We don't need GALs, ACs, or LGs in the family courts. Same with forensic evals.Nancy Erkison's article (dated 2007)
9.29.2010
MISUSE of POWER - Confusion on the Role of LAW Guardian Ad Litem’s and Mental Health - so called ‘experts’ in the family courts. BAD FOR CHILDREN BAD FOR MOTHERS
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This is Really Hard to Believe
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This is Really Hard to Believe
Written by Barry Nolan
This is really hard to believe. I am sitting in a room filled with women who were beaten, and violated in terrible ways. The room is not in Bosnia, or some far flung third-world hell-hole. I am in a function room in a hotel in Albany at the Battered Mothers Custody Conference. [1]
Many of the women around me are sobbing now, as a child tells her story. “My father beat me” she begins. Well, she is not a child now actually, but she is a child to me. She is a poised, attractive young woman named Jennifer Collins [2] who is a survivor of child abuse and of a Child and Family Court System that betrayed her and her brother, just as it betrays children across this country every day when it orders children to live full time with an abusive parent.
I know you do not believe me. And that makes me realize that this is the experience that these women who surround me have all had. No one believes them. No one believes this can happen. [3] But it does. Sometimes this happens despite voluminous evidence, eyewitnesses and medical records that the child has been beaten, even raped and sodomized by a parent seeking custody. Sometimes the courts do this even if the parent seeking custody has been convicted of, or admitted to domestic violence or sexual assault. I know you don’t believe me. But you would believe Jennifer if you were here.
It is a strange world in Child and Family court. For instance, even as much energy in the wider world goes into efforts to make certain that sex offenders have no access to children, that they can’t live near a school and walk near a playground, in this odd little corner of our judicial system, courts routinely order children to “reunite” with a sexual predator parent who hurt them. All in the name of “family re-unification”.
I know this sounds impossible. It is against all common sense. This is America after all. But come sit here with me, and listen to this woman/child tell her story. She has “aged out” of the system and is no longer under the thumb of a court that tells her she must be silent. There is a whole group of courageous kids [4] like Jennifer who are old enough now to tell their story to you, face to face. Jennifer’s story is a pip. And it is pretty typical.
Jennifer tells us about her mother Holly and her dad. He was a batterer who beat Holly. And he beat the children. Jennifer moves her story along quickly to the day when her older brother, then about 4, tried to intervene as dad was beating mom. Dad threw the son against the wall and fractured his skull. There is much more. But I will move the story along quickly to what happens when Holly finally decided to leave this man who beat her and the children. She fled that terrible house, only to find herself in house of mirrors. The Child and Family Court system.
It is almost as if none of the people who run the Child and Family Court system ever read about or learned a single thing from sad saga of the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse scandal. It’s like they never heard about how victims of physical or sexual abuse are often silenced by their own sense of shame. How their terrible stories can sometimes finally come pouring out in torrents. It may be years later, but it is no less true. This is not theory. This is fact. We have all watched these sad dramas on the 6 O’clock news.
But, uniquely in Child and Family Court, if allegations of physical or sexual abuse are raised during a divorce where custody is an issue, the allegations are used, not against the perpetrator, but against the victim. There is this invented thing, a bit of junk science called “Parental Alienation Syndrome”. It basically says that any time a woman raises the issue of physical or sexual abuse, of herself or the children in the midst of a custody dispute, she is just trying to make the man look bad and make the children hate him. She must be lying.
Look, I am not a fool. I know people lie. I know some women lie. I know people say awful things about each other in divorces. I have watched Jerry Springer just like you. But I have also watched “To Catch a Predator” and I know “respectable” people can do horrible things. So, do a thought experiment here. Pretend you are a woman who had finally left an abusive relationship, taking your children with you. If your controlling soon-to-be ex-husband sought to get full custody of the children as one last slap at you, what would you say? OK? Sure, that sounds fair? Fat chance.
The thing a real court would do when this happened is to consider all the evidence, and talk to all the witnesses. Witnesses like the children. They were after all, there when “it” happened. This is what a court would do if a stranger were accused of beating them. Or raping them. But this is not what the Child and Family Court system does.
Jennifer, the survivor, tells us of the day the representative of the court came to take her away from her mother and take her to live at her dad’s. How she clung desperately to her mother’s leg, until they pried her fingers loose, lifted her up, carried her away, and compelled her to live with the man who would beat her. Jennifer tells us how her mother, desperate beyond all measure, kidnapped the children, spirited them away to the Netherlands, where they became the first Americans to be granted asylum. How she lived in a refugee camp, with refugess from Somalia and Sierra Leone, people who had to learn how to use toilets and forks. How this was better than “home”. This was a step up. She was with her mom.
Jennifer lived in exile for 14 years. She finally “aged out”. The court has no jurisdiction now. And so Jennifer had the freedom to come home, to America, to this room where I sit, surrounded by women who are now weeping with joy and cheering for Jennifer’s mom for being so brave and for Jennifer for telling her story to this room full of people who know her story is true. Because the same thing happened to them. So they believe her.
I believe her, too.
References
[1] The Battered Mothers Custody Conference is a national public forum to address the many complex issues facing battered women and their advocates as they strive to protect themselves and their children in and out of family court during divorce, custody, and visitation disputes.
[2] Small Justice is a video that follows paralegal Diane Hofheimer and her attorney husband as they represent three women, all loving mothers, who have lost custody of their children to men with demonstrated histories of sexual abuse and domestic violence.
[3] The Courageous Kids Network is an organization dedicated to stopping the continuing assault on children's human right to live free from abuse.
[4] American Children Underground blog chronicles the story of Jennifer Collins, who spent 14 years in hiding with her mother and brother after receiving asylum in the Netherlands.
Discuss this article or to post questions or information for the author, leave a comment on the community site!
About the author:
Barry Nolan is a veteran television journalist and Emmy winning Commentator. He is now a freelance writer and does occasional consulting and writing for Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney.
Nolan has had the chance to cover some of the important stories, the most outstanding personalities and the biggest liars in our time. As a former co-anchor of Hard Copy and later Senior Correspondent for EXTRA!, he has had the chance to cover 9-11, Waco, Oklahoma City and the Republican Convention. He has had the chance to go one on one with some of America's most gifted story tellers such as O.J. Simpson, James Earl Ray, and that John O'Neil guy from the Swiftboat crowd. He has actually covered stories in Alaska where he thought he got a glimpse of Russia, which officially qualifies him to become Vice President, which he plans to do when he finishes writing his book "Truth Takes a Holiday: Michael Jackson, O.J. Simpson, Bill O'Reilly and Me," a book he has time to write after being fired by Comcast for calling Bill O'Reilly a "mental case."
Contributors: GreyHawk, Roxy, Susie Dow
Photo Credits: drawings ⓒ 2009 American Children Underground
9.21.2010
GUARDIAN AD CHARGEM a.k.a. GUARDIAN AD LITEM
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Source mamaliberty
GUARDIAN AD CHARGEM a.k.a. GUARDIAN AD LITEM
Appointed by a judge to act in a child’s best interest, some lawyers can also help themselves by billing a small fortune
By Bob Whitby
For most people who help kids entangled in the legal system, the only reward is the warm glow that comes from having done a good deed. For a lucky few, however, the payback is more pecuniary. Downright lucrative in some cases.How do you go from being a concerned citizen to being a concerned citizen who gets paid? By becoming a private guardian ad litem. But there are a few hurdles you’ll have to clear first.
First you’ll need a law degree, and membership in the Florida Bar helps to get in this club. Besides, there’s really no better way to meet and schmooze with family court judges, which is the second thing you want to do. Make sure the judges know you like kids.
Then sit back and wait for a juicy divorce or custody case to pop up, preferably one involving at least one rich parent able to pony up big time and several kids. You might have to handle a couple smaller cases for 1000 bucks or less to prove your worth. But sooner or later, if you’ve done your networking, the judge might remember you fondly and put your name on an order appointing a guardian ad litem in a contentious case involving well-heeled parents. If you’re extra lucky, the judge won’t dictate how much you can charge or how many hours you can put into the case. Now you’re in the money.
A guardian ad litem is a person appointed to act in a child’s best interest in legal proceedings, usually a shield between warring parents. The guardians are also investigators. In custody cases, for example, the court needs to know which parent is best suited to have primary custody. Parents who don’t want to lose their children are not the best sources of objective information, so it falls to the guardian ad litem to make a recommendation.
Every circuit court system in Florida has a publicly funded Guardian Ad Litem Program. Usually administered by a few overworked staffers, these programs recruit and train laypeople — non-lawyers — to be guardians ad litem, which is Latin for “guardians at law.” These guardians are volunteers; they serve because they want to help kids and are to be commended for it. Putting oneself in the middle of a disintegrating family is, as one guardian put it, “like sticking your head in a meat grinder.”
Volunteer guardians are assigned in cases where the parties cannot afford a private guardian. (Broward County is in desperate need of volunteer guardians, with about 1000 kids waiting for their services.)
But if a judge decides one party or the other can pay, then pay they must. That happens in a small percentage of cases and usually only in divorce or custody matters. Dependency cases, where abuse and neglect are the issue, tend to involve foster children and people who simply don’t have much money. As one guardian ad litem put it, “Dependency is the redheaded stepchild of the court house.”
A private guardian ad litem is almost always a lawyer (but isn’t serving in that capacity, which would be a conflict of interest), and that’s when the bills can start to mount.
Unless you regularly sit in on court proceedings, there is no way to determine which lawyers repeatedly get assigned as guardians ad litem. The county’s Guardian Ad Litem Program keeps tabs only on volunteers, not private, paid guardians.
Court watcher Eleanor Mendlein has sat through a lot of divorce and custody cases in the last few years, and she sees patterns in who gets assigned. “The same people get appointed over and over again,” says Mendlein. “It’s money. If you have deep pockets, you get due process.”
Through the court watchers, New Times found three instances in which paid guardians made big money — as much as $40,000-plus for a single case — advocating for children. Not surprisingly, such dollar figures raise questions of bias. If your ex is paying a guardian ad litem thousands of dollars, will the guardian be influenced by the one who foots the bill?
“The concern is real, but I don’t know if it’s justified,” says Melinda Brown, a family-law attorney who also works as a private guardian ad litem. “I deal with a whole lot more issues than who pays me.”
But the people who’ve been through the system in divorce or custody cases think differently. “These guardians don’t care anything about kids,” says Teresa Cummings, who battled with her ex-husband over custody of their two children. “Believe me, they don’t.”
After their divorce, Cummings’ husband decided he wanted custody of their children. The judge appointed a private guardian ad litem, and Cummings’ ex-husband paid the bills. “They got money from the person who has it, which in this case was my ex,” she says.
She can’t quite put her finger on it, but Cummings had the feeling the guardian ad litem was swayed by her ex-husband. “She would say things to me to aggravate me,” Cummings says. She also says she had no idea the guardian was an attorney and didn’t realize who was paying the bills until the case was almost over.
Perhaps Cummings’ fears were overstated, because she ultimately prevailed in the case and kept primary custody of her children. The guardian’s bill was about $5000.
That’s small change compared to a $27,000 bill for guardian ad litem work in the case of Ulbrich v. Ulbrich.
John Ulbrich and Christina Coolidge Ulbrich were already divorced when guardian ad litem Jeffrey Bryer came into their lives. At issue was visitation for Christina’s daughter, Nichole. Though he is neither Nichole’s biological nor adoptive father, John wanted visitation rights with the child. Christina didn’t feel her ex was entitled but gave in to avoid a costly legal battle. The case was settled out of court but not before the guardian ad litem wrote a 55,000-word journal on every aspect of the Ulbrich’s lives and charged John Ulbrich $75 for each of the 365 hours he spent doing it.
“I think he is a frustrated writer,” says John Ulbrich.
And not a very good guardian ad litem to boot, he adds. “It was just an absolute horror, a nightmare. [Bryer] had no ability to gain confidence with my daughter.”
Bryer recommended that John Ulbrich be granted visitation rights and devised a somewhat complicated schedule to that effect. Though he was the one who requested that a guardian ad litem be appointed in the first place, Ulbrich refused to pay what he believed to be a wildly inflated bill. Not that he couldn’t have paid if he wanted — Ulbrich owns a Jaguar dealership on Sunrise Boulevard. Bryer, who did not answer repeated phone calls for this story, settled for $16,500.
And then there’s the granddaddy of all guardian ad litem bills, a $40,000-plus whopper for services rendered in the divorce case of Gumberg v. Gumberg.
Again the pattern: Rich husband pays the bill, less financially endowed wife feels shafted by the system.
The Gumbergs’ divorce case defines contentious — the case file sprawls over 21 volumes. Lorraine Abruzzo Gumberg says her legal bill alone is more than $200,000. She estimates her ex-husband’s bill at close to $800,000, a figure which could not be confirmed because Andrew Gumberg did not return phone calls from New Times.
At the heart of this mess is the custody of a four-year-old boy. The guardian ad litem recommended custody be awarded to the father, with the mother having visitation rights. Not surprisingly, that didn’t sit well with Lorraine Gumberg. “I didn’t stand a chance,” she says. “I lost custody of my child.”
Gumberg says the guardian ad litem criticized her for picayune things, like feeding her son from a bottle though he was 20 months old and letting him sleep in bed with her. The guardian also suggested that, should custody be awarded to the husband, the wife should live close by so the child’s life would not be unduly interrupted. Gumberg scoffs at the notion, noting that her ex-husband, whose worth is put at some $32 million in court records, lives in a $2.5 million waterfront home in Fort Lauderdale. “The idea was that Jordan should not have to go from dad’s beautiful house to mom’s trailer park,” she says. “That’s bullshit.”
Anne Alper, the guardian ad litem in the Gumberg case, was out of town and could not be reached for this story.
In the end Gumberg says her ex-husband got the best legal help money could buy. “I just don’t think the system works right,” she says. “I think the system sucks. He has money. I don’t. That’s the bottom line.”
9.20.2010
A Cancer Spreading in the Custody Court System
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In domestic law on September 17, 2010 at 1:16 am
Courtesy Times Up
By Barry Goldstein
The concept of Custody-Visitation Scandal Cases was developed because of the frequency of extreme results in custody cases in which children are endangered, safe, protective mothers are denied any meaningful relationship with their children and the results appear to be the opposite of what the evidence and the well being of the children would require. The Battered Mothers Custody Conference was started in response to what we believed were too many of these tragic cases to be viewed as exceptions.
When we look at an individual case, it is hard to be sure the decision is wrong without a careful review of the record. In most cases mothers are pathologized or demonized in order to create the appearance of a justification for the extreme actions taken. When the bad decisions backfire in a way that demonstrates even to the courts that the wrong decision was made, the defenders of the courts like to believe these cases constitute the exceptions to the usual good job done by courts. There is now a large body of research about these cases that show there are too many cases with extreme results and flawed practices to be conveniently dismissed as exceptions. To illustrate the problem, I want to look at four of these extreme cases not because they are exceptions, but because they represent the kinds of mistakes the court system routinely makes and will continue to make until it changes practices that were developed at a time when no research was available and have proven to be detrimental to the children the courts are supposed to protect.
In one New Jersey case I have consulted on, the father has a long history of domestic violence and after the separation, the children disclosed sexual abuse. In this as in all the cases I will be discussing, the mother was unquestionably the primary attachment figure for the children. DYFS, the New Jersey child protective agency, investigated the allegations, but failed to confirm them. As a result, the father was given custody and as the protective mother continued to believe the father was dangerous, and challenge the professionals who failed to protect her children, she has been limited to supervised visitation.
In a well known Kansas case that I have discussed with the protective mother, the father has numerous convictions for domestic violence and other crimes and a poor relationship with the daughter. Despite this, the court gave custody to the father and imposed ever greater restrictions on the mother’s access to the daughter. The mother has been active in exposing the broken court system and the court has wasted large amounts of time and money seeking to remove information from the Internet and silence the mother’s concerns. The court has retaliated against the mother with reductions in visitation and a variety of sanctions.
In a California case, the mother left the father because of his abusiveness to the mother. Initially, the mother agreed to give the father unsupervised visitation, but as he continued his abuse and threatened to kill the baby, she sought to restrict him to supervised visitation. The judge decided she was a liar, awarded the father unsupervised visitation and threatened further action against the mother if the judge’s belief she was lying was confirmed.
In a Maryland case the protective mother also sought to leave her abuser and when he made threats to hurt the children sought a protective order. Shortly before the mother appeared in court, she had sex with her husband. The judge, not understanding that it would not have been safe for the mother to refuse, assumed this meant the father could not possibly be dangerous and granted unsupervised visitation for the father.
One of the problems we have seen repeatedly is that when a court makes a mistake and fails to recognize or respond to danger caused by domestic violence, they will rarely admit to these mistakes. Instead we see the kind of retaliation and punitive measures harmful to children that was used in the New Jersey and Kansas cases. Nevertheless, the courts in California and Maryland would now admit they made the wrong decision. The case in California involved Katie Tagle as the protective mother. The father used the access given him by the judge to kill Baby Wyatt and then himself. Similarly, in Maryland, the mother was Dr. Amy Castillo and the father used the access provided by the judge to kill their three children and then himself.
The judges in California and Maryland are deeply disturbed by the outcome and genuinely sorry for their mistake. At the same time, they have defended their decisions saying they couldn’t have known of the father’s danger based upon the evidence in front of them. In one sense they are correct. The judges in these four cases all used the same outdated and discredited practices including the popular myth that women often make false allegations in order to gain an advantage in litigation. This contributes to the widespread inability of custody courts to recognize domestic violence and in turn led to the mistakes in these four cases and other cases endangering over 58,000 children every year.
If all or even a larger portion of the bad decisions led to an immediate and recognizable tragedy like the cases in California and Maryland, the needed reforms would have been adopted long ago and children controlled by custody courts would be protected. Most of the time, however, the cases are more like New Jersey and Kansas where the harm is better hidden and not as dramatic for the public. The children grow up without their primary attachment figure, often suffer private but horrible abuse and many become involved in a wide range of harmful behaviors in response to the direct and indirect abuse inflicted by their abusers. Most will never reach their potential as a result of the mistakes made in the custody courts.
Many communities have developed a practice in which child protective agencies team with the local domestic violence shelter. They cross-train staff and when a possible domestic violence case develops, child protective caseworkers consult with domestic violence advocates. This has resulted in child protective agencies being able to better recognize domestic violence and respond in ways that benefit the children. This should be considered best practices. DYFS recently adopted these best practices, but the New Jersey case was first investigated under the old flawed methods. The protective mother has asked DYFS and the court to take a fresh look at the original findings based upon better practices and the new research, but they adamantly refuse to consider the possibility that they made a mistake while using the old discredited practices. The judge has refused to consider any new evidence based on the up-to-date research and insists on proceeding with the case based on the unlikely conclusion that the mother’s allegations are false.
As with many mistaken decisions, the mother has been pathologized by the unqualified professionals involved in the case. DYFS regularly uses the same mental health professionals who intuitively understand they are more likely to continue to be used by DYFS if they reach conclusions that support DYFS’ findings. There is substantial evidence of confirmation bias in the work of the "neutral" professionals relied on by DYFS and the court. Since they "know" the mother’s allegations are false and she continues to believe them, she must be "delusional" and therefore unfit for anything but supervised visitation. If she were delusional, it would stand to reason that this would present a problem in the rest of her life. These professionals have never stopped to consider how she can be successful professionally, academically and in all other phases of her life. Perhaps the DSM should include a new condition "delusional in the custody courts."
At this point, the concern is that because she continues to believe the father abused the children (based on substantial evidence) and so if she had unsupervised visitation would say negative things to the children. This is the beginning and the end of the discussion by the unqualified professionals relied on by the courts. The mother is the primary attachment figure to her children, so separating her from the children creates a higher risk of depression, low-self-esteem and suicide. Where is the research that establishes what harm would be caused to the children if she made these statements and they were false? There is no such research, it is just assumed by professionals unused to looking for research to justify their beliefs and recommendations. How can we know if the alleged harm of the mother making statements about the father is greater than the established harm of taking children away from their primary attachment figure?
The Kansas case is similar in that they have long since ignored or minimized the very real danger the abusive father poses to the child and instead concentrate all their attention on the supposed harm the mother can cause by continuing to believe the father is unsafe and posting information on the Internet that helps to expose a broken court system. Judges are ethically required to avoid actions that create the appearance of impropriety or conflict of interest. Although they phrase the demand to remove material as if it benefitted the child, in reality the real purpose is to hide the history of abuse of the father and the failure of the court to act in the child’s best interests. Given the clear conflict of interest (they are seeking to remove materials that criticize the court), at the very least they would need convincing evidence that the mother’s beliefs would create a long-term harm to the child. Similarly, the removal of the mother from the child’s life, although she is the primary attachment figure creates a serious risk of harm to the child that the court has failed to address. Until the court can cite evidence or research to support its assumptions, the extreme actions present at least an appearance of impropriety. Ironically in both cases the courts put a high priority on placing the children with the parent it viewed as most likely to promote a relationship with the other parent, but when the abusive fathers sought to deny the children a meaningful relationship with the parent the children most need (the primary attachment figure), the same priority of keeping both parents in the children’s lives was no longer paramount. This is a common mistake in the custody courts and is one example of the widespread gender bias faced by mothers. In fairness, court professionals are often oblivious to the gender biased approaches they use, but tend to get angry and retaliatory when it is pointed out to them.
I believe it is outrageous that the custody courts have not made children’s safety the first priority. In the California and Maryland cases where there was evidence of a history of domestic violence and threats to kill the children, the court had time for only a brief hearing and refused to protect the children’s safety resulting in their deaths at the hands of their fathers. At the same time, In the New Jersey and Kansas cases the courts seem to have unlimited time and resources to investigate the "danger" the children might hear their mothers’ concern for their safety and well being.
Certainly there are mothers whose contact with the children needs to be limited. This would be in cases where there is a genuine safety risk such as a mother who is a drug addict, physically abuses the children or has a mental illness so severe as to make her unsafe to care of the children. In the absence of such safety issues it is virtually always wrong for courts to take the extreme action of barring unsupervised visitation. This is certainly true when it is done in the context of mothers trying to protect their children from fathers they believe are unsafe. The research establishes that because of the outdated and discredited practices court professionals routinely use, a large majority of findings denying the mothers’ allegations are mistaken. Even when her allegations are untrue, it is unlikely the risk she will make negative comments about the father is more significant than the harm of taking a primary attachment figure out of the children’s lives. In other words the harm to the children of these visitation restrictions is almost always greater than the harm the court thinks it is avoiding.
This was explained by Joan Zorza in her chapter in our book, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ABUSE and CHILD CUSTODY, chapter 14 page 26. "Otherwise as shown in many parts of this book, courts often make mistakes that place the lives and safety of protective mothers and their children in jeopardy. In this context, it is important for courts that rule against alleged victims of DV to be open to the possibility that they made a mistake. Courts should be reluctant to take punitive or retaliatory actions against mothers who continue to believe their partners abused them." The courts in Kansas and New Jersey could have saved the children a lot of harm (and still can) by following this advice based on the most up-to-date research available.
The elephant in the room is the issue of corruption. Every time courts make decisions that appear to have no relationship to the evidence presented and make orders that cannot possibly benefit the children involved, they create the appearance of corruption. When courts seek to silence protective mothers and retaliate for criticism of the court or their abuser, they are promoting the belief that only corruption could explain these extreme and harmful decisions.
There are cases decided by corruption. The Judge Garson case in Brooklyn, New York is a prime example and his early release from jail after conviction further harmed the courts’ reputation. More commonly mental health professionals and some attorneys have adopted beliefs and practices that favor abusers because that is where the money is. Nevertheless, I believe the research establishes that most of these bad decisions are caused by outdated and discredited practices that are deeply ingrained after all these years. In my career, I have seen many good people who I like and respect use these practices and come to extremely harmful conclusions. It is important, however that the legal system open its eyes to this problem, review the new research and stop acting defensively to the justified criticism.
In the summer of Watergate, John Dean testified that he told Nixon about a cancer on the presidency. His assumption was that the illegal and unethical practices were committed only by Nixon’s aides. It turned out that Nixon himself was the cancer on the presidency and had to be removed. Today there is a cancer on the custody court system. Some children are dying and others have their lives ruined by unjustified and extreme decisions. Rita Smith, Executive Director of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence wrote in her Afterward to our new book that once the book is published anyone who continues to use the old practices must be understood to be committing malpractice. The four cases discussed in this article were originally decided based upon the old discredited practices. It is too late to save the children in California and Maryland. This is what happens when inadequately trained professionals rely on the myth that women frequently make false allegations. We can still help the children in New Jersey and Kansas by taking a fresh look at the cases based on the up-to-date research now available. The court system is at a crossroads. It now has the research to reform its training and practices so that they can better protect all the children. I hope they will treat the research as a gift and not an attack and use it to remove the cancer on the court system. In doing so the court system can support my view that the mistaken decisions are not based on corruption.
Barry Goldstein is a nationally recognized domestic violence expert, speaker, writer and consultant. He is the co-editor with Mo Therese Hannah of DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, ABUSE and CHILD CUSTODY.
PRESS RELEASE: Protective Mothers March on Oct 1 in Washington DC
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PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Connie Valentine 916-233-8381
A press conference will be held on Friday, October 1, 2010 from 11:00 am to noon in front of the U.S. Department of Justice, 950 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, D.C.
On the first day of Domestic Violence Awareness month, advocates and protective mothers whose children have been ordered into the custody of batterers and molesters are gathering to call for an investigation by the DOJ into family court corruption.
These mothers are deeply concerned about their children. Mildred Mohammad, former wife of Beltway Sniper John Mohammad, took part in the Mothers' Day vigil at the White House on May 9, 2010. "I was without my children for two years when they were kidnapped by John and the courts didn't listen to me," she told reporters.
As in the Mohammad case, family courts across the nation ignore or minimize child safety.
Research shows that 70% of batterers who request custody receive it, leading to 58,000 children per year who are forced to live with their identified abusers.[1] Many are killed. Batterers are over 6 times more likely to sexually abuse their children.[2]
The social ramifications of this trend are frightening. Children who are abused are at a high risk in adulthood for problems such as addictions, obesity, suicide attempts, heart disease and cancer. [3]
After the press conference, the mothers and their supporters will march to the Senate to request Congressional hearings to investigate these violations of law and human rights.
The march will end at the Sewall Belmont House at 144 Constitution Ave NE, the suffragists' headquarters when, in 1910, they insisted that women receive the civil right to vote.
In 2010, mothers are insisting that children have the human right to physical and sexual safety. Please visit www.mothers-of-lost-children.com for more information.
[2] Bancroft, Lundy and Silverman, Jay, The Batterer as Parent, Sage Publications, 2002
[3] www.acestudy.org
CA Protective Parents Association | P. O. Box 15284 | Sacramento | CA | 95851
9.15.2010
Court Appointed Child Abuser Paid for by YOUR TAX dollars
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This is what the County of Shawnee in Topeka Kansas Paid to GAL M. Jill Dykes COURT APPOITED CHILD ABUSER—in her recent activities of August 20 2010—hearing--to continue to keep a daughter away from her mommy--
the actual statement that the TAX payers PAID FOR IS SEALED ---- WTF IS SHE HIDING? If she were flying straight the missing attached statement would NOT BE SEALED!! She got paid $2,688.00 for the last hearing August 20 2010.
You did work mighty hard M. Jill Dykes talking to the daddy-- the daddy lawyer ---the daddy shrink to lie about the mom—why don’t you show us how much time you spent talking to them?
Obviously a whole hell of a lot from the GRANTED pay Order below.
How about the child—(((ohhh that’s what it is you skipped talking to your client –AGAIN) see Guardian AD Chargem- M. Jill Dykes Topeka KS paid for by YOUR $Tax $
You’ll burn in hell Jill—they all do.
m. Jill Dykes 8-26-2010 Expenses
the actual statement that the TAX payers PAID FOR IS SEALED ---- WTF IS SHE HIDING? If she were flying straight the missing attached statement would NOT BE SEALED!! She got paid $2,688.00 for the last hearing August 20 2010.
You did work mighty hard M. Jill Dykes talking to the daddy-- the daddy lawyer ---the daddy shrink to lie about the mom—why don’t you show us how much time you spent talking to them?
Obviously a whole hell of a lot from the GRANTED pay Order below.
How about the child—(((ohhh that’s what it is you skipped talking to your client –AGAIN) see Guardian AD Chargem- M. Jill Dykes Topeka KS paid for by YOUR $Tax $
You’ll burn in hell Jill—they all do.
m. Jill Dykes 8-26-2010 Expenses
9.02.2010
9.01.2010
Interview with Barry Goldstein & Claudine Dombrowski Today!!--Family Courts:" Mothers Without Custody"-The Susan Murphy Milano Show: Wednesday September 1, 2010 Call In 347-326-9337
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Listen to internet radio with Susan Murphy Milano on Blog Talk Radio
1-347-326-9337 4:00 PM Eastern Time and 3:00 PM Central Time
Show Link: www.blogtalkradio.com/susanmurphymilano
Family Courts:" Mothers Without Custody"-The Susan Murphy Milano Show: Wednesday September 1, 2010
"I am a mother, a daughter, a sister, your neighbor, your co-worker and or friend. I am only one of thousands of Battered Mothers and battered children struggling daily to keep our children safe ourselves alive. Many have not survived. I pledge to my many sisters-and all our children, those who have fallen and those who still stand, being brutalized daily, weekly, year after year- by a system that is supposed to protect, the Courts continue to punish battered mothers and our battered children. United we carry forward the unheard cries of our children."
On the Susan Murphy Milano Show: Todays guests
will be Barry Goldstein is a former attorney and author of the book, “Scared to Leave Afraid to Stay,” and newly released book, "Domestic Violence, Abuse and Child Custody" as well as an advocate for women abused by their partners and sometimes the court system. .
And Claudine Dombrowski a noted expert on Mothers Without Custody, who herself is currently being victimized by the family courts in Kansas City, Mo.
The number to call into the show with questions or comments is:
1-347-326-9337
4:00 PM Eastern Time and 3:00 PM Central Time
Show Link: www.blogtalkradio.com/susanmurphymilano
If you miss the show be sure to return to this site where it will re-play automatically through September 8,, 2010 or you can down load the podcast by going to the link for the show.
To be considered as a guest on a future show or if you have a subject matter or idea you would like on a topic of interest please email us at murphymilano@gmail.com
Been there, done that…” Susan Murphy- Milano has turned a tired phrase into demonstrable realism through the gift of her newly published book, "TIME'S UP: A GUIDE ON HOW TO LEAVE AND SURVIVE ABUSIVE AND STALKING RELATIONSHIPS
ImaginePublicity Barry Goldstein and Claudine Dombrowski joinSusan Murphy-Milano today at 4pm Eastern to discuss Mothers Without Custody on BlogTalkRadio
Susan Murphy Milano | Internet Radio | Blog Talk Radiowww.blogtalkradio.com
ImaginePublicity Barry Goldstein and Claudine Dombrowski joinSusan Murphy-Milano today at 4pm Eastern to discuss Mothers Without Custody on BlogTalkRadio
Susan Murphy Milano, Author, Speaker, Violence Safety Strategist and Consultant and Celebrity Spokesperson, has been featured on Oprah, 20/20, The Justice Files, US News & World Report, USA Today, The E Network, The Associated Press, Family Circle Magazine, CNN and NBC's Sunday Today. Susan's...ONLY in America Land of the indentured 'slave mothers' have no RIGHTS but to breed then disposed of. RUN MOMMY RUN!
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M. Jill Dykes GAL COURT APPOINTED CHILD ABUSER
David Craig Rodeheffer COURT APPOINTED PEDOPHILE ADVOCATE--google him this is his main job 'counselling' convicted pedophiles in Topeka Kansas-- so that they can go after custody of their own child victims -- google ORLANDO PAUL CISNEROS -- yup these are the witch doctors of psychiatry your tax payers at work.
ONLY in America Land of the indentured 'slave mothers' have no RIGHTS but to breed then disposed of. RUN MOMMY RUN!
Look up HIPPA dear Witch DoKtoR--
David Craig Rodeheffer COURT APPOINTED PEDOPHILE ADVOCATE--google him this is his main job 'counselling' convicted pedophiles in Topeka Kansas-- so that they can go after custody of their own child victims -- google ORLANDO PAUL CISNEROS -- yup these are the witch doctors of psychiatry your tax payers at work.
ONLY in America Land of the indentured 'slave mothers' have no RIGHTS but to breed then disposed of. RUN MOMMY RUN!
Look up HIPPA dear Witch DoKtoR--
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, ABUSE, AND CHILD CUSTODY Legal Strategies and Policy Issues
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Domestic Violence, Abuse, and Child Custody Legal Strategies and Policy Issues
Editors: Mo Therese Hannah, Ph.D. and Barry Goldstein, J.D
No one wants to be known as the judge who hurts children and this research can prevent the kinds of tragic outcomes we see too frequently.
Table of Contents (PDF)
In a trend that started in the 1980s, and increasingly since then, family court judges across the U.S. have ordered thousands and thousands of children into unsupervised visitation with abusive biological fathers.
In many cases, mothers have been denied any form of custody, with some losing all contact with their children. In the last few years, attorneys and social service advocates have met to address this issue at the annual Battered Mother’s Custody Conferences.
This book brings together the expertise and perspective of more than thirty contributors to BMCC in a comprehensive resource that arms advocates with the best thinking and most effective legal strategies in the battle to protect mothers and families from a system that often fails to address abuse and sometimes actually worsens the problem.
Domestic Violence, Abuse, and Child Custody presents insights and hands-on practice guidance from the leading experts on child custody cases that involve intimate partner violence and child abuse.
Chapter authors address the prevalence of these problems, the complex reasons why protective mothers lose custody of their children, the things court agents and other professionals often do that contribute to bad outcomes, and the corrective measures that must be put into place to ensure legal protections for abused women and their children.
- Understand the harm caused by all types of abusive behavior, whether physical, verbal, financial, legal, or other forms.
- Guide the representation of protective mothers through research, case law, and consultation to improve case outcomes.
- Establish the paramount importance of children’s safety beyond all other priorities that may emerge in a child custody case.
- Provide judges with new insight into the dynamics of violence, recognize when experts and other types of witnesses are providing testimony based on myths, stereotypes, and discredited theories, and provide an empirically based, real-world rationale for orders emphasizing the safety of protective mothers and the accountability of batterers.
Written with the expressed goal of helping battered mothers assert their rights to a safe family life free from violence, the contributors to this book take a firm stand against so-called “balanced” points of view that attempt to explain or justify abusive behavior. This book is grounded in the belief that battering is never justified, and batterers are not entitled to “equal rights” to custody when the safety of a child is in question. Advocates who share that view will find this book a uniquely compelling ally in protecting and defending the rights of battered mothers.
REVIEWS:
“Domestic Violence, Abuse, and Child Custody will be instructive for policymakers, those working in the family justice system, and members of the media–which the authors say has by-and-large failed to expose custody court scandals. But it is a must-read for any mother involved in a child custody battle, and especially for mothers trying get free from an abusive relationship."
—R. Dianne Bartlow, Ms. Magazine Blog
“The stories of injustice in this book will shock you, and make you cry--but keep reading. Abusers are hoping you won't pay attention because it will be too painful. Prove them wrong by reading this book again and again and again--and share it with everyone who needs to know the truth.”
—Wendy Murphy, JD, New England Law-Boston; author of And Justice For Some
"We are excited about Domestic Violence, Abuse and Child Custody, a new book that we believe can be used to change the broken custody court system."
—Rita Smith, Executive Director, NCADV (National Coalition Against Domestic Violence)
“This book serves as a beacon of light to all those who have become jaundiced by the malfunctioning family court, social services, law guardian and mental health system.”
—Amy Neustein, Ph.D., Co-Author of From Madness to Mutiny: Why Mothers Are Running From the Family Courts—And What Can Be Done About It
“Wise judges will use the up-to-date research now available to take a fresh look at practices and assumptions deeply ingrained after thirty years.”
—Judge Sol Gothard, JD, MSW, ACSW, Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal, State of Louisiana (ret.)
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Praise for this important new resource ...
“This comprehensive book is a gift to the cause of justice not only for victimized women and children but for anyone who cares about the integrity of law itself. The American legal system has for too long facilitated the very violence it purports to forbid, often allowing abusive men to use the courts to punish women and children who speak out against child sexual abuse and domestic violence. Mo Hannah and Barry Goldstein have created a desperately needed manual that will empower generations of victims to fight back. My favorite section is the one that reminds us of the obvious: 'Therapy is Not the Answer' to violence. The stories of injustice in this book will shock you, and make you cry--but keep reading. Abusers are hoping you won't pay attention because it will be too painful. Prove them wrong by reading this book again and again and again--and share it with everyone who needs to know the truth.”
—Wendy Murphy, JD, New England Law-Boston; author of And Justice For Some
"We are excited about Domestic Violence, Abuse and Child Custody, a new book that we believe can be used to change the broken custody court system. The book contains chapters by over 25 of the leading experts in the US and Canada including judges, lawyers, psychiatrists, psychologists, sociologists, journalists and domestic violence advocates. The co-editors, Mo Therese Hannah and Barry Goldstein and many of the contributors like Joan Zorza and Lois Schwaeber are long-time friends and supporters of our movement. Although the contributors come from very different disciplines and backgrounds, there is remarkable agreement that thousands of children are being forced to live with abusers because of common mistakes and discredited practices used by the family court system. The book is meticulously researched and cited so the findings have the highest credibility."
—Rita Smith, Executive Director, NCADV (National Coalition Against Domestic Violence)
“This book serves as a beacon of light to all those who have become jaundiced by the malfunctioning family court, social services, law guardian and mental health system. Whether the reader is a protective parent, child advocate, attorney, judge, social worker or mental health expert, this exquisitely organized and illuminating volume will help the reader to better understand the socio-historical, socio-legal, and socio-cultural forces shaping today’s domestic relations courts. The editors have assembled eminent scholars, practitioners, and child advocates in one volume that flows like a brilliantly conducted orchestral piece. This fine collection clarifies the core issues at hand and provides a full panoply of solutions; it adds a significant contribution to an expanding body of literature on domestic violence, abuse and child custody.”
—Amy Neustein, Ph.D., Co-Author of From Madness to Mutiny: Why Mothers Are Running From the Family Courts—And What Can Be Done About It, recipient of the NARCCW 2010 Pro Humanitate Literary Award, shared with Attorney Michael Lesher, a contributor to this volume.
“For years custody courts have confidently denied complaints by mothers of unfair treatment in domestic violence cases. If the court system had commissioned research to determine how the present practices are working, the result would be the information contained in Domestic Violence, Abuse and Child Custody. The research findings demonstrate court practices are outdated and their confidence misplaced. Wise judges will use the up-to-date research now available to take a fresh look at practices and assumptions deeply ingrained after thirty years. No one wants to be known as the judge who hurts children and this research can prevent the kinds of tragic outcomes we see too frequently.”
—Judge Sol Gothard, JD, MSW, ACSW, Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal, State of Louisiana (ret.)
Related Publications: Child Victimization; Treating the Lifetime Health Effects of Childhood Victimization; Domestic Violence Report; Stalking; Family & Intimate Partner Violence Quarterly; Violence Against Women.
To order, use the orderform or contact:
Civic Research Institute • P.O. Box 585, Kingston, NJ 08528
Tel: 609-683-4450 • Fax: 609-683-7291
Email: order@civicresearchinstitute.com
Family Courts:" Mothers Without Custody"-The Susan Murphy Milano Show: Wednesday September 1, 2010 Call In 347-326-9337
,
1-347-326-9337
4:00 PM Eastern Time and 3:00 PM Central Time
Show Link: www.blogtalkradio.com/susanmurphymilano
Family Courts:" Mothers Without Custody"-The Susan Murphy Milano Show: Wednesday September 1, 2010
"I am a mother, a daughter, a sister, your neighbor, your co-worker and or friend. I am only one of thousands of Battered Mothers and battered children struggling daily to keep our children safe ourselves alive. Many have not survived. I pledge to my many sisters-and all our children, those who have fallen and those who still stand, being brutalized daily, weekly, year after year- by a system that is supposed to protect, the Courts continue to punish battered mothers and our battered children. United we carry forward the unheard cries of our children."
On the Susan Murphy Milano Show: Todays guests will be Barry Goldstein is a former attorney and author of the book, “Scared to Leave Afraid to Stay,” and newly released book, "Domestic Violence, Abuse and Child Custody" as well as an advocate for women abused by their partners and sometimes the court system.
.
And Claudine Dombrowski a noted expert on Mothers Without Custody, who herself is currently being victimized by the family courts in Kansas City, Mo.
The number to call into the show with questions or comments is:
1-347-326-9337
4:00 PM Eastern Time and 3:00 PM Central Time
Show Link: www.blogtalkradio.com/susanmurphymilano
If you miss the show be sure to return to this site where it will re-play automatically through September 8,, 2010 or you can down load the podcast by going to the link for the show.
To be considered as a guest on a future show or if you have a subject matter or idea you would like on a topic of interest please email us at murphymilano@gmail.com
Been there, done that…” Susan Murphy- Milano has turned a tired phrase into demonstrable realism through the gift of her newly published book, "TIME'S UP: A GUIDE ON HOW TO LEAVE AND SURVIVE ABUSIVE AND STALKING RELATIONSHIPS
ImaginePublicity Barry Goldstein and Claudine Dombrowski joinSusan Murphy-Milano today at 4pm Eastern to discuss Mothers Without Custody on BlogTalkRadio
Susan Murphy Milano | Internet Radio | Blog Talk Radio
ImaginePublicity Barry Goldstein and Claudine Dombrowski joinSusan Murphy-Milano today at 4pm Eastern to discuss Mothers Without Custody on BlogTalkRadio
Susan Murphy Milano, Author, Speaker, Violence Safety Strategist and Consultant and Celebrity Spokesperson, has been featured on Oprah, 20/20, The Justice Files, US News & World Report, USA Today, The E Network, The Associated Press, Family Circle Magazine, CNN and NBC's Sunday Today. Susan's...
8.23.2010
Domestic violence is on the rise in Shawnee County Interview with District Attorney Chad Taylor and Claudine Dombrowski
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Domestic violence is on the rise in Shawnee County
By Jessica Drew
Domestic violence on the rise
Domestic violence on the rise in Shawnee County.
"I remember curling up in a ball to protect her from the kicks," domestic violence survivor, Claudine Dombrowski, described.
Claudine Dombrowski is a survivor to domestic violence, a cycle she went back to many times. "I had a choice I could see my daughter or I could never see her again. The abuser had complete control, so I got my daughter back and went back to him."
Going back to an abusive relationship is a problem District Attorney Chad Taylor said his office sees quite often. "We see it everyday, and it's just a matter of the psychology of the cycle of abuse," Taylor said.
The number of cases coming across Taylor's desk is growing. "Our year to date projections for 2009 total is going to be an increase of about 80 percent for the domestic battery cases that we filed," Taylor said.
Claudine fights to help women like herself who have fallen in the hands of abuse. "This was the crow bar, and then I was beaten and raped," Dombrowski said.
She said she never reported her beatings until after her daughter was born.
Taylor said it happens often, "It goes from bruises to hospitalization, to like we said this is all about homicide prevention."
Claudine said even if you haven't been a victim, you probably know someone who has and you can help them. "Don't think it's you...get rid of the scarlet letter of shame, it's the most important thing."
Taylor wants to show there's help out there for victims. "Making this a priority and letting people know that this will not be tolerated in our community," Taylor said.
Taylor's office gave us statisitics on Domestic Violence in 2008 the DA's office received 1267 cases, out of those 508 were filed. Starting from January 1st until October 16, 2009 there have been 1347 cases received, and out of those 849 cases have been filed.
One Domestic Battery charges, in 2008 there were 723 received and 246 filed for court. The projections for this year are 784 received and 443 filed, meaning an eighty percent increase on Domestic Battery.
Comments
candd66604 (anonymous) says...
When families are struggling with bills and employment or lack of it the stress levels go over the top. The news of the rise in cases doesnt surprise me tho it does sadden me.
October 20, 2009 at 4:44 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
aj92 (anonymous) says...
I saw the Domestic Violence Video. An I was just wondering how do you know that Claudine Dombrowski is telling the truth? I've seen countless articles about an "abused" victim who are just making it up to get back at that person for a unknown reason. And these people, like Claudine, don't realize by going on tv how much it hurts and embarrasses the chlidren that are brought up in thr interveiw. I have seen, Claudine, on the internet before with pictures of her daughter (and a different story every time), and I feel for her daughter, because I know how embarrassing and how much it can hurt. I can only imagine how it must feel, having a "mother" on tv and plastered all over the internet, about her "abusive" father. I wish Claudine would understand this and stop hurtting her daughter this way.
Now, I'm not saying that there aren't people out there that are really abused, but I think you need to know if its true or not. Before you go and interveiw them and air it.
October 20, 2009 at 6:56 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
alexisamoore (anonymous) says...
It is great to see DA Chad Taylor and a victim speak out during domestic violence awareness month. Sadly millions of victims continue to lose their lives each year and fall through the cracks of resources. Bravo to Claudine for being brave and for speaking out and kudos to DA Taylor for making domestic violence a priority in his office.
If you are a victim of domestic violence, stalking, cyberstalking or identity theft as abuse be sure to visit www.SurvivorsInAction.com "No Victim Left Behind"
October 20, 2009 at 7:50 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
etluv (anonymous) says...
How many "countless" victims have you seen make up an entire video and post them? Evidence please. And what are you, a private investigator? If so, you should do a piece. Besides, Claudine, and a few others are on a Human Rights case presented to the United States...I really doubt all the women went that far based on a fictitious story.
And you're right, you can only IMAGINE what it is like to have a mother "plastered all over the internet." The experience obviously isn't yours to own, nor are you qualified to speak on behalf of HER child. Perhaps mom is a heroe, perhaps mom is the only one who stands behind this child unconditionally--so much, that she's put her life on it. Perhaps you WISH you had someone who loved you that much.
October 20, 2009 at 8:02 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Accountability (anonymous) says...
Great Job DA Chad Taylor! The real shame of Kansas is how Claudine Dombrowski lost custody of her daughter to an abuser after she was brutally attacked and raped. What sort of judicial system does that to a mother who was trying to protect her child? Claudine Dombrowski seems to be a real threat to the abusers in our world because she isn't scared to tell how the system violated her and her child's constitutional rights.
The Kansas Constitution does state that women should have rights to their children and this keeps getting violated as children are taken from their mothers and placed with abusers.
October 20, 2009 at 8:10 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Delilah (anonymous) says...
Stories like Claudine's are being played out in courtrooms across the country every day. Not everyone is brave enough to speak out with the courage that Claudine has found. She not only speaks about her own pain and abuse, but she speaks for the ones who are living in fear of their lives and the lives of their children.
She holds up and supports so many others besides herself and does it out of the goodness of her heart, not trying to bring attention to herself, but to bring attention to the travesty of justice many are facing.
I, personally, applaud her for being an outspoken advocate, not only for just herself and her own child, but for the hope and help she works so hard to bring to others.
October 20, 2009 at 8:16 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Seeking4Justice (anonymous) says...
It is a shame that others are judging Claudine unfairly. Her abuse is real. Losing custody of her daughter to an abuser is real. Unless you have walked in her shoes you do not have the right to say whether or not the abuse has happened. Many women do not report abuse because they are scared. Women think of their children first and do what is best for them and yet they still lose custody to abusers. Where is the justice for our children? Abuse is real and until society realizes the real problem is with the abusers this cycle of abuse will continue. It is time to hold the abusers accountable. There are many forms of abuse and just because with some women you do not see any bruises does not mean that she has not been abused in other ways.
I think it is great that DA Chad Taylor is not going to put up with it and to hold the abusers accountable. We need more people to step up to the plate and not let the abusers get away with abuse or taking children away from good mothers. Abuse is not acceptable in any form. If it would happen to a loved one of yours I am sure that they would have a different outlook on it.
We should praise Claudine for her strength and efforts to help other women that are going through what she has gone through and continues to go through. Way to go Claudine! I am so proud of you! Keep up your great work of getting the truth out there whether people want to hear it or not!
October 20, 2009 at 8:42 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jdrew (inactive user) says...
Thanks everyone for your comments on my story! I appreciate the feedback. I just wanted to let everyone know about the open records Shawnee County Courts has on the website. You can check all criminal cases, and in the case with Ms. Dombrowski, I ran a search and verified her story. I did not name the abuser, because I don't think it adds anything to the story, and it would not help any situation.
I do appreciate viewers and people in the community checking the facts, and just know I do everything I can as a reporter to make sure details are accurate. Having open records easily accessible from the County, and being able to run a search online on their website does make my job easier! Thanks again everyone for your comments!
If you have any other questions please email me!
October 20, 2009 at 9:01 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
JaneTruth (anonymous) says...
Maybe Claudine's child would rather her mother be alive, and to heck with embarrassment.
Does the photo of Claudine all covered with blood and bruises look like somebody trying "to get back at a person for an unknown reason?"
No matter how much stress is caused by the economy or whatever, that is no excuse for beating one's spouse! We all have stress. We don't all beat our wives or husbands.
With people who do this, the object is control. And it always escalates. The so-and-so is not going to stop by himself. We need more DAs like Mr Taylor.
October 20, 2009 at 9:08 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Justina (anonymous) says...
Some may say, "She made it up and she's a fake." THAT alone is the problem with the mainstream of society. Without knowing her intimately, without being in her life to witness what she says happened to her, without any substantial reason other than 'so many other women lie and make it up all the time'...every woman is judged as liars.
I am here to tell you that I was honestly beaten, kicked, bit, maritally raped and beaten down emotionally, mentally, psychologically and spiritually by my batterer...and with every bit of honest evidence that he was a danger to me and my children, the corrupted system handed custody of my children over to him and took away my decision rights without my right to due process...and I face members of this society thinking that I must have been lying and the courts found a good reason why I should have lost custody.
I have felt alone in this horrifying nightmare in almost a decade of this. I thought I was the only one and in this isolation I almost accepted that I was a crazy whacked out liar and didn't even know it. That's just how far down I was. And, it wasn't until over a year ago that I started researching on the internet for abusers who get custody and how I could turn this around for my children, who are being horribly abused by their father.
The cruel awakening finally happened as I found out I wasn't alone, that this really does happen to battered mothers and that it was becoming like the worst case of cancer, eating away the Human Rights that battered mothers do have, to be protected from her abuser and to have the full right to protect her children from him, also. Too many of us mothers are suffering this pain of losing our children to our abuser and it's got to be stopped.
To Be Continued....
October 20, 2009 at 9:24 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Justina (anonymous) says...
The only way it will TRULY stop is when everyone stops making the error of automatically thinking and accusing a woman of lying when she alleges domestic violence or child abuse/molestation, without good evidence to prove such. When it comes to the safety of women and children, it is absolutely important to error on the side of protecting women and children and let the investigation prove the truth of what's alleged.
Claudine is who gives us women who have suffered what she has suffered, a voice - courage to speak out ourselves - and a way for us all to find our own empowerment in order to be the change in how the US family courts grossly and dangerously mishandle custody cases that involve abuse at any level. If every citizen did their part to be the change that is expected in our family courts, we would see and experience that change.
Claudine is doing just that. We must all put aside the judgment of rather she's lying or not, as accusing her of lying or defending her of not lying. All that arguing is not what will get a bigger and most important job done. What matters is that there is corruption in the courts and what Claudine is doing is trying to bring change to make order in a disordered family court system happen. We should all be standing next to Claudine, as co-partners to help the other get this crucial change to happen!
Thank you, Claudine for your courage, strength and your never give up and never give in spirit. The winds of change have been long overdue and I just hope and pray that everyone globally will use the power within themselves to strengthen and carry this wind of change, till the change we so desperately need in our family courts, when dealing with a protective parent and children where abuse is alleged, will happen forever!
Here's To The Change,
Justina
October 20, 2009 at 9:25 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Claudine_Dombrowski (Claudine Dombrowski) says...
Petition to Inter American Commission on Human Rights in its Entirety:
http://www.stopfamilyviolence.org/fol...
Also See:
http://bit.ly/U997l
Thank you all for supporting DA Chad Taylor- and Jessica Drew!! We need to stop the violence, If my case can in anyway help, then it will not all have been in vain.. to save just one life..
One woman, one child.
October 20, 2009 at 9:36 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Accountability (anonymous) says...
I say Chad Taylor should run for Kansas Attorney General! We know that AG Six could care less about victims rights including children. Go DA Chad Taylor! Be our next Attorney General!!!
October 20, 2009 at 9:42 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
anonymum (anonymous) says...
I really wonder about these sadistic comments against victims accounts. Alot of abusers will go to great lengths to conceal the violence. It is illogical to suggest that by exposing the atrocities against Claudine and her child would be an embarrassment. I imagine that the courts who have taken part of this abuse are embarrassed that now many know of their ills.
Its quite absurd to suggest that Claudines experience is anything but true.
For the court to grant an abuser custody is beyond simply violating the basic human rights of mothers and children, it is an act of torture and this court should be held accountable for its actions. On another note, we commend the media for drawing out this issue and hope that not only is this situation rectified, but both the mother and the child are greatly compensated for the undue suffering that they have caused.
October 20, 2009 at 9:46 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Justina (anonymous) says...
It is incredibly absurd to accuse Claudine of lying! It boils my blood when anyone is automatically accused of lying about being violated.
Meanwhile...Claudine's child, the one she carried and gave birth to and protected with her very own safety and life at stake, has been ripped away from her loving mother...and the time together lost that can never be replaced.
Shame does not belong on Claudine's conscious....I say shame on her abuser and shame on Shawnee court system...for placing Claudine and her child in harms way and holding them as prisoners in harms way just for your own dirty agendas that you choose to think is way more important that these two precious lives.
However, praise goes to Claudine and whoever gets on board with her to help stop domestic violence at home and in the family court room!
October 20, 2009 at 10:04 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
SickOfVilence (anonymous) says...
In most states, domestic violence is not coded as such, especially if the people are living apart and the woman has a different last name or has reclaimed her maiden name. These stories are on the increase, but due male dominated police departments, sympathy for men or outright graft, when men do these things to women, it is covered up. 89,000 rapes were reported last year alone. How many were prosecuted? Where I live, NONE. Even child rape is not prosecuted. How can a 4 year old cause a rape?
Time to wake up and smell the atmosphere, the air stinks and it is the cops and the judges and the lawyers who all agree to cover up what is happening, and they do it for economics. Greed Rules.
October 21, 2009 at 1:31 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
SteveT (anonymous) says...
How do I know Claudine is telling the truth? WHY would someone lie about abuse? Plus PICTURES don't lie!
My heart goes out to Claudine and her child...and all women out there who have to deal not only with abuse by the abuser but through the court system. The child should be embarrassed aj92 due to the childs father being a abuser NOT because the mother is fighting the corruption, collusion and cronyism in the family court system.
October 21, 2009 at 2:02 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Justina (anonymous) says...
Thank you so much for that validation for us moms and our children.
You're right...pictures don't lie. Neighbors witnessing the verbal or physical abuse don't lie, the bruises and broken bones and trying to figure out how to hide it all from being found out don't lie, the pain and fear on the mothers and children don't lie, the demolished things in the house don't lie, the submissive way a woman walks cowardly next to her significant other and the children behind with that same walk don't lie...most of all the broken hearts of who love abusers don't lie.
I cry writing this because I, like so many other moms. that have suffered horrendous abuse and now have to endure the pain of our children suffering the abuse from our abuser...have been screaming out the truth for so long upon deaf ears and cold hearts...we absolutely need everyone who cares about our pain to make such a noise about it that it will not be ignored any longer!
As far as I am concerned....it's not about me lying to manipulate the court to giving me custody of my children so that I can get money from my ex in the form of child support. It's all about the truth, which is that he's a wife batterer and a child abuser, and I must get my Human Right as a protective mother enforced so I can protect my children from him. He can keep every copper penny he earns, I don't want any of his money...I only want my children back in my safe and unconditional loving care! Is this too much to ask?
October 21, 2009 at 3:34 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
fortenderheart (anonymous) says...
For all of you that are doubting Claudine's "story" . . .do some homework . . . see the line of progression on the attacks . . .if you look you will see that her "story" is substantiated . . .and that you need to step back and really think about who you are trying to defend. . . .
Do you really want to defend an abuser that has a history of abuse? Somehow . . .in your heart . . .you should know better. . . you should be thinking about how you can keep the children safe . . .the wives safe and think about how to put an end to this mess . .
Yes, it was a very important message to come out during the month of October . . .but . . .look at all Claudine has been through . . .and what she continues to go through . . .
NO mother should be kept from their children! It is so important to have the maternal bond that helps the children to grow into a strong adult . . . and not repeat the cycle of abused to abuser . . .as so many do . . .
Before judgments are made . . . you should really explore the information that is available out there . . .Learn to spot the signs . . .and see the progression of the disease of abuse! .
Then . . . thank your lucky stars that you are NOT in the same position as Claudine . . .or any other victim . . .and try to make a difference so that the courts can see that there are specific reasons why a victim reacts the way that they do . . . instead of misinterpreting their actions as being malicious . . .
One last word of caution . . . DO NOT be so quick to blame the victims! NOBODY ASKS TO BE ABUSED!!!!! Look to see what information is available to validate their claims . . . and then make a decision!
October 21, 2009 at 9:03 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Song1212 (anonymous) says...
It takes a heart of gold, and nerves of steal to do what Claudine, DA Chad Taylor, and KTKA have done. No one wants to admit they are abused, and no one wants to be abused. Sadly it is a fact that our society blames the victim. Violence is non-productive, and does not set an example for a better country or world. It carries a stigma that needs to be shed. Thank you Claudine for speaking out, for not sitting down nor shutting up. We are lucky you have survived to share your horrific past to stop a cycle that breeds hate, mistrust, shatters lives and destroys children. If fact, it is the number one cause of death for pregnant women in this fine country. You bring us hope and strength. You daughter and mother must be proud.
October 21, 2009 at 10:35 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
valros (anonymous) says...
I have much to say on this TRUTHFUL story. I agree. Many of you do not know your facts and we need all the support we can get. Think about your own children. What if it was your child. I strongly urge you to believe not only Claudine's story, but many to come. You have no idea how the very "system" put in place to protect victims and THEIR CHILDREN have empowered the abusers for years.... I should know. Been doing it for 4.5 yrs now. It is time to hold them all accountable!!! SRS, EMCU (Exploited Missing Children Unit), the judicial system, need I go on. I pray you all wake up and see the Truth for what it is. God Bless, but The heartland-It has lost it's heart!!!
October 21, 2009 at 1:11 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Justina (anonymous) says...
I would love to take this opportunity to absolutely thank DA Taylor and KTKA for giving Claudine this opportunity to are her story and expose the dark corruption of the system...who's grossly failed to uphold Claudine's Human Rights to protect herself and her child from the control and abuse of their abuser.
It is the hope and dream of all of us mothers who suffer this same pain, that those in power in our government will step up to the plate and start protecting all who are victims of violence. For that, DA Taylor...thank you so much. Hopefully you will be a great example that others with your power will follow and do the same.
And, for us moms to raise awareness as fast and sufficiently as possible, we absolutely need people in the media to help get our voices heard. Jessica Drew, there is literally thousands of thank yous from all of us mothers around the world for your willingness to get Claudine's story out there. We have needed this for way too long. Hopefully other members of the media all around the world will follow suit and help us bring the change we need to end violence for families all around the world.
Justina
October 21, 2009 at 1:19 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Public_Pretender (anonymous) says...
My heart and soul goes out to you and the media for finally allowing the vicitims of civil rights violations and crimes speak out for a change. We need a reality TV on this, not like most shows, that allow the violators that are suppose to be helping families come on, when they are such liars pretending to help and behind closed doors they are screwing you over till there is nothing left of you but flesh and bone, for they've burned you heart and soul. You know it's real bad when you know that most individuals fail to report the abuse becaues they say: Quote, if I report this, they will take away my kids and give it to the abuser and/or terminate my rights claiming parental alienation, and mental instability"! It's sad when people feel there is nowhere to turn to for help.
October 21, 2009 at 2:32 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
marlene_jones (anonymous) says...
Claudine Drombroski is one brave lady - braver than most - to speak out and continue her fight against this corrupt CPS system after what has happened to her.
I applaud her and thank her for what she does. I also thank DA Chad Taylor - he should be our next Attorney General of Kansas - we need someone that works for the citizens of Kansas. Better yet - I wish he would move to Wichita and become the Sedgwick County DA.
Thank you Jessica Drew for believing.
October 21, 2009 at 3:12 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Bunny38 (anonymous) says...
Sadly, the law in Shawnee County says that the 1st person to contact law enforcement is the victim. What happens when a man claims to be the victim because he called law enforcement first. I am a petite woman now facing charges after being beaten by a man, and the Sheriff's department's protocol is to not release my statement or photos of my injuries to the D.A.'s office until they are requested, the D.A will not speak to me (the supposed Defendent) and has no idea that a statement and photos exist. I am not the one who has had a previous arrest for domestic violence, I am a victim who is being treated like a criminal, Yeah, way to go Mr. Taylor.
October 21, 2009 at 3:26 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Justina (anonymous) says...
Bunny,
Are you serious about there being a law that says the first person to contact law enforcement is the victim?! If so, I would love the state's code for that law. It would make a good topic to blog about. That's so incredibly insane! Totally insane!
Justina
October 21, 2009 at 6:02 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Seeking4Justice (anonymous) says...
I can see several moms have already posted about the truthfulness of Claudine's story and there are many moms that continue to face terrifying situations that nobody will listen to. I want to thank everyone involved for allowing Claudine to tell her story. It is vital that the truth gets out about the abuse that children and mothers have to live with on a daily basis. So many mothers do not know where to turn for help and lose their children because they do not have good, honest, attorneys who will fight for the truth.
There is no justice for our children or mothers who lose custody to our abusers. I thank District Attorney Chad Taylor for stepping forward to help others to learn of the truth. I know that many moms thank you from the bottom of their hearts. We need more people like you, Jessica, and everyone else who wants to share the truth with the rest of the world. Please keep up the great work. I pray that others will step forward in the media and other high positions to put an end to the corruption in the family courts and all professionals that help to take protective mothers who have been abused need to be held accountable.
Children should not have to live and be without their mothers and be forced to live with the abuser and his family. Children are forced to break the bonds with their mothers many times because of what the abuser says and does. Many abusers seek to do anything possible to break the relationship between the child and mother. How would you feel if your child was stripped away from his/her mother and given to the abuser not to mention the fact the child rarely gets to see their mother who only wants to protect her child? How would you really feel? Where would you turn? Many moms are not able to find representation as attorneys and other professionals do not believe that a judge or others would make a mistake. Another reason they are not heard is because of economic abuse from the courts, ex, and other professionals. Abusers end up getting "hired guns" on their side where they charm and lie there way into taking the children away from their mother who is more than fit to care for them.
I pray that we will be able to seek justice for our children and mothers around the world. Thank you again for being such a great example to the rest of the world. Please keep sharing stories such as Claudine's because there are so many mothers out there without their children and who have been abused.
October 21, 2009 at 8:55 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Justus (anonymous) says...
Everyday women lose custody to abusers. The justice system is "pay to play" in the US. This story needs to tell the real truth how abusers accuse the victims of the fictitious "Parental Alienation Syndrome" (PAS) in order to get custody of children. It's just one more way to abuse the women by taking her child(ren) away. The total lack of ethics in the US legal system as well as the blatant advertisement of the use of these child custody scams that are avaible for purchase over the internet, as well as purchasing the unethical testimony of the PAS "experts" shows that the US is failing to protect women and children from abusers. Justice is for sale in the US. Just google "father's rights" and see the thousands of hits for these "win custody" scams.
October 22, 2009 at 7:46 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
EileenKing656 (anonymous) says...
Aj92 suggests we should silence and shame victims like Claudine, a piece of advice that no doubt sends batterers and child abusers leaping into the air with whoops of joy.
Claudine describes what so many mothers have documented for us: they tried to protect themselves and their children but ended up in a horrific Catch 22 situation in the family courts. Across the entire United States we see case after case where abusers are getting custody, no matter what the evidence is. It is one of the best kept dirty secrets of a country that believes it has the best judicial system in the world. Speaking out, getting this into the general media, are important steps to ending violence and child abuse! What is watched works.
Eileen King
Justice For Children
Washington, DC Chapter
October 22, 2009 at 8 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Justus (anonymous) says...
Instead of protecting the victims, the US forces women to co-parent with abusers. They may give out a worthless piece of paper, that is difficult to enforce while forcing the victim to "cooperate" (meet every demand) of the abuser. There is at least one (or more) homicide every week in these situations. This is how the US treats domestic violence victims:
http://www.azfamily.com/news/Domestic...
Domestic violence advocate questions Judge's decision in Peoria murder-suicide
by Ryan O'Donnell / 3TV
Posted on October 20, 2009 at 8:27 PM
Updated yesterday at 11:00 PM
PEORIA , AZ -- On October 6, 2009 Dawn Axsom and her attorney pleaded with Judge Jose Padilla to allow her to leave Arizona with her two-year-old son, Xavier, but Judge Padilla denied the request.
According to court testimony, Axsom's estranged husband, 28-year-old Gabriel Schwartz, had been arrested twice for DWI, was unemployed, and had made two failed suicide attempts. This prompted Axsom to also file for an Order of Protection against Schwartz.
Judge Padilla granted Schwartz visitation rights, requiring a drug & alcohol and mental health evaluation to be completed within 60-days.
Two weeks after that court appearance, Dawn Axom and her mother Linda were found shot to death in their Peoria home, reportedly by Schwartz, who then turned the gun on himself.
Elizabeth Ditlevson, who works for the Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence, says it's not just Judge Padilla, but other family court judges who don't seem to take domestic violence as seriously as they should.
"Some courts are privileging an abusers access to their children over the safety of the victim parent and the child. We think that that is a huge issue and it needs to change" said Ditlevson.
October 22, 2009 at 8:02 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
cancermoonwolf (anonymous) says...
I first would like to commend the people involved with shinning light to the atrocities that are faced daily by women who are abused. Too many times news outlets do not (or can not, as the case may be) expose what goes on behind closed doors. This only furthers the secrecy that must remain in order for a batterer to continue their reign of terror within their own house.
I also see that many here have already 'verified' Claudine's story. I am appalled that anyone after seeing her photos and court docs could even suggest she is making this up. Too often victims are not believed, even when they do have proof, because no one wants to admit that our society has turned a blind eye to what is a reality for so many.
I don't quote stats, I don't need to. I urge those that wish to see some numbers to do some research. Do not just pull up the first thing you find and take it as the final tally. Do not base your assumptions off what others say they have seen or heard, educate yourself and do your own researching.
So, thank you to Jessica Drew, KTKA, Chad Taylor and Claudine Dombrowski for taking that first step and bringing this into the media. For speaking out, and making people uncomfortable by giving information about a subject that no one wants to acknowledge even though we all know it exists. I sincerely hope that your actions will bring the winds of change that some many victims need!
October 22, 2009 at 8:08 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
silverside (anonymous) says...
I have had the privilege of knowing Claudine for a number of years, and I have come to greatly admire her courage, integrity, and dedication. She is devoted mother who has always put her daughter's welfare first. Of course, there are people here who want to sweep abuse under the rug and deny its existence. And they will always be hostile to those who refused to be silent and speak out about violence and judicial coddling of criminals. The actions of these people usually reflect the abusive situations they grew up in, situations they now reproduce in their current lives with other people. Too bad they are unwilling to confront or even recognize how warped they have become with their lack of compassion and their hostility towards justice.
October 22, 2009 at 9:07 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
WitchyWoman4Luv (anonymous) says...
First off... Can we all say "GOOGLE"??? All you have to do is type her name.. (Go ahead.. I'll wait..) The evidence will jump in your face!! This has been going on, forever! Almost the entirety of her child's life has been wasted on fighting an abusive MONSTER and a morally corrupt Family Court system!! This is absolutely ridiculous!! No one fights THIS HARD, or THIS LONG, for some trumped up reason!!
Secondly, it is about time, that someone with a heart and soul, and the BRAINS to know how to use them, became DA! BRAVO, Mr. Chad Taylor!! Would love to see YOU move forward, in your career!!
Jessica Drew, I applaud your courage in joining in this battle, as WAY TOO MANY so-called journalists have ran hiding. Kudos to you!! May you, too, go far!!
I am saddened that so many women and children are losing so much valuable time together, just because some court official wants to line their pockets. I would love to see a National, or International, Inquiry into Family Courts EVERYWHERE!! This is not a lone case.. This is not even just a handful of courts... This is happening EVERYWHERE, and in a gut-wrenching, terrifyingly rapid progression. It makes you wonder if there is something that Family Court officials take a class for, doesn't it?? These cases are on YouTube, MULTIPLE Blogs, websites... You name it, and they are THERE!! COME ON, WORLD!! We have to stand behind the TRUE victims and stop worrying about the MONSTERS and what THEY might do. I would suggest worrying that it could be your daughter who may be beaten to a bloody pulp, and HER children stolen from her!!
It is bad enough that we were beaten. It is bad enough that we were raped, tortured, brutalized, desecrated, and countless other violations, upon our person. Must we be FORCED to watch our children go through the same thing???? We are told to keep our mouths shut, by order of the "COURTS", or we will serve time in JAIL?? For Protecting our CHILDREN???? Is this logical, moral, or ANYTHING right??
I will end this, only by saying that Claudine Dombrowski is an inspiration to Victimized women and children, all over the WORLD... Yes, it is everywhere, and yes, we are FINALLY FIGHTING BACK... Look out, abusers!! Here we come!!
October 22, 2009 at 10:03 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
protectivemothersalliance (anonymous) says...
Thank you to everyone who is responsible for getting this story out! Claudine's story and many other stories like this, should be flooding the news media. Violence against women and children along with family court corruption and abuse has become an epidemic in this country. It is only by allowing brave mothers like Claudine a platform, that we can even hope to make change with these egregious violations of human rights .
Janice Levinson
Co founder/director
Protective Mothers Alliance
October 22, 2009 at 1:23 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
burl8025 (anonymous) says...
ITS ABOUT TIME! CLAUDINE HAS DONE MORE FOR THIS COMMUNITY THAN MOST PAID FOR ORGANIZATIONS.
MY FAMILY AND I ARE DEEPLY GREATFUL FOR ALL THAT SHE DID IN HELPING TO EXPOSE JUDGE DOWD IN THE ORLANDO PAUL CISNEROS CASE.
THESES JUDGES ARE INSANE.
20 FELONY COUNTS RAPE AND SODOMY TO A MINOR CHILD- YOU GET PROBATION.
BEAT THE HELL OUT OF YOUR WIFE- KEEP THE CHILD FROM THE MOM AND GIVING CHILD TO THE ABUSER.
THAT IS BEYOND INSANE!
KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK DA CHAD TAYLOR, KTKA49 AND REPORTER JESSICA DREW!
ONLY WHEN THERE IS OUTRAGE WILL THERE BE CHANGE!
MICHAEL BURLISON
CO-FOUNDER
www.KansansForJudicialAccountability.com
October 22, 2009 at 5:31 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Jo (anonymous) says...
When so many people accuse women of being liars (false accusers) and bringing up "shame", you wonder why these women often live in shame and silence?! It's a disgrace how we treat victims. - These are comments based on a few of the readers' posts.
In regard to her case, she is one of tens of thousands (if not more) of battered women losing custody to an abuser.
Violent men more often than non-violent men seek custody....and get it. The "leave me & you'll never see the kids again" threat can turn into reality in family court. How can that happen?
*abusers often look respectable, even charming
*family courts with "friendly parent policies" view hostile or fearful women as anything but
*stereotypes of women's vengeance supercedes evidence and reality
*claims of neglect or mental illness - men actually make more false allegations than women, according to research, but stereotypes and angry divorced men have more branding power than facts
*disbelief that a person can cause such harm, lack of evidence & witnesses, not reporting prior abuse, etc. can all work against a battered woman
*it's rare that fathers are denied access to kids; parental rights trump women & children's safety
This is a national problem we're dealing with, not just one individual case -- it's time WE BELIEVE WOMEN and start protecting children - and preventing further abuse & homicides.
October 22, 2009 at 7:04 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Sheryl (anonymous) says...
Hopefully, this DA will investigate Claudine's case to conclusion (investigate the judge, guardian ad litem, other players such as the ex and his attorney) or refer it out for investigation, her daughter needs to be returned to her loving & protective care and custody.
Judges switch custody to "shut the mother" up instead of protecting both mom and child. One messed up system, one that operates in virtual secrecy and is in dire need of exposure and reform.
October 22, 2009 at 7:19 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
nojustice (anonymous) says...
Thanks Claudine for speaking out against such violence. Women and children are being denied the right to protection everyday in this country and even right here in Kansas. I personally know of mothers who have lost their child/children to the abuser, the conspiracy and corruption within our child protection system is out of control, children are being forced to live with their abuser because of a case just like Claudines, judges are giving abusers full access to their victims.
I say enough is enough, no more violations against women and children, start holding domestic abusers and child abusers accountable for the violence they inflict on their victims. NO MORE EXCUSES, start using the laws that are in place to better to protect the innocent!
Keep speaking out, hopefully someone will look into Claudines case and see how many laws have been violated.
How about an Attorney General who is willing to make domestic violence and child abuse top priority. Someone who is willing to truly uphold the laws of our state.
Thanks so much Claudine! From A Child's Rights Association
October 22, 2009 at 9:49 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
70sixspeed (anonymous) says...
I live in Placer county in California- and there is a case in the courts right now where the woman I love has been in a bad custody battle with her ex abuser. She has a sweet innocent 3 1/2 year old daughter with the abuser, and the courts and police have failed and actually put her daughter in harms way and put her full time in her fathers home. They are trying to shut her up as explained above by way of restraining orders, trying to arrest her, fining her, switching judges- etc etc. It also does not help that the fathers lawyer is married to one of the few family law judges in the county- and is friends with EVERYONE in the local court system. We have tried getting help everywhere but currently she has not seen her daughter even in supervised visitation in over 5 months which is breaking the court order- but since everyone is trying to keep her quiet, they keep making it harder for her to see her daughter by placing impossible road blocks in her way. She has tons of evidence that the courts and local police have not even viewed, and we dont know where to go now- there is a website trying to help get her daughter help, saveaaliyah.com which shows her evidence and explains ALOT about how abusers work- please take a minute and view it- It will take everyone to put an end to these kinds of people- so please pass this along and fight with the rest of us-
October 22, 2009 at 11:58 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Accountability (anonymous) says...
Children in Kansas are taken from protective parents and given to the abusers through family and juvenile courts. Evidence is altered and tampered with. Little children are threatened, abused and their rights violated by these so called child protectors. The child victims are silenced by the system that was supposed to protect them. EMCU is nothing but a bunch of corrupt parasites.
It is encouraging to hear DA Taylor speak out on behalf of DV victims.
DA Taylor has my support.
Hopefully Mr. Taylor will run for Attorney General!
There's a New Man In Town. Great song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzbRdV...
October 23, 2009 at 12:37 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mothersfor (anonymous) says...
Cases like Claudines unfortunately are astoundingly common. Our Judicial system views children and wives as the property of men, still today, and finds ways to vindicate that attitude. There is no other way to explain a Judge granting custody of children to the man who molested them, or used violence against their mother.There is something very wrong with a system that equates supplying sperm with parental rights. People need to recognize that just because someone has sired offspring, it doesn't preclude them from being Sociopaths (like Saddam Hussein, for example). There is something profoundly wrong when violent men are not held accountable and sometimes even put in charge of children, and the victims of their abuse are vilified and terrorized again in the courts.
I live in New Jersey and know of several cases where exactly these horrors are being played out by Judges who are as malicious and damaging to these families as the men who originally terrorized these women and children. I didn't think it could be possible for a Judge here in this progressive state to give custody of two little girls to the very man who molested them and who they fear but I know it first hand. The protective mother, a well respected doctor, has had her young daughters taken away from her by a Judge, one person, on the flimsiest of all possible grounds, an allegation by the Judge that she had negative intent vis a vis her ex.(who raped her and molested thier daughters. Her only negative intent was the desire to protect her chldren and herself from a sexual deviant.)
Domestic Violence cases should be heard by specially trained panels. Men who are abusive look "normal" but they are not. They are often Sociopaths if not Psychopaths but they are very adept at projecting a great image. They are often successful professionals which makes it easier for people to believe they couldn't possibly be the criminals that they are. We have many stereotypes to debunk. Especially assumptions that mothers who are trying to protect themselves and their children are lying about abuse.
There needs to be much more coverage about this harrowing issue before the rising statistics make it impossible to ignore. All too often, abusive men turn murderous and much too often, tragedy could have been prevented if the courts had acted correctly. Physical and sexual abuse is criminal, and the person doing it is a criminal, even if they are in the family.
October 23, 2009 at 1:26 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
StillStanding (anonymous) says...
ABUSERS know how to look good in court, but if you look closely, you can identify them by their comments discrediting and/or blaming the victims. How very transparent.
It's not the Psychology of the abuse that keeps MOTHERS from getting out. What keeps them from getting out is that they are NOT allowed to get away, AND take their children with them. This would sound incredible, but stop by the StopFamilyViolence site for numerous examples, and copious research into Domestic Violence and Child Custody.
What's happening is that even the most well-documented cases are still *mandated* into mediation. Victims then have the evidence they submit tossed into as mediator's file box, then mediators make custody recommendations that completely ignore the issue of a father's violence. Laws that are in place often have *no* rulings, meaning they're not being followed-at all. Why?
This nets the court professionals with an average 80K from the Protective Parent over the years of litigation (•Neustein, A., & Goetting, A. (1999).
What kind of father abuses his children? (The Leadership Council - Custody Myths)-Predominately, one who abused their mother:To date, over 30 studies that have examined the co-occurrence of domestic violence and child abuse found a large overlap. Overall, both forms of violence were found in 40% of families studied with the range in the majority of studies varying from 30% to 60% of families (Appel & Holden, 1998, Edleson, 1999).
What kind of "dad" molests his daughters? A violent man is 6.5 times MORE likely to molest his daughters. (Lundy Bancroft; Understanding the Batterer...)
These people are perpetuating the Cycle of Family Violence, for money. Think this is "not your problem? This is the pool of males your daughters will choose from.
US citizens should form a single massive movement to reform the family courts, and stop the abuse-for-money scam. Literally millions of abuse victims have been re-victimized in family courts when they try to leave.
October 23, 2009 at 10:07 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Indianashameteardropsforkatel (anonymous) says...
To the one who said Claudine was making it up "oh whatever you abusers and your helpers always say the same thing it comes back to the victom is lieing or somehow it's their fault" that is just a typical abuser cop out:-! Why are you abusers and your enablers always have the same pathology!?!?!?!
IndianashameTeardropsforkatelynn
October 23, 2009 at 2:25 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
StillStanding (anonymous) says...
ONE MORE THING: I want to go back and shame that PERSON who wants to say our kids should be embarrassed at our speaking out.
For God's sake, the SHAME belongs with the person attached to the hand that delivers the blows, and a comment like that sure casts a shadow of suspicion on anyone who wishes to shame and embarrass victims from reporting.
OUR daughters will know what's is at stake in the mate selection process.
October 24, 2009 at 11:26 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ladessa316 (anonymous) says...
I just love people who like to imply someone is lying and do it anonymously.
Sounds like an abuser. Hiding. Denying.
I happen to have known Claudine Dombrowski since we were both 12 years old: that's 33 years. I happen to have taken some of those pictures. I lived in Topeka while attending Washburn University School of Law.
I know for a fact her story is true. I know that I personally went to the hospital, so many times I couldn't count, to sit by her side. I was there when her child was born and helped pick out the baby's name. I saw the black eye the night Claudine gave birth. I know she and her child hid at MY house. I know she cried a thousand tears on MY shoulder. I know that I, my children, my family were terrified that someday a call would come that Claudine or her baby were dead. That someday it would be too late. I know one of the hardest things I've had to do is try to explain to MY daughter is why someone would do this and not go to jail. I know Claudine's ex. I know what happened and I'm not afraid to confront you Mr./ Ms. Anonymous.
Maybe you should not imply someone is lying if you were not there. Why don't you crawl back into the slime pit where you reside and stay there being silent when you don't know and were not there.
October 24, 2009 at 5:52 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
sedgwickfamilycourtvictim (anonymous) says...
Claudine, It will be a year next month when I called you crying, you cried with me I had lost custody of my children due to a horrible attorney here in Sedgwick County. I had no where to turn to get support and you guided me. I will never give up on my children, and hopefully someday we won't have to pay an arm and a leg for justice, it should come free its our rights as US citizens. Everything is about money and whoever has the most money and the best connections win. (At least in my case!). I would like to thank Mr. Taylor and Jessica Drew for allowing us to speak out against this injustice especially when most of us left scared, and only protecting our children.
October 25, 2009 at 11:48 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
denise_momsv_org (anonymous) says...
Claudine, I commend your strength and continuous efforts to raise awareness of Domestic Violence and on your credibility to have gained support from this reporter and the District Attorney. As well as from all of us who are in support of this cause and posted positively on your behalf.
October 25, 2009 at 8:48 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
NancyCarroll (anonymous) says...
You would think the abuser should be embarrassed. What kind of man (or even human being) does this to another person, over and over and over again? No, as a typical abuser, he will send his associates here to input doubt of the truth of what he did. Their daughter embarrassed? Puleeeeease. The abuser is trying to have Claudine put in jail to SHUT HER UP, and this with the help of the Shawnee County Family Court System, who seem to be at the abuser's beck and call. DA Chad Taylor needs to investigate these corrupt family law judges that allow abusers and their corrupt lawyers to continue to abuse these victims.
Thanks to the abuser, Claudine is on 100% disability.
Thank you Jessica Drew and KTKA for continuing to seek justice for victims from these corrupt bastards.
Stay strong Claudine, many people all over the world love and support you and your daughter! Too bad you can't get the same respect in Shawnee County Family Court.
October 26, 2009 at 5:23 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
SteveT (anonymous) says...
Such a disgraceful society to blame the victim....shame on all of you that commented with such hatred.
November 3, 2009 at 3:33 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Claudine_Dombrowski (Claudine Dombrowski) says...
If you are a battered Mother You WILL lose custody of your children. The Family courts DO NOT allow the criminal convictions into Court.
And they will go to all extremes to continue to torture and batter. As a Survivor as below and the Lead plaintiff at Inter American Commission on Human Rights
(Dombrowski et el v US 2007)
http://www.stopfamilyviolence.org/pag...
And as one who has endured 16 years of seeking justice- only to find JUST-US (the perps rights to continue to batter and destroy lives;The best advise I can give-is to run.. Run hard and run far before you ever enter the Insane Asylum Called Justice. Justice is only given to PERPETRATORS!! ONLY!
This is a human rights issue- there are no rights unless you beat, rape or torture women and children. ( but then we all already know that)
There can not be change unless there is outrage- Battered women and their children will never be safe- not never http://AngelFury.org
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November 13, 2009 at 10:19 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Claudine_Dombrowski (Claudine Dombrowski) says...
The Leadership Council: Domestic Violence (DV) by Proxy: Why Terrorist Tactics Employed by Batterers Are Not "PAS" September 16, 2009 Part 1:http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/pa...
As more and more abused women lose custody to batterers in family courts, they are wrongly embracing the very ideas that enabled their abusers to gain custody in the first place. False accusations of “parental alienation" are often used by batterers to gain custody and to defend against accusations of abuse.
Some unfortunate women after years of enduring domestic violence have lost custody to the batterers who abused them. In these cases, batterers have made good on their threat to attack their ex-partner in the place she is the most vulnerable—by taking her children away from her. After separation, these batterers continue to wage their campaign of manipulation and abuse by attempting to convince involved children that their mothers never loved them. Looking for a way to describe their batterers' behavior, some mothers have called what their batterer is doing "parental alienation syndrome."
In reality, what these women are describing from their ex-partners is better termed Domestic Violence by Proxy (DV by Proxy), a term first used by Alina Patterson, author of Health and Healing. DV by Proxy refers to a pattern of behavior which is a parent with a history of using domestic violence or intimidation, uses a child as a substitute when he no longer has access to his former partner. Calling this behavior “parental alienation” is not strong enough to convey the criminal pattern of terroristic behaviors employed by batterers.
When his victim leaves him, batterers often recognize that the most expedient way to continue to hurt his partner is to assert his legal rights to control her access to their children. By gaining control of the children, an abusive male now has a powerful tool which allows him to continue to stalk, harass and batter an ex-partner even when he has no direct access to her. Moreover, by emotionally torturing the child and severing the bond between children and their mother, he is able to hurt his intended victim -- the mother -- in a way she cannot resist.
November 13, 2009 at 10:29 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Claudine_Dombrowski (Claudine Dombrowski) says...
The Leadership Council: Domestic Violence (DV) by Proxy: Why Terrorist Tactics Employed by Batterers Are Not "PAS" September 16, 2009 Part 2:http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/pa...
DV by Proxy may also include coaching the child to make false allegations regarding their mother's behavior and harming or punishing the child for not complying. DV by Proxy perpetrators may also create fraudulent documents to defraud the court in order to prevent the mother from gaining custody. Whether or not the child is biologically related to them is irrelevant to perpetrators of DV by Proxy. The perpetrator's main motivation is to hurt his ex; whether or not his own child is harmed in the process is irrelevant to him.
This is very different from "parental alienation syndrome" as described by the late Richard A. Gardner. Dr. Gardner described PAS as an internal process by which a child aligns themselves with a preferred parent to protect themselves from the divorce conflict. “PAS” is conceptualized as a psychological process of identification with a parent who, according to the theory, encourages this identification at the expense of the other parent.
PAS inducing parents, according to Gardner, are often unconscious of what they are doing to encourage the identification. In contrast, perpetrators of DV by Proxy are very conscious of what they are doing. Controlling, coercive, illegal acts often done by abusive and controlling people, usually men, are not subtle, and do not encourage an identification with a parent. Criminal, fraudulent, coercive acts are visible and obvious. These behaviors encourage compliance by threats and fear. Behaviors involved in DV by Proxy are deliberate and often illegal. These behaviors include: battery, destruction of property, locking children in rooms to prevent them from calling parents, falsifying documents, along with other similar overt behaviors.
The most dangerous aspect of Gardner's PAS theory is that that the alienating parent's behavior is theorized to be so subtle as to be unobservable. In other words, the behaviors that are supposed to cause the alienation are assumed to be happening without any proof that they have actually occured. As many women have discovered this makes a charge of "alienation" almost impossible to defend against.
While Gardner's theories regarding PAS have been shown to be overly general and have not been supported by careful research, behaviors seen in DV by Proxy can be readily observed. Behaviors involved in DV by Proxy are deliberate and planned; many are illegal, and if the child is given the freedom to talk, will be described in great detail by the child.
If the child's formerly favorable view of the victimized parent changes when exposed to tactics like this over time then it is more likely a form of "Stockholm Syndrome" or traumatic attachment to the abuser, rather than the alignment with one parent and negative reaction to the other that Gardner described as "alienation".
November 13, 2009 at 10:33 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Claudine_Dombrowski (Claudine Dombrowski) says...
The Leadership Council:
Abuse and custody disputes: Scientific and Legal Issues
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