Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Sunday, May 6, 2012
2010 The Due Process Rights of Parents to Cross-Examine Guardians Ad Litem in Custody Disputes: The Reality and the Ideal
Copyright (c) 2010 Minnesota Law Review Foundation
Minnesota Law Review
Note: The Due Process Rights of Parents to Cross-Examine Guardians Ad Litem in Custody Disputes: The Reality and the Ideal
June, 2010
94 Minn. L. Rev. 2103
Author
Emily Gleiss*
Excerpt
Frustrated by her interaction with the court system and the outcome of her custody battle, one mother is taking action. 1 Sinthyia Darkness created a petition calling for the abolition of court-appointed guardians ad litem in Illinois and posted it online. 2 In litigation like Ms. Darkness's custody proceeding, a guardian ad litem (GAL) is a court officer who represents the interests of an infant or incompetent person. 3 Ms. Darkness's main contention is that GALs deprive parents of their due process rights to raise their children. 4 Ms. Darkness points to several ways in which GALs failed to respect her rights as a parent. 5 For example, GALs make recommendations to the court based on personal, biased opinions and they undermine a parent's right to a fair trial by participating in ex parte communications with the judge. 6 Parents in many states share Ms. Darkness's concerns about the violation of parental due process rights. 7
Like this mother petitioning for a change in GAL law, parents around the country are challenging state laws and arguing that the role of GALs in custody proceedings deprives parents of their substantive due process right in the care, custody, and control of their children, and their procedural due process right to a fair trial. 8 Specifically, parents object to their inability in certain states to cross-examine GALs who provide custody recommendations to the court in the name of their children's best interests. 9 Whether GALs function as witnesses ...
https://litigation-essentials.lexisnexis.com/webcd/app?action=DocumentDisplay&crawlid=1&doctype=cite&docid=94+Minn.+L.+Rev.+2103&srctype=smi&srcid=3B15&key=5e97644e1170af0dfe2dfda07e38381b
TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2012 My heart is achs for 2 children and their mother.
TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2012
My heart is achs for 2 children and their mother.
I am pretty pissed right now. I am reading the story of a commenter on this blog and I am angry for what she and her children are going through. I wanted to discuss parental alienation syndrome. It was coined by Richard Gardner. Who despite loosing his hospital admitting privileges and having no paid job, was able to promote an agenda that helps pedophiles.http://www.fmsfonline.org/currentnewsletter.pdf He was a volunteer at Columbia University. He did get paid to be an expert witness in custody cases where a father was abusing (usually sexually) his children. This man was most likely a pedophile. He was definitely pro-pedophilia and part of the movement to normalize pedophilia. He would be involved with B4U-ACT if he was still alive.
I found a lot of sites that discuss Gardner and his parental alienation syndrome. This site
http://pasisascam.wordpress.com/category/dr-richard-gardner shares what Gardner's motivation's were:
I remember hearing about the father's right's movement. I was knee deep in trying to get myself together to be a better parent to my children. My ex accused me of alienating the children from him. I wasn't I was trying to protect my children from experiencing more abuse. I knew that if he got into another relationship he was going to continue his abuse. I didn't want my children subjected to that. So I asked for what was fair which was that him, the children and I all go to therapy (separately). He refused, he refused to do almost everything the judge ordered him to do. If you didn't know him and heard his stories you would have thought I was a shrew and that the court was out to get him. The father's rights movement sounded very similar to what my ex was saying. To be honest at the time I didn't pay them much attention. I am not saying that their aren't father's whose rights don't get violated. There are many mother's rights who get violated as well. Not to mention the children who get violated because they are made to either have supervision or live with their abuser. I fought long and hard to make sure my children saw their father supervised. He hated it and refused to comply with the court. He was supposed to go to therapy, visit them supervised for six months. Then have them overnight one night for six months. Then he was supposed to get them the whole weekend. This never occurred. If he complied with everything I would have been in contempt of court if he didn't get his visitations.
What this woman and her children have gone through and are continuing to go through are traced right to Richard Gardner and his "parental alienation" lie. I have attached two videos on Richard Gardner and parental alienation. As well as put links at the bottom of this post on the same. I am praying hard for her and her children. Rosie
I found a lot of sites that discuss Gardner and his parental alienation syndrome. This site
http://pasisascam.wordpress.com/category/dr-richard-gardner shares what Gardner's motivation's were:
This is exactly what the False Memory Sword Foundation stands for and supports. Several of their board members were pedophiles and pro-pedophilia. I think the world needs to know that the False Memory Syndrome(doesn't exist) Foundation IS PART OF THE MOVEMENT TO NORMALIZE PEDOPHILIA. They need to be held accountable for their role in harming thousands of children. I am shocked that they have never been sued do to their practicing medicine without a license. They have "diagnosed" thousands of survivors of child sexual abuse with false memory syndrome (doesn't exist). They have "diagnosed" thousands of parents accused of child sexual abuse as being victims of their children's "false memories." All without ever meeting them. Their willingness to use pedophiles to support their agenda is disgusting. They should be held accountable for that as well. My guess is since they diagnosed people with syndromes that don't exists technically they didn't practice medicine with out a license.Gardner’s Motivations-Gardner, who had no hospital admitting privileges for his last 25 years and fraudulently claimed to be a clinical professor of child psychiatry, derived his theories to discredit mothers who complained that their partners were abusing them or their children. Gardner, who often testified on behalf of pedophiles, admitted that probably over 95% of all sex abuse allegations are legitimate, but claimed incest and many other deviant sexual practices are normal and not harmful
I remember hearing about the father's right's movement. I was knee deep in trying to get myself together to be a better parent to my children. My ex accused me of alienating the children from him. I wasn't I was trying to protect my children from experiencing more abuse. I knew that if he got into another relationship he was going to continue his abuse. I didn't want my children subjected to that. So I asked for what was fair which was that him, the children and I all go to therapy (separately). He refused, he refused to do almost everything the judge ordered him to do. If you didn't know him and heard his stories you would have thought I was a shrew and that the court was out to get him. The father's rights movement sounded very similar to what my ex was saying. To be honest at the time I didn't pay them much attention. I am not saying that their aren't father's whose rights don't get violated. There are many mother's rights who get violated as well. Not to mention the children who get violated because they are made to either have supervision or live with their abuser. I fought long and hard to make sure my children saw their father supervised. He hated it and refused to comply with the court. He was supposed to go to therapy, visit them supervised for six months. Then have them overnight one night for six months. Then he was supposed to get them the whole weekend. This never occurred. If he complied with everything I would have been in contempt of court if he didn't get his visitations.
What this woman and her children have gone through and are continuing to go through are traced right to Richard Gardner and his "parental alienation" lie. I have attached two videos on Richard Gardner and parental alienation. As well as put links at the bottom of this post on the same. I am praying hard for her and her children. Rosie
Saturday, May 5, 2012
PETITION: It is time to stop tragic theory use in family court
PETITION: It is time to stop tragic theory use in family court
To: Families, communities, citizens, parents, States, family courts , ext.
I hereby petition for an immediate federal investigation into all case's of inappropriate syndrome use (parental alienation theory, false memory theory,,ext.) where children may have been placed in harm's way with inappropriate syndrome use.
An immediate de-funding of all agency's, organization's, non-profits, and not for profit's that were derived out of inappropriate syndrome use or for inappropriate syndrome therapy aka deprogramming centers, supervised visitation centers, gals, ext.
Including a reversal of all bills and laws based on inappropriate syndrome's.
And the immediate implementation of the National safe child act by Barry Goldstein to assure no family suffer again from these tragic theory's.
It is time to stop tragic theory use in family court
http://www.causes.com/causes/659087-safe-child-act-2012/actions/1649101
I hereby petition for an immediate federal investigation into all case's of inappropriate syndrome use (parental alienation theory, false memory theory,,ext.) where children may have been placed in harm's way with inappropriate syndrome use.
An immediate de-funding of all agency's, organization's, non-profits, and not for profit's that were derived out of inappropriate syndrome use or for inappropriate syndrome therapy aka deprogramming centers, supervised visitation centers, gals, ext.
Including a reversal of all bills and laws based on inappropriate syndrome's.
And the immediate implementation of the National safe child act by Barry Goldstein to assure no family suffer again from these tragic theory's.
It is time to stop tragic theory use in family court
http://www.causes.com/causes/659087-safe-child-act-2012/actions/1649101
There are children and families that have been placed in harms way with inappropriate Syndrome use and every minute count's.
There lives have been placed in harms way by tragic theory use .
It is time to stop tragic theory use in family court please sign and spread the word for the many families affected by this thank you
Use of Inappropriate Syndrome Testimony
As early as September of 1989 Dr. Gary Melton and Susan Limber in an article entitled "Psychologists' Involvement in Cases of Child Maltreatment" [American Psychologist Vol. 44, No. 9, pp. 1225-1233] commented on the inappropriate use by therapists of syndromes that are not found in the various versions of Diagnosis and Statistical Manual. There have been a proliferation of such syndromes over the last several years. At this point using syndromes which are not appropriately researched or acknowledged by the profession is below the standard of care. Among the syndromes which are controversial and which should not be represented as accepted in the therapist community are Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome, Parental Alienation Syndrome, [Wiederholt v. Fischer 169 WIS 2d 524, 45 N.W. 2d 442 (1992)], False Memory Syndrome, and Malicious Mother Syndrome.
http://kspope.com/ethics/malpractice.php
Published February 23, 2007
The Truth About Parental Alienation
by Irene Weiser
The truth about parental alienation, custody and abuse.
Proponents of Parental Alienation portray parental alienation as a destructive family dynamic, usually manifesting during custody battles, in which one parent purportedly turns the child’s sentiments against the other parent. Failure to recognize and correct this dynamic by ensuring that the child has a relationship with both parents, they claim, will cause great harm to the child.
Indeed, nothing can be further from the truth. Parental Alienation is a discredited, pseudo-psychological theory whose application in custody determinations has caused great harm to children.
http://www.stopfamilyviolence.org/info/custody-abuse/parental-alienation/the-truth-about-parental-alienation
Parental Alienation Syndrome: What Professionals Need to Know Part 1 of 2
By Erika Rivera Ragland1 & Hope Fields2
Excerpts
Conclusion
At best, PAS is a nondiagnostic “syndrome” that only explains the behavior of the child and the mother when there is a known false allegation.20 It is a courtroom diagnosis befitting adversaries involved in legal sparring. It is not capable of lending itself to hard data or inclusion in the forthcoming DSM-V.
In short, PAS is an untested theory that, unchallenged, can have far-reaching consequences for children seeking protection and legal vindication in courts of law.
Prosecutors and other child abuse professionals should educate themselves, their colleagues and clients when confronting PAS in the legal realm. Part 2 of this newsletter will address the case law on this subject. For more in-depth and comprehensive treatment of these issues, contact the National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse.
National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges Rejects PAS
September 11, 2006
The theory positing the existence of "PAS" has been discredited by the scientific community and hence fails to meet Daubert and Frye standards and should be ruled inadmissible. Quite apart from its scientific invalidity, PAS inappropriately asks the court to assume that the children's behaviors and attitudes toward the parent who claims to be "alienated" have no grounding in reality. It also diverts attention away from the behaviors of the abusive parent, who may have directly influenced the children's responses by acting in violent, disrespectful, intimidating, humiliating and/or discrediting ways toward the children themselves, or the children's other parent.
http://www.stopfamilyviolence.org/info/custody-abuse/parental-alienation/national-council-of-juvenile-and-family-court-judges-rejects-pas
"Using Saunders’ Report to Protect Children Excerpts section "Legal Representation,"
Department
There lives have been placed in harms way by tragic theory use .
It is time to stop tragic theory use in family court please sign and spread the word for the many families affected by this thank you
Use of Inappropriate Syndrome Testimony
As early as September of 1989 Dr. Gary Melton and Susan Limber in an article entitled "Psychologists' Involvement in Cases of Child Maltreatment" [American Psychologist Vol. 44, No. 9, pp. 1225-1233] commented on the inappropriate use by therapists of syndromes that are not found in the various versions of Diagnosis and Statistical Manual. There have been a proliferation of such syndromes over the last several years. At this point using syndromes which are not appropriately researched or acknowledged by the profession is below the standard of care. Among the syndromes which are controversial and which should not be represented as accepted in the therapist community are Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome, Parental Alienation Syndrome, [Wiederholt v. Fischer 169 WIS 2d 524, 45 N.W. 2d 442 (1992)], False Memory Syndrome, and Malicious Mother Syndrome.
http://kspope.com/ethics/malpractice.php
Published February 23, 2007
The Truth About Parental Alienation
by Irene Weiser
The truth about parental alienation, custody and abuse.
Proponents of Parental Alienation portray parental alienation as a destructive family dynamic, usually manifesting during custody battles, in which one parent purportedly turns the child’s sentiments against the other parent. Failure to recognize and correct this dynamic by ensuring that the child has a relationship with both parents, they claim, will cause great harm to the child.
Indeed, nothing can be further from the truth. Parental Alienation is a discredited, pseudo-psychological theory whose application in custody determinations has caused great harm to children.
http://www.stopfamilyviolence.org/info/custody-abuse/parental-alienation/the-truth-about-parental-alienation
Parental Alienation Syndrome: What Professionals Need to Know Part 1 of 2
By Erika Rivera Ragland1 & Hope Fields2
Excerpts
Conclusion
At best, PAS is a nondiagnostic “syndrome” that only explains the behavior of the child and the mother when there is a known false allegation.20 It is a courtroom diagnosis befitting adversaries involved in legal sparring. It is not capable of lending itself to hard data or inclusion in the forthcoming DSM-V.
In short, PAS is an untested theory that, unchallenged, can have far-reaching consequences for children seeking protection and legal vindication in courts of law.
Prosecutors and other child abuse professionals should educate themselves, their colleagues and clients when confronting PAS in the legal realm. Part 2 of this newsletter will address the case law on this subject. For more in-depth and comprehensive treatment of these issues, contact the National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse.
National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges Rejects PAS
September 11, 2006
The theory positing the existence of "PAS" has been discredited by the scientific community and hence fails to meet Daubert and Frye standards and should be ruled inadmissible. Quite apart from its scientific invalidity, PAS inappropriately asks the court to assume that the children's behaviors and attitudes toward the parent who claims to be "alienated" have no grounding in reality. It also diverts attention away from the behaviors of the abusive parent, who may have directly influenced the children's responses by acting in violent, disrespectful, intimidating, humiliating and/or discrediting ways toward the children themselves, or the children's other parent.
http://www.stopfamilyviolence.org/info/custody-abuse/parental-alienation/national-council-of-juvenile-and-family-court-judges-rejects-pas
"Using Saunders’ Report to Protect Children Excerpts section "Legal Representation,"
Department
Monday, April 16, 2012
****Child Custody Evaluators' Beliefs About Domestic Abuse Allegations:
Child Custody Evaluators' Beliefs About Domestic Abuse Allegations: Their Relationship to Evaluator Demographics, Background, Domestic Violence - Knowledge and Custody-Visitation Recommendations Final Technical Report Submitted to the National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice
** Entire article follows below the excerpts or read here ** *EXECUTIVE SUMMARY* High rates of domestic violence exist in families referred for child custody evaluations. *These evaluations can produce potentially harmful outcomes, including the custody of children being awarded to a violent parent,* unsupervised or poorly supervised visitation between violent parents and their children, and mediation sessions that increase danger to domestic violence victims. Past research shows that domestic violence is frequently undetected in custody cases or ignored as a significant factor ... more »
Friday, April 13, 2012
stop-the-human-right-abuses-in-the-us-family-court-system-against-children
http://www.change.org/petitions/united-nations-human-rights-council-stop-the-human-right-abuses-in-the-us-family-court-system-against-children
excerpt "Why This Is Important
The United States is home to one of the greatest civil rights movement of its era, dating back to 1866 and 1964. The Constitution of the United States celebrates and enshrines Life, Freedom, Liberty and Prosperity. Congress asserted its authority to legislate under several different parts of the United States Constitution, principally its power and duty to guarantee all citizens equal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment; however, this has failed miserably in the land of the free and the home of the brave with the current court system, predominantly in family law.
Children are citizens of this country too and have rights and equal protection under the law; predominantly the right not to have their civil liberties stampeded across by the family court judiciary against the best interest of the standard and the right to have parents.
This Country is in a crisis; a family crisis and a child crisis that is exploding exponentially as there is no best interest of the child standard. There is Anarchy. Laws exist, they are already in place, children have rights and yet there is no best interest of the child standard. Instead there is a robotic machinery of a court system with mediators, judiciary, court evaluators and minors council that have so dissociated themselves from the human rights atrocities that are committed on a daily basis that they consider the current status quo normal.
It is not. Children are destroyed, and have lost their childhood and are a generation of lost souls. Families are mangled and are damaged irreparably by the robotic machinery of a court system. There is no common sense standard and no best interest of the child standard even though equal protection under the law is guaranteed under the US constitution.
Children have a right to not be damaged by the court system. They have a right to parents. They have a right to be protected from abuse and court abuse. They have a right to a speedy resolution of emotional and physical harm. That bill of rights is enshrined in the United Nations right of the child. Parents have a right to not be victimized and punished by a Court by the willful and malicious abuse of the law.
Immigrant parents who live in the United States have the right to custody and the right to care and nuture their children without being victimized and punished by a family court due to their legal immigrant status.
The 1st Amendment guarantees freedom of speech and the right of American citizens to protest outrageous human rights violations that occur on a daily basis against each other, their fellow immigrant residents and their children who are perpetually being legally raped, abused and scarred by a family court system that is constiututionally bound to uphold justice and provide equal protection under the law.
We call upon the Elders and the United Nation Human Rights Council to become involved as independant global thinkers to effect change and halt the catastrophic, malicious and vicious rape of human rights of children and their parents in the US family court system. The US constitution and the diverse UN treaties that the United States has ratified protect again the legal rape of rights. The court system that is sworn to uphold justice instead devotes its time to destroy children and their parents.
excerpt "Why This Is Important
The United States is home to one of the greatest civil rights movement of its era, dating back to 1866 and 1964. The Constitution of the United States celebrates and enshrines Life, Freedom, Liberty and Prosperity. Congress asserted its authority to legislate under several different parts of the United States Constitution, principally its power and duty to guarantee all citizens equal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment; however, this has failed miserably in the land of the free and the home of the brave with the current court system, predominantly in family law.
Children are citizens of this country too and have rights and equal protection under the law; predominantly the right not to have their civil liberties stampeded across by the family court judiciary against the best interest of the standard and the right to have parents.
This Country is in a crisis; a family crisis and a child crisis that is exploding exponentially as there is no best interest of the child standard. There is Anarchy. Laws exist, they are already in place, children have rights and yet there is no best interest of the child standard. Instead there is a robotic machinery of a court system with mediators, judiciary, court evaluators and minors council that have so dissociated themselves from the human rights atrocities that are committed on a daily basis that they consider the current status quo normal.
It is not. Children are destroyed, and have lost their childhood and are a generation of lost souls. Families are mangled and are damaged irreparably by the robotic machinery of a court system. There is no common sense standard and no best interest of the child standard even though equal protection under the law is guaranteed under the US constitution.
Children have a right to not be damaged by the court system. They have a right to parents. They have a right to be protected from abuse and court abuse. They have a right to a speedy resolution of emotional and physical harm. That bill of rights is enshrined in the United Nations right of the child. Parents have a right to not be victimized and punished by a Court by the willful and malicious abuse of the law.
Immigrant parents who live in the United States have the right to custody and the right to care and nuture their children without being victimized and punished by a family court due to their legal immigrant status.
The 1st Amendment guarantees freedom of speech and the right of American citizens to protest outrageous human rights violations that occur on a daily basis against each other, their fellow immigrant residents and their children who are perpetually being legally raped, abused and scarred by a family court system that is constiututionally bound to uphold justice and provide equal protection under the law.
We call upon the Elders and the United Nation Human Rights Council to become involved as independant global thinkers to effect change and halt the catastrophic, malicious and vicious rape of human rights of children and their parents in the US family court system. The US constitution and the diverse UN treaties that the United States has ratified protect again the legal rape of rights. The court system that is sworn to uphold justice instead devotes its time to destroy children and their parents.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Anne Grant "Family Court needs a roadmap for the countless people struggling to find their way through these labyrinthine rules and procedures that often seem intentionally confusing and inconsistent from one judge to the next. Despite my worst fears, maybe this is exactly the time when we need an experienced teacher in charge,".
"I am glad to endure any reforms that mean Family Court is becoming more ethical and just. The three cases I mentioned in this post represent four children--now young women. This month, the youngest (in the Textron Case) turns 12, and the oldest (pictured above) turns 23. I have met them all. Because of them and others like them, I take these reforms personally,".
"I first opposed Judge Bedrosian at a Judicial Nominating Commission hearing in 1996 because of a decision that she later defended as conforming to the rules. I argued that her decision harmed the child pictured at the top of this blog, a victim of domestic violence. Judge Bedrosian criticized my “ignorance of the requirements of judicial conduct.”
"Ironically, her reform of the DR6 hits at the heart of that case and each of the other cases I have mentioned in this post -- the enormous financial inequities that set these three Family Court custody cases on such an unequal playing field. Parents who are forced to litigate pro se, or with pro bono attorneys, seldom prevail for long in this Court".
"Their abusers keep returning to assault them again and again. And where will they find the money to appeal to a higher court when decisions harm their children here"?
"The Court seldom sees these children or how much they suffer. It is good to find Chief Judge Bedrosian addressing problems related to children’s trauma and the bad practices that have prevailed too long in Family Court,'.
"She deserves credit and encouragement to keep working at those parts of this system that are most unjust, including:"
"Family Court needs a roadmap for the countless people struggling to find their way through these labyrinthine rules and procedures that often seem intentionally confusing and inconsistent from one judge to the next. Despite my worst fears, maybe this is exactly the time when we need an experienced teacher in charge,".
"I first opposed Judge Bedrosian at a Judicial Nominating Commission hearing in 1996 because of a decision that she later defended as conforming to the rules. I argued that her decision harmed the child pictured at the top of this blog, a victim of domestic violence. Judge Bedrosian criticized my “ignorance of the requirements of judicial conduct.”
"Ironically, her reform of the DR6 hits at the heart of that case and each of the other cases I have mentioned in this post -- the enormous financial inequities that set these three Family Court custody cases on such an unequal playing field. Parents who are forced to litigate pro se, or with pro bono attorneys, seldom prevail for long in this Court".
"Their abusers keep returning to assault them again and again. And where will they find the money to appeal to a higher court when decisions harm their children here"?
"The Court seldom sees these children or how much they suffer. It is good to find Chief Judge Bedrosian addressing problems related to children’s trauma and the bad practices that have prevailed too long in Family Court,'.
"She deserves credit and encouragement to keep working at those parts of this system that are most unjust, including:"
"1. The abuse of so-called “emergency” motions thathttp://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_11
a. are not true emergencies or that
b. should be referred to Superior Court’s domestic violence court (without placing the financial and emotional burden of legal defense on alleged victims).
2. The abuse of ex parte motions that
a. prevent judges from hearing the other side in a timely manner
and
b. produce orders that spread misinformation in the community.
3. The failure of lawyers to complete paper work in a timely manner
a. when drafting orders after hearings,
b. when submitting documents to the other side for review before getting the judge’s signature, or
c. when completing paperwork for child support.
4. The Court’s use of clinicians that violates
a. HIPAA regulations,
b. ethics of mental health professionals, and
c. rules of the insurance industry against reimbursing for court-ordered services.
5. The need for judges to sanction lawyers under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedurehttp://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_11"
"Family Court needs a roadmap for the countless people struggling to find their way through these labyrinthine rules and procedures that often seem intentionally confusing and inconsistent from one judge to the next. Despite my worst fears, maybe this is exactly the time when we need an experienced teacher in charge,".
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