Faces of the Family Court Crisis from James Hall Photography on Vimeo.
A project for Center for Judicial Excellence (centerforjudicialexcellence.org).
Video and photography by James Hall (88zero.com).
Original score by Matteo Favero (figuramusicstudio.com/)
To learn more go to: centerforjudicialexcellence.org/PhotoExhibit.htm
Attorney
Posted: November 16, 2010 03:18 PM
Read More: Child Abusers , Childrens Custody , Custody Battles , Human Rights , Mother's Rights , U.S. Courts, Women's Rights , Politics News
Ten mothers, one victimized child now an adult, and six organizations working in the field of child abuse and family law filed a petition on April 10, 2007, at the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights in Washington, D.C., against the United States for the pattern and practice of courts awarding custody or unsupervised visitation to child abusers and molesters. The petitioners come from Kansas, Georgia, California, New York, Arizona, New Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island, Illinois and Nevada.
Ten years earlier, on Mother's Day, May 11, 1997, a group of mothers who lost custody of their children gathered on the steps of the U. S. Capitol in Washington, D. C. Entitled "Give Us Back Our Children," the event was held to represent the increasing numbers of women who are losing custody of their children to batterers and child abusers. This event, co-sponsored by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the Family Violence Prevention Fund, the House of Ruth, My Sister's Place, Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), Rep. Connie Morella (R-MD), and Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), brought attention to the plight of women and children unfairly victimized by the legal system, and to dispel the myth that women always win custody of their children. That was 13 years ago. The situation today is even worse. The stories of these petitioners are not unique. They are the tip of the proverbial iceberg indicating a grave and growing injury to human rights.
Wendy Titelman is one of the petitioners. Her attorney, Richard Ducote, who has represented battered women for years, said:
After twenty years in family law courtrooms throughout the country, I confidently say that no woman, despite very abundant evidence that her child has been sexually molested by her ex-husband or that she has been repeatedly pummeled by the violent father of her child, can safely walk into any family court in the country and not face a grave risk of losing custody to the abuser for the sole reason that she dared to present the evidence to the judge and ask that the child be protected.
Sol Gothard, Judge of the Court of Appeals in Louisiana said:
There are very few times in law when you can state anything categorically, but I can certainly say that beyond any doubt whatsoever, the problem expressed by Wendy Titelman in this book is epidemic and widespread, and it has been this way for the forty-four years that I have been involved with the legal system.
Karen Anderson has been fighting for her children for 17 years. Her son Jeff Hoverson, now of age, has joined in the petition. He recounts that the day he was taken from his mother at 10 years of age was traumatizing:
So now I had no brothers, no pets, I was 3-4 hours from my home, and again... no mom. This is when I was damaged so severely emotionally... No one told me anything about my mom or why I was at my dad's or why we were in San Francisco on a sidewalk. I asked but received no answers. I felt that if I wasn't told anything that I was worthless to everyone. I was made into a possession rather than a child.
The facts of the individual cases are a catalog of proven domestic violence and child sexual molestation ignored by the courts. The mothers are labeled as mentally ill or having Parental Alienation Syndrome, though PAS has absolutely no scientific validity and is used in a very discriminatory way to remove children from mothers who try to protect the children and themselves from violence and abuse. Yet in these petitioners' cases it is used over and over to punish the protective parent.
This problem has been brought to the attention of family court systems, states and the national government all to no avail. In 1990, Congress passed a resolution recommending the prohibition of giving joint or sole custody to abusers. 20 years later, it continues unabated. Legislation has been passed. Judges have been educated. Still it continues. Thus petitioners are turning to international courts to protect their human rights and the rights and safety of their children.
While state courts are responsible for custody cases, the federal government is responsible to ensure that their judicial systems operate in accordance with the Organization of American States Declaration of the Rights and Responsibilities of Man. The specific articles the petitioners claim to have been violated are:
Article I. Every human being has the right to life, liberty and the security of his person.
The courts place the children directly in danger without regard to their right to life, liberty or security of person. In addition, often the arrangements made for visitation are unsafe to the mother as well.
Article II. All persons are equal before the law and have the rights and duties established in this Declaration, without distinction as to race, sex, language, creed or any other factor.
The gender discrimination both in the courts in general and in custody cases in particular has been known, studied and proven for years. The gender bias studies in the 1980's showed bias that has never been corrected. The studies of custody have shown that it is a complete myth that women get custody over men or that men are disfavored in family court. It is such a pervasive myth that years of litigation and proof has not shaken it -- to the harm of the victims of violence.
Article IV. Every person has the right to freedom of investigation, of opinion, and of the expression and dissemination of ideas, by any medium whatsoever.
Litigants, especially mothers, who report child abuse are punished with jail or the loss of custody of their children. The protective parents are in a Catch-22 situation. If they do not protect their children, they are charged with failure to protect and the child protection agencies take their children. If they do act to protect, the courts put the children directly into the arms of the abuser.
Article V. Every person has the right to the protection of the law against abusive attacks upon his honor, his reputation, and his private and family life.
Often the protective parents who report abuse are labeled mentally ill or diagnosed with such imaginative syndromes as parental alienation or munchhausen's by proxy. Often they are ordered into counseling or in the case of one petitioner, taken to the mental hospital.
Article VI. Every person has the right to establish a family, the basic element of society, and to receive protection therefor.
By separating the protective parents from their children for no valid reason, the parent is denied the right to establish a family. Some of these petitioners have not seen their children for years. Every single petitioner was denied contact with their child for some period of time though none was ever proven to have harmed them.
Article VII. All women, during pregnancy and the nursing period, and all children have the right to special protection, care and aid.
Often battering begins during pregnancy, yet special protection is not afforded the mothers, even when they have an order of protection. Much research has proven that children of abusers are likely to be abused themselves and have a higher rate of sexual molest. Yet courts continue to refuse to protect the children. The U.S. Supreme Court decided in the DeSheney case that the state does not owe any right of protection to children even when they know of the abuse and have in fact placed that child in that home with the father. This is in plain violation of the Declaration.
Article XVIII. Every person may resort to the courts to ensure respect for his legal rights. There should likewise be available to him a simple, brief procedure whereby the courts will protect him from acts of authority that, to his prejudice, violate any fundamental constitutional rights.
The lack of due process in family court is legion. Ex parte hearings and communications, decisions without hearings, refusal to admit the mother, refusal to admit evidence of violence is rampant in the cases and violates the most basic principles of due process. Little attention or time is given to these decisions that shape a child's life forever.
Article XXIV. Every person has the right to submit respectful petitions to any competent authority, for reasons of either general or private interest, and the right to obtain a prompt decision thereon.
The gender bias studies of the 1980's showed that courts are not competent when dealing with women. Unfortunately, things have not improved. In spite of training, legislation and lobbying, judges continue to ignore statutes that mandate no custody to abusers. The petitioners have tried to hold the judges accountable by appeal or disciplinary procedures, all to no avail.
Article XXV. No person may be deprived of his liberty except in the cases and according to the procedures established by pre-existing law.
The many children who are put directly into harms way by being placed with an abuser or molester are deprived of their liberty. When courts ignore evidence of violence, they are not following pre-existing law. It is commonplace for judges to completely ignore state statutes that mandate that custody will not go to a perpetrator thereby violating state law as well as putting children in danger.
Article XXX. It is the duty of every person to aid, support, educate and protect his minor children, and it is the duty of children to honor their parents always and to aid, support and protect them when they need it.
These petitioners have tried to protect their children. It is the courts that have prohibited them. The cost to both child and parent is overwhelming and devastating.
The Gonzales case, also filed at the InterAmerican Commission, illustrated in their hearing the failure of the American justice system to protect battered women and children. That case dealt with the failure of the police department. This case deals with legal abuse -- the failure of the legal system, the courts, the guardians ad litem, the attorneys for the children, the state protective agencies to both follow the law and to protect the helpless children who face the horror of violence daily.
Unfortunately, the IACHR has not moved on the case. After more than three years, they have not even examined it or forwarded it to the U.S. government. How many children have to suffer before justice is done?
FILED IN: BAD JUDGES, CALIFORNIA, CHILD CUSTODY, CHILD CUSTODY BATTLE, CHILD CUSTODY ISSUES,CHILD CUSTODY FOR SALE, CHILDREN WHO WITNESS ABUSE, CORRUPT BASTARDS, DOMESTIC ABUSE,DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, FATHERS RIGHTS, JUDGE SCOTT GORDON, MEL GIBSON, OKSANA GRIGORIEVA,BATTERED WOMEN, CHILD CUSTODY FOR ABUSERS
Again, another battered woman speaks out, and the judge threatens to take custody of her baby from her. Shame on Judge Scott Gordon and all the other judges that want to hide how women are being beaten and abused. My money is on her losing her baby to that dangerous, drunken asshole. That is standard operating procedure in family court now.
And by the way, why is it a “custody war?” Drunken asshole Mel Gibson threatened to kill her…he ASSAULTED her…he should be in prison. Why should custody be any question? Because abusers are getting custody of children in family court. Bet there is some $$$ involved too. This MUST stop!
Oksana Grigorieva Defies Judge with Larry King
11/14/2010 7:40 AM PST by TMZ Staff
Oksana Grigorieva has defied the judge in her custody war with Mel Gibson by taping an interview with Larry King Saturday night, TMZ has learned … and it’s Oksana’s opening salvo in “speaking out on behalf of battered women.”
Oksana did the interview (which was supposed to only last a half-hour but ended up an hour) along with one of her lawyers, Marty Garbus — this despite Judge Scott Gordon telling Oksana that if she did media, she might pay when it comes to awarding custody … this according to Oksana’s team.Sources connected with Oksana tell TMZ she did the interview because “she feels she’s been silent too long and feels bad for other battered women if she stays silent.” Sources tell TMZ Oksana is now working with a group called Peace Over Violence — an L.A.-based battered women’s group — and she’s planning a number of news conferences in the near future.
We’re told Larry King played portions of a number of the tapes Oksana secretly recorded, in which Mel goes crazy. King asks for her reaction to the various tapes.
And we’re told Oksana repeats over and over that she believes Mel is a great father, but he needs therapy to deal with his issues so he can safely be around Lucia.
Oksana is also working with a lobbying group in Sacramento — California Partnership to End Domestic Violence — on battered women legislation.
Rene you can shut down the blog all you want. We took screen shots of everything that was out there and I am now publishing it for all to see.
Now for everyone to understand we must post the screen shots so they can see for themselves. So we will start with your blogger profile: 
Next we move in to your question in blogger/google help files: 
Now we have established that you are Rene we can move on to the blog posts (which sorry folks are no longer available but here are the screen shots of the alleged blog posts. This is the first one but it is extremely shrunk so hard to make out. I also zoomed in and took a second screen shot of the same post in order to show the actual wording: 
Now we have the second blog post made by Rene: 
And the third post: 
I am not sure which of these posts is more disturbing. You have here a woman who is a lawyer. But in the first post she publishes information about Claudine which should (whether true or not) be protected under medical confidentiality.
The second post contains more information about Claudine's alleged mental disorder (keep in mind folks that an abuser's biggest tool in his toolbox is to claim the mother is mentally ill or promiscuous or both).
The third post then contains the statement that the blogger is going to reveal Claudine's address to "both of her supporters". Claudine is and has been a participant in the safe at home address program. This is for victims of violence to be able to live in safety and not worry about future violence. Why on earth would a program administered by the state allow Claudine to be a participant if she is indeed lying about the abuse that happened?
There is a Facebook page created in Rene's honor. We ask on behalf of the creator that you join and help Claudine start the complaint process which will ultimately strip Rene Netherton of the privilege to practice law anywhere.
Hat Tip to "R" and thank you for your part in keeping the world safe from abusers and those who would support them.
Posted by Glenn's Cult? at 12:55 PM 
Labels: abuse, Abuse Victims, abused children, abused moms, abusive dad, Claudine Dombrowski, Halleck Richardson, Reneee Netherton
According to a conservative estimate by experts at the Leadership Council on Child Abuse and Interpersonal Violence (LC), more than 58,000 children a year are ordered into unsupervised contact with physically or sexually abusive parents following divorce in the United States. This is over twice the yearly rate of new cases of childhood cancer. Read rest of Article here: http://americanmotherspoliticalparty.org/ampp-article-library-family-court-custody-abuse-dv/1-research-articles-family-court-bias-custody-abuse-battered-moms/41-how-many-children-are-court-ordered-into-unsupervised-contact-with-an-abusive-parent-after-divorce
As you view these photos keep in mind that the court awarded FULL CUSTODY of their daughter to the "man" who did this to Claudine.
To read Claudine's history that was submitted to the IACHR, click here
If you want to know some of the many reasons women stay in abusive relationships, click here
AFTER THE BIRTH OF HER DAUGHTER, 1994
AFTER EX-HUSBAND BEAT HER WITH A CROW BAR, 1996
AFTER EX-HUSBAND RAPED AND BATTERED HER, 2000
AFTER EX-HUSBAND HIRED SOMEONE TO ASSAULT HER, 2003
THE "COFFEE TABLE" IN THE FATHER'S HOME IS A CHILD'S COFFIN. MOUNTED ON THE WALL ABOVE THE SOFA IS A GUN.
PRESS RELEASEOVERVIEW and FAQ's in materials on the right side of this page.
Scroll down to read full petitition, including case histories of several of the petitioners. You will be horrified to learn what is happening to abused women and children in courtrooms all across this country.
Exhibit 28: Breaking the Silence: Children’s Stories
Connecticut Public Broadcasting, Tatge Lasseur Productions, 2006 Underwritten by a grant from the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation.
Full length of this documentary was submitted to the IACHR.
Full Petition to the IACHR (large file)
Petitioners
- Dombrowski KS
- Titelman GA
- K.A Amador Co., CA
- J.H. Amador Co., CA
- Shockome NY
- Navratil CA
- Horton NY
- Petitioners A, B, C are confidential to protect their safety. Not included in public materials.
- Organization petitioners
Court Gender Bias - academic studies
Court Gender Bias -experiential studies
Alleged Violations of the Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man
Additional Supporting Organizations - list
EXHIBITS
1. Photos of petitioner Claudine Dombrowski . (graphic)
2. Affidavit and book, Let My Children Go, A Mother’s Journal , Wendy Titelman, Kinderlex Books, 2005.
3. Letter from California Protective Parents Association .
4. Affidavit from Kourts for Kids.
5. Letter from StopFamilyViolence.org .
6. EXPOSE The Failure of Family Courts to Protect Children from Abuse in Custody Disputes: A Resource Book for Lawmakers, Judges, Attorneys and Mental health Professionals, Our Children Our Future Charitable Foundation, Los Gatos, CA, 1999.
( very large file - long time to load)7. Chesler, Phyllis, Mothers on Trial: The Battle for Children and Custody, McGraw-Hill Book Company, NY, 1986, select pages.
8. Battered Mothers’ Testimony Project: A Human Rights Approach to Child Custody and Domestic Violence, Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence, June 2003.
9. Common Misconceptions in Addressing Domestic Violence in Child Custody Disputes , Jaffee, Crooks, and Poisson, 57 Juvenile and Family Court Journal Fall 2003.
10. Justice in the Domestic Relations Division of the Philadelphia Family Court: A Report to the Community, Women’s Law Project, Philadelphia, Pa, April 2003.
11. California Protective Parents Network , national survey, September 2001 to December 2004.
Part 1 - table
Part 2 - report
12. Jana Bommersbach, Jana’s View, Phoenix Magazine , May 2006, p. 28.
13. Article Launched: 6/18/2006 12:00 AM , Mom termed 'parental alienator' wins rare vindication in courts , BY TROY ANDERSON, Staff Writer, LA Daily News.
14. Hoult, Jennifer, J.D., The Evidentiary Admissibility of Parental Alienation Syndrome: Science, Law and Policy, Children’s Legal Rights Journal, Vol. 26, No. 1, Spring 2006.
15. Navigating Custody and Visitation Evaluations in Cases with Domestic Violence: A Judges Guide , National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, 2004, revised 2006.
16. Report on Women’s Rights in the United States under International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in response to the Second and Third Periodic Report of the United States of America, July 2006.
17. Courageous Kids personal stories.
Part 1 - Courageous Kids Network
Part 2 - Case Studies
Part 3 - Letter to IACHR by siblings
Part 4 - Alana Krause, Girl, Interrupted
18. Letter from Legal Momentum to Daniel Meron, DHHS , Washington, DC dated 28 February 2007.
19. European Parliament, A6-0404/2005, Report , 9.12.2005 on the current situation in combating violence against women and any future action (2004/2220(INI)) Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality Rapporteur: Maria Carlshamre PE 364.709v02-00 2/17 RR364709EN.doc
20. Testimony to the Truth Commission , Fourth Battered Mothers Custody Conference, January 2007.
21. Examples of Injustices in NYC Family Courts , Battered Women’s Resources Center, January 2007.
22. Letter and columns from The Parenting Project , Rhode Island.
23. Letter from the Illinois Coalition for Family Court Reform .
24. Letter from Child Abuse Forensic Institute , Napa, CA.
25. Legal Momentum letter and summary of Battered
Mother's Speak Out26. Letter from National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
27. Letter from Justice for Children
28. Breaking the Silence: Children’s Stories , Connecticut Public Broadcasting (see above for excerpt)
29. Letters of support from additional organizations.
National organizations
- National Center on Sexual and Domestic Violence , TX
- The Leadership Council on Child Abuse and Interpersonal Violence , PA
- Sidran Traumatic Stress Institute , MD
- National Alliance to End Sexual Violence , Washington, DC
- Domestic Violence Report , Washington, DC
- Family Violence Prevention Fund , San Francisco, CA
- National Organization for Women and National Organization for Women Foundation , Washington, DC
- National Family Court Watch Project , MI
State Organizations
- Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence
- Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence
- California National Organization for Women , Sacramento, CA
- Colorado Coalition Against Domestic Violence
- Michigan National Organization for Women
- New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence
- Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence
- Tennessee Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence
- National Organization for Women – New York State, Inc .
Teresa says: aka Rene M Netherton
Thank god Rikki will be 18 soon and can speak her peace! Then and only then will the truth come out-what will Ms. Dombrowsky do with all her time then?
Nancy Carroll says:
@ Teresa: Yes it will be good when Rikki turns 18, but it is no guarantee she will be free. A child needs to find her own voice before breaking away from an abusive control freak, and age isn’t a factor in this. When Rikki does break free, it will be great for her and her mother, for I know they love each other. Fear is a mighty powerful factor. Once that is past, then time can be spent together, time that was cruely stolen from them.
AMPP says:
@ Teresa– You wouldnt be Rene M. Netherton The Psycho GAL who is harrasing Claudine now? tsk tsk
LetsGetHonest says:
Whoever Teresa is, she can’t spell “Dombrowski” right – which takes some doing, considered how many places this is on the internet. If she’s a GAL in the case, perhaps this might be par for the course — not reading the paperwork enough to pick up on the spelling of the client’s name.
Anne Caroline Drake, are the lights on yet? How many groups want people to believe it’s that the legal representation “just don’t understand” or are “inadequate” and not that someone has paid off someone in this case, perhaps, much? Or that Kansas, like many other states, is prime Fatherhood country, at least as to funding, organizations promoting it, etc. I’m sure that hasn’t affected anyone’s judgment in the courts yet, though. it’s all about personal vendettas, right, and not about money to be made off the case.
Summarized in August 2010 on RightsForMothers & Comments:
Claudine has been a strong voice for battered and abused mothers, having testified before State Rep Mike Kiegerl‘s (R-Olathe) Joint Committee on Children’s Issues in December 2009.
Claudine has been gagged, denied documents to her case, denied parenting time (AGAIN), and even had her phone confiscated from her. She came to court with 67 violations of the last court order of daddy Hal Richardson keeping Daughter from seeing her mother.
And Anne Caroline seemed to think that if only the Legislature would make sure that judges understand about PAS:
Bravo, Nancy! Bravo!
I’d like to know why the judges in KS haven’t had judicial training in PAS. This is something the legislature can fix immediately.
I think someone else explained that they ARE being trained in PAS (that it’s a terrible thing fathers must be protected against…..those nasty, alienating mothers, false allegations of domestic violence, etc….)
August 23, 2010 (& ff.) Comments included:
suggest we stop letting the legislators play “I see NUTTin’.” And the only way to keep on doing that is find out if they know what’s going on in their own districts, at least. Like I mentioned in comments to AnneCarolineDrake’s post (if you can wade through them), Fathers.com is based in Leawood Kansas, where the Governors live.
Also, the main access/visitation funding are coming straight to the Office of the Governor in Kansas. ALSO, wasn’t it in about 1998 that the concept of Fathering Courts re: child support, sprang forth? There’s some in Kansas City, MO, right across the border from Claudine in KCK area. Do these people really not understand that these things are affecting family law cases?
I know legislators have to delegate a whole lot, but they have aides. Who are their chief aides?
It’s not enough to know the individual cases/personnel, but also to know the context in which they set.
Speaking of which, here’s another article from last March, referring to policies kicked off by our President the previous year (2009);
Last year, Obama addressed a group of community leaders, fathers, and children from schools near D.C. in a speech meant to kick off a national conversation on fatherhood. He noted that his accomplishments were due to the efforts of his mother and grandparents but added, “Despite all their extraordinary love and attention that doesn’t mean I didn’t feel my father’s absence. That’s something that leaves a hole in a child’s heart that a government can’t fill.”
Indeed, Obama has never suggested it should, but he has acknowledged the government can encourage fathers to get more involved. This marks a slight departure from his predecessor. For George W. Bush and his fellow conservatives, involved fathers were important because nuclear families were important.Advocates for anti-poverty programs grew frustrated with Bush because both his rhetoric and his policies emphasized personal and familial responsibility, as if all poor families lacked were moral values. He allocated federal money to programs that promoted marriage, but the bill authorizing the funds did not use language that restricted their use for low-income families exclusively; they were open to anyone.
{{this includes the Hal Richardsons of the world, and the professionals associated with them…}}
Now, under Obama, fatherhood programs and marriage initiatives are poised to get more funding. His 2011 budget allocates money under Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, also known as welfare-to-work, for a new initiative intended to help parents with barriers to self-sufficiency.
A parallel Obama effort, the “conversation on fatherhood,” run by the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Partnerships, targets Americans of all income levels but doesn’t administer grant money.
This article quotes several key fatherhood people/organizations; we didn’t know about it, I guess… were busy elsewhere… No one telling the story about who this hurts mothers and kids was in on that conversation, called “Is promoting responsible fatherhood really the best way to lift families out of poverty?”
But if we had been, the answer would’ve been read: Just refer to FVPF’s
National Institute on Fathering and Domestic Violence
Funded by the same people making more and more cases like Claudine’s, Tammy’s and others. Solution to this: More of the same, such as:
Public and Private Partnerships:
The NIFDV has been supported by public and private partners including the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Ms. Foundation for Women, the Office on Violence Against Women, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Family Violence Prevention & Services Program, Administration on Children and Families.
U.S. Department of Health & Human ServicesThis project is being developed in partnership with other national organizations, such as the Center for Family Policy and Practice [CFFPP], the Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community [IDVAAC], the National Latino Alliance to Eliminate Domestic Violence, Mending the Sacred Hoop, the Domestic Violence Resource Network, and the Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse.
The National Institute has three core elements:1. Training and Technical Assistance Leadership Academy
2. Program Practice and Development Center
3. Information ClearinghouseFatherhood has proven to be a powerful tool to reach men in understanding the effects of family violence
Thankfully, we were “heard” recently, resulting in (yet another) initiative, grant going to the same FVPF that has sucked up the conversation and excluded the custody-switch, batterers getting custody talk.
Here is from the KS Governor’s site, soliciting grant applications for the 2011 year, I guess, SAVP — “State Access Visitation Programs.”
This is what they do:
Purpose
To provide supervised child exchange or supervised child visitation to children and families at risk because of circumstances relating to neglect; substance abuse; emotional, physical, or sexual abuse; domestic or family violence; etc.
Eligible Applicants
Funds are available to units of state or local government, for profit organizations and private nonprofit organizations. A 10% non-federal cash match is required.
Funding Source
The Federal State Access & Visitation grant program is a formula grant program to states and participation is voluntary. The federal administrative agency is the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
For 2010, the recipients were:
County Organization Name Grant Award
Allen Hope Unlimited $7,338
Cloud 12th Judicial District $7,042
Crawford Crisis Resource Center of Southeast Kansas $8,780
Douglas The Farm Inc. $10,872
Leavenworth First Judicial District CASA Association $10,990
Lyon SOS $1,888
Lyon SOS $9,442
Reno Sexual Assault/Domestic Violence Center $11,932
Riley Sunflower CASA Project, Inc. $7,224
Sedgwick Wichita Children’s Home $9,522
Shawnee YMCA of Topeka $2,324
Shawnee YMCA of Topeka $14,729
Conveniently, former-governor Kathleen Sebelius is at HHS watching over these things, I guess…However on 06-17-2010 (wasn’t that JUST ABOUT on Father’s Day, or right before it?) as governor, she, or she & current governor, established — through Executive Order — an Early Childhood Council. After all, Rikki is about to age out, and where will the new fatherhood customers come from (Fatherhood funding has long also been in Head Start initiatives, FYI).
Oh, and here’s a 2009 AFCC site, catching up on the most recent alienation etc. strategies:
As a strategy to help Claudine, and people like her, I think we should ignore these things.
Advanced Parenting Coordination Training
AFCC, in collaboration with the AFCC Missouri Chapter and the University of Missouri at Kansas City School of Law, will be offering Attachment, Alienation and Access: Advanced Interventions for Parenting Coordinators on September 30-October 1, 2009. Arnold Shienvold, Ph.D. will focus on how to work effectively with the most challenging clients and issues, including those with personality disorders and attachment problems.
Denver Call for Presenters
AFCC’s 47th Annual Conference, Traversing the Trail of Alienation: Rocky Relationships, Mountains of Emotion, Mile High Conflict, will take place June 2-5, 2010 at the Sheraton Denver. If you have an interesting workshop idea that you would like considered, please submit a proposal prior to October 5, 2009.
Click here to view Call for Presenters…
Click here to submit a workshop proposal…
I wonder where the professionals are getting all those ideas about alienation from…..
Gotta run. Pardon me, but I have a 17 yr old, a 19 yr old… Miss them …. Too bad someone didn’t tell me this stuff 5 years ago, I’d've known which trees to bark up and which not to bark up.
Rikki Dombrowski, as shown on Guardian ad Litem M. Jill Dyke's Facebook page.
Rikki is often on my mind. Granted, not as much as on her mother, Claudine Dombrowski’s, mind. I was also a child victim of family courts, just as Rikki is. Just as my children are now, although I don’t write about them at all (too traumatic).
Rikki was taken to talk to the judge (alone, no witnesses), Judge David Debenham, a couple of weeks ago, while her mother Claudine was in the midst of another judicial smackdown. Although she had been given the right to see her daughter after years of no or limited (supervised) contact in the January 2010 hearing that I attended as a court watcher, daddy Hal Richardson did everything in his power to not allow the visits to take place. He had 83 violations of the court order up to a point this fall…read about the case here.
Witnesses have told me that when daddy Hal Richardson brought Rikki to be interviewed by the judge, he was acting very sternly towards her, and she was crying just before going in. Knowing that the last time Rikki was “allowed” to call her mother this past spring to cancel her two hour Sunday visitation, daddy Hall Richardson was yelling at Rikki in the background and Rikki was uncontrollably crying while she was telling Claudine she couldn’t see her that day. That was the last phone call to take place.
My point is Rikki is one of many children in a situation like this, threatened to follow the abuser’s script or face the consequences. In Rikki’s case, there is a child’s coffin in Hal Richardson’s living room ready for use. If the corrupt court officials in this case actually did their jobs, Richardson would be in prison and Rikki would be with her mother. There is a movement now to disbar Rene Netherton. M. Jill Dykes lunged at Claudine in the courthouse hallway, and had her husband call to threaten her…actions will be filed on this also. Snorting Topeka attorney Jason P. Hoffman continues to lie in court about anything to help his abusive client Hal Richardson, including claiming Claudine Dombrowski is me when he knows she is not. No, Rikki Dombrowski is a cash cow to them.
Children like this are often a big source of income to people like this. Snorting Jason L. Hoffman used the term “parental alienation” so much during the January 2010 hearing, I lost count. This term, and syndromes/disorders associated with it, were invented by people (like Dr. William Bernet) who make lots of money from it, using it to sell books and sell their “testimony.” It is well known by judge’s associations as a tool for abusers to get custody of children. It certainly worked in this case…imbecile Judge Debenham fell for it (or maybe was paid off).
When I think of Rikki getting threatened in the courthouse hallway and her crying, I get really mad. This is what our children are going through. When will it stop? The White House addressed family court cases during it’s press conference somewhat due to this case (afterall they have beenreading about it here), but when is something actually going to be done?
TAGS:
We need more courtwatchers to let these abusers, abusive attorneys, and abusive judges know that we are not going to take it any more. We need courtwatchers so that we can document this crime against children & moms. We need to keep writing, keep networking, keep protesting wherever we are, for this injustice will not continue.
One would think that after the little to no contact that Claudine has had, the parental alienation would bte thrown out. What does this say about the judge. It’s time for the olaws to change and allow us to go after obviously corrupt or ignorant (ignorance is not an excuse) judges.
Joe Biden, who is a steadfast champion for abused women and children, said that one of the greatest obstacles for women is access to competent legal representation. I have examined this case in-depth and believe that’s what’s going on here.
Claudine has been accompanied to court by attorneys, but I don’t see much evidence of vigorous representation of her interests.
The lights are on at the American Bar Association’s DV commission, but nobody’s home. As Joe Biden said, women need more help than somebody getting them a restraining order. The KS governor and first lady both claim to be champions for abused women and children. Why aren’t their buddies stepping up to the plate with some real pro bono representation of Claudine???
My two cents,
Anne Caroline Drake
These Kansas oHfficials are so backwards assed they would rather pick on an abused woman than DEFEND her! Someday and somewhere over that rainbow skies are blue…and a mother and child will NEVER have to deal with such wickedness!
My abusive X would not give my son back to me in the custody battle and went and disowned him and placed him in foster care. Now foster care is abusing him and placing him into this program called Intercept where he does not belong My son is not fighting back and has learned helplessness how do they think this is helping my splitting the family up so I can not drive for 3 hours to visit my son in Richmond and they know that! They are locking my son away because it is the easy thing for them to do.
The Trial is this monday the 15th at 11 in JDC in Fairfax county third floor for Folse if you can come out and provide your support please
I guess Oklahoma (home of the Good Ole Boys) is bad too. Sounds just like California. Do they collect C.A.F.T.A. funds form the feds in their courts too?
Here is a post about an Algerian daughter of a 30yr. now retired, Algerian Senator. She had her child taken away and given to her HIV pos husband when she divorced him.
She divorced him for marrying her without disclosing that he was HIV positive, for not telling her he had been arrested for sex crimes, etc. During the separation the daughter had visits at the husband’s home. After the visits to daddy’s house she started telling mommy stories about daddy making movies with her, licking her legs like a dog, putting his finger in her, eating her poop….and then there was the Children’s Hospital report of a torn hymen and a vaginal infection wherein the daughter told the doctor that daddy gave her a big boo boo in her vagina. Guess what??? The court awarded sole custody to the father. We have the videotaped discussion of the girl with her mommy. In it, she is describing things only a child being molested would know. She was three years old then. A very articulate, warm girl. Her mother is a doctor of veterinary and totally sane. She had no criminal record and owed no taxes.
http://legalizedpedophillia.blogspot.com/2010_03_01_archive.html
@ Rajab: Oh wow! This is happening FAR TOO MUCH! It is to the point I almost look at disgust if I see a father alone with children. This is the fault of all the courts giving so many children to abusers and rapists, it is almost guaranteed they will get custody. Please never stop trying to do something about this! Everyday people and the media is finally starting to take notice of this. The White House and the U.S. Department of Justice has been on these posts a few times lately, especially looking at these posts. I’m sure they will read your comment.
FILED IN: ACTIVISM, ANGRY FATHERS, BAD DADS, BAD GUARDIAN AD LITEM, BAD JUDGES, BAD LAWYERS,BARACK OBAMA, BEST INTEREST OF THE CHILD, CHILD CUSTODY FOR SALE, CLAUDINE DOMBROWSKI,CORRUPT JUDGES, CORRUPT LAWYERS, CORRUPT BASTARDS, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, DR. WILLIAM BERNET,FATHERS RIGHTS, HAL RICHARDSON, JASON P. HOFFMAN, JILL DYKES, JUDGE DAVID DEBENHAM, KANSAS,NONCUSTODIAL MOTHERS, PAS, PARENTAL ALIENATION DISORDER, PARENTAL ALIENATION DISORDERS,PARENTAL ALIENATION SYNDROME, RIKKI DOMBROWSKI, CHILD CUSTODY FOR ABUSERS, PARENTAL ALIENATION
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Disbar-Rene-Netherton-GAL-in-Kansas/115302711867467
GAL (child's lawyer) in Kansas has overstepped her boundaries. She accuses a battered mother of posting confidential information about the child, yet this was not a medical report, nor was it a psychological or psychiatric evaluation. This was an opinion based letter concerning visitation with her child. The child she has only seen for a total of about 100 hours (possibly not even that much) in the last 10 years.
This GAL and her cronies have tried to remove this mother from the child's life permanently. They have allowed the father to abuse and batter and rape the mother with no consequence. A different court in fact feels this mother to be in such mortal danger that she is a participant in the Safe At Home address confidentiality program.
So for Rene M Netherton's behavior, I want this page to grow, I will be putting up a petition page tomorrow and hope we can get enough signatures to give to the Kansas Bar Association and Rene will soon enough be stripped of her license to practice law. She can threaten an abused and battered and raped mother with the law, but not follow it herself? Let's gather around and show Rene we mean business and we will not take it anymore. (read less)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14947&id=115302711867467
click here for more: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Disbar-Rene-Netherton-GAL-in-Kansas/115302711867467
2010 Jan 29 Transcript Hearing Richardson v Dombrowski
FILED IN: ACTIVISM, ANGRY FATHERS, BAD DADS, BAD GUARDIAN AD LITEM, BAD JUDGES, BAD LAWYERS,BARACK OBAMA, BEST INTEREST OF THE CHILD, CHILD CUSTODY FOR SALE, CLAUDINE DOMBROWSKI,CORRUPT JUDGES, CORRUPT LAWYERS, CORRUPT BASTARDS, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, DR. WILLIAM BERNET,FATHERS RIGHTS, HAL RICHARDSON, JASON P. HOFFMAN, JILL DYKES, JUDGE DAVID DEBENHAM, KANSAS,NONCUSTODIAL MOTHERS, PAS, PARENTAL ALIENATION DISORDER, PARENTAL ALIENATION DISORDERS,PARENTAL ALIENATION SYNDROME, RIKKI DOMBROWSKI, CHILD CUSTODY FOR ABUSERS, PARENTAL ALIENATION
 Rikki Dombrowski, as shown on Guardian ad Litem M. Jill Dyke's Facebook page. |
Rikki is often on my mind. Granted, not as much as on her mother, Claudine Dombrowski’s, mind. I was also a child victim of family courts, just as Rikki is. Just as my children are now, although I don’t write about them at all (too traumatic).
Rikki was taken to talk to the judge (alone, no witnesses), Judge David Debenham, a couple of weeks ago, while her mother Claudine was in the midst of another judicial smackdown. Although she had been given the right to see her daughter after years of no or limited (supervised) contact in the January 2010 hearing that I attended as a court watcher, daddy Hal Richardson did everything in his power to not allow the visits to take place. He had 83 violations of the court order up to a point this fall…read about the case here.
Witnesses have told me that when daddy Hal Richardson brought Rikki to be interviewed by the judge, he was acting very sternly towards her, and she was crying just before going in. Knowing that the last time Rikki was “allowed” to call her mother this past spring to cancel her two hour Sunday visitation, daddy Hall Richardson was yelling at Rikki in the background and Rikki was uncontrollably crying while she was telling Claudine she couldn’t see her that day. That was the last phone call to take place.
My point is Rikki is one of many children in a situation like this, threatened to follow the abuser’s script or face the consequences. In Rikki’s case, there is a child’s coffin in Hal Richardson’s living room ready for use. If the corrupt court officials in this case actually did their jobs, Richardson would be in prison and Rikki would be with her mother. There is a movement now to disbar Rene Netherton. M. Jill Dykes lunged at Claudine in the courthouse hallway, and had her husband call to threaten her…actions will be filed on this also. Snorting Topeka attorney Jason P. Hoffman continues to lie in court about anything to help his abusive client Hal Richardson, including claiming Claudine Dombrowski is me when he knows she is not. No, Rikki Dombrowski is a cash cow to them.
Children like this are often a big source of income to people like this. Snorting Jason L. Hoffman used the term “parental alienation” so much during the January 2010 hearing, I lost count. This term, and syndromes/disorders associated with it, were invented by people (like Dr. William Bernet) who make lots of money from it, using it to sell books and sell their “testimony.” It is well known by judge’s associations as a tool for abusers to get custody of children. It certainly worked in this case…imbecile Judge Debenham fell for it (or maybe was paid off).
When I think of Rikki getting threatened in the courthouse hallway and her crying, I get really mad. This is what our children are going through. When will it stop? The White House addressed family court cases during it’s press conference somewhat due to this case (after all they have beenreading about it here), but when is something actually going to be done?
Read more here: 08.NOV.2010 RIKKI DOMBROWSKI: POSTER CHILD FOR ALL THAT IS WRONG WITH FAMILY COURT PROCEEDINGS
THE WOMAN SUFFRAGE TIMELINE
The following timeline gives the highlights of information you can find in the History of Woman Suffrage Book List. The 1848 Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention Declaration of Sentimentsalso can be found on this site.
1776 Abigail Adams writes to her husband, John Adams, asking him to "remember the ladies" in the new code of laws. Adams replies the men will fight the "despotism of the petticoat."
1777 Women lose the right to vote in New York.
1780 Women lose the right to vote in Massachusetts.
1784 Women lose the right to vote in New Hampshire.
1787 U.S. Constitutional Convention places voting qualifications in the hands of the states. Women in all states except New Jersey lose the right to vote.
1792 Mary Wollstonecraft publishes Vindication of the Rights of Women in England.
1807 Women lose the right to vote in New Jersey, the last state to revoke the right.
1830s Women Join the Abolitionist Movement. Formation of the female anti-slavery associations
1836 Angelina Grimke appeals to Southern women to speak out against slavery.
1837 The "Pastoral Letter of the General Association of Massachusetts to the Congregational Churches Under Their Care" is promulgated against women speaking in public against slavery, it is mainly directed against the Grimke sisters.
1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention in London. Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and other women barred from participating on account of their sex.
1848 First Women's Rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York. Equal suffrage proposed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. After debate of so radical a notion, it is adopted. Declaration of Sentiments.
1850 Women's rights convention held in April in Salem, Ohio. First national women's rights convention held in October in Worcester, Massachusetts.
1850-1861 Annual Women's Rights conventions held. The last, in 1861, in Albany, New York lobbies for a liberalized divorce bill. Horace Greely opposes the bill, which loses.
1861-1865 Civil War. Over the objections of Susan B. Anthony, women put aside suffrage activities to help the war effort.
1867 Fourteenth Amendment passes Congress, defining citizens as "male;" this is the first use of the word male in the Constitution. Kansas campaign for black and woman suffrage: both lose. Susan B. Anthony forms Equal Rights Association, working for universal suffrage. Suffrage Movement Divides Over Black v. Woman Suffrage.
1868 Fourteenth amendment ratified. Fifteenth Amendment passes Congress, giving the vote to black men. Women petition to be included but are turned down. Formation of New England Woman Suffrage Association. In New Jersey, 172 women attempt to vote; their ballots are ignored.
1869 Frederick Douglass and others back down from woman suffrage to concentrate on fight for black male suffrage. National Woman Suffrage Association formed in May with Elizabeth Cady Stanton as president. American Woman Suffrage Association formed in November with Henry Ward Beecher as president. In England, John Stuart Mill, economist and husband of suffragist Harriet Taylor, publishes On the Subjugation of Women. Wyoming territory grants first woman suffrage since 1807. Civil Disobedience Is Tried.
1870 Fifteenth Amendment ratified. The Grimke sisters, now quite aged, and 42 other women attempt to vote in Massachusetts, their ballots are cast but ignored. Utah territory grants woman suffrage.
1871 The Anti-Suffrage Society is formed.
1872 Susan B. Anthony and supporters arrested for voting. Anthony's sisters and 11 other women held for $500 bail. Anthony herself is held for $1000 bail.
1873 Denied a trial by jury, Anthony loses her case in June and is fined $100 plus costs. Suffrage demonstration at the Centennial of the Boston Tea Party.
1874 Protest at a commemoration of the Battle of Lexington. In Myner v. Happerstett the U.S. Supreme Court decides that being a citizen does not guarantee suffrage. Women's Christian Temperance Union formed.
1876 On July 4, in Philadelphia, Susan B. Anthony reads The Declaration for the Rights of Women from a podium in front of the Liberty Bell. The crowd cheers. Later, the suffragists meet in the historic First Unitarian Church.
1878 Woman suffrage amendment first introduced in U.S. Congress.
1880 Lucretia Mott, born in 1793, dies.
1882 The House and Senate appoint committees on woman suffrage, both report favorably.
1884 Belva Lockwood runs for president. The U.S. House of Representatives debates woman suffrage.
1886 Women protest being excluded from the dedication ceremonies for the Statue of Liberty. Suffrage amendment reaches the U.S. Senate floor, it is defeated two to one.
1887 Utah women lose the right to vote.
1890 The NWSA and the AWSA merge to form NAWSA. The focus turns to working at the state level. Campaign loses in South Dakota.
1893 Matilda Joslyn Gage publishes Woman, Church and State. After a vigorous campaign led by Carrie Chapman Catt, Colorado men vote for woman suffrage.
1894 Despite 600,000 signatures, a petition for woman suffrage is ignored in New York. Lucy Stone, born in 1818, dies.
1895 Elizabeth Cady Stanton publishes The Woman's Bible. Utah women regain suffrage.
1896 Idaho grants woman suffrage. Susan B. Anthony addresses NAWSA in defense of The Woman's Bible.
1900 Carrie Chapman Catt takes over the reins of the NAWSA.
1902 Elizabeth Cady Stanton, born in 1815, dies.
1904 NAWSA adopts Declaration of Principles
1906 Susan Brownell Anthony, born in 1820, dies.
1907 Harriet Stanton Blatch, Elizabeth's daughter, forms the Equality League of Self Supporting Women which becomes the Women's Political Union in 1910. She introduces the English suffragists' tactics of parades, street speakers, and pickets.
1910 Washington (state) grants woman suffrage.
1911 California grants woman suffrage. In New York City, 3,000 march for suffrage.
1912 Teddy Roosevelt's Progressive Party includes woman suffrage in their platform. Oregon, Arizona, and Kansas grant woman suffrage.
1913 Women's Suffrage parade on the eve of Wilson's inauguration is attacked by a mob. Hundreds of women are injured, no arrests are made. Alaskan Territory grants suffrage. Illinois grants municipal and presidential but not state suffrage to women.
1916 Alice Paul and others break away from the NASWA and form the National Women's Party.
1917 Beginning in January, NWP posts silent "Sentinels of Liberty" at the White House. In June, the arrests begin. Nearly 500 women are arrested, 168 women serve jail time, some are brutalized by their jailers. North Dakota, Indiana, Nebraska, and Michigan grant presidential suffrage; Arkansas grants primary suffrage. New York, South Dakota, and Oklahoma state constitutions grant suffrage.
1918 The jailed suffragists released from prison. Appellate court rules all the arrests were illegal. President Wilson declares support for suffrage. Suffrage Amendment passes U.S. House with exactly a two-thirds vote but loses by two votes in the Senate.
1919 In January, the NWP lights and guards a "Watchfire for Freedom." It is maintained until the Suffrage Amendment passes U.S. Senate on June 4. The battle for ratification by at least 36 states begins.
1920 The Nineteenth Amendment, called the Susan B. Anthony Amendment, is ratified by Tennessee on August 18. It becomes law on August 26, 1920.
What does the future hold?
The Woman Suffrage Timeline © 1995, Brooks and Gonzalez. The Women's History
