoken to Shirley and was not assigned to represent Shirley attended instead.  Last, there were no allegations or findings that Ms. Riggs was an unfit parent stated at this meeting.

In addition to the many egregious due process failures, the above facts suggest that there may have been violations of both the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act and the Indian Child Welfare Act which may render Missouri’s jurisdiction in this case unlawful.

BAD SCIENCE

The basis of the court proceedings against Ms. Riggs is the belief that she has committed Parental Alienation – that she has turned the children against their father and coached them to lie about being abused.  In fact, Parental Alienation is a junk science concept that has been denounced by the National District Attorney’s Association , theNational Council for Juvenile and Family Court Judges , American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association and more .  PAS is nothing more than a legal tactic, a shell game, used by attorneys to get their clients off the hook for allegations of abuse by shifting the court's attention off the abuse claims and onto the motives of the person making the allegations.  There are several reports, from examiners in Oregon and Missouri, who confirm the children's allegations of abuse.  The only people who are saying the abuse did not occur are connected to Leslie Riggs.

BAD TECHNIQUE

There are recordings of the forensic interviews of the Riggs children from Oregon, where the abuse by both the father and grandfather was substantiated, and from Missouri, where allegations against the grandfather have been unfounded.   There is a striking difference in interviewing techniques between the 2 states: Oregon using an open ended technique designed to make the children comfortable and allowing them to talk openly; Missouri using a technique that makes the child noticeably uncomfortable and defensive and seems intended to cause doubt or confusion.

Please sign this petition and show your support for her.

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Background on Parental Alienation Syndrome

Background on Parental Alienation Syndrome

April 12, 2009 — batteredmomslosecustody

Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) is not based in empirical evidence and has been widely discredited by legal and mental health experts. Many abusers are invoking PAS and parental alienation to convince family courts to ignore children’s allegations of abuse. This can result in custody being granted to children’s abusers.

HISTORY OF PAS

In 1985, PAS was first described by Richard Gardner, a psychiatrist who wrote that adults having sex with children is not a bad thing.[1]

Gardner described PAS as a “syndrome” whereby vengeful mothers employed child abuse allegations as a powerful weapon to punish ex-husbands and ensure custody to themselves.[2] He further theorized that such protective parents enlisted the children in their “campaign of denigration” and “vilification” of the abuser, that they often “brainwashed” or “programmed” the children into believing untrue claims of abuse by the father, and that the children then fabricated and contributed their own stories.[3]

To distance themselves from the discredited theory and its embarrassing originator, proponents of Parental Alienation Awareness Day sometimes claim that Parental Alienation Syndrome and parental alienation are different. In reality, they are often used synonymously and the consequences can be dire. Children can end up in the custody of their abusers.

Since 1985, abusers have come to convince family courts to ignore children’s allegations of abuse by invoking parental alienation and Parental Alienation Syndrome. They wrongly claim that mothers are to blame because they are brainwashing their children.

PAS WIDELY DISCREDITED

1996 – The Report of the American Psychological Association Presidential Task Force on Violence and the Family discredited the theory. It stated:

Although there are no data to support the phenomenon called parental alienation syndrome, in which protective parents are blamed for interfering with their children’s attachment to their abusers, the term is still used by some evaluators and courts to discount children’s fears in hostile and psychologically abusive situations.[4] Family courts often do not consider the history of violence between the parents in making custody and visitation decisions. . . . Psychological evaluators not trained in domestic violence may contribute to this process by ignoring or minimizing the violence and by giving inappropriate pathological labels to women’s responses to chronic victimization. Terms such as “parental alienation” may be used to blame the women for the children’s reasonable fear of or anger toward their violent abuser.[5]

2003 – The National District Attorneys Association’s Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse discredited the theory. It stated:

Although PAS may be hailed as a “syndrome” . . . in fact it is the product of anecdotal evidence gathered from Dr. Gardner’s own practice. [...] PAS is based primarily upon two notions, neither of which has a foundation in empirical research. […] PAS is an untested theory that, unchallenged, can have far-reaching consequences for children seeking protection and legal vindication in courts of law.”[6]

2006 – The American Bar Association’s Children’s Legal Rights Journal discredited the theory. It stated:

PAS’s twenty-year run in American courts is an embarrassing chapter in the history of evidentiary law. It reflects the wholesale failure of legal professionals entrusted with evidentiary gate-keeping intended to guard legal processes from the taint of pseudo-science…. As a matter of science, law, and policy PAS should remain inadmissible in American courts.[7]

2006 – The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges also discredited the theory. It stated:

The discredited “diagnosis” of “PAS” (or allegation of “parental alienation”), quite apart from its scientific invalidity, inappropriately asks the court to assume that the children’s behaviors and attitudes toward the parent who claims to be “alienated” have no grounding in reality. It also diverts attention away from the behaviors of the abusive parent, who may have directly influenced the children’s responses by acting in violent, disrespectful, intimidating, humiliating and/or discrediting ways toward the children themselves, or the children’s other parent.[8]

CONSEQUENCES

One of the most troubling consequences of Gardner’s theory is that, “PAS shifts attention away from the perhaps dangerous behaviour of the parent seeking custody to that of the custodial parent. This person, who may be attempting to protect the child, is instead presumed to be lying and poisoning the child.”[9]

As a result, some children placed in the custody of their abusers have committed suicide; others have run away, and countless others have endured the abuse and are permanently traumatized. In recent years, children placed in custody of their abusers have been coming forward to tell their stories and to warn of the danger surrounding the fictitious syndrome.[10]

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[1] www.stopfamilyviolence.org/373

[2] Gardner, 1992a; 1992b

[3] (Gardner, 1992b, p. 162, 193; 2002, pp. 94-95). – Meier, J. (2009, January). Parental Alienation Syndrome and Parental Alienation: Research Reviews. Harrisburg, PA: VAWnet, a project of the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence/Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Retrieved 3/10/2009, from: http://www.vawnet.org

[4] Pg 40

[5] Pg 100

[6] http://www.ndaa.org/publications/newsletters/update_volume_16_number_6_2003.html

[7] http://www.stopfamilyviolence.org/media/Hoult_PAS_admissibility.pdf

[8] http://www.stopfamilyviolence.org/media/NCFCJ%20guidebook%20final_2006.pdf

[9] Bruch, Carol S., Parental Alienation Syndrome and Parental Alienation: getting It Wrong in Child Custody Case in Child and Family Law Quarterly, Vol 14, No 4, 2002: 384.

[10] http://www.courageouskids.net/

Technorati Tags: Background,Parental,Alienation,Syndrome,April,health,Many,courts,children,result,custody,HISTORY,Richard,Gardner,psychiatrist,weapon,denigration,vilification,abuser,father,theory,originator,consequences,Report,American,Psychological,Association,Presidential,Task,Force,Violence,Although,data,phenomenon,attachment,fears,victimization,Terms,National,District,Attorneys,Center,Prosecution,Child,Abuse,fact,product,notions,foundation,protection,vindication,Legal,Rights,Journal,chapter,failure,gate,science,policy,Council,Juvenile,Court,Judges,diagnosis,allegation,parent,attention,person,danger,Meier,January,Research,Harrisburg,VAWnet,Resource,Domestic,Pennsylvania,Coalition,Against,NCFCJ,Carol,Wrong,Case,allegations,situations,decisions,responses,attitudes,publications,newsletters,abusers,parents,evaluators,women,evidentiary,behaviors,stopfamilyviolence

Stacie Momany: Sorry (gagged term), the horses have already left the barn!

April 11, 2009

Stacie Momany: Sorry (gagged term), the horses have already left the barn!

Filed under: Angry gagged term, Assault on your children's mother, Bad gagged term, Best interest of children, Best interest of the child, Best interest of the children, Child Custody Battle, Child Custody Issues, Children's rights, Claudine Dombrowski, Corrupt Judges, Corrupt bastards, Family Courts, GAGGED!, Getting Screwed by the Whores of the Court, Getting screwed by the Family Courts, Guardian Ad Litem, Hate Crimes, Male Sexist Behavior, Maternal Deprivation, Missing children, Missing mothers, Momany, Mother Child Relationship, Noncustodial Mothers, Single mothers, Stacie Momany, Whores of the court, Women's Rights — justice4mothers @ 8:54 am

After a week, we are finally back up.  Stacie Momany’s ex (gagged term) sought a court order against us to remove the one post we had their PUBLIC COURT DOCKET, outlining about nine years of legal abuse perpetuated by the ex (gagged term).   Also our sister site, www.messagetoourchildren.com , that posts messages for parents or children looking for each other to help them connect had to remove her (gagged term) and (gagged term) name or reference to (gagged term’s)(gagged term).   Her son (gagged term) was over the top in his excitement to find his mom on the internet.  He had not seen his mom in a while because of Stacie’s ex (gagged term) sought to end contact between mother and son.  Her son seems computer savy though, and even though her young son’s (gagged term) and (gagged term’s) (gagged term’s) Whores of the Court and the corrupt or inept judge that wishes to enable (gagged term’s) (gagged term) to continue the legal abuse Stacie has been subjected to, just try and keep (gagged term) or his little friends off the internet.   There are posts spread around the world about her.

Our last post before going down was “Does Satan Edit Your Website?”  Yes…who knew….we had to edit/delete to get our site back up.  If anyone choses to comment on this post,  just comment on the “gagged aspect” of what the corrupt courts do, and don’t mention Stacie, young (gagged term), or his (gagged term), or according to WordPress, I am required to delete.  Or just post a message of support to Stacie only, don’t mention (gagged term) or (gagged term) please.

So, even though (gagged term) has changed (gagged term)’s name, and had us shut down until we removed what has happened to Stacie and her young (gagged term) in family court, sorry (gagged term).  The horses have left the barn already.  Stacie and (gagged term) have connected, rightfully so, and nothing can change that.  Every effort that you do to continue this effort is done to hurt (gagged term).  We won’t forget Stacie, or every mom that is gagged by the Family Courts, like Claudine Dombrowski.  We are tired of the corrupt system that fails our children, fails good people ALL THE TIME, and rewards their buddies, the corrupt lawyers and Whores of the Court who come before them to do their bidding.

When WordPress took this site down, they also took down all tags to it also.  As I work to put all the tags back up, please try a “search” in the Search Window, at the top of the sidebar, if you are having troubling finding something.  Welcome back friends.

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WORD-SUP-PRESS

MamaLiberty’s Weblog

BADASS BLOGGER

WORD-SUP-PRESS

April 8, 2009 by mamaliberty

WORD-SUP-PRESS

I’m not happy, and when Mama is not happy, NOBODY’S happy.

After hearing that a friend of mine has had problems with Word-Sup-Press “censoring” a mother and child reunion I am appalled, disgusted and we’re moving this blog over to BLOGGER because they don’t give a fuck about men on a mission to destroy any mother bond. (Details to come regarding new move…in the mean time check out, http://rights4mothers.blogspot.com/

I urge any mother who has been abused by the father of your children and you are tired of the corruption of Family Court to use your voice and your words to show that our movement will go forward and we will win.

READ: Gloria Allred’s book, “Fight Back and Win”

WATCH: The Changeling, 2008

BLOG: write about the corruption!

Excerpt from “The Changeling”

CAROL DEXTER

Fuck them…and the horse…they

rode in on.

CHRISTINE

That’s hardly appropriate language

for a lady, now is it?

CAROL DEXTER

Hell, yeah…there are times…that’s

exactly the right thing to say.

CHRISTINE

And when’s that?

CAROL DEXTER

When you’ve got…nothing left to

lose.

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Posted in activism | Tagged abusive men, bad fathers, batterers, blogger, censorship, court whores, custody, domestic violence, family court corruption, father rights, government corruption, Judges, maternal deprivation, misogynists, women haters, wordpress | 1 Comment

One Response

1. on April 11, 2009 at 4:08 pm Stacie Momany: Sorry (gagged term), the horses have already left the barn! « RightsForMothers.com

   [...] last post before going down was “Does Satan Edit Your Website?”  Yes…who knew….we had to edit/delete to get our site back up.  If anyone choses to comment on this post,  [...]

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