Maryland Husband is charged with murdering his three children, ranging in ages from 2 to 6.
For five months, Husband, who confessed to the murders, has tried to change his defense counsel’s plea to guilty, and now has requested to represent himself.
Before the court rules on his request to reprsent himself, a competency evaluation will be performed. A psychiatric evaluation for purposes of an insanity plea was never completed.
But a different psychiatric evaluation was completed for purposes of Husband’s divorce and child custody case.
The psychological expert in family court diagnosed Husband with “mood and narcissistic personality disorders and borderline and histrionic personality traits.” All very serious and difficult to treat diagnoses.
The Husband allegedly had made threats to murder his children - because Wife had reported them to the police.
Nonetheless, the Maryland family court had awarded Husband unsupervised visitation.
And, had the Wife not complied with the Court’s visitation order, she might have been held in contempt. Or the court might even have found her guilty of trying to alienate the children from the Husband - and transferred primary residential custody to the Husband as her punishment.
But the Wife complied with the Court’s order. And now the children are dead. And the Husband admits that he is responsible.
Read more in this Baltimore Sun article: Father seeks to plead guilty to killing children.
Link- Florida Divorce * Child Custody * Domestic Violence Law Lawyer Boca Raton » Blog Archive » Father Confesses to Murdering Hi...
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Husband Kidnaps and Tortures Wife Intending to Avoid Property Division and Alimony
California Husband wanted a divorce. A special kind of divorce.
Outside the courts …
He did not want to divide the marital assets with Wife. Or to pay her alimony.
He wanted everything for himself. But he had put everything in Wife’s name.
Husband’s solution to his dilemma?
He abducted Wife, drugged her and tortured her for five days.
Until she managed to escape.
At which point he was arrested and charged with kidnapping and kidnapping for ransom, grand theft of personal property, making a criminal threat and corporal injury to a spouse.
The Husband’s accomplice has not been taken into custody yet.
Now Husband is in jail with his bail set at $10 million …
Read more in this [LA] Daily Breeze article: Hawthorne man accused of torturing his wife; second suspect remains at large.
Link- Florida Divorce * Child Custody * Domestic Violence Law Lawyer Boca Raton » Blog Archive » Husband Kidnaps and Tortures Wif...
Outside the courts …
He did not want to divide the marital assets with Wife. Or to pay her alimony.
He wanted everything for himself. But he had put everything in Wife’s name.
Husband’s solution to his dilemma?
He abducted Wife, drugged her and tortured her for five days.
Until she managed to escape.
At which point he was arrested and charged with kidnapping and kidnapping for ransom, grand theft of personal property, making a criminal threat and corporal injury to a spouse.
The Husband’s accomplice has not been taken into custody yet.
Now Husband is in jail with his bail set at $10 million …
Read more in this [LA] Daily Breeze article: Hawthorne man accused of torturing his wife; second suspect remains at large.
Link- Florida Divorce * Child Custody * Domestic Violence Law Lawyer Boca Raton » Blog Archive » Husband Kidnaps and Tortures Wif...
Teen accused of sex with dog arrested after police find child porn videos
An 18-year-old who, along with his mother, lost custody of his two dogs after authorities found signs of bestiality, was arrested Monday after detectives found at least eight other videos on his computer of little girls performing sexual acts with grown men, an arrest report said Monday.
In April, Palm Beach County sheriff's detectives raided the Palm Beach Gardens apartment the teen shared with his mother and seized three computers.
On them, authorities found a videotape showing the suspect when he was 17 having sex with his 4-year-old German shepherd. The teen told detectives that he made the video, that it was him having sex with the dog and that he'd done this only one time. But in a civil trial in the case, the teen's mother testified that her son told her he'd had sex with the dog four times, the report said.
Authorities said there was reason to believe the teen's 8-year-old shepherd also had been abused and took away both dogs and two cats. A county judge permanently barred both mother and son from ever owning animals.
The case sparked renewed calls in May for the state to outlaw bestiality, though lawmakers failed to support a bill this year.
The Sun Sentinel is not identifying the teen because of his age when, authorities say, the German shepherd video was made.
On Monday he was charged with one count of cruelty to animals, two counts of promoting sexual performance by a child and seven counts of possessing photographs of sexual performance by a child.
Dianna Cahn can be reached at dcahn@SunSentinel.com or 561-243-6645.
Get the info
Our crime and safety page keeps you informed about crime in your area and provides tips on how to stay safe, video reports and more at SunSentinel.com/crime
Link -
Teen accused of sex with dog arrested after police find child porn videos -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
In April, Palm Beach County sheriff's detectives raided the Palm Beach Gardens apartment the teen shared with his mother and seized three computers.
On them, authorities found a videotape showing the suspect when he was 17 having sex with his 4-year-old German shepherd. The teen told detectives that he made the video, that it was him having sex with the dog and that he'd done this only one time. But in a civil trial in the case, the teen's mother testified that her son told her he'd had sex with the dog four times, the report said.
Authorities said there was reason to believe the teen's 8-year-old shepherd also had been abused and took away both dogs and two cats. A county judge permanently barred both mother and son from ever owning animals.
The case sparked renewed calls in May for the state to outlaw bestiality, though lawmakers failed to support a bill this year.
The Sun Sentinel is not identifying the teen because of his age when, authorities say, the German shepherd video was made.
On Monday he was charged with one count of cruelty to animals, two counts of promoting sexual performance by a child and seven counts of possessing photographs of sexual performance by a child.
Dianna Cahn can be reached at dcahn@SunSentinel.com or 561-243-6645.
Get the info
Our crime and safety page keeps you informed about crime in your area and provides tips on how to stay safe, video reports and more at SunSentinel.com/crime
Link -
Teen accused of sex with dog arrested after police find child porn videos -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Jailed ex-judge Gerald Garson begs for mercy, temporary release
REFRESH - Go to Home-Page
BY NANCIE L. KATZ DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Thursday, August 21st 2008, 5:20 PM
Can't a corrupt ex-judge get a break?
Booted Brooklyn divorce judge Gerald Garson asked for "temporary release" from prison last year just weeks after after being sentenced to three to ten years for taking bribes from a crooked lawyer pal.
First, Garson charged the media distorted his crimes. When that didn't work, he argued his crimes were "victimless."
This month, Albany Supreme Court Justice George Ceresia ruled that Garson - who favored a lawyer pal after being lavished with cash, cigars, dinners and drinks - can't even try for early release until next summer.
"No victims?" exclaimed Frieda Hanimov, a mom who wore a wire for eight months to prove Garson was corrupt. "There are so many. Moms and kids are still suffering. He knows how to play the system because he was a judge. But the damage he did is irreversible."
Garson was sentenced in June 2007 to three prison terms of one to four years each for taking more than $10,000 in gifts, meals and drinks from Paul Siminovsky in exchange for lucrative appointments and favors.
Their profanity-laced talks were caught on video and audio through five months' of surveillance in 2002 and 2003. Garson then tried for months to get a deal from prosecutors by helping their probe into whether judges bought their way to the bench.
Now, dozens of Garson's victims say he ruined their lives, destroying families in questionable custody and financial rulings. Some have been struggling to get justice ever since.
"Many innocent lives were affected by his actions," said a temporary release reviewer who denied Garson's first try to get out of jail last August.
Last January, a second reviewer agreed, branding Garson an "unsuitable candidate" with "poor custodial adjustment."
"He maintains his crimes were victimless and blames 'widespread systemic media reports' for the public's [and the Temporary Release Committee's] alleged 'misconception' with regard to the nature of his crimes," Ceresia wrote.
But Ceresia called Garson's victimless claim "problematic." Hanimov, who went undercover when she feared Garson would take her kids, said he shattered families' faith in justice.
"The damage he did to the kids and the women for the rest of their lives is unbelievable," she said. "All these victims are so drained. They don't believe in the system anymore."
nkatz@nydailynews.com
Kim Lurie, JDAlliance to Restore Integrity in DivorcePresident
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."Margaret Mead.
This communication is gratuitously submitted to members of a listserv for the Not For Profit Alliance to Restore Integrity in Divorce (ARID). It is not intended as legal advice and shall not be relied upon as such by any recipient.
My Two Cents-
Did I read that right?
Victimless crime?
VICTIMLESS? Is that how they sleep at nite? Do these bastards tell themselves there are no victims if there isn't anyone laying physically dead in front of them when they're finished their crimes?
VICTIMLESS? Well.. let me tell you about VICTIMLESS CRIMES..
Me and my children (who's names I'm banned from saying--can you believe the criminal Richmond County N.Y. IDV Judge (my opinion of course-since thus far the richmond county prosecutors have refused to arrest any of them) that unconstitutionally ordered that--anyway--- we are victims of our wonderful system and although we aren't laying physically dead at the hands of this crime and those criminals that staged and carried out the kidnapping--- we might as well be labeled dead! emotionally destroyed for the rest of our lives at the hands of CRIMINALS IN BLACK ROBES!
Go ahead tell me his crime was victimless and watch me laugh in your face as I imagine what I want to do to you--however unlike those criminals in black robes--I've made a choice to keep my life crime free-- so I get to imagine all the things that might make me feel better--while I laugh at them all--because the truth always comes out in the end-- and I believe the truth is only moments away!
Don't ask--can't tell- I've been unconstitutionally gaged from sharing with you how I know that!
On the other hand-- if he agrees his crimes were egregious -- and he's willing to rat out and help take down the other criminals in black robes-- maybe then-- MAYBE -- they should shave off a week or two off his sentence!
BY NANCIE L. KATZ DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Thursday, August 21st 2008, 5:20 PM
Can't a corrupt ex-judge get a break?
Booted Brooklyn divorce judge Gerald Garson asked for "temporary release" from prison last year just weeks after after being sentenced to three to ten years for taking bribes from a crooked lawyer pal.
First, Garson charged the media distorted his crimes. When that didn't work, he argued his crimes were "victimless."
This month, Albany Supreme Court Justice George Ceresia ruled that Garson - who favored a lawyer pal after being lavished with cash, cigars, dinners and drinks - can't even try for early release until next summer.
"No victims?" exclaimed Frieda Hanimov, a mom who wore a wire for eight months to prove Garson was corrupt. "There are so many. Moms and kids are still suffering. He knows how to play the system because he was a judge. But the damage he did is irreversible."
Garson was sentenced in June 2007 to three prison terms of one to four years each for taking more than $10,000 in gifts, meals and drinks from Paul Siminovsky in exchange for lucrative appointments and favors.
Their profanity-laced talks were caught on video and audio through five months' of surveillance in 2002 and 2003. Garson then tried for months to get a deal from prosecutors by helping their probe into whether judges bought their way to the bench.
Now, dozens of Garson's victims say he ruined their lives, destroying families in questionable custody and financial rulings. Some have been struggling to get justice ever since.
"Many innocent lives were affected by his actions," said a temporary release reviewer who denied Garson's first try to get out of jail last August.
Last January, a second reviewer agreed, branding Garson an "unsuitable candidate" with "poor custodial adjustment."
"He maintains his crimes were victimless and blames 'widespread systemic media reports' for the public's [and the Temporary Release Committee's] alleged 'misconception' with regard to the nature of his crimes," Ceresia wrote.
But Ceresia called Garson's victimless claim "problematic." Hanimov, who went undercover when she feared Garson would take her kids, said he shattered families' faith in justice.
"The damage he did to the kids and the women for the rest of their lives is unbelievable," she said. "All these victims are so drained. They don't believe in the system anymore."
nkatz@nydailynews.com
Kim Lurie, JDAlliance to Restore Integrity in DivorcePresident
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."Margaret Mead.
This communication is gratuitously submitted to members of a listserv for the Not For Profit Alliance to Restore Integrity in Divorce (ARID). It is not intended as legal advice and shall not be relied upon as such by any recipient.
My Two Cents-
Did I read that right?
Victimless crime?
VICTIMLESS? Is that how they sleep at nite? Do these bastards tell themselves there are no victims if there isn't anyone laying physically dead in front of them when they're finished their crimes?
VICTIMLESS? Well.. let me tell you about VICTIMLESS CRIMES..
Me and my children (who's names I'm banned from saying--can you believe the criminal Richmond County N.Y. IDV Judge (my opinion of course-since thus far the richmond county prosecutors have refused to arrest any of them) that unconstitutionally ordered that--anyway--- we are victims of our wonderful system and although we aren't laying physically dead at the hands of this crime and those criminals that staged and carried out the kidnapping--- we might as well be labeled dead! emotionally destroyed for the rest of our lives at the hands of CRIMINALS IN BLACK ROBES!
Go ahead tell me his crime was victimless and watch me laugh in your face as I imagine what I want to do to you--however unlike those criminals in black robes--I've made a choice to keep my life crime free-- so I get to imagine all the things that might make me feel better--while I laugh at them all--because the truth always comes out in the end-- and I believe the truth is only moments away!
Don't ask--can't tell- I've been unconstitutionally gaged from sharing with you how I know that!
On the other hand-- if he agrees his crimes were egregious -- and he's willing to rat out and help take down the other criminals in black robes-- maybe then-- MAYBE -- they should shave off a week or two off his sentence!
FYI- I know there are good judges out there.. sadly tho I have not been in front of one yet in my custody/divorce case..
However, I still hold out hope.. that I will be before an honest Judge soon!
Friday, August 22, 2008
Judge Murphy agrees to leave the bench
REFRESH - Go to Home-Page
This is by far not my normal blog material..
However.. after reading this .. I couldn't help but laugh..
So here it is...enjoy
By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff
Superior Court Judge Ernest B. Murphy, who won a $2 million libel verdict against the Boston Herald and is now facing a possible reprimand and fine for writing threatening letters to the newspaper, has admitted that he is "permanently disabled'' and will not return to the bench in Massachusetts.
In a three-page order released today, the Supreme Judicial Court wrote that it has accepted an agreement between Murphy and the state Commission on Judicial Conduct that says the judge is "permanently disabled from performing his judicial duties'' and will no longer sit as a state judge.
The state's highest court wrote that it rejected Murphy's request to remain on paid administrative leave until he either retires or is granted a disability pension from the governor and the governor's council. Instead, the court ruled that Murphy may continue to receive his judicial pay for up to 120 days, but that payment will stop if he is granted a disability pension before then. Murphy, who has claimed that he suffers from post-traumatic stress, has been on a paid leave of absence since July 30, 2007.
The court kept the details of Murphy's disability claim impounded, citing his privacy rights.
In a separate one-page order, the Supreme Judicial Court indicated it is still considering a request by the Judicial Conduct Commission to publicly censure Murphy, fine him $25,000, and suspend him without pay for 30 days for writing the letters to the Herald. However, in the wake of its decision to accept Murphy's departure from the bench, it gave both Murphy and the commission until Sept. 9 to file additional requests with the court in the other case.
In February 2005, a jury found that the Herald had maliciously published false and defamatory material about Murphy in a series of stories in 2002. The stories, quoting anonymous sources, said that the judge had instructed lawyers during a conference in his chambers to tell a 14-year-old rape victim to "get over it.'' Murphy testified at the trial that he had actually said the victim would need help getting over the attack. The judge said the stories prompted a deluge of hate mail and threats to his family.
After the libel verdict, Murphy wrote two letters to Herald publisher Patrick Purcell on court stationery demanding that the newspaper drop its appeal and give him a check for $3.26 million. Murphy warned in the letters that it would be a "BIG mistake'' for Purcell to share the letters with his lawyers and wrote, "You have a ZERO chance of reversing my jury verdict on appeal.''
Boston attorney Michael E. Mone, who represents Murphy, declined to comment yesterday, saying it would be inappropriate to talk about Murphy's case since details of his disability remain impounded and the matters involving the Herald are still pending before the court. But, in an interview last year he said the judge had "significant physical and mental problems and significant post-traumatic disorder.''
Last August, Governor Deval Patrick rejected Murphy's request for a disability pension based on the judge's claim that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the protracted legal battle with the Herald.
Link - Judge Murphy agrees to leave the bench - Local News Updates - The Boston Globe
This is by far not my normal blog material..
However.. after reading this .. I couldn't help but laugh..
So here it is...enjoy
By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff
Superior Court Judge Ernest B. Murphy, who won a $2 million libel verdict against the Boston Herald and is now facing a possible reprimand and fine for writing threatening letters to the newspaper, has admitted that he is "permanently disabled'' and will not return to the bench in Massachusetts.
In a three-page order released today, the Supreme Judicial Court wrote that it has accepted an agreement between Murphy and the state Commission on Judicial Conduct that says the judge is "permanently disabled from performing his judicial duties'' and will no longer sit as a state judge.
The state's highest court wrote that it rejected Murphy's request to remain on paid administrative leave until he either retires or is granted a disability pension from the governor and the governor's council. Instead, the court ruled that Murphy may continue to receive his judicial pay for up to 120 days, but that payment will stop if he is granted a disability pension before then. Murphy, who has claimed that he suffers from post-traumatic stress, has been on a paid leave of absence since July 30, 2007.
The court kept the details of Murphy's disability claim impounded, citing his privacy rights.
In a separate one-page order, the Supreme Judicial Court indicated it is still considering a request by the Judicial Conduct Commission to publicly censure Murphy, fine him $25,000, and suspend him without pay for 30 days for writing the letters to the Herald. However, in the wake of its decision to accept Murphy's departure from the bench, it gave both Murphy and the commission until Sept. 9 to file additional requests with the court in the other case.
In February 2005, a jury found that the Herald had maliciously published false and defamatory material about Murphy in a series of stories in 2002. The stories, quoting anonymous sources, said that the judge had instructed lawyers during a conference in his chambers to tell a 14-year-old rape victim to "get over it.'' Murphy testified at the trial that he had actually said the victim would need help getting over the attack. The judge said the stories prompted a deluge of hate mail and threats to his family.
After the libel verdict, Murphy wrote two letters to Herald publisher Patrick Purcell on court stationery demanding that the newspaper drop its appeal and give him a check for $3.26 million. Murphy warned in the letters that it would be a "BIG mistake'' for Purcell to share the letters with his lawyers and wrote, "You have a ZERO chance of reversing my jury verdict on appeal.''
Boston attorney Michael E. Mone, who represents Murphy, declined to comment yesterday, saying it would be inappropriate to talk about Murphy's case since details of his disability remain impounded and the matters involving the Herald are still pending before the court. But, in an interview last year he said the judge had "significant physical and mental problems and significant post-traumatic disorder.''
Last August, Governor Deval Patrick rejected Murphy's request for a disability pension based on the judge's claim that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the protracted legal battle with the Herald.
Link - Judge Murphy agrees to leave the bench - Local News Updates - The Boston Globe
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Open letter to Chief Judge Judith Kaye and Chief Administrative Judge Pfau:
REFRESH - Go to Home-Page
Below is an open letter to Chief Judge Kaye...
I decided to keep the original authors name confidential.. to protect the innocent.
Although it wasn't written by me.. it might as well have been.. it clearly states what I and many others need to ask..
I wonder if the person[s] from the Troy/Albany area Court that visit this blog daily searching for "Louise Uccio" or something similar regarding my case can answer the question below.
(So FYI... nameless for now -Richmond County IDV Judge- my posting this letter doesn't mean I've broken your unconstitutional gag order)
Dear Chief Judge Judith Kaye and Chief Administrative Judge Pfau:
I respectfully ask you both for whatever further information you need to collaborate with the US Attorney for the Eastern District in developing a preemptive plan of restorative justice for myself and the peer advocates similarly situated.
We all have the same needs for integrity in the system and for healing of relationships and restored connections with our children as good parents with the support of law enforcement and the court system under basic principles of law and justice that have been subject to head spinning violations in our cases.
Please advise.
Sincerely,
XXXXX XXXXX.
(Phone number included)
REFRESH - Go to Home-Page
Below is an open letter to Chief Judge Kaye...
I decided to keep the original authors name confidential.. to protect the innocent.
Although it wasn't written by me.. it might as well have been.. it clearly states what I and many others need to ask..
I wonder if the person[s] from the Troy/Albany area Court that visit this blog daily searching for "Louise Uccio" or something similar regarding my case can answer the question below.
(So FYI... nameless for now -Richmond County IDV Judge- my posting this letter doesn't mean I've broken your unconstitutional gag order)
Dear Chief Judge Judith Kaye and Chief Administrative Judge Pfau:
I respectfully ask you both for whatever further information you need to collaborate with the US Attorney for the Eastern District in developing a preemptive plan of restorative justice for myself and the peer advocates similarly situated.
We all have the same needs for integrity in the system and for healing of relationships and restored connections with our children as good parents with the support of law enforcement and the court system under basic principles of law and justice that have been subject to head spinning violations in our cases.
Please advise.
Sincerely,
XXXXX XXXXX.
(Phone number included)
REFRESH - Go to Home-Page
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
A U-Tube video from Chrissy- an adult child of Parent Alienation
The U-Tube link below is from Chrissy an adult survivor of Parent Alienation Syndrome..
Please take a moment to watch.. as she tells her heart wrenching story..
A sad story.. of how her father tore her and her mother apart for years..
She explains how she became his therapist.. his saviour.. he needed her to survive he claimed...
She explains how he played the victim...
He played on her innocence as a child with is ... "poor me.. your horrible mother did (insert some horrible lie here) and your mother did (insert another horrible lie here)
YouTube - Chrissy at the DC Festival 2008
Along the lines of what Chrissy said ..
I've written about Parent Alienation numerous times..
Please also take a look at earlier posts on this subject (links below)...
Lets all get a clear understanding that alienating a child from his/her other parent or the intentional destruction of any child's healthy loving relationship with a loving adult..
is nothing short of child abuse!
I pray that adults that were alienated as children somehow run across my posts and figure it out for themselves.. then do what Chrissy did .. reunite!
The target parent already forgives the bad behaviour.. they/we/I know it was the alienator that was at fault... not the innocent child/now possibly adult alienated child.
Expanding the Parameters of Parental Alienation Syndrome
Surviving the Narcissist
Evil
What Makes a Narcissist Tick
My Version of the Hidden Damage of Relational Aggression - Parent Alienation Syndrome
Characteristics of Narcissist Mothers
Why do PAS parents act like they do?
Please take a moment to watch.. as she tells her heart wrenching story..
A sad story.. of how her father tore her and her mother apart for years..
She explains how she became his therapist.. his saviour.. he needed her to survive he claimed...
She explains how he played the victim...
He played on her innocence as a child with is ... "poor me.. your horrible mother did (insert some horrible lie here) and your mother did (insert another horrible lie here)
YouTube - Chrissy at the DC Festival 2008
Along the lines of what Chrissy said ..
I've written about Parent Alienation numerous times..
Please also take a look at earlier posts on this subject (links below)...
Lets all get a clear understanding that alienating a child from his/her other parent or the intentional destruction of any child's healthy loving relationship with a loving adult..
is nothing short of child abuse!
I pray that adults that were alienated as children somehow run across my posts and figure it out for themselves.. then do what Chrissy did .. reunite!
The target parent already forgives the bad behaviour.. they/we/I know it was the alienator that was at fault... not the innocent child/now possibly adult alienated child.
Expanding the Parameters of Parental Alienation Syndrome
Surviving the Narcissist
Evil
What Makes a Narcissist Tick
My Version of the Hidden Damage of Relational Aggression - Parent Alienation Syndrome
Characteristics of Narcissist Mothers
Why do PAS parents act like they do?
TOT SENT HOME BY ACS DIES
MYSTERY IN QUEENS
By DOUGLAS MONTERO, JOHN DOYLE and CYNTHIA R. FAGEN
A Queens toddler yanked from his abusive mother two years ago was found mysteriously dead in his bed - only a month after the ACS gave him back to the 20-year-old woman.
The mother, Sheree Brown, who neighbors said is pregnant with her fourth child, was questioned yesterday but released without charges last night.
Cops are also considering whether 2-year-old Jashya, who had been in foster care, was killed accidentally by his 5-year-old brother, Ajustice. "It's not yet been ruled out as a possibility," said a police source.
Brown's boyfriend, Daquen Williams, 23, with whom she has an infant, was babysitting all three children in their Far Rockaway apartment while she went out Monday afternoon.
Brown told authorities she had put Jashya to bed for a nap at 2:30 p.m. and when she returned at 4 p.m., he was still asleep.
But at 8 p.m., when she checked in on him, he was unresponsive and she called 911. Jashya was rushed to St. John's Episcopal Hospital, where he was declared dead.
Sources told The Post that rigor mortis had already set in. An autopsy is scheduled for today.
Brown insisted she had nothing to do with killing Jashya, instead blaming Ajustice - a boy she had once beaten, sources said.
The boy allegedly admitted he had been "wrestling" with his little brother, who had fallen off his bicycle in their apartment.
The child had bite marks and scratches on his face, sources said.
"Jashya was a playful kid. He liked to wrestle," said Brown's cousin, Chanell Purrington, 23. "All she was trying to do was make things better for her and her kids."
Brown has a long, troubling history with the city's Administration for Children's Services. Ajustice and Jashya were put in foster care in 2006. Jashya was just 6 months old and covered in burns when ACS removed him.
Police said there are no records of an arrest related to the incident.
ACS also removed her third child - whom police sources identified as 1-year-old Anaya Williams - soon after she was born.
Brown was locked up in February 2005 for hitting Ajustice.
Brown took parenting and anger-management classes and was receiving therapy in an effort to get her children back, sources said.
In February, a Family Court judge agreed to allow Jashya back home with his mom on a "trial basis," said court spokesman David Bookstaver. "Jashya was returned with the consent and advice of both ACS and the child's law guardian," he said.
A caseworker had visited the home last Wednesday and found nothing amiss, the agency said.
This year, the family was seen by both foster and preventive agencies more than 30 times, ACS said.
Additional reporting by Perry Chiaramonte
douglas.montero@nypost.com
TOT SENT HOME BY ACS DIES - New York Post
Brown's boyfriend, Daquen Williams, 23, with whom she has an infant, was babysitting all three children in their Far Rockaway apartment while she went out Monday afternoon.
Brown told authorities she had put Jashya to bed for a nap at 2:30 p.m. and when she returned at 4 p.m., he was still asleep.
But at 8 p.m., when she checked in on him, he was unresponsive and she called 911. Jashya was rushed to St. John's Episcopal Hospital, where he was declared dead.
Sources told The Post that rigor mortis had already set in. An autopsy is scheduled for today.
Brown insisted she had nothing to do with killing Jashya, instead blaming Ajustice - a boy she had once beaten, sources said.
The boy allegedly admitted he had been "wrestling" with his little brother, who had fallen off his bicycle in their apartment.
The child had bite marks and scratches on his face, sources said.
"Jashya was a playful kid. He liked to wrestle," said Brown's cousin, Chanell Purrington, 23. "All she was trying to do was make things better for her and her kids."
Brown has a long, troubling history with the city's Administration for Children's Services. Ajustice and Jashya were put in foster care in 2006. Jashya was just 6 months old and covered in burns when ACS removed him.
Police said there are no records of an arrest related to the incident.
ACS also removed her third child - whom police sources identified as 1-year-old Anaya Williams - soon after she was born.
Brown was locked up in February 2005 for hitting Ajustice.
Brown took parenting and anger-management classes and was receiving therapy in an effort to get her children back, sources said.
In February, a Family Court judge agreed to allow Jashya back home with his mom on a "trial basis," said court spokesman David Bookstaver. "Jashya was returned with the consent and advice of both ACS and the child's law guardian," he said.
A caseworker had visited the home last Wednesday and found nothing amiss, the agency said.
This year, the family was seen by both foster and preventive agencies more than 30 times, ACS said.
Additional reporting by Perry Chiaramonte
douglas.montero@nypost.com
TOT SENT HOME BY ACS DIES - New York Post
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Judge Carol Smith Under Investigation
REFRESH - Go to Home-Page
Barnstable Juvenile Court Judge under scrutiny for improprieties
By Nev Moore
The Commission on Judicial Conduct has opened an investigation on Judge Carol Smith of Barnstable Juvenile Court, based on several affidavits filed about her handling of DSS Care and Protection cases.
Judge Smith was the presiding justice in the Peterson, Crowley and Moore cases featured in past editions of Massachusetts News. The Commission investigates judges for violation of judicial canons, misconduct and violation of their oath to uphold the laws and the Constitution.
Some of the areas of impropriety alleged in Judge Smith¢s case are:
* Allowing the existing laws and policies governing the involvement of DSS to be consistently and grossly violated.
* Not allowing parents to present exculpatory evidence.
* Often not allowing parents to answer or rebut DSS allegations.
* Extreme delays and continuances.
* Permitting unprofessional behavior by DSS attorneys.
* Allowing perjury.
* Not upholding existing Supreme Court rulings, including warrantless search and seizure by DSS when they enter homes and schools.
The most damaging issue is the secret filing of false documents to receive federal funding. The documents, referred to as 29C forms, are intended to closely examine, in the case of each individual child, whether the federal requirements were met before removal of a child from his home. It is this form that documents compliance by DSS with their Title IV-E contract with the federal government to receive the federal funding. The document is filed through the court and must be signed by a judge.
Many parents are told by their court appointed attorneys that they "can¢t possibly win in front of Judge Smith," regardless of no evidence of wrongdoing. Parents are told to just forfeit the court proceedings because there is no point to them. They are told: "Just do what DSS wants, and eventually you will probably get your kids back." Parents are blindly walking into a fixed fight.
The Commission is interested in hearing testimony from anyone who has experienced similar problems in Barnstable Juvenile Court Care and Protection proceedings as their concern is the possibility of a consistent pattern of misconduct. Their number is (617) 725-8050, and all communications are strictly confidential.
http://www.massnews.com/past_issues/2000/7_July/juljud.htm
Barnstable Juvenile Court Judge under scrutiny for improprieties
By Nev Moore
The Commission on Judicial Conduct has opened an investigation on Judge Carol Smith of Barnstable Juvenile Court, based on several affidavits filed about her handling of DSS Care and Protection cases.
Judge Smith was the presiding justice in the Peterson, Crowley and Moore cases featured in past editions of Massachusetts News. The Commission investigates judges for violation of judicial canons, misconduct and violation of their oath to uphold the laws and the Constitution.
Some of the areas of impropriety alleged in Judge Smith¢s case are:
* Allowing the existing laws and policies governing the involvement of DSS to be consistently and grossly violated.
* Not allowing parents to present exculpatory evidence.
* Often not allowing parents to answer or rebut DSS allegations.
* Extreme delays and continuances.
* Permitting unprofessional behavior by DSS attorneys.
* Allowing perjury.
* Not upholding existing Supreme Court rulings, including warrantless search and seizure by DSS when they enter homes and schools.
The most damaging issue is the secret filing of false documents to receive federal funding. The documents, referred to as 29C forms, are intended to closely examine, in the case of each individual child, whether the federal requirements were met before removal of a child from his home. It is this form that documents compliance by DSS with their Title IV-E contract with the federal government to receive the federal funding. The document is filed through the court and must be signed by a judge.
Many parents are told by their court appointed attorneys that they "can¢t possibly win in front of Judge Smith," regardless of no evidence of wrongdoing. Parents are told to just forfeit the court proceedings because there is no point to them. They are told: "Just do what DSS wants, and eventually you will probably get your kids back." Parents are blindly walking into a fixed fight.
The Commission is interested in hearing testimony from anyone who has experienced similar problems in Barnstable Juvenile Court Care and Protection proceedings as their concern is the possibility of a consistent pattern of misconduct. Their number is (617) 725-8050, and all communications are strictly confidential.
http://www.massnews.com/past_issues/2000/7_July/juljud.htm
INTERNET LAW - USE OF SOCIAL WEBSITES SUCH AS FACEBOOK IN CRIMINAL AND OTHER PROCEEDINGS
I borrowed this from FRAMED Thanks for the great post!
(Explained in detail after the article)
Ira Piltz, Greenpoint Technologies
Increasingly, prosecutors as well as defense attorneys have resorted to using materials pulled from individuals’ Facebook and MySpace accounts as trial evidence. Such evidence is usually intended to negatively cast the character or reliability of an accused, a suspect, or a witness. Information posted on these interactive websites is admissible in court as any other electronic evidence and judges have found such evidence relevant and often convincing.
Social Websites have become a very popular communication media. Users of sites such as Facebook and MySpace often use these sites to communicate with others by posting comments, pictures, videos, and, otherwise, building online networks. Many post their opinions on various matters and disclose incidents and events from their personal lives. While there are various privacy settings that a subscriber of such websites can choose, many decide to have their postings available for viewing by the general public. Moreover, since the material that one posts on his or her Website is freely accessible by persons added as “friends” in the network, there is often nothing that would prevent these “friends” from copying and pasting other’s comments.
It is surprising that individuals accused of crimes place evidence of their criminal behavior or unsociable attitudes on their computers. Based on this trend, prosecutors and defense lawyers are increasingly resorting to the inspection of social websites to obtain incriminating information about accused or suspects who brag about their drinking, drugging, or illegal activities; or who post pictures of themselves engaging in criminal or otherwise compromising activities on the social Websites. In particular, prosecutors are using these postings to provide evidence that a defendant lacks remorse or has engaged in a pattern of behavior either prior to or subsequent to the alleged crime. In a well-known Florida case, a YouTube video threatening police was used to indict some gang members.
What are some other uses of social websites in legal proceedings?
In addition to their utility in criminal cases, compromising postings on social websites may be used in several forums in which it is essential to present evidence about a party’s moral character. One primary area where these postings can come into play is in the context of family law proceedings. Family law practitioners can and have used information posted on social networking sites to impugn the credibility of their client’s spouse. In the US, attorneys in family law proceedings have successfully used sexual comments or recount of sexual encounters posted on MySpace or Facebook by a spouse referring to persons other than his/her spouse.
Compromising social networking postings can also pose potential risks in the employment context. Employers are legally permitted to research the character of potential candidates via information that such candidates post on publicly available social Websites. Compromising posts, and in particular, posts that extol a candidate’s drug or alcohol use or sexual prowess can be used against the applicant for employment.
Another possible use of Facebook or MySpace photographs is in suspect identification by eyewitnesses, as reported by Mark Diebolt, a deputy county attorney in Pima County, Arizona. He noted that such networking sites have been helpful in prosecuting gang-related crimes, since the connections between gang-members and the nature of their activities is often exposed on such sites.
Is information posted on social Websites admissible in court?
Due to the fact that such networking Websites as Facebook and MySpace are relatively new, there are no clear and specific rules discussing the admissibility of such evidence in court. However, in practice, judges have admitted such postings and relied on them in making their judgments provided that they comply wit the US Federal Rules of Evidence. John Palfrey, the executive director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School has commented that although there have been few decisions to-date discussing the admissibility of such internet postings in court, the judges have nevertheless “indicated that they will treat this information like other electronic evidence.”
In the context of sentencing hearings, it is almost impossible to prevent a court from considering such evidence. This is because the crux of a sentencing hearing is the evaluation of the defendant’s character and a determination of whether the defendant is likely to commit another crime. As a result, in this context, indications of irresponsible, anti-social or criminal behavior that are derived from a defendant’s postings on social networking sites are particularly relevant.
What is an example of such social networking materials being used in court?
In one particular case, a 20-year-old college junior was sentenced to two years in prison based largely on Facebook materials that were presented by the prosecution at his sentencing hearing. The defendant was charged as a result of being involved in a car accident caused by him while intoxicated. The car accident resulted in the serious long-term hospitalization of one of the involved drivers. Two weeks after being charged, this man attended a Halloween party dressed as a prisoner. Pictures taken at the party and posted on Facebook “showed him in a black-and-white striped shirt and an orange jumpsuit labeled "Jail Bird," according to a CNN report. The report also stated that the superior court judge Daniel Procaccini said the prosecutor’s slide show influenced his decision to sentence [the young man]. Although the defendant’s post-accident behavior was not criminal, it nevertheless indicated to the judge that the defendant showed a callous disregard for the gravity of his actions. Based on this evidence, the judge decided to impose a particularly harsh sentence on the defendant.
Links: PublicationsArticle titled “Unrepentant on Facebook? Expect Jail Time”
Links: PublicationsArticle titled “Finding Treasures for Cases on Facebook”Article Link:
http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=articles&id=F1F6833C-0244-4260-AAFF-F55F698D4458
PrancnWolf
Blairsville, Georgia
F.R.A.M.E.D.(Fathers Rights And Men Ending Discrimination) Website / Blog:
(www.FramedFathers.com)
(Explained in detail after the article)
Ira Piltz, Greenpoint Technologies
Increasingly, prosecutors as well as defense attorneys have resorted to using materials pulled from individuals’ Facebook and MySpace accounts as trial evidence. Such evidence is usually intended to negatively cast the character or reliability of an accused, a suspect, or a witness. Information posted on these interactive websites is admissible in court as any other electronic evidence and judges have found such evidence relevant and often convincing.
Social Websites have become a very popular communication media. Users of sites such as Facebook and MySpace often use these sites to communicate with others by posting comments, pictures, videos, and, otherwise, building online networks. Many post their opinions on various matters and disclose incidents and events from their personal lives. While there are various privacy settings that a subscriber of such websites can choose, many decide to have their postings available for viewing by the general public. Moreover, since the material that one posts on his or her Website is freely accessible by persons added as “friends” in the network, there is often nothing that would prevent these “friends” from copying and pasting other’s comments.
It is surprising that individuals accused of crimes place evidence of their criminal behavior or unsociable attitudes on their computers. Based on this trend, prosecutors and defense lawyers are increasingly resorting to the inspection of social websites to obtain incriminating information about accused or suspects who brag about their drinking, drugging, or illegal activities; or who post pictures of themselves engaging in criminal or otherwise compromising activities on the social Websites. In particular, prosecutors are using these postings to provide evidence that a defendant lacks remorse or has engaged in a pattern of behavior either prior to or subsequent to the alleged crime. In a well-known Florida case, a YouTube video threatening police was used to indict some gang members.
What are some other uses of social websites in legal proceedings?
In addition to their utility in criminal cases, compromising postings on social websites may be used in several forums in which it is essential to present evidence about a party’s moral character. One primary area where these postings can come into play is in the context of family law proceedings. Family law practitioners can and have used information posted on social networking sites to impugn the credibility of their client’s spouse. In the US, attorneys in family law proceedings have successfully used sexual comments or recount of sexual encounters posted on MySpace or Facebook by a spouse referring to persons other than his/her spouse.
Compromising social networking postings can also pose potential risks in the employment context. Employers are legally permitted to research the character of potential candidates via information that such candidates post on publicly available social Websites. Compromising posts, and in particular, posts that extol a candidate’s drug or alcohol use or sexual prowess can be used against the applicant for employment.
Another possible use of Facebook or MySpace photographs is in suspect identification by eyewitnesses, as reported by Mark Diebolt, a deputy county attorney in Pima County, Arizona. He noted that such networking sites have been helpful in prosecuting gang-related crimes, since the connections between gang-members and the nature of their activities is often exposed on such sites.
Is information posted on social Websites admissible in court?
Due to the fact that such networking Websites as Facebook and MySpace are relatively new, there are no clear and specific rules discussing the admissibility of such evidence in court. However, in practice, judges have admitted such postings and relied on them in making their judgments provided that they comply wit the US Federal Rules of Evidence. John Palfrey, the executive director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School has commented that although there have been few decisions to-date discussing the admissibility of such internet postings in court, the judges have nevertheless “indicated that they will treat this information like other electronic evidence.”
In the context of sentencing hearings, it is almost impossible to prevent a court from considering such evidence. This is because the crux of a sentencing hearing is the evaluation of the defendant’s character and a determination of whether the defendant is likely to commit another crime. As a result, in this context, indications of irresponsible, anti-social or criminal behavior that are derived from a defendant’s postings on social networking sites are particularly relevant.
What is an example of such social networking materials being used in court?
In one particular case, a 20-year-old college junior was sentenced to two years in prison based largely on Facebook materials that were presented by the prosecution at his sentencing hearing. The defendant was charged as a result of being involved in a car accident caused by him while intoxicated. The car accident resulted in the serious long-term hospitalization of one of the involved drivers. Two weeks after being charged, this man attended a Halloween party dressed as a prisoner. Pictures taken at the party and posted on Facebook “showed him in a black-and-white striped shirt and an orange jumpsuit labeled "Jail Bird," according to a CNN report. The report also stated that the superior court judge Daniel Procaccini said the prosecutor’s slide show influenced his decision to sentence [the young man]. Although the defendant’s post-accident behavior was not criminal, it nevertheless indicated to the judge that the defendant showed a callous disregard for the gravity of his actions. Based on this evidence, the judge decided to impose a particularly harsh sentence on the defendant.
Links: PublicationsArticle titled “Unrepentant on Facebook? Expect Jail Time”
Links: PublicationsArticle titled “Finding Treasures for Cases on Facebook”Article Link:
http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=articles&id=F1F6833C-0244-4260-AAFF-F55F698D4458
PrancnWolf
Blairsville, Georgia
F.R.A.M.E.D.(Fathers Rights And Men Ending Discrimination) Website / Blog:
(www.FramedFathers.com)
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Expanding the Parameters of Parental Alienation Syndrome
REFRESH - Go to Home-Page
I want to thank my friend Alison for posting this on her My Space...
Myspace.com Blogs - Expanding the Parameters of Parental Alienation Syndrome - Alison MySpace Blog
Ali... I knew you wouldnt mind me borrowing it (mwahhhhhhh)
Department of Educational Psychology and Counselling
McGill University
3700 McTavish
Montreal, QC H3A 1Y2
Please cite as follows: Cartwright, Glenn F. (1993). Expanding the parameters of parental alienation syndrome. American Journal of Family Therapy, 21 (3), 205-215.
Abstract
The newness of the parental alienation syndrome (PAS) compels its redefinition and refinement as new cases are observed and the phenomenon becomes better understood. New evidence suggests that alienation may be provoked by other than custodial matters, that cases of alleged sexual abuse may be virtual, that slow judgements by courts exacerbate the problem, that prolonged alienation of the child may trigger other forms of mental illness, and that too little remains known of the long term consequences to alienated children and their families.
Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS), first defined by Gardner (1985), results from the attempt by one parent (usually the custodial parent and usually but not always the mother) to behave in such a way as to alienate the child or children from the other parent. It includes a series of conscious programming techniques like "brainwashing" as well as subconscious and unconscious processes by the alienating parent combined with the child's own contribution denigrating the allegedly hated parent (Gardner, 1992).
Gardner (1992) lists eight, broad manifestations indicative of PAS. First, there is a campaign of denigration in which there is the continuing profession of hatred of the absent parent by the child. This litany is easily evoked by teachers, lawyers, judges, or social workers and is often most strong in the presence of the "hated" parent. The child begins to withdraw from the lost parent, speaks indirectly ("You tell Daddy I don't want to see him"), and avoids taking clothes or toys home from the lost parent to avoid "contaminating" the favored parent. Chameleon-like (Johnston, Campbell, & Mayers, 1985), the child may initially experiment, denigrating each parent while with the other, covering his or her tracks by extracting promises from each not to tell the other. However, as the years go by, the child learns that what "sells" best is whatever tale is told in the custodial home--the home base where most of the child's time is spent. Children quickly learn on which side their bread is buttered.
Second, there are weak, frivolous, or absurd rationalizations given by the child for deprecating the lost parent. "He makes noise when he eats." "He took me to Disneyland when I didn't want to go." "He always talks about moon rockets." "He makes me take out the trash." This is the child's expression of a parallel phenomenon seen by lawyers in alienating parents:
...in parental alienation syndrome, the hostility of the alienating client just never seems to be reasonably linked to the seriousness of the incidents alleged. The alienating client often relies blithely on his child's professed refusal to see the other parent as evidence of the inadequacy of the other parent (Goldwater, 1991, p. 125).
Coupled with this is a complete lack of ambivalence in both the alienating parent and the child which normally typifies all human relationships. Lawyers see it in their alienating clients:
The insistence upon the negative aspects of the spouse's character and behaviour coupled with the inability to see existing or even potential positive traits in the spouse are manifestations of an alienating attitude. Such a client appears to objectify his spouse as an evil thing, no longer a person with at least a few redeeming qualities. There is a loss of the ambivalence which characterizes healthy human relationships. Indeed, such objectification of the spouse as "all bad" should be taken to be a sign of significant disorder in the client himself
(Goldwater, 1991, pp. 125-126).
Similarly, PAS children ...express themselves like perfect little photocopies of the alienating parent (Goldwater, 1991, p. 126) and can see no good in the lost parent and no bad in the loved parent. Given a list of "good" things the child did with the lost parent, the child will explain a few as being unenjoyable, others as being forced, still others as "all Dad's idea", and claim no memory of the rest. The process resembles amnesia wherein the child's good memories appear to be completely destroyed.
Fourth, there is the contention that the decisions to reject the parent are the child's. This is referred to by Gardner (1992) as the "Independent Thinker" phenomenon and is often invoked by alienating parents in courtroom testimony. "I want him to see his father but if he doesn't want to, I will fight to the end to ensure his decision is respected." However, as Goldwater (1991, p. 133) has argued:
No custodial parent would expect a judge to accept that the child be permitted not to attend school because he didn't feel like going. Why then should a judge accept that a child not visit his other parent for the same reason?
Children who claim to be their own thinkers often use words and phrases of the alienating parent which belie their claim. Similarly, alienating parents often act in ways as that indicate the idea to reject a parent was not the child's own. Says Gardner (1992):
Children are not born with genes that program them to reject a father. Such hatred is environmentally induced, and the most likely person to have brought about the alienation is the mother (p. 75).
Fifth, there is an almost automatic, reflexive support by the child for the loved parent. Understandably, this reflexive support may flow either from a belief that the loved parent is an ideal person who can do no wrong or from the child's perception of the loved parent as the weaker of the two parents who needs defending.
Sixth, there is an almost complete absence of guilt regarding the feelings of the lost parent. "He doesn't deserve to see me." Gratitude for gifts, favors, or child support is non-existent. Gardner (1992) believes that:
The lack of guilt here is not simply explained by cognitive immaturity (often the case of very young children), but is a statement of the degree to which children can be programmed to such points of cruelty that they are totally oblivious to the effects of their sadism on innocent victims (p. 77).
Seventh, is the presence of borrowed scenarios. The litanies the children produce have a rehearsed, coached quality to them and often include expressions and phrases of the loved parent. "Daddy's new girlfriend is a whore!" Are these the words of a five-year-old?
Finally, there is an obvious spread of the animosity to the hated parent's extended family. "His mother called me a brat." Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins are all tarred with the same brush as the child argues that all they do is try to get him or her to "like" the lost parent.
Though these are the classic manifestations PAS, the newly recognized nature of the syndrome compels its definitional refinement and enlargement as new parameters are discovered. This is especially important given the contention that the problem is growing in our society and now affects 90% of all children in custody litigation (Gardner, 1992). The following observations suggest that the parameters of PAS may be wider than previously believed.
1. Parental alienation syndrome may be precipitated by parental disagreements on matters other than custody.
It was originally suggested that PAS was a relatively new disorder emanating principally from changes in the criteria by which custody was decided. These criteria basically concerned the court's shift toward the best-interests-of-the-child presumption (favoring the placement of the child with the parent who would best meet the child's needs) at the expense of the tender-years presumption (always favoring the placement of the child with the mother), and the court's increasing preference for joint custody rather than sole custody placements. Since PAS is of a serious nature, it seemed reasonable to suppose that it would be provoked only by an equally serious emotional dispute, such as the question of custody is for most parents. However, while disagreement over custody remains implicated as the chief cause of PAS, it now appears that other, non-custodial disagreements on such matters as finance, property division, or child support may also trigger the syndrome by inducing an emotional climate conducive to PAS. This suggests that the etiology of PAS may be much broader than previously believed. If it is really the intensity of the emotional conflict between the estranged spouses which provokes PAS, then it must be wondered whether virtually any disagreement, serious or frivolous, may be a potential trigger. Similar parallels are found in other examples of human behavior: neighbors who stab each other over a noisy lawn mower and motorists who shoot each other over an illegal turn. To an observer, such consequent behavior is clearly out of proportion to the precipitating event. An illegal turn does not cause murder, but it may trigger an emotional state which does. So it may be with PAS. Whatever the precipitating disagreement, it may be just enough to trigger an irrational emotional state conducive to PAS.
Unfortunately, because PAS results from the interaction of the alienating parent with the child, wherein each reinforces the other, once the vicious circle has begun, it becomes self-reinforcing, complex to diagnose, and difficult to terminate. Complicating matters is the fact that PAS may be encouraged by third parties: a new spouse, new in-laws, or even unscrupulous lawyers whose wish it may be to extend rather than resolve the litigation.
2. Allegations of fabricated sexual abuse may be virtual.
Since the designation of PAS is inappropriate in cases where abuse is real, it has been customary (and necessary for the good of the child) first to distinguish between allegations of abuse that are real and those that are fabricated. Gardner (1991) has outlined how fabricated abuse may be detected. However, in the cases of fabricated abuse, a new and more subtle variety of allegation is beginning to appear. I have called these virtual allegations. They refer to those cases in which the abuse is only hinted, its real purpose being to cast aspersions on the character of the noncustodial parent in a continuing program of denigration. For the alienator, virtual allegations avoid the need to fabricate incidents of alleged abuse with their attendant possibility of detection and probability of punishment for perjury. For example, in one case, though no sexual abuse was ever alleged, it was hinted at in the allegation by the mother that the father had shown the child a rented videotape containing pornography. Though the videotape was a Hollywood comedy starring Chevy Chase rented from a family video store and chosen by the child, the mother asserted in court that the child was disappointed in the movie because it was suggestive, erotic, and pornographic. After interviewing the child extensively, the judge disagreed that the movie was pornographic and said that while the child was indeed disappointed with the film, it was not because the film was pornographic but because it wasn't funny. The number of virtual allegations of abuse may be expected to increase in the future because of their more subtle nature, the greater difficulty in disproving them, and because judges and lawyers familiar with PAS are becoming increasingly skilled at detecting outright fabrications.
3. Time heals all wounds, except alienation.
There is some evidence that adolescents who experienced parental separation most recently were most likely to be affected adversely (Frost & Pakiz, 1990). While this tends to support the old adage that time heals all wounds, such is not the case with PAS, where the passage of time worsens rather than heals the affliction. This is not to say that time is unimportant: on the contrary, time remains a vital variable for all the players. To heal the relationship, the child requires quality time with the lost parent to continue and repair the meaningful association that may have existed since birth. This continued communication also serves as a reality check for the child to counter the effects of ongoing alienation at home. Likewise, the lost parent needs time with the child to ensure that contact is not completely lost and to prevent the alienation from completely destroying what may be left of a normal, loving relationship. Time used in these ways helps to counter the negative effects of alienation.
The alienating parent, on the other hand, requires time to complete the brainwashing of the child without interference. The manipulation of time becomes the prime weapon in the hands of the alienator who uses it to structure, occupy, and usurp the child's time to prevent "contaminating" contact with the lost parent, depriving both of their right to spend time together and furthering the goal of total alienation. Unlike cases of child abuse where time away from the abuser sometimes helps in repairing a damaged relationship, in PAS time away from the lost parent furthers the goal of alienation. The usual healing properties of time are lost when it is used as the primary weapon to inflict injury on the lost parent by alienating the child.
There is another reason why time is so important a weapon in the hands of the alienator. With the passage of time, the child grows to be staunch collaborator. A judge who might not listen to a nine-year-old pleading not to see his or her father, might be more disposed to listen to an older, "wiser", and more articulate thirteen-year-old. Spreading out the court proceedings over time not only aids in the brainwashing and contributes to the wearing down of the petitioner but ensures for the alienator a stronger child ally when a final court date is set.
So it is that time is often "bought" through false allegations, by assertions the child is in danger from contact with the lost parent, and by requests to the court for delays, continuances, and postponements. Sometimes even psychological assessment and psychiatric evaluation are pressed into service as part of the delaying tactic, then dropped when the sought-after delay has been achieved. On other occasions psycho-legal expertise is advanced ...with the psychologist cast as the hired gun engaged to put forth to the court the negative opinion of the contesting parent under the guise of an "expertise" (Goldwater, 1991, p. 123). The goal of the alienator is crystalline: deprive the lost parent, not only of the child's time, but of the time of childhood.
4. The degree of alienation in the child is directly proportional to the time spent alienating.
Alienation does not occur overnight. It is a gradual and consistent process that is directly related to the time spent alienating. The longer the child or children spend with the alienator, the more severe will be their alienation. Their supposed hatred of the lost parent does not lessen with time away from that parent but rather grows stronger, precisely because in the hands of the alienator they are continually taught hatred, have unlimited opportunity to practice that hatred, and have no time at all to learn an alternate response. This is one of the reasons why, in serious cases, Gardner (1992) recommends complete removal of the child from the alienating parent, with supervised visitation reinstated gradually.
5. Courts slow to render judgements may unwittingly further the alienating parent's scheme of alienation.
The court needs time too, to assess each case. Taking the best interests of the child to be paramount, and always moving cautiously, the court must ensure that the child is in no danger and determine if the case is truly one of parental alienation. But once the determination of PAS has been made, speedy judgement must be rendered to stop the alienation process immediately. Both the child and the petitioning parent deserve no less. Unfortunately, court postponements and continuances are more often the rule than the exception. Proceedings which are dragged out after a determination of PAS has been made, judgements which fail to take into account fully the rights of the non-custodial parent, and unnecessary interim judgements and delays, however well-intentioned, sadly tend to favor the continuation of the custodial parent's alienating behavior.
The judicial wish to maintain the status quo in the lives of children pending the outcome of hotly contested litigation may work in favour of an alienating custodial parent. The longer the children are in a non-supportive environment, the further they will drift away from their non-custodial parent (Goldwater, 1991, p. 130).
While there is no denying that courts have a difficult job at best, on balance it would appear that the prevailing tendency has been toward delaying judgement in the hope that the problem will go away, solve itself, or at the very least prove that no judgement is preferable to a wrong judgement. Courts must resist this tendency which doubtless is harmful to PAS children in the long run. More than two decades ago, Watson (1970, p.64) wrote of the court's slowness in rendering decisions:
The most serious aspect of these vacillating and dilatory tactics is the effect they have on the children. As will be noted, one of the critical aspects of a child's development is the need for stability in order to develop a sense of identity. When a child is kept suspended, never quite knowing what will happen to him next, he must likewise suspend the shaping of his personality. This is a devastating result and probably represents one of the greatest risks which current procedures pose for children.
Little seems to have changed: where PAS is concerned, it remains a case of "Justice delayed is lost parent denied."
6. Forceful judgement is required to counter the force of alienation.
The role of the court in cases of PAS goes beyond simply deciding custody issues. First, the precedent of clear, forceful judgement may deter some parents from beginning the alienation of their children. As Levy (1992, p. 277) has noted:
If parents who engage in PAS know that aware judges may give custody to the innocent parent, and perhaps even apply sanctions against parents who use a child to prevent the other parent's access to the child, the PAS, which is itself a form of child abuse, may suffer a fatal and well-deserved setback.
Second, clear and forceful judgements serve to put an immediate stop to the alienating practices (Palmer, 1988). Family courts can often be of great service in helping to work out a variety of family problems. However, in cases of PAS, courts which try to act as social workers using a "let's-talk-this-over-and-come-to-some-agreement" approach inevitably fail when one of the feuding parties is insincere and has little wish to solve the problem. The reason is that insincerity, conscious or unconscious, is one of the hallmarks of the alienating parent. While negotiation is often the solution in other forms of litigation, it tends not to work in cases of PAS. In these circumstances, the lack of a swift, clear, forceful judgment is often perceived by the alienator as denoting approval of the alienating behavior. This tends to reinforce the behavior and renders a great disservice to both the child and the petitioning parent. Courts must do more to help; they must not fall victim to the alienator's scheme of stalling for time in order to continue the program of vilification.
7. Excessive alienation may trigger mental illness in the child.
Johnston, Campbell, and Mayers (1985) reported that one response of latency children (6-12 years) to parental conflict was to act in a diffusely disturbed manner exhibiting anxiety, tension, depression, and psychosomatic illness. Consideration needs to be given to the question of what happens in the long run to children who are alienated. Is the problem self-limiting in that even alienation-caused wounds will heal as the child reaches adulthood? Unfortunately, alienation can become so powerful as to trigger other forms of mental and emotional illness with resultant maladaptive behavior. In one instance, an alienated son tried to poison his father by slipping air freshener into his stomach medicine. The boy later ran away during a non-custodial visit and the police had to be called. The likelihood of such disintegrating behavior during non-custodial visits increases in direct proportion to the amount of alienation experienced by the child at home.
8. Little is known about the medium and long term effects of parental alienation syndrome on its victims.
Perhaps the greatest gap in our understanding of the syndrome remains our lack of knowledge of what happens to the victims of PAS over the medium and long term. The short term consequences are known and obvious. The alienator experiences the sweetness of revenge and the thrill of "victory." The non-custodial parent experiences the anguish of the loss of a child, or worse, children. One set of grandparents, relatives, and friends are similarly affected and summarily dismissed. Far more serious is the effect on the child who experiences a great loss, the magnitude of which is akin to the death of a parent, two grandparents, and all the lost parent's relatives and friends, all at once! It can readily be seen that this represents a staggering loss for a child even greater than the actual death of one parent. Moreover, since the child is unable to acknowledge the loss, much less mourn it, it becomes a major tragedy of monumental proportions in the life of the child, the seriousness of which cannot be overestimated.
These are the known and relatively short term consequences. What about medium term effects? The medium term effects concern the continued absence (as opposed to initial loss) of the lost parent (and grandparents, relatives, and friends) and the effect this has on the child's development. Ordinary children who have grown up without a parent or grandparent often report "something missing" in their childhood. What is lost, of course, is the day-to-day interaction, the learning, the support, and the love that normally flows from parents and grandparents. While in the case of a death such loss is unavoidable, in the case of PAS such a loss is entirely avoidable and therefore inexcusable.
What about the long term effects? Everyone involved in PAS suffers some degree of distress over the long term. Hopefully, this includes the alienator who, despite the initial exhilaration of "winning," should hardly find the entire experience pleasurable. In later years, even if alienators do not experience some guilt or regret over their actions, they may develop some sympathy for their children of whom they deprived of a parent.
The non-custodial parent experiences both loss and yet continuing concern for the child. The anguish is akin to that felt by parents when a child goes missing. Since the lack of contact with the child may continue for years, the sense of loss can continue for a similar period. Grandparents suffer needlessly and often seriously. Gardner (1992) reports the cases of at least two grandmothers, in otherwise good health, who died of broken hearts, figuratively, over the loss of their grandchildren.
Of course, it is the child who suffers most. In the early stage, the child experiences not only loss of a parent, but the continual barrage of denigration of the lost parent, grandparents, relatives, and friends. Bad enough to lose a parent; worse still to have the good memories of that parent, relatives, and friends deliberately and systematically destroyed.
In the second stage, perhaps years later, the child begins to comprehend what has really happened. The realization of having believed the alienator, of having wrongly rejected the lost parent, and worse, of having been a pliable accomplice and willing contributor, can produce powerful feelings of guilt. The unfortunate consequences of these feelings may be a backlash against the alienating parent. Says Goldwater (1991, p. 128):
When such a child becomes an adult, the awareness of the enforced absence of the alienated parent for those many years may have a devastating impact and leave long-term feelings of guilt and loss. The alienating parent may then suffer the wrath his adult child feels for having precipitated this loss, and be in turn shut out of the child's life.
Serious emotional problems may ensue. For children to make a successful adjustment, an enormous task faces them: avoiding the tendency of the backlash response to the alienating parent, forgiving that parent, and maintaining a good relationship with that parent; and restoring good memories of the lost parent (which are often wiped out in PAS) and resuming a normal relationship with the lost parent if that parent is still alive, available, and willing. The re-establishment of the relationship with the lost parent is, naturally, a huge task. It involves making up for lost time and experiences, understanding cognitively and emotionally what has happened during the alienation process, re-learning how to interact with the lost parent, restoring a loving relationship, and planning the continuance of the relationship in the future. Therapy for both child and lost parent may be required. On top of this, the child must learn at this late date how to "juggle" the perhaps still feuding parents--a skill which most children of divorced parents usually learn much earlier. These are no small tasks and all this presupposes the child survives the teenage years without other serious emotional, mental, or behavioral problems which often accompany adolescence.
All being well, one would hope that eventual adjustment for these children would be possible. Negative factors which mediate against successful adjustment include the unwillingness or emotional inability of the lost parent to become reinvolved, the absence or death of the lost parent, and the passing on of the grandparents and other relatives and friends leaving an unfillable void in the life of the child.
9. Further research is needed.
While longitudinal studies have related child and adolescent adjustment following parental separation to a variety of variables such as age, gender, frequency and regularity of visitation (cf. Healy, Malley, & Stewart, 1990), what is so terribly lacking in the literature is any kind of longitudinal study to follow PAS children to ascertain what happens to them. What are the long term effects on these children as they enter adulthood? To what degree can their relationship with their lost parent be re-established? Is their relationship with the alienating parent permanently harmed in later adulthood? What happens to PAS children who permanently lose their non-custodial parent through death without ever re-establishing a relationship? Is their guilt intensified and if so, how do they handle it? Can their relationship with their lost parent, and for that matter with their alienating parent, ever approach normalcy? What does this do to their own parenting skills and how does it affect their bringing up their own children? If their relationship with their lost parent is not re-established, then the lost parent may eventually become a lost grandparent. What impact will this have on the grandchildren?
10. The problem of parental alienation syndrome is much more serious than previously imagined.
Viewed in this light, the problem of PAS appears to be extremely serious. We often speak of the preserving family values, but even disintegrated nuclear families have values and rights (like child visitation) which must be preserved and respected to prevent further disintegration and total collapse. To do less, is to sacrifice entire generations of children on the altar of alienation, condemning them to familial maladjustment and inflicting on them lifelong parental loss.
References
Frost, A.K. & Pakiz, B. (1990). The effects of marital disruption on adolescents: time as a dynamic. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 60(4), 544-555.
Goldwater, A. (1991). Le syndrome d'aliJnation parentale (in English). DJveloppements rJcents en droit familial (1991). Cowansville, QC: Les Iditions Yvon Blais. pp. 121 145.
Gardner, R. (1985). Recent trends in divorce and custody litigation. Academy Forum, 29(2): 3-7.
Gardner, R. (1989). Psychotherapeutic and legal approaches to the three types of parental alienation syndrome families. In Family evaluation in child custody mediation, arbitration, and litigation. Cresskill, NJ: Creative Therapeutics.
Gardner, R. (1991). Parental alienation syndrome and the differentiation between fabricated and genuine child sex abuse. Cresskill, NJ: Creative Therapeutics.
Gardner, R. (1992). Parental alienation syndrome: A guide for mental health and legal professionals. Cresskill, NJ: Creative Therapeutics.
Healy, J., Malley, J., & Stewart, A. (1990). Children and their fathers after parental separation. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 60(4), 531-543.
Johnston, J., Campbell, L., & Mayers, S. (1985). Latency children in post separation and divorce disputes. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 24, 563-574.
Levy, D. (1992). [Review of Parental alienation syndrome: A guide for mental health and legal professionals.] American Journal of Family Therapy, 20(3), 276-277.
Palmer, N. (1988). Legal recognition of the parental alienation syndrome. American Journal of Family Therapy, 16(4), 360-363.
Watson, A.S. (1970). The children of Armageddon: Problems of custody following divorce. Syracuse Law Review, 21, 55-86.
I want to thank my friend Alison for posting this on her My Space...
Myspace.com Blogs - Expanding the Parameters of Parental Alienation Syndrome - Alison MySpace Blog
Ali... I knew you wouldnt mind me borrowing it (mwahhhhhhh)
Department of Educational Psychology and Counselling
McGill University
3700 McTavish
Montreal, QC H3A 1Y2
Please cite as follows: Cartwright, Glenn F. (1993). Expanding the parameters of parental alienation syndrome. American Journal of Family Therapy, 21 (3), 205-215.
Abstract
The newness of the parental alienation syndrome (PAS) compels its redefinition and refinement as new cases are observed and the phenomenon becomes better understood. New evidence suggests that alienation may be provoked by other than custodial matters, that cases of alleged sexual abuse may be virtual, that slow judgements by courts exacerbate the problem, that prolonged alienation of the child may trigger other forms of mental illness, and that too little remains known of the long term consequences to alienated children and their families.
Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS), first defined by Gardner (1985), results from the attempt by one parent (usually the custodial parent and usually but not always the mother) to behave in such a way as to alienate the child or children from the other parent. It includes a series of conscious programming techniques like "brainwashing" as well as subconscious and unconscious processes by the alienating parent combined with the child's own contribution denigrating the allegedly hated parent (Gardner, 1992).
Gardner (1992) lists eight, broad manifestations indicative of PAS. First, there is a campaign of denigration in which there is the continuing profession of hatred of the absent parent by the child. This litany is easily evoked by teachers, lawyers, judges, or social workers and is often most strong in the presence of the "hated" parent. The child begins to withdraw from the lost parent, speaks indirectly ("You tell Daddy I don't want to see him"), and avoids taking clothes or toys home from the lost parent to avoid "contaminating" the favored parent. Chameleon-like (Johnston, Campbell, & Mayers, 1985), the child may initially experiment, denigrating each parent while with the other, covering his or her tracks by extracting promises from each not to tell the other. However, as the years go by, the child learns that what "sells" best is whatever tale is told in the custodial home--the home base where most of the child's time is spent. Children quickly learn on which side their bread is buttered.
Second, there are weak, frivolous, or absurd rationalizations given by the child for deprecating the lost parent. "He makes noise when he eats." "He took me to Disneyland when I didn't want to go." "He always talks about moon rockets." "He makes me take out the trash." This is the child's expression of a parallel phenomenon seen by lawyers in alienating parents:
...in parental alienation syndrome, the hostility of the alienating client just never seems to be reasonably linked to the seriousness of the incidents alleged. The alienating client often relies blithely on his child's professed refusal to see the other parent as evidence of the inadequacy of the other parent (Goldwater, 1991, p. 125).
Coupled with this is a complete lack of ambivalence in both the alienating parent and the child which normally typifies all human relationships. Lawyers see it in their alienating clients:
The insistence upon the negative aspects of the spouse's character and behaviour coupled with the inability to see existing or even potential positive traits in the spouse are manifestations of an alienating attitude. Such a client appears to objectify his spouse as an evil thing, no longer a person with at least a few redeeming qualities. There is a loss of the ambivalence which characterizes healthy human relationships. Indeed, such objectification of the spouse as "all bad" should be taken to be a sign of significant disorder in the client himself
(Goldwater, 1991, pp. 125-126).
Similarly, PAS children ...express themselves like perfect little photocopies of the alienating parent (Goldwater, 1991, p. 126) and can see no good in the lost parent and no bad in the loved parent. Given a list of "good" things the child did with the lost parent, the child will explain a few as being unenjoyable, others as being forced, still others as "all Dad's idea", and claim no memory of the rest. The process resembles amnesia wherein the child's good memories appear to be completely destroyed.
Fourth, there is the contention that the decisions to reject the parent are the child's. This is referred to by Gardner (1992) as the "Independent Thinker" phenomenon and is often invoked by alienating parents in courtroom testimony. "I want him to see his father but if he doesn't want to, I will fight to the end to ensure his decision is respected." However, as Goldwater (1991, p. 133) has argued:
No custodial parent would expect a judge to accept that the child be permitted not to attend school because he didn't feel like going. Why then should a judge accept that a child not visit his other parent for the same reason?
Children who claim to be their own thinkers often use words and phrases of the alienating parent which belie their claim. Similarly, alienating parents often act in ways as that indicate the idea to reject a parent was not the child's own. Says Gardner (1992):
Children are not born with genes that program them to reject a father. Such hatred is environmentally induced, and the most likely person to have brought about the alienation is the mother (p. 75).
Fifth, there is an almost automatic, reflexive support by the child for the loved parent. Understandably, this reflexive support may flow either from a belief that the loved parent is an ideal person who can do no wrong or from the child's perception of the loved parent as the weaker of the two parents who needs defending.
Sixth, there is an almost complete absence of guilt regarding the feelings of the lost parent. "He doesn't deserve to see me." Gratitude for gifts, favors, or child support is non-existent. Gardner (1992) believes that:
The lack of guilt here is not simply explained by cognitive immaturity (often the case of very young children), but is a statement of the degree to which children can be programmed to such points of cruelty that they are totally oblivious to the effects of their sadism on innocent victims (p. 77).
Seventh, is the presence of borrowed scenarios. The litanies the children produce have a rehearsed, coached quality to them and often include expressions and phrases of the loved parent. "Daddy's new girlfriend is a whore!" Are these the words of a five-year-old?
Finally, there is an obvious spread of the animosity to the hated parent's extended family. "His mother called me a brat." Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins are all tarred with the same brush as the child argues that all they do is try to get him or her to "like" the lost parent.
Though these are the classic manifestations PAS, the newly recognized nature of the syndrome compels its definitional refinement and enlargement as new parameters are discovered. This is especially important given the contention that the problem is growing in our society and now affects 90% of all children in custody litigation (Gardner, 1992). The following observations suggest that the parameters of PAS may be wider than previously believed.
1. Parental alienation syndrome may be precipitated by parental disagreements on matters other than custody.
It was originally suggested that PAS was a relatively new disorder emanating principally from changes in the criteria by which custody was decided. These criteria basically concerned the court's shift toward the best-interests-of-the-child presumption (favoring the placement of the child with the parent who would best meet the child's needs) at the expense of the tender-years presumption (always favoring the placement of the child with the mother), and the court's increasing preference for joint custody rather than sole custody placements. Since PAS is of a serious nature, it seemed reasonable to suppose that it would be provoked only by an equally serious emotional dispute, such as the question of custody is for most parents. However, while disagreement over custody remains implicated as the chief cause of PAS, it now appears that other, non-custodial disagreements on such matters as finance, property division, or child support may also trigger the syndrome by inducing an emotional climate conducive to PAS. This suggests that the etiology of PAS may be much broader than previously believed. If it is really the intensity of the emotional conflict between the estranged spouses which provokes PAS, then it must be wondered whether virtually any disagreement, serious or frivolous, may be a potential trigger. Similar parallels are found in other examples of human behavior: neighbors who stab each other over a noisy lawn mower and motorists who shoot each other over an illegal turn. To an observer, such consequent behavior is clearly out of proportion to the precipitating event. An illegal turn does not cause murder, but it may trigger an emotional state which does. So it may be with PAS. Whatever the precipitating disagreement, it may be just enough to trigger an irrational emotional state conducive to PAS.
Unfortunately, because PAS results from the interaction of the alienating parent with the child, wherein each reinforces the other, once the vicious circle has begun, it becomes self-reinforcing, complex to diagnose, and difficult to terminate. Complicating matters is the fact that PAS may be encouraged by third parties: a new spouse, new in-laws, or even unscrupulous lawyers whose wish it may be to extend rather than resolve the litigation.
2. Allegations of fabricated sexual abuse may be virtual.
Since the designation of PAS is inappropriate in cases where abuse is real, it has been customary (and necessary for the good of the child) first to distinguish between allegations of abuse that are real and those that are fabricated. Gardner (1991) has outlined how fabricated abuse may be detected. However, in the cases of fabricated abuse, a new and more subtle variety of allegation is beginning to appear. I have called these virtual allegations. They refer to those cases in which the abuse is only hinted, its real purpose being to cast aspersions on the character of the noncustodial parent in a continuing program of denigration. For the alienator, virtual allegations avoid the need to fabricate incidents of alleged abuse with their attendant possibility of detection and probability of punishment for perjury. For example, in one case, though no sexual abuse was ever alleged, it was hinted at in the allegation by the mother that the father had shown the child a rented videotape containing pornography. Though the videotape was a Hollywood comedy starring Chevy Chase rented from a family video store and chosen by the child, the mother asserted in court that the child was disappointed in the movie because it was suggestive, erotic, and pornographic. After interviewing the child extensively, the judge disagreed that the movie was pornographic and said that while the child was indeed disappointed with the film, it was not because the film was pornographic but because it wasn't funny. The number of virtual allegations of abuse may be expected to increase in the future because of their more subtle nature, the greater difficulty in disproving them, and because judges and lawyers familiar with PAS are becoming increasingly skilled at detecting outright fabrications.
3. Time heals all wounds, except alienation.
There is some evidence that adolescents who experienced parental separation most recently were most likely to be affected adversely (Frost & Pakiz, 1990). While this tends to support the old adage that time heals all wounds, such is not the case with PAS, where the passage of time worsens rather than heals the affliction. This is not to say that time is unimportant: on the contrary, time remains a vital variable for all the players. To heal the relationship, the child requires quality time with the lost parent to continue and repair the meaningful association that may have existed since birth. This continued communication also serves as a reality check for the child to counter the effects of ongoing alienation at home. Likewise, the lost parent needs time with the child to ensure that contact is not completely lost and to prevent the alienation from completely destroying what may be left of a normal, loving relationship. Time used in these ways helps to counter the negative effects of alienation.
The alienating parent, on the other hand, requires time to complete the brainwashing of the child without interference. The manipulation of time becomes the prime weapon in the hands of the alienator who uses it to structure, occupy, and usurp the child's time to prevent "contaminating" contact with the lost parent, depriving both of their right to spend time together and furthering the goal of total alienation. Unlike cases of child abuse where time away from the abuser sometimes helps in repairing a damaged relationship, in PAS time away from the lost parent furthers the goal of alienation. The usual healing properties of time are lost when it is used as the primary weapon to inflict injury on the lost parent by alienating the child.
There is another reason why time is so important a weapon in the hands of the alienator. With the passage of time, the child grows to be staunch collaborator. A judge who might not listen to a nine-year-old pleading not to see his or her father, might be more disposed to listen to an older, "wiser", and more articulate thirteen-year-old. Spreading out the court proceedings over time not only aids in the brainwashing and contributes to the wearing down of the petitioner but ensures for the alienator a stronger child ally when a final court date is set.
So it is that time is often "bought" through false allegations, by assertions the child is in danger from contact with the lost parent, and by requests to the court for delays, continuances, and postponements. Sometimes even psychological assessment and psychiatric evaluation are pressed into service as part of the delaying tactic, then dropped when the sought-after delay has been achieved. On other occasions psycho-legal expertise is advanced ...with the psychologist cast as the hired gun engaged to put forth to the court the negative opinion of the contesting parent under the guise of an "expertise" (Goldwater, 1991, p. 123). The goal of the alienator is crystalline: deprive the lost parent, not only of the child's time, but of the time of childhood.
4. The degree of alienation in the child is directly proportional to the time spent alienating.
Alienation does not occur overnight. It is a gradual and consistent process that is directly related to the time spent alienating. The longer the child or children spend with the alienator, the more severe will be their alienation. Their supposed hatred of the lost parent does not lessen with time away from that parent but rather grows stronger, precisely because in the hands of the alienator they are continually taught hatred, have unlimited opportunity to practice that hatred, and have no time at all to learn an alternate response. This is one of the reasons why, in serious cases, Gardner (1992) recommends complete removal of the child from the alienating parent, with supervised visitation reinstated gradually.
5. Courts slow to render judgements may unwittingly further the alienating parent's scheme of alienation.
The court needs time too, to assess each case. Taking the best interests of the child to be paramount, and always moving cautiously, the court must ensure that the child is in no danger and determine if the case is truly one of parental alienation. But once the determination of PAS has been made, speedy judgement must be rendered to stop the alienation process immediately. Both the child and the petitioning parent deserve no less. Unfortunately, court postponements and continuances are more often the rule than the exception. Proceedings which are dragged out after a determination of PAS has been made, judgements which fail to take into account fully the rights of the non-custodial parent, and unnecessary interim judgements and delays, however well-intentioned, sadly tend to favor the continuation of the custodial parent's alienating behavior.
The judicial wish to maintain the status quo in the lives of children pending the outcome of hotly contested litigation may work in favour of an alienating custodial parent. The longer the children are in a non-supportive environment, the further they will drift away from their non-custodial parent (Goldwater, 1991, p. 130).
While there is no denying that courts have a difficult job at best, on balance it would appear that the prevailing tendency has been toward delaying judgement in the hope that the problem will go away, solve itself, or at the very least prove that no judgement is preferable to a wrong judgement. Courts must resist this tendency which doubtless is harmful to PAS children in the long run. More than two decades ago, Watson (1970, p.64) wrote of the court's slowness in rendering decisions:
The most serious aspect of these vacillating and dilatory tactics is the effect they have on the children. As will be noted, one of the critical aspects of a child's development is the need for stability in order to develop a sense of identity. When a child is kept suspended, never quite knowing what will happen to him next, he must likewise suspend the shaping of his personality. This is a devastating result and probably represents one of the greatest risks which current procedures pose for children.
Little seems to have changed: where PAS is concerned, it remains a case of "Justice delayed is lost parent denied."
6. Forceful judgement is required to counter the force of alienation.
The role of the court in cases of PAS goes beyond simply deciding custody issues. First, the precedent of clear, forceful judgement may deter some parents from beginning the alienation of their children. As Levy (1992, p. 277) has noted:
If parents who engage in PAS know that aware judges may give custody to the innocent parent, and perhaps even apply sanctions against parents who use a child to prevent the other parent's access to the child, the PAS, which is itself a form of child abuse, may suffer a fatal and well-deserved setback.
Second, clear and forceful judgements serve to put an immediate stop to the alienating practices (Palmer, 1988). Family courts can often be of great service in helping to work out a variety of family problems. However, in cases of PAS, courts which try to act as social workers using a "let's-talk-this-over-and-come-to-some-agreement" approach inevitably fail when one of the feuding parties is insincere and has little wish to solve the problem. The reason is that insincerity, conscious or unconscious, is one of the hallmarks of the alienating parent. While negotiation is often the solution in other forms of litigation, it tends not to work in cases of PAS. In these circumstances, the lack of a swift, clear, forceful judgment is often perceived by the alienator as denoting approval of the alienating behavior. This tends to reinforce the behavior and renders a great disservice to both the child and the petitioning parent. Courts must do more to help; they must not fall victim to the alienator's scheme of stalling for time in order to continue the program of vilification.
7. Excessive alienation may trigger mental illness in the child.
Johnston, Campbell, and Mayers (1985) reported that one response of latency children (6-12 years) to parental conflict was to act in a diffusely disturbed manner exhibiting anxiety, tension, depression, and psychosomatic illness. Consideration needs to be given to the question of what happens in the long run to children who are alienated. Is the problem self-limiting in that even alienation-caused wounds will heal as the child reaches adulthood? Unfortunately, alienation can become so powerful as to trigger other forms of mental and emotional illness with resultant maladaptive behavior. In one instance, an alienated son tried to poison his father by slipping air freshener into his stomach medicine. The boy later ran away during a non-custodial visit and the police had to be called. The likelihood of such disintegrating behavior during non-custodial visits increases in direct proportion to the amount of alienation experienced by the child at home.
8. Little is known about the medium and long term effects of parental alienation syndrome on its victims.
Perhaps the greatest gap in our understanding of the syndrome remains our lack of knowledge of what happens to the victims of PAS over the medium and long term. The short term consequences are known and obvious. The alienator experiences the sweetness of revenge and the thrill of "victory." The non-custodial parent experiences the anguish of the loss of a child, or worse, children. One set of grandparents, relatives, and friends are similarly affected and summarily dismissed. Far more serious is the effect on the child who experiences a great loss, the magnitude of which is akin to the death of a parent, two grandparents, and all the lost parent's relatives and friends, all at once! It can readily be seen that this represents a staggering loss for a child even greater than the actual death of one parent. Moreover, since the child is unable to acknowledge the loss, much less mourn it, it becomes a major tragedy of monumental proportions in the life of the child, the seriousness of which cannot be overestimated.
These are the known and relatively short term consequences. What about medium term effects? The medium term effects concern the continued absence (as opposed to initial loss) of the lost parent (and grandparents, relatives, and friends) and the effect this has on the child's development. Ordinary children who have grown up without a parent or grandparent often report "something missing" in their childhood. What is lost, of course, is the day-to-day interaction, the learning, the support, and the love that normally flows from parents and grandparents. While in the case of a death such loss is unavoidable, in the case of PAS such a loss is entirely avoidable and therefore inexcusable.
What about the long term effects? Everyone involved in PAS suffers some degree of distress over the long term. Hopefully, this includes the alienator who, despite the initial exhilaration of "winning," should hardly find the entire experience pleasurable. In later years, even if alienators do not experience some guilt or regret over their actions, they may develop some sympathy for their children of whom they deprived of a parent.
The non-custodial parent experiences both loss and yet continuing concern for the child. The anguish is akin to that felt by parents when a child goes missing. Since the lack of contact with the child may continue for years, the sense of loss can continue for a similar period. Grandparents suffer needlessly and often seriously. Gardner (1992) reports the cases of at least two grandmothers, in otherwise good health, who died of broken hearts, figuratively, over the loss of their grandchildren.
Of course, it is the child who suffers most. In the early stage, the child experiences not only loss of a parent, but the continual barrage of denigration of the lost parent, grandparents, relatives, and friends. Bad enough to lose a parent; worse still to have the good memories of that parent, relatives, and friends deliberately and systematically destroyed.
In the second stage, perhaps years later, the child begins to comprehend what has really happened. The realization of having believed the alienator, of having wrongly rejected the lost parent, and worse, of having been a pliable accomplice and willing contributor, can produce powerful feelings of guilt. The unfortunate consequences of these feelings may be a backlash against the alienating parent. Says Goldwater (1991, p. 128):
When such a child becomes an adult, the awareness of the enforced absence of the alienated parent for those many years may have a devastating impact and leave long-term feelings of guilt and loss. The alienating parent may then suffer the wrath his adult child feels for having precipitated this loss, and be in turn shut out of the child's life.
Serious emotional problems may ensue. For children to make a successful adjustment, an enormous task faces them: avoiding the tendency of the backlash response to the alienating parent, forgiving that parent, and maintaining a good relationship with that parent; and restoring good memories of the lost parent (which are often wiped out in PAS) and resuming a normal relationship with the lost parent if that parent is still alive, available, and willing. The re-establishment of the relationship with the lost parent is, naturally, a huge task. It involves making up for lost time and experiences, understanding cognitively and emotionally what has happened during the alienation process, re-learning how to interact with the lost parent, restoring a loving relationship, and planning the continuance of the relationship in the future. Therapy for both child and lost parent may be required. On top of this, the child must learn at this late date how to "juggle" the perhaps still feuding parents--a skill which most children of divorced parents usually learn much earlier. These are no small tasks and all this presupposes the child survives the teenage years without other serious emotional, mental, or behavioral problems which often accompany adolescence.
All being well, one would hope that eventual adjustment for these children would be possible. Negative factors which mediate against successful adjustment include the unwillingness or emotional inability of the lost parent to become reinvolved, the absence or death of the lost parent, and the passing on of the grandparents and other relatives and friends leaving an unfillable void in the life of the child.
9. Further research is needed.
While longitudinal studies have related child and adolescent adjustment following parental separation to a variety of variables such as age, gender, frequency and regularity of visitation (cf. Healy, Malley, & Stewart, 1990), what is so terribly lacking in the literature is any kind of longitudinal study to follow PAS children to ascertain what happens to them. What are the long term effects on these children as they enter adulthood? To what degree can their relationship with their lost parent be re-established? Is their relationship with the alienating parent permanently harmed in later adulthood? What happens to PAS children who permanently lose their non-custodial parent through death without ever re-establishing a relationship? Is their guilt intensified and if so, how do they handle it? Can their relationship with their lost parent, and for that matter with their alienating parent, ever approach normalcy? What does this do to their own parenting skills and how does it affect their bringing up their own children? If their relationship with their lost parent is not re-established, then the lost parent may eventually become a lost grandparent. What impact will this have on the grandchildren?
10. The problem of parental alienation syndrome is much more serious than previously imagined.
Viewed in this light, the problem of PAS appears to be extremely serious. We often speak of the preserving family values, but even disintegrated nuclear families have values and rights (like child visitation) which must be preserved and respected to prevent further disintegration and total collapse. To do less, is to sacrifice entire generations of children on the altar of alienation, condemning them to familial maladjustment and inflicting on them lifelong parental loss.
References
Frost, A.K. & Pakiz, B. (1990). The effects of marital disruption on adolescents: time as a dynamic. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 60(4), 544-555.
Goldwater, A. (1991). Le syndrome d'aliJnation parentale (in English). DJveloppements rJcents en droit familial (1991). Cowansville, QC: Les Iditions Yvon Blais. pp. 121 145.
Gardner, R. (1985). Recent trends in divorce and custody litigation. Academy Forum, 29(2): 3-7.
Gardner, R. (1989). Psychotherapeutic and legal approaches to the three types of parental alienation syndrome families. In Family evaluation in child custody mediation, arbitration, and litigation. Cresskill, NJ: Creative Therapeutics.
Gardner, R. (1991). Parental alienation syndrome and the differentiation between fabricated and genuine child sex abuse. Cresskill, NJ: Creative Therapeutics.
Gardner, R. (1992). Parental alienation syndrome: A guide for mental health and legal professionals. Cresskill, NJ: Creative Therapeutics.
Healy, J., Malley, J., & Stewart, A. (1990). Children and their fathers after parental separation. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 60(4), 531-543.
Johnston, J., Campbell, L., & Mayers, S. (1985). Latency children in post separation and divorce disputes. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 24, 563-574.
Levy, D. (1992). [Review of Parental alienation syndrome: A guide for mental health and legal professionals.] American Journal of Family Therapy, 20(3), 276-277.
Palmer, N. (1988). Legal recognition of the parental alienation syndrome. American Journal of Family Therapy, 16(4), 360-363.
Watson, A.S. (1970). The children of Armageddon: Problems of custody following divorce. Syracuse Law Review, 21, 55-86.
CPS' parenting orders to Tucson man are absurd
Another UPDATE -
July 22: Child Protective Services is notified that a Tucson father intends to sue the agency for $5 million for its role in the death of his son.
July 27: The Arizona Daily Star writes a story about 4-year-old Fabian Silva, who on Jan. 27 slipped through CPS' fingers and into his grave.
July 29: An hour before he was scheduled to pick up his surviving son, the father is informed by CPS that his visit has been cancelled. No longer will he be allowed to see the boy without a caseworker being present.
Despite cries of retaliation, a CPS spokeswoman says this isn't about getting back at Oscar Silva for his lawsuit or the story. No, it's worse.
It's because the father had the temerity to talk with his son about how his little brother died.
"There were guidelines that existed about how there could be discussions with the child and those guidelines were there to prevent further trauma to the child," explained CPS spokeswoman Liz Barker Alvarez. "When those guidelines were not followed there was a concern of possible further trauma to the child."
What, more than the trauma of seeing your little brother go to his grave while CPS was supposed to be watching? More than the trauma of losing your brother even though you tried to warn somebody?
"It's business as usual," says Silva's attorney Jorge Franco, who has a string of successful wrongful-death suits against CPS. "They had the smoking gun in front of their face and they just choose not to follow the trail."
Stop me if you've heard this story before.
Fabian and his 8-year-old brother lived with their mother and her boyfriend, Alejandro Miguel Romero. On Oct. 31, seven weeks after Romero moved in, Fabian was hospitalized with a bleeding brain and bruises that two doctors suspected might have been the result of abuse.
CPS was called and - surprise! - found no problem. But then, CPS investigators didn't talk to the boys' maternal grandparents, who repeatedly called to report their suspicions that Romero was abusing the boy. And they didn't talk to the boys' aunt, who lived with the family at the time and would later tell police that Romero used drugs, hit Fabian for wetting the bed and allowed his own sons to beat the boy up.
And they apparently didn't talk to Fabian's day-care provider, who would have told them that Romero called the child "pee-pee boy." Or do a background check, which would have turned up Romero's encounters with police for fighting with the father of one girlfriend and threatening to snap the neck of another girlfriend's boss. Or take Silva seriously, when he asked for help.
As for the letter that Silva's 8-year-old son wrote in November, the one that said Romero spanks the boys nearly every day and that he's scared of the man, CPS wrote it off as coerced. The caseworker would later tell police that she asked the boy whether it was true and he said no, that his father told him to write it.
Three months later, Fabian was dead.
Romero has been charged with manslaughter and child abuse. He and the boys' mother have said Fabian died from a fall. Since then, CPS has taken custody of her surviving son. Silva, meanwhile, was allowed to see his son twice a week and every other weekend. Until now.
Now that he's suing CPS. Now that the boy saw the front-page Sunday story and asked his dad about it - and his dad answered.
CPS' Alvarez won't talk about why CPS now monitors Silva's visits, citing privacy. She also couldn't discuss Fabian. For that, we'll have to wait until a judge releases the records, as CPS has asked, or until Sept. 26, when they become open by law.
I, for one, would be fascinated to know how it is that CPS, the agency that walked away from Fabian, feels qualified to give parenting orders to Silva, the father who turned to CPS when the boy needed help.
And tragically didn't get it.
Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8635.
Link -
CPS' parenting orders to Tucson man are absurd
July 22: Child Protective Services is notified that a Tucson father intends to sue the agency for $5 million for its role in the death of his son.
July 27: The Arizona Daily Star writes a story about 4-year-old Fabian Silva, who on Jan. 27 slipped through CPS' fingers and into his grave.
July 29: An hour before he was scheduled to pick up his surviving son, the father is informed by CPS that his visit has been cancelled. No longer will he be allowed to see the boy without a caseworker being present.
Despite cries of retaliation, a CPS spokeswoman says this isn't about getting back at Oscar Silva for his lawsuit or the story. No, it's worse.
It's because the father had the temerity to talk with his son about how his little brother died.
"There were guidelines that existed about how there could be discussions with the child and those guidelines were there to prevent further trauma to the child," explained CPS spokeswoman Liz Barker Alvarez. "When those guidelines were not followed there was a concern of possible further trauma to the child."
What, more than the trauma of seeing your little brother go to his grave while CPS was supposed to be watching? More than the trauma of losing your brother even though you tried to warn somebody?
"It's business as usual," says Silva's attorney Jorge Franco, who has a string of successful wrongful-death suits against CPS. "They had the smoking gun in front of their face and they just choose not to follow the trail."
Stop me if you've heard this story before.
Fabian and his 8-year-old brother lived with their mother and her boyfriend, Alejandro Miguel Romero. On Oct. 31, seven weeks after Romero moved in, Fabian was hospitalized with a bleeding brain and bruises that two doctors suspected might have been the result of abuse.
CPS was called and - surprise! - found no problem. But then, CPS investigators didn't talk to the boys' maternal grandparents, who repeatedly called to report their suspicions that Romero was abusing the boy. And they didn't talk to the boys' aunt, who lived with the family at the time and would later tell police that Romero used drugs, hit Fabian for wetting the bed and allowed his own sons to beat the boy up.
And they apparently didn't talk to Fabian's day-care provider, who would have told them that Romero called the child "pee-pee boy." Or do a background check, which would have turned up Romero's encounters with police for fighting with the father of one girlfriend and threatening to snap the neck of another girlfriend's boss. Or take Silva seriously, when he asked for help.
As for the letter that Silva's 8-year-old son wrote in November, the one that said Romero spanks the boys nearly every day and that he's scared of the man, CPS wrote it off as coerced. The caseworker would later tell police that she asked the boy whether it was true and he said no, that his father told him to write it.
Three months later, Fabian was dead.
Romero has been charged with manslaughter and child abuse. He and the boys' mother have said Fabian died from a fall. Since then, CPS has taken custody of her surviving son. Silva, meanwhile, was allowed to see his son twice a week and every other weekend. Until now.
Now that he's suing CPS. Now that the boy saw the front-page Sunday story and asked his dad about it - and his dad answered.
CPS' Alvarez won't talk about why CPS now monitors Silva's visits, citing privacy. She also couldn't discuss Fabian. For that, we'll have to wait until a judge releases the records, as CPS has asked, or until Sept. 26, when they become open by law.
I, for one, would be fascinated to know how it is that CPS, the agency that walked away from Fabian, feels qualified to give parenting orders to Silva, the father who turned to CPS when the boy needed help.
And tragically didn't get it.
Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8635.
Link -
CPS' parenting orders to Tucson man are absurd
Boy was raped, lawsuit says
REFRESH - Go to Home-Page
It alleges he was victimized by another boy in foster care
By Alan Gustafson • Statesman Journal
August 13, 2008
A 10-year-old boy with a history of fetal alcohol and drug syndrome, neglect, sexual abuse and mental illness was raped in March by another boy in a Salem foster home, according to a $10.5 million civil lawsuit filed this week in Marion County Circuit Court.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the boy and his guardian by a Salem lawyer, alleges that he was victimized because of negligence by the state, along with a local nonprofit agency that has a network of foster homes and a Salem couple who provided foster care for him.
Named as defendants are the Child Protective Services Division of the state Department of Human Services, Catholic Community Services and foster patents Jack and Evelyn Cannon of Salem.
According to the sexual battery complaint, the boy — identified by the fictitious name of "Dakota" in court papers — entered state custody and care in 2006 after being sexually abused and neglected. His mother has a history of substance abuse and prison incarceration, the suit says.
Before being placed in the Salem foster home, Dakota received mental health evaluation and treatment at a Portland facility called the Parry Center for Children. He then was placed in a foster home in Mill City, about 30 miles east of Salem, and later was admitted to a psychiatric unit at Providence Hospital in Portland.
In mid-January, the state arranged with Catholic Community Services to place Dakota in a Salem foster home, according to the lawsuit. At the time, it says, state protective services workers, mindful of the boy's mental illness and past sexual abuse, gave "strict orders" that he live in a home with no other children.
"In spite of these strict orders, there were at least three other children in the Cannon household," the suit says.
Dakota was sexually assaulted by a 12-year-old boy, himself a foster child taken into state care because of abuse and neglect, according to the complaint. The older boy "raped, molested, sexually and physically assaulted, intimidated and otherwise abused Dakota," the suit says.
Being sexually assaulted again caused Dakota severe physical and mental suffering, including post-traumatic stress disorder, psychosis, retarded emotional development and other problems, the suit says. He reportedly attempted suicide multiple times after being raped.
Still in state custody and receiving care at a secure treatment facility, Dakota will require counseling, medical care, medication, supervision and constant psychological evaluation for the rest of his life, according to the suit.
Salem lawyer James Shadduck, who brought the lawsuit on behalf of the boy, said late Tuesday that the case was investigated by Salem Police and resulted in criminal charges against the older boy. He said the juvenile court case has not been resolved.
Asked how Dakota is faring now, Shadduck said: "Terrible. He had a lot of emotional issues before this because his mom was in prison for drug- and alcohol-related offenses and apparently there was sexual abuse early in his life. He wasn't exactly in the best of shape emotionally before this, and the events surrounding what happened have exacerbated it. He has a hard time communicating verbally."
Before being placed in the Salem foster home, the suit says, Dakota was "prone to lashing out, exposing himself, and otherwise instigating instances in which he may create an environment that would invite sexual abuse and assault by other male children. This was a primary reason why Dakota was to be placed in a foster care environment without other children."
Shadduck said the defendants failed to ensure Dakota was the only foster child in the home.
"That was the key element that was supposed to be met, in addition to the treatment he needed in a temporary foster situation," he said. "Unfortunately, for whatever reason — Catholic Community Services or DHS or somebody — dropped the ball and he was placed in a home with another foster child, and the background he had was not suitable for that.
"I don't believe, based on what I can tell, that the Cannons had a clue that that (single child in the home) was supposed to be the situation. I think they still needed to maintain supervision and make sure the kid didn't get hurt and so forth. Those are different issues and responsibilities. But in regards to the communication, that was between the state and the agent they contracted with — Catholic Community Services."
The lawsuit says the Cannons were paid by Catholic Community Services to be foster parents for Dakota. The Cannons could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Mary Marshall, the communications director for Catholic Community Services, said that she could not comment on the lawsuit.
"We're unaware of such a case, and in any event we are bound by customer confidentiality, so we would be completely unavailable to comment," she said.
Catholic Community Services is a faith-based nonprofit organization that serves children, youths and families with special needs as well as adults with disabilities in the Mid-Willamette Valley and Central Oregon Coast.
It offers more than 20 programs providing family support services, independent living services and community homes for children in foster care and for adults with developmental disabilities.
The lawsuit asserts that the state failed to properly train Catholic Community Services employees and the Cannons "in the proper techniques and guidelines" so that they could be "qualified therapeutic intervention specialists who could recognize and determine Dakota's needs."
The suit also claims that the state failed to inspect the foster home and check records to make sure that there were no other children living there with Dakota.
It also asserts that the state failed to ensure that the foster home had an adequate safety plan, "requiring the Cannons to ensure that Dakota's safety would not be compromised during the course of their care and supervision of Dakota and the sexual predator."
Spokesmen for the state Department of Human Services and the Oregon Attorney General's Office declined to comment on the suit.
"We've received the lawsuit, and we're reviewing it at this time," said Jake Weigler, a spokesman for the AG's office. "That's about all I can say."
agustafs@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6709
Link- Boy was raped, lawsuit says StatesmanJournal.com Statesman Journal
It alleges he was victimized by another boy in foster care
By Alan Gustafson • Statesman Journal
August 13, 2008
A 10-year-old boy with a history of fetal alcohol and drug syndrome, neglect, sexual abuse and mental illness was raped in March by another boy in a Salem foster home, according to a $10.5 million civil lawsuit filed this week in Marion County Circuit Court.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the boy and his guardian by a Salem lawyer, alleges that he was victimized because of negligence by the state, along with a local nonprofit agency that has a network of foster homes and a Salem couple who provided foster care for him.
Named as defendants are the Child Protective Services Division of the state Department of Human Services, Catholic Community Services and foster patents Jack and Evelyn Cannon of Salem.
According to the sexual battery complaint, the boy — identified by the fictitious name of "Dakota" in court papers — entered state custody and care in 2006 after being sexually abused and neglected. His mother has a history of substance abuse and prison incarceration, the suit says.
Before being placed in the Salem foster home, Dakota received mental health evaluation and treatment at a Portland facility called the Parry Center for Children. He then was placed in a foster home in Mill City, about 30 miles east of Salem, and later was admitted to a psychiatric unit at Providence Hospital in Portland.
In mid-January, the state arranged with Catholic Community Services to place Dakota in a Salem foster home, according to the lawsuit. At the time, it says, state protective services workers, mindful of the boy's mental illness and past sexual abuse, gave "strict orders" that he live in a home with no other children.
"In spite of these strict orders, there were at least three other children in the Cannon household," the suit says.
Dakota was sexually assaulted by a 12-year-old boy, himself a foster child taken into state care because of abuse and neglect, according to the complaint. The older boy "raped, molested, sexually and physically assaulted, intimidated and otherwise abused Dakota," the suit says.
Being sexually assaulted again caused Dakota severe physical and mental suffering, including post-traumatic stress disorder, psychosis, retarded emotional development and other problems, the suit says. He reportedly attempted suicide multiple times after being raped.
Still in state custody and receiving care at a secure treatment facility, Dakota will require counseling, medical care, medication, supervision and constant psychological evaluation for the rest of his life, according to the suit.
Salem lawyer James Shadduck, who brought the lawsuit on behalf of the boy, said late Tuesday that the case was investigated by Salem Police and resulted in criminal charges against the older boy. He said the juvenile court case has not been resolved.
Asked how Dakota is faring now, Shadduck said: "Terrible. He had a lot of emotional issues before this because his mom was in prison for drug- and alcohol-related offenses and apparently there was sexual abuse early in his life. He wasn't exactly in the best of shape emotionally before this, and the events surrounding what happened have exacerbated it. He has a hard time communicating verbally."
Before being placed in the Salem foster home, the suit says, Dakota was "prone to lashing out, exposing himself, and otherwise instigating instances in which he may create an environment that would invite sexual abuse and assault by other male children. This was a primary reason why Dakota was to be placed in a foster care environment without other children."
Shadduck said the defendants failed to ensure Dakota was the only foster child in the home.
"That was the key element that was supposed to be met, in addition to the treatment he needed in a temporary foster situation," he said. "Unfortunately, for whatever reason — Catholic Community Services or DHS or somebody — dropped the ball and he was placed in a home with another foster child, and the background he had was not suitable for that.
"I don't believe, based on what I can tell, that the Cannons had a clue that that (single child in the home) was supposed to be the situation. I think they still needed to maintain supervision and make sure the kid didn't get hurt and so forth. Those are different issues and responsibilities. But in regards to the communication, that was between the state and the agent they contracted with — Catholic Community Services."
The lawsuit says the Cannons were paid by Catholic Community Services to be foster parents for Dakota. The Cannons could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Mary Marshall, the communications director for Catholic Community Services, said that she could not comment on the lawsuit.
"We're unaware of such a case, and in any event we are bound by customer confidentiality, so we would be completely unavailable to comment," she said.
Catholic Community Services is a faith-based nonprofit organization that serves children, youths and families with special needs as well as adults with disabilities in the Mid-Willamette Valley and Central Oregon Coast.
It offers more than 20 programs providing family support services, independent living services and community homes for children in foster care and for adults with developmental disabilities.
The lawsuit asserts that the state failed to properly train Catholic Community Services employees and the Cannons "in the proper techniques and guidelines" so that they could be "qualified therapeutic intervention specialists who could recognize and determine Dakota's needs."
The suit also claims that the state failed to inspect the foster home and check records to make sure that there were no other children living there with Dakota.
It also asserts that the state failed to ensure that the foster home had an adequate safety plan, "requiring the Cannons to ensure that Dakota's safety would not be compromised during the course of their care and supervision of Dakota and the sexual predator."
Spokesmen for the state Department of Human Services and the Oregon Attorney General's Office declined to comment on the suit.
"We've received the lawsuit, and we're reviewing it at this time," said Jake Weigler, a spokesman for the AG's office. "That's about all I can say."
agustafs@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6709
Link- Boy was raped, lawsuit says StatesmanJournal.com Statesman Journal
Texas ends several polygamous-sect custody cases
Another Update ..
Texas ends several polygamous-sect custody cases
By MICHELLE ROBERTS – 17 hours ago
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — State child welfare authorities have decided that the courts no longer need to oversee 34 children taken from a polygamous sect's ranch in west Texas.
The action does not necessarily end Child Protective Services' involvement with the children, but it means officials believe they can be kept safe without court intervention, agency spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said Friday.
Child Protective Services filed papers in San Angelo on Thursday asking that the cases involving 10 families be dropped, and a judge agreed. They represent the first children dropped from court oversight in the case.
While the reasons vary, child welfare cases are typically dropped when investigators decide that there is no abuse or, if there is, that parents or another relative can ensure a child's safety, Meisner said.
In April, Texas authorities swept roughly 440 children into foster care from the Yearning For Zion Ranch over abuse allegations. Two months later, the state Supreme Court ordered the agency to return the children. The court said the action was overly broad, given the relatively limited evidence presented by the agency.
The agency has continued to investigate and asked parents to limit the children's contact with men accused of being involved in underage marriages.
The custody cases are separate from the criminal investigation into allegations that men from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which runs the YFZ Ranch, were marrying and having sex with underage girls.
Five men, including the sect's jailed leader Warren Jeffs, have been indicted on charges of sexually abusing a child. A sixth, the sect's doctor, was indicted on suspicion of failing to report child abuse. One of the men indicted on abuse faces an additional charge of bigamy.
Jeffs was convicted in Utah last year as an accomplice to rape and awaits trial in Arizona on charges of being an accomplice to sexual contact with a minor — all stemming from alleged underage marriages within the sect.
The FLDS, which believes polygamy brings glory in heaven, is a breakaway sect of the mainstream Mormon church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago.
Link -
The Associated Press: Texas ends several polygamous-sect custody cases
Related -
Texas ends cases involving 34 polygamist sect kids
Some FLDS families are exonerated
Texas ends several polygamous-sect custody cases
By MICHELLE ROBERTS – 17 hours ago
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — State child welfare authorities have decided that the courts no longer need to oversee 34 children taken from a polygamous sect's ranch in west Texas.
The action does not necessarily end Child Protective Services' involvement with the children, but it means officials believe they can be kept safe without court intervention, agency spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said Friday.
Child Protective Services filed papers in San Angelo on Thursday asking that the cases involving 10 families be dropped, and a judge agreed. They represent the first children dropped from court oversight in the case.
While the reasons vary, child welfare cases are typically dropped when investigators decide that there is no abuse or, if there is, that parents or another relative can ensure a child's safety, Meisner said.
In April, Texas authorities swept roughly 440 children into foster care from the Yearning For Zion Ranch over abuse allegations. Two months later, the state Supreme Court ordered the agency to return the children. The court said the action was overly broad, given the relatively limited evidence presented by the agency.
The agency has continued to investigate and asked parents to limit the children's contact with men accused of being involved in underage marriages.
The custody cases are separate from the criminal investigation into allegations that men from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which runs the YFZ Ranch, were marrying and having sex with underage girls.
Five men, including the sect's jailed leader Warren Jeffs, have been indicted on charges of sexually abusing a child. A sixth, the sect's doctor, was indicted on suspicion of failing to report child abuse. One of the men indicted on abuse faces an additional charge of bigamy.
Jeffs was convicted in Utah last year as an accomplice to rape and awaits trial in Arizona on charges of being an accomplice to sexual contact with a minor — all stemming from alleged underage marriages within the sect.
The FLDS, which believes polygamy brings glory in heaven, is a breakaway sect of the mainstream Mormon church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago.
Link -
The Associated Press: Texas ends several polygamous-sect custody cases
Related -
Texas ends cases involving 34 polygamist sect kids
Some FLDS families are exonerated
CPS knew boy had injuries well before death
UPDATE from earlier posts (included at the end of this story)on Fabian Silva III
CPS knew boy had injuries well before death
Report released this week in 4-year-old's death
SHERYL KORNMAN
Tucson Citizen
Child Protective Services first learned Fabian Silva III appeared to have been physically abused when Tucson Medical Center's staff called CPS in October 2007, reporting bruising around his groin, on his penis and over both eyes, records released Wednesday reveal.
On Jan. 27, Fabian, 4, died at University Medical Center, one day after he was brought to the emergency room in cardiac arrest.
The boy lived with his mother and her boyfriend, Alejandro M. Romero, 25. Romero has been charged with reckless manslaughter and child abuse in the death.
The boy's mother has not been charged with a crime, Tucson police spokesman Sgt. Fabian Pacheco said.
A CPS summary of its involvement with the family shows that in October 2007, Fabian had a blood clot in the back of his head, apparently from "blunt force," and bruising at the base of his penis that appeared to have been caused by the organ being "constrained."
It does not appear from CPS documents that the agency suspected Romero was abusing the boy or focused an investigation on him.
The first suspected abuse report to CPS was made Oct. 31, 2007. His mother, Marina Baker, said he might have fallen on the carpet or been wrestling with an older sibling. She said she thought he had the flu; he'd been vomiting for several days.
She told CPS workers investigating the family that her boyfriend's alleged daily marijuana smoking was not an issue for her. She left her children with him while she worked.
"Intensive in-home services were recommended" for the family, according to the summary.
On Nov. 7, 2007, a CPS investigator told a relative of the toddler that his older sibling wrote to their biological father, claiming Romero was abusing them.
Baker told CPS workers the child was not capable of writing the letter, the summary says. Rather than focus on the boyfriend, CPS told the biological father that Fabian could no longer share a bedroom with his older sibling on visits to his father, the summary says.
In December 2007, a caseworker said the mother was cooperating with "in-home" services recommended by CPS. On Jan. 24, 2008, an in-home services provider talked with Baker about preventing domestic violence, noting she had been in a previous violent relationship, the summary says.
On Jan. 26, UMC called CPS to report Romero had brought the boy to the hospital because he "could not wake him."
An autopsy report showed the boy died from "blunt impact to the head" with swelling of the brain.
CPS kept the family's case open to provide services to Fabian's older sibling, who is now living away from his mother, with relatives. CPS said Romero "neglected Fabian when he failed to seek (emergency) medical treatment" for him on Jan. 26, 2008.
Romero was alone with the boy at the time. The older sibling was in a class and the mother was at work, the CPS summary said.
Also, the report points out, he drove to a hospital 30 minutes from the family's home, rather than taking him to the nearest hospital, St. Mary's.
Romero has not been allowed to have unsupervised contact with the older sibling since Fabian died, according to the CPS document.
It was released Wednesday after a Freedom of Information Act request was made to CPS by the Tucson Citizen after the boy died.
Link - CPS knew boy had injuries well before death Fabian Silva III
Older Articles Related -
Disgusted with the system: Search results for Fabian Silva
Another child's death on CPS' watch raises new questions
Another 2 local kids die under CPS' watch
CPS knew boy had injuries well before death
Report released this week in 4-year-old's death
SHERYL KORNMAN
Tucson Citizen
Child Protective Services first learned Fabian Silva III appeared to have been physically abused when Tucson Medical Center's staff called CPS in October 2007, reporting bruising around his groin, on his penis and over both eyes, records released Wednesday reveal.
On Jan. 27, Fabian, 4, died at University Medical Center, one day after he was brought to the emergency room in cardiac arrest.
The boy lived with his mother and her boyfriend, Alejandro M. Romero, 25. Romero has been charged with reckless manslaughter and child abuse in the death.
The boy's mother has not been charged with a crime, Tucson police spokesman Sgt. Fabian Pacheco said.
A CPS summary of its involvement with the family shows that in October 2007, Fabian had a blood clot in the back of his head, apparently from "blunt force," and bruising at the base of his penis that appeared to have been caused by the organ being "constrained."
It does not appear from CPS documents that the agency suspected Romero was abusing the boy or focused an investigation on him.
The first suspected abuse report to CPS was made Oct. 31, 2007. His mother, Marina Baker, said he might have fallen on the carpet or been wrestling with an older sibling. She said she thought he had the flu; he'd been vomiting for several days.
She told CPS workers investigating the family that her boyfriend's alleged daily marijuana smoking was not an issue for her. She left her children with him while she worked.
"Intensive in-home services were recommended" for the family, according to the summary.
On Nov. 7, 2007, a CPS investigator told a relative of the toddler that his older sibling wrote to their biological father, claiming Romero was abusing them.
Baker told CPS workers the child was not capable of writing the letter, the summary says. Rather than focus on the boyfriend, CPS told the biological father that Fabian could no longer share a bedroom with his older sibling on visits to his father, the summary says.
In December 2007, a caseworker said the mother was cooperating with "in-home" services recommended by CPS. On Jan. 24, 2008, an in-home services provider talked with Baker about preventing domestic violence, noting she had been in a previous violent relationship, the summary says.
On Jan. 26, UMC called CPS to report Romero had brought the boy to the hospital because he "could not wake him."
An autopsy report showed the boy died from "blunt impact to the head" with swelling of the brain.
CPS kept the family's case open to provide services to Fabian's older sibling, who is now living away from his mother, with relatives. CPS said Romero "neglected Fabian when he failed to seek (emergency) medical treatment" for him on Jan. 26, 2008.
Romero was alone with the boy at the time. The older sibling was in a class and the mother was at work, the CPS summary said.
Also, the report points out, he drove to a hospital 30 minutes from the family's home, rather than taking him to the nearest hospital, St. Mary's.
Romero has not been allowed to have unsupervised contact with the older sibling since Fabian died, according to the CPS document.
It was released Wednesday after a Freedom of Information Act request was made to CPS by the Tucson Citizen after the boy died.
Link - CPS knew boy had injuries well before death Fabian Silva III
Older Articles Related -
Disgusted with the system: Search results for Fabian Silva
Another child's death on CPS' watch raises new questions
Another 2 local kids die under CPS' watch
ACS BLEW CHANCE TO SAVE TOT: INSIDER
By LORENA MONGELLI, DOUGLAS MONTERO and ALEX GINSBERG
Posted: 4:10 amAugust 16, 2008
Posted: 4:10 amAugust 16, 2008
The city's Administration for Children's Services investigated but took no action against Brooklyn parents now charged in the fatal beating of their 3-year-old daughter, sources told The Post yesterday.
"He beat her," said a case insider. "At one point, she took the kids to Florida, where she had family, then . . . he called ACS."
An ACS spokesman declined to comment except to say the agency was investigating its involvement with Kimberly Cantos, 23, and Michael Jimenez, 25.
Jimenez allegedly killed little Genelis Tuesday night, hitting her with a fist and violently shaking her in the family's apartment on MacDougal Street.
The medical examiner found evidence of long-term abuse.
Cantos was arraigned yesterday on child-endangerment charges and ordered held on $25,000 bail. Jimenez is charged with murder, but his arraignment is on hold while he's on suicide watch at Bellevue Hospital.
Link -
Related -
Friday, August 15, 2008
Upcoming Challenge of Discipline for Judicial Whistleblowing
REFRESH - Go to Home-Page
ATTN:
All lawyers and former lawyers, directly or indirectly disciplined for purportedly disparaging a justice, judge, judicial officer, and/or quasi-judicial officer -
National Judicial Conduct and Disability Law Project, Inc. (NJCDLP) is developing a campaign to hopefully persuade at least three (3) international figures [i.e. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Transparency International, and Amnesty International USA] to join a coalition of individuals and NGOs in lobbying the U.S. House and Senate Judiciary Committees for appropriate legislative action on behalf of lawyers and former lawyers, professionally disciplined for judicial whistleblowing.
The campaign would be premised on these findings of the Judiciary Advocacy Working Group of Transparency International (TI) in its global movement against corruption:
1. "It is the poor and disadvantaged who suffer disproportionately from judicial corruption due to their marginalized status and inability to pay bribes";
2. "It is therefore crucial that the transparency of the judiciary be continuously scrutinized, and when found to be lacking, enforced with particular momentum in order to prevent the weakest sections of the society to bear the costs of corruption in the judicial system";
3. "It is often . . . individuals of integrity within the judicial system itself who speak out against specific instances of corruption";
4. "The recognition that (an) independent judiciary is the prerequisite for rule of law is to be found in nearly all major human rights conventions".
Among other things, TI recommends the implementation of "confidential and rigorous formal (complaint procedures)" to protect judicial whistleblowers in light of the above and related findings (emphasis added). However, its key recommendations for judicial accountability and discipline fail to directly protect and/or help vindicate as needed, lawyers whom authorities have identified as judicial whistleblowers. Federal interests and rights are accordingly implicated for the United States, its citizens including court officers and particularly lawyers wrongfully disciplined for judicial whistleblowing, their spouses and dependents, as well as people and organizations that would otherwise have the benefit of their representation.
If you would like to help develop the aforementioned campaign (which need not be launched in the name of NJCDLP) to include development of an appropriate white paper, supportive petition, initial press conference, and public awareness campaign, PLEASE: reply to this email with your phone number, state of residence, and a brief account of the relevant disciplinary action you have endured.
For the sake of our records, I would appreciate the indicated reply, even if you have already communicated with me about the campaign at hand.
Thank you,
Zena Crenshaw,
Executive Director - NJCDLP / The 3.5.7. Commission / CARCLE
Treasurer - International Association of Whistleblowers and
Host of the Internet Radio Show - Change Of Venue
ATTN:
All lawyers and former lawyers, directly or indirectly disciplined for purportedly disparaging a justice, judge, judicial officer, and/or quasi-judicial officer -
National Judicial Conduct and Disability Law Project, Inc. (NJCDLP) is developing a campaign to hopefully persuade at least three (3) international figures [i.e. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Transparency International, and Amnesty International USA] to join a coalition of individuals and NGOs in lobbying the U.S. House and Senate Judiciary Committees for appropriate legislative action on behalf of lawyers and former lawyers, professionally disciplined for judicial whistleblowing.
The campaign would be premised on these findings of the Judiciary Advocacy Working Group of Transparency International (TI) in its global movement against corruption:
1. "It is the poor and disadvantaged who suffer disproportionately from judicial corruption due to their marginalized status and inability to pay bribes";
2. "It is therefore crucial that the transparency of the judiciary be continuously scrutinized, and when found to be lacking, enforced with particular momentum in order to prevent the weakest sections of the society to bear the costs of corruption in the judicial system";
3. "It is often . . . individuals of integrity within the judicial system itself who speak out against specific instances of corruption";
4. "The recognition that (an) independent judiciary is the prerequisite for rule of law is to be found in nearly all major human rights conventions".
Among other things, TI recommends the implementation of "confidential and rigorous formal (complaint procedures)" to protect judicial whistleblowers in light of the above and related findings (emphasis added). However, its key recommendations for judicial accountability and discipline fail to directly protect and/or help vindicate as needed, lawyers whom authorities have identified as judicial whistleblowers. Federal interests and rights are accordingly implicated for the United States, its citizens including court officers and particularly lawyers wrongfully disciplined for judicial whistleblowing, their spouses and dependents, as well as people and organizations that would otherwise have the benefit of their representation.
If you would like to help develop the aforementioned campaign (which need not be launched in the name of NJCDLP) to include development of an appropriate white paper, supportive petition, initial press conference, and public awareness campaign, PLEASE: reply to this email with your phone number, state of residence, and a brief account of the relevant disciplinary action you have endured.
For the sake of our records, I would appreciate the indicated reply, even if you have already communicated with me about the campaign at hand.
Thank you,
Zena Crenshaw,
Executive Director - NJCDLP / The 3.5.7. Commission / CARCLE
Treasurer - International Association of Whistleblowers and
Host of the Internet Radio Show - Change Of Venue
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Unknown Daughter Found After 26 Years
When Bruce and his wife split up 26 years ago, Bruce had no idea she was pregnant. But when he recently learned the truth he turned to Reunion.com.
“Just after registering I received a message that a 26-year-old female was searching for someone with my name,” Bruce recalls. He quickly sent her an email asking her mother's name
and a few hours later he knew he'd found his daughter, Heather.
“I called her after I caught my breath, asked her if she knew who was calling, and she said, 'Yes, Dad, I do.' At that point I started crying.”
Heather has since met her paternal grandmother and gone dancing twice with her newfound dad. She and Bruce speak on the phone 3 or 4 times a week.
Bruce says, “I've found the missing piece from my life's puzzle.”
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