tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43434752588971547102024-03-05T21:55:53.615-05:00Rhode Island's Little HostagesRhode Island taxpayers have contributed an enormous sum to wage a war that most of us know nothing about. The systems our state established to protect children have instead subjected many to danger and trauma that will profoundly shape the rest of their lives. Who will help to build public awareness and political consensus to protect children from those who prey on them or who profit from their abuse? How should government respond in ways that are transparent and accountable?Anne Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00027601171660269956noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343475258897154710.post-4036018541070007972016-06-11T13:29:00.000-04:002016-06-11T13:31:43.341-04:00Author, ex-prosecutor, urges New York to stop protecting abusers<br />
<br />
<aside id="ra-left" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; float: left; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><section class="ra-meta" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 40px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="ra-byline" style="color: #999999; font-family: 'Open Sans Condensed', sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">
BY <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/authors?author=Linda-Fairstein" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" rel="author" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">LINDA FAIRSTEIN</a></div>
<div class="ra-credits" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #999999; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS</div>
<div content="2016-06-01T20:12:55" id="ra-date-published" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #999999; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Wednesday, June 1, 2016, 8:12 PM</div>
</section></aside><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: "helvetica";"></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<article id="ra-body" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; float: none; font-family: 'PT Serif', serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 40px; margin-left: 180px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 30px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 30px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 30px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 30px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;">
There is no class of people more vulnerable to sexual predators than children. In the overwhelming number of cases, the perpetrators are people who have betrayed the trust of children in their care — relatives, foster families, educators, coaches, clergy and health care professionals — who are far more likely to commit the traumatizing acts than strangers our children are brought up to fear.</div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 30px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;">
The greatest damage has been done to child victims whose voices have long been silenced — first, by their abusers, and then by the senseless laws that have placed arbitrary limits on the time they have to seek justice. We cannot save many who have come before this, but we can change the outlook, the possibility of justice — both in criminal and civil court — for the thousands more who have suffered at the hands of predators and those whom we know will come next. The time to pass the Child Victims Act is now.</div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 30px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;">
There is no reasonable opposition to this argument. What is it opponents fear? Some have raised the concern of false reporting, but the statistics are abundantly clear that this problem represents a small fractional proportion — less than 2% of all claims. For example, California saw about five false claims out of 850 against the Catholic Church. False reporting occurs in every category of crime and it is certainly an issue in cases which fall within the statute of limitations. It is part of the job of every prosecutor to identify those complaints and get them out of the system. They are rare, and they should never be a barrier to the overwhelming number of valid complaints that deserve to be investigated.</div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 30px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;">
Is it the ease with which some critics say the reporting occurs? That is terrifically unfair and absurd. One must only meet with, listen to, experience the moment when an adult survivor discloses the torment of her or his youth. In most instances, the first telling of the facts is made after an agonizing period — years and years — of self-doubt, of denial, of wondering whether the listener will blame or believe. To look in the eyes of the individual is to understand immediately the depth of the pain and the searing imprint the criminal conduct has imprinted in the heart and on the soul of the victimized child. I can think of few things more difficult in one’s life than deciding when and to whom to reveal the abuse. That alone makes me understand that only a small number of survivors ever choose to tell their stories. We are not opening the floodgates when we change these laws. Do not be misled by that kind of argument. The inherent difficulty in reopening the wounds caused by sexual abuse prevents victims from ever reporting these crimes.</div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 30px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;">
Another issue of how predators are expected to defend against such charges so many years after the fact — the basis in law for all statutes of limitation. Three things come instantly to mind. First is the specificity of the complaints made by so many of the survivors, especially in cases of ongoing episodes of abuse. These children experienced conduct and heard language that most kids of their age (especially in the pre-internet days when much of the abuse now being reported happened) had no reason to know. In the retelling, the excruciating detail of what the predator said and did is a compelling piece of the case. Second, with the training of Special Victims detectives and prosecutors, it is now possible — much as we do in cold case homicides — to go back and seek evidence that corroborates the accuser’s story. I have had a survivor tell me about the painting over the dresser in the perpetrator’s bedroom — the one she stared at every time he demanded that she come inside, the one she stared at to distract herself from the pain and the horror of what she was being forced to experience. She had no reason to have ever been in the bedroom of her best friend’s uncle and yet 20 years later she could recall every piece of furniture and art, down to the detailing of the swirling pattern in his rug. In some cases, that bedroom will be exactly the same when investigators go back to view it.</div>
<div class="ra-module h" itemid="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2657761.1464823613!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_750/nup-157547-0132-jpg.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 40px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;">
<br />
<br />
<figure class="ra-figure" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ra-enlarge" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; cursor: pointer; height: 28px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 28px;"></span><img alt="Not Released (NR) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. ADDITIONAL CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR COMMERCIAL OR PROMOTIONAL USE, CONTACT YOUR LOCAL OFFICE FOR ASSISTANCE. ANY COMMERCIAL OR PROMOTIONAL USE OF NBCUNIVERSAL CONTENT REQUIRES NBCUNIVERSAL'S PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT. NO" src="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2657761.1464823613!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_750/nup-157547-0132-jpg.jpg" srcset="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2657761.1464823613!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_750/nup-157547-0132-jpg.jpg 750w, http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2657761.1464823613!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_1200/nup-157547-0132-jpg.jpg 1200w" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;" /><figcaption style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; vertical-align: baseline;"><h2 class="ra-caption" itemprop="description" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #999999; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Fairstein says there's no reasonable opposition to the Child Victims Act.</h2>
<span class="ra-credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder" style="background-color: transparent; color: #999999; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">(NBC NEWSWIRE/NBCU PHOTO BANK VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></figure></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 30px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;">
Then there is actual evidence. Predators — just like in film and crime novels — often keep souvenirs to revisit the excitement of their actions. Armed with search warrants today, investigators will all too often find photographs of the adult witness — then a child — naked on a bed, or retrieve letters and diaries that document when each victim visited and what occurred. One of my perps seduced young boys by starting at a fast-food restaurant, and he kept lists of what each child liked to eat and drink — burgers and fries, nuggets and shakes. Those lists were still on his computer many years later. Occasionally, the all-powerful tool of DNA helps confirm the case, when clothing or bed linens or a stuffed animal — often saved for a reason that is entirely emotional — which was present for the criminal conduct still carries the evidence of the sexual contact.</div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 30px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;">
For 26 of my 30 years in the Manhattan DA’s office, I was in charge of the country’s pioneering Special Victims Bureau. When I joined that great office in 1972, our state’s laws were so archaic that the word of an adult survivor of sexual assault was considered “incompetent” in a court of law. My colleagues and I were unable to prosecute rapists unless there was independent evidence of the commission of the crime.</div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 30px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;">
Throughout the 1970s and ’80s, prosecutors, survivors, advocates, and enlightened legislators lobbied for reform when societal attitudes finally allowed us to discuss these dark subjects in public. New York lagged behind almost every state in the nation, then as now, in addressing this long-overdue reform. While that effort was underway, I continued daily to interview women who had been raped — mothers, sisters, daughters, students, secretaries and executives — sitting with them as they tried to understand why our legal system would not allow them to confront their attackers in the courtroom. Despite great opposition from the legislature at the time, the law was finally changed to allow adult sexual assault victims to have their day in court.</div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 30px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;">
When DNA became a reliable scientific tool that revolutionized the criminal justice system in the 1990s — used both to identify offenders and to exonerate the innocent — we fought again to eliminate the statute of limitations that prevented victims from testifying in cases solved long after the statute had expired. There was vociferous opposition from the legislature, until at last its members removed the impediments of 17th century law and applied 20th century reason. Sadly, the reforms only applied to adult victims of sexual abuse.</div>
<div class="ra-module v" itemid="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2646060.1463965875!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_750/law23n-2-web.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; float: left; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 40px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 30px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 240px;">
<br />
<br />
<figure class="ra-figure" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ra-enlarge" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; cursor: pointer; height: 28px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 28px;"></span><img alt="New York lawmakers need to give survivors a chance to seek justice. " src="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2646060.1463965875!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_750/law23n-2-web.jpg" srcset="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2646060.1463965875!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_750/law23n-2-web.jpg 750w, http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2646060.1463965875!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_1200/law23n-2-web.jpg 1200w" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 240px;" /><figcaption style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; vertical-align: baseline;"><h2 class="ra-caption" itemprop="description" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #999999; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
New York lawmakers need to give survivors a chance to seek justice. </h2>
<span class="ra-credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder" style="background-color: transparent; color: #999999; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">(NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)</span></figcaption></figure></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 30px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;">
In too many cases, after the adults present themselves to disclose childhood abuse, a quick check about the offender shows the predatory nature of his being. It is the private school teacher who has been transferred from one institution to another after suspicions were confirmed, but never reported. It is the football coach who had too many skiing weekends with his favorite boys at his weekend cabin until a parent finally trusted the instincts of his child to forego the trips.</div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 30px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;">
We need to recognize the pervasive nature of the crimes of child sexual abuse by passing the Child Victims Act. We need to arm our survivors with a chance to do justice, just as we need to end this epidemic of victimization and restore dignity to our children, whenever they have the strength and courage to speak out.</div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 30px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;">
<i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Fairstein is a best-selling author and former prosecutor in the Manhattan DA’s office</i></div>
</article>Anne Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00027601171660269956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343475258897154710.post-91508287842819765182015-11-16T08:48:00.000-05:002015-11-16T08:49:14.691-05:00University of Georgia Law Alumnus Funds New Child Sex Abuse Legal Clinic<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: "helvetica";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia";"></span></span><br />
<div style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG4heeeM1t9TyEAhLylrLNXdgNbDOo9dWqvsGoqzmwu1ZkNanyRD2fLqbNYpzaIP2x4GlcReS302Hj9NnxMsRlepJ4sf4h0fKMQmH8apV27VXNPrK9dlKJi2SlugBr8oN5RgianCBh3Dhv/s1600/obj1446848295485tmb320.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG4heeeM1t9TyEAhLylrLNXdgNbDOo9dWqvsGoqzmwu1ZkNanyRD2fLqbNYpzaIP2x4GlcReS302Hj9NnxMsRlepJ4sf4h0fKMQmH8apV27VXNPrK9dlKJi2SlugBr8oN5RgianCBh3Dhv/s400/obj1446848295485tmb320.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: "helvetica";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia";"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">Marlan Wilbanks, son of a survivor of sexual abuse sets up the first center to help survivors know their legal rights. </span></span></span></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: "helvetica";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia";">
</span></span>
<br />
<div style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: "helvetica";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia";"><span class="author ng-binding" ng="article.attribute['By'] | byline" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; line-height: 1.22em;">by Meredith Hobbs</span><span class="author ng-binding" ng="article.attribute['By'] | byline" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; line-height: 1.22em;">, Daily Report </span><span class="date ng-binding" ng="article.posted | posted" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; line-height: 1.22em;">11/06/2015</span></span></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: "helvetica";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia";">
</span></span>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">The University of Georgia School of Law is launching the first legal clinic in the nation to assist victims of child sexual abuse, thanks to a gift from an alumnus, Atlanta plaintiffs lawyer Marlan Wilbanks.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">Wilbanks declined to say how much he is donating, but he said it's a "substantial gift" that will be ongoing. He also plans to be personally involved in the clinic. "This is going to be a lifelong commitment for me," he said.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">The clinic, called the Wilbanks Center for Child Sexual Assault and Exploitation Survivors, will both assist adult survivors of child sexual abuse in filing civil suits and help children to gain protection from their abusers, he said.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">Wilbanks is a longtime advocate for preventing child sexual abuse and helping survivors because his mother is a survivor of sexual abuse by her father. He said she was able to disclose her abuse only when she was well into adulthood, in her late 40s, which is common for many survivors.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">"She has gone from being a victim to being an unbelievable advocate," Wilbanks said. "She is my hero, and I want to continue her legacy."</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">His mother, Marilyn Motz, helped to start the Habersham County chapter of Prevent Child Abuse and Wilbanks is on the board of an Atlanta advocacy group, VOICE Today.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">Both pushed for new Georgia legislation that went into effect July 1 extending the statute of limitations for survivors of child sexual abuse to file civil suits—an impetus for the new clinic, which will open in the spring semester.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">Wilbanks said the clinic will also help children gain injunctive relief—for instance, by helping victims secure protective orders to get abusers out of their home.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">"This is not just helping people bring lawsuits for dollars," Wilbanks said. "I want to create a system that creates safety for people—and make sure predators get prosecuted."</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">The dean of UGA's law school, Peter "Bo" Rutledge, said the new law, HB 17, known as the Hidden Predators Act, makes it particularly appropriate for a public law school to step in. "The General Assembly wants to open the courthouse doors to these type of claims," he said.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">The new legislation allows victims to file civil claims at a much older age. Before, they only had until they turned 23. "The average median age of victims for when they are psychologically able to deal with what happened to them, like my mother, is over 40 years old," Wilbanks said.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">HB 17 initially eliminates the statute of limitations until July 1, 2017, creating an open window in which victims may file claims. After that it allows two years from when "the plaintiff knew or had reason to know of such abuse and that such abuse resulted in injury to the plaintiff as established by competent medical or psychological evidence."</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">Wilbanks' initial gift, Rutledge said, will help fund a clinic director's salary and fellowships, which could be summer jobs for law students or term-time jobs for law graduates.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">The law school is conducting a search for a clinic director. Rutledge said the initial goal is to have six to eight students working in the clinic per term.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">The clinic will add to the law school's experiential learning offerings, he said, giving students the chance to serve as advocates for Georgians without adequate legal resources.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">Wilbanks said it's insufficient to rely on police, government prosecutors and the state child protective agency to protect children from sexual abuse. "Calling the cops does not immediately get the father or other family member out of the house. You do not get the injunctive relief," he said, and intervention from the Division of Family and Child Services may not be effective.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">"Nobody is advocating for the child," Wilbanks said, adding that abuse victims often have very little money to hire lawyers. "Private attorneys need to get involved."</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">Besides offering legal services, the clinic could serve as a liaison with the private bar, he said.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">A child being abused in the home is often afraid to say anything, Wilbanks added. For this reason he envisions the UGA legal clinic partnering with medical providers and social services groups that assist sexual abuse victims.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">"We want to connect the victims to their legal rights and identify their sexual predators," he said. "They are falling through the safety net."</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">The other impetus for Wilbanks' gift was a big win in a whistleblower case. Wilbanks and other lawyers brought a Medicare fraud case against a dialysis chain, Da Vita Healthcare Partners, which resulted in a $495 million settlement earlier this year, including $45 million for legal fees and costs.</span></div>
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: "helvetica";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia";"></span></span><br />
<br />
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><a href="http://m.dailyreportonline.com/module/alm/app/dro.do#!/article/1756250774">http://m.dailyreportonline.com/module/alm/app/dro.do#!/article/1756250774</a></span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">Another article here:</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<a href="http://news.uga.edu/releases/article/law-school-child-sexual-abuse-victim-clinic/">http://news.uga.edu/releases/article/law-school-child-sexual-abuse-victim-clinic/</a></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<br /></div>
Anne Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00027601171660269956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343475258897154710.post-70354116046754521062014-11-01T16:28:00.000-04:002014-11-01T20:22:25.756-04:00I believe you, "Molly" and "Sara". <div id="ygrp-text">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzznFfvDELnjfuElcb-ivBwBzu3bF3-fSw7hvxRa73v_2UP5-c4X3Hnjb2n43eewszc5hEP5mBc2gqPsmoYoezrHpAjsBV0F1Q409eG0vZoS8eLbmtoZzzpL54a-qAPYL7ATGPb-X6Clvj/s1600/Mami+Rainbow+art+S+31219.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzznFfvDELnjfuElcb-ivBwBzu3bF3-fSw7hvxRa73v_2UP5-c4X3Hnjb2n43eewszc5hEP5mBc2gqPsmoYoezrHpAjsBV0F1Q409eG0vZoS8eLbmtoZzzpL54a-qAPYL7ATGPb-X6Clvj/s1600/Mami+Rainbow+art+S+31219.jpg" height="248" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 1.22em;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 1.22em;">Not a day passes that I do not think of "Molly" and "Sara" and their</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 1.22em;"><i> Mami </i>and the horrifying ways that Rhode Island Family Court tortured them after Molly described sexual abuse by their father when she was three. I look at their photographs and wonder how and where they are now that Sara has turned 18 and Molly is still in her father's custody. </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 1.22em;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 1.22em;">I have copies of the graphic drawing Molly made a decade ago to show </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 1.22em;">her father's behavior -- so painful and</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">inexplicable for a child -- to the court's inept</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 1.22em;"> psychologist. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.22em;">Her sister drew an enormous red erect penis and got down on the car floor in terror outside the psychologist's office. A cabal of women lawyers and clinicians accused their mother of coaching the girls to lie, but the cabal's reports reveal their own complicity in a culture of deceit. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 1.22em;">When I read Pamela Jacobs' story, I wanted to tell Molly and Sara once again: I, like many others, believe you. We condemn the clinicians and court officers who robbed your childhood of its</span><span style="line-height: 19px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 1.22em;">loving foundation. We hope you will find the kindness and healing that will finally release you from this Court's legacy of trauma. </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.22em;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.22em;">Pamela Jacob's story from the Huffington Post: </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.22em;">My grandmother had her back turned, her voice was cold. I was 15 years old and had just tried to end my life. After my attempt was interrupted by a phone call from a friend (or divine intervention), I put away the pills and walked into the kitchen, sobbing and shaking. I told my grandmother I needed to tell her something. But, I didn't have to say it, because she already knew.</span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"></span><br />
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<div class="content" id="mainentrycontent" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; direction: ltr; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div style="color: #333333; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><em style="line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Let me guess, he molested you."</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><em style="line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">He</em> was my step-grandfather. And he had been sexually abusing me since I was 5 years old. What I wanted more than anything was for my grandmother -- the woman who raised me -- to hold me and tell me how sorry she was. I wanted her to <em style="line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">believe me</em>. But, instead, she stood coldly, with her back turned, and snarled, "You're lying. I want you out of my house."</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><em style="line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Lying. </em>The word stung. It was my worst fear. It hung over me, ran through me, for many years. Of all the horrible words I heard throughout my childhood, that was the most difficult to forget.</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">My grandmother refusing to believe me was as painful as the abuse itself. It made the abuse my fault. It validated his threats that no one would believe me, that I didn't actually matter to anyone. And it made me feel worthless -- which is exactly what he wanted.</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">After years of working on my own healing, and working with thousands of sexual assault survivors, I have learned that what we often need, even more than justice, is simply to be believed. And the fact is, we have no reason not to believe survivors. Only about <a href="http://www.nsvrc.org/publications/articles/false-reports-moving-beyond-issue-successfully-investigate-and-prosecute-non-s" style="color: #ba72ba; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_hplink">2-8%</a> of sexual assault reports are "false" -- and many believe the actual number is much lower. The myth that people frequently lie about rape is just that -- a myth. In fact, most sexual assaults are never reported at all, largely due to survivors' fear that they won't be believed.</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">Our society tells us not to believe survivors. It's easier to live in denial and pretend these horrific things don't really happen. We often don't believe survivors because it's too hard to accept that these otherwise "nice guys" are doing such awful things. (People thought my step-grandfather was a "nice guy" too). And it's even more difficult to accept that we could all be at risk.</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">But, we have to stop disregarding the truth simply because we don't want to hear it. The more we ignore the truth, and disregard survivors' experiences, the more this epidemic will grow. Every time we refuse to believe a survivor -- the rapist wins.</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">But with just three words -- I believe you -- we can instill hope and healing. We can change the conversation about sexual assault and encourage survivors to come forward. And we can take power away from rapists and give it back to those who deserve it -- those who have survived.</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">It has been more than 20 years since my grandmother refused to believe me. Yet still, every time some caring person who has heard me speak reaches out and says "I believe you," every time a friend or loved one tells me they believe me -- I am speechless. Every time I hear those words, I feel empowered, supported, and I heal a little bit more.</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">If you truly want to help survivors heal, if you truly want your loved ones to be safe, you have to start by believing. When someone courageously shares his or her story with you, say "I believe you" -- and mean it. It is the most powerful and meaningful gift you can give.</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">If anyone reading this has survived, and has never heard it, or needs to hear it again -- I believe you.</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, you are not alone. <a href="https://ohl.rainn.org/online/" style="color: #ba72ba; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_hplink">Advocates are available</a> to talk with you 24 hours a day at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).</span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">[<em style="line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Pamela Jacobs is an attorney, advocate, and speaker dedicated to empowering women and ending sexual and domestic violence. Find her at <a href="http://pamelajacobs.com.]" style="line-height: 1.22em;">http://pamelajacobs.com.</a></em><a href="http://pamelajacobs.com.]" style="line-height: 1.22em;">]</a> </span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; direction: ltr; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pamela-jacobs/the-3-words-every-sexual-assault-survivor-needs-to-hear_b_6076818.html" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.22em;">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pamela-jacobs/the-3-words-every-sexual-assault-survivor-needs-to-hear_b_6076818.html</a></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.22em;">
</span><br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 1.22em; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
</div>
</div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;"></span></span><br />
<div style="clear: both; line-height: 1.22em;">
</div>
<div id="fromDMARC" style="line-height: 1.22em; margin-top: 10px;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="color: white; height: 0px; line-height: 1.22em;">
__._,_.___</div>
Anne Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00027601171660269956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343475258897154710.post-75684224187136818582014-09-22T14:11:00.002-04:002014-09-22T14:23:44.292-04:00End the Nightmare at Family Court<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGjCDIv5qpxgl-Y0PyiOuD_SA7xeUBnp3wZY2GPr0ZNOPAhyphenhyphen4EmqmlJEKZdXrtt7wsLjp4RjkpusdLtfnuxbaSjRHQXNr86_FGwxFipoIDOnM4S7XkdycVC0901XdgA0Her0y4NC8yO-k/s1600/Rosen,+Hostage+Child.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGjCDIv5qpxgl-Y0PyiOuD_SA7xeUBnp3wZY2GPr0ZNOPAhyphenhyphen4EmqmlJEKZdXrtt7wsLjp4RjkpusdLtfnuxbaSjRHQXNr86_FGwxFipoIDOnM4S7XkdycVC0901XdgA0Her0y4NC8yO-k/s1600/Rosen,+Hostage+Child.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
<div class="reviewText">
<br /></div>
<div class="reviewText">
Leora N. Rosen, <i>Beyond the Hostage Child: Towards Empowering Protective Parents</i><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1500551996/ref=cm_cr_mts_prod_img">http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1500551996/ref=cm_cr_mts_prod_img</a><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="reviewText">
This clear, readable, and affordable update to Dr. Rosen’s 1996 text, The Hostage Child, focuses our attention on the lifelong harm done to children by family courts and the remedies needed. She identifies specific federal funding streams that have done great damage (for example, the “Responsible Fatherhood Programs” that inspired the deadly rampage by Beltway Sniper John Muhammad from West Coast to East and another by Joshua Komisarjevsky in Connecticut).<br />
<br />
This book holds validation for those who have been traumatized when courts removed terrified children from protective parents and gave them to the sole custody of abusers. Dr. Rosen shines a light we need to go forward.<br />
<br />
She asserts that alleged crimes of domestic violence and child sexual abuse within the family should never be sent to civil courts that are designed for compromise. She briefly describes five proposed models for change and offers more detail on a sixth, composite model, CARCO (Child At Risk Classification Office) that focuses on a public health assessment of the child’s risk of being exposed to violence or abuse. She uses the acronym TRIAL to represent key elements of CARCO: Training, Reporting, Investigation, Adjudication, and Long-term planning – that are woefully absent from the present practice of adversarial litigation in family court.<br />
<br />
Dr. Rosen has performed a huge service by focusing those of us who feel numbed by our own inability to protect desperate children and non-offending parents from the lies of lawyers and psychologists who have reduced them to a profit center. She concludes by urging Congress to use its authority and enact CARCO for the District of Columbia, creating a model for the nation. Federal funding incentives can be redirected to inspire other states to follow suit and to end the nightmare that breeds child abuse at family court.</div>
Anne Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00027601171660269956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343475258897154710.post-64612916696022565812014-09-17T12:37:00.002-04:002014-09-17T12:37:38.145-04:00A song for Sara and Molly's MamiThis song touches me deeply because of all the children like Sara and Molly whom I have seen wrestled away by corrupt officers of the court from inspiring moms who had sustained them.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://sfglobe.com/?id=2996&src=share_fb_new_2996">http://sfglobe.com/?id=2996&src=share_fb_new_2996</a>Anne Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00027601171660269956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343475258897154710.post-28548059615309323102014-07-05T08:55:00.001-04:002014-07-05T08:55:33.836-04:00Sir Peter Hayman, diplomat and child abuser<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<h1 style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.22em; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
The British Establishment hid one of their own. Now<span style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.22em;"> Members of Parliament demand an inquiry into the covering-up of a VIP child abuse ring protected by the powerful.</span></h1>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 1.22em;"></span></span></span><br />
<div style="line-height: 1.22em;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTzYOmGONb_yjjgPgq6YJ9nlaAIGDr6sED5zGln2zfNbkMD2cSdU2hLCUHM2f_CjBkkIjWBmonoeh57CUW5RCzjIeWGYiQ8O5Zeaj2eOxYmpCgJzLH_YJFWTMDexRMfYWjEwi9ct0zSpjV/s1600/Sir+Peter+Hayman+PIE+article-0-1F65410D00000578-678_306x472.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTzYOmGONb_yjjgPgq6YJ9nlaAIGDr6sED5zGln2zfNbkMD2cSdU2hLCUHM2f_CjBkkIjWBmonoeh57CUW5RCzjIeWGYiQ8O5Zeaj2eOxYmpCgJzLH_YJFWTMDexRMfYWjEwi9ct0zSpjV/s1600/Sir+Peter+Hayman+PIE+article-0-1F65410D00000578-678_306x472.jpg" height="400" width="258" /></a></div>
<ul class="article-summary news" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<li style="line-height: 1.22em; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b style="line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.22em;"><br /></span></b></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.22em; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b style="line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.22em;">Sir Peter Hayman was a respected diplomat and army officer. </span></b><b style="font-size: 10px; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.22em;">But he hid a secret life as a member of the Paedophile Information Exchange. </span></b><b style="font-size: 10px; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.22em;">The group encouraged child abuse - but he was let off with a warning. </span></b><span style="font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.22em;">More: </span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.22em; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b style="line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.22em;"><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.22em;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="line-height: 1.22em;"><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2681318/How-Establishment-hid-monster-midst-As-MPs-demand-inquiry-covering-VIP-child-abuse-ring-chilling-proof-depraved-diplomat-protected-good-great.html">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2681318/How-Establishment-hid-monster-midst-As-MPs-demand-inquiry-covering-VIP-child-abuse-ring-chilling-proof-depraved-diplomat-protected-good-great.html</a></span></span></span></div>
</span></b></li>
</ul>
</div>
Anne Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00027601171660269956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343475258897154710.post-68294316419660613762014-06-27T13:51:00.000-04:002014-06-27T13:51:36.825-04:00Anne Stevenson and Communities Digital News dare to report on courts promoting child sex abuseA growing number of journalists and publications, like Anne Stevenson at Communities Digital News, are reporting on the proliferation of courts giving custody to parents identified by children as their sex abusers:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<strong style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">ATLANTA,</strong><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"> June 26, 2014 — According to court records, throughout 2011-2012, “Jane’s” children (then ages 2 and 7) repeatedly insisted and showed credible evidence to child psychologist Nancy McGarrah, Ph.D and Ann Shannon, LCSW, that that their father made suicidal and homicidal plans with them, that he routinely watched child porn with them and sexually assaulted them during overnight visits.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Read more here:</span><a href="http://www.commdiginews.com/life/georgia-court-may-have-given-sex-predator-custody-of-child-victims-19453/">http://www.commdiginews.com/life/georgia-court-may-have-given-sex-predator-custody-of-child-victims-19453/</a><br />
<br />
<div>
Anne Stevenson told me: "This was not a case of lack of evidence or a judge in need of a little training who made a blunder. The family court professionals walked away with their pockets well-lined." The evidence she decided not to include is "pretty sickening" and "the most egregious part of this story is that the professionals all went on vacation together at resorts in Florida and may have paid for it with the money they made off the kids who they left in danger" -- much like the cabals we have documented in Rhode Island.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Anne Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00027601171660269956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343475258897154710.post-17636098793720006692014-02-02T10:23:00.002-05:002014-02-02T12:46:13.142-05:00What Woody Allen and DCYF have in common: Children Who Remember<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmgIsQpUnmoiqJgcvSCei76qJc-pfa-Q40M9yK3XND-PAcf73fDN4cOuFxN_oqxcZAcbSsFLyTZGYYFHOvodP_xmidZF4rjcmrBjbFVDDYweIj8oY4W0vXQDEGihw9ITVtjtwc-sGhHqsA/s1600/dylan-farrow-blog480-v3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmgIsQpUnmoiqJgcvSCei76qJc-pfa-Q40M9yK3XND-PAcf73fDN4cOuFxN_oqxcZAcbSsFLyTZGYYFHOvodP_xmidZF4rjcmrBjbFVDDYweIj8oY4W0vXQDEGihw9ITVtjtwc-sGhHqsA/s1600/dylan-farrow-blog480-v3.jpg" height="298" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Thanks to Nicholas Kristof at the New York Times for publishing an open letter from Dylan Farrow about her famous adoptive father, Woody Allen, and the sexual abuse she remembers from more than two decades ago, when she was 7:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/01/an-open-letter-from-dylan-farrow/">http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/01/an-open-letter-from-dylan-farrow/</a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Rhode Island's Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) washed their hands of two sisters, "Sara" and "Molly," after taking them from a devoted mother when they were 9 and 5. DCYF held them in foster homes and separated them in a state shelter for more than a year, before giving them to their father -- even though the girls had accused him of kicking their mother down the stairs and playing "sausage games." </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I have seen the huge red erect penis the older child drew years ago. It was unforgettable and too graphic to post. I have posted the younger girl's portrait of their father grinning as he ejaculated. It is hard to imagine how their mother could have brainwashed these images into her daughters as their father's lawyer argued. A cabal of women lawyers and mental health experts earned tens of thousands of dollars in their campaign to take these girls from their mother. The father had money; the mother did not.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
It's too bad the case now being heard in federal court against DCYF <a href="http://www.providencejournal.com/news/courts/20140201-rhode-island-seeks-dismissal-of-lawsuit-against-department-of-children-youth-and-families.ece"> http://www.providencejournal.com/news/courts/20140201-rhode-island-seeks-dismissal-of-lawsuit-against-department-of-children-youth-and-families.ece</a> could not have included Sara and Molly and the case documents referenced throughout our LittleHostages blog, including <a href="http://littlehostages.blogspot.com/2009/12/why-did-lise-iwon-do-it.html">http://littlehostages.blogspot.com/2009/12/why-did-lise-iwon-do-it.html</a> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
DCYF worked hard to rid its system of this case and these children. I believe the girls now live in France with their father. I do not know whether they see their mother at all. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
But I know this: they are growing up. "Sara" will turn 18 this year. I hope that she and "Molly," like Dylan Farrow, will know how many of us always believed they were telling the truth. From my interviews, police believed them. I have scores of letters written by neighbors who knew and believed them. The relatives of their child care provider believed them. Some staff at DCYF believed them, but feared for their jobs. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
We will keep confronting the system that failed Sara, Molly, and countless children as well as the parents who tried to protect them. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<br />Anne Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00027601171660269956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343475258897154710.post-42437348111634411652013-12-11T09:09:00.000-05:002013-12-15T08:02:37.784-05:00Similarities between the Roman Catholic Church and Family Court<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5o0qFWprYQu7SKLERNv5fV9y8bUKh1fckdnO4B7KLqskbbJswUIFpAAf8_qr05wkoK-o5ZqqbTvhgOS9KWGPvBqS9BJQBVYtc1CZf4XgiECIyecrU0h29ViijHfdz1qDLUCmz-loiBuhY/s1600/Mary+weeping+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="406" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5o0qFWprYQu7SKLERNv5fV9y8bUKh1fckdnO4B7KLqskbbJswUIFpAAf8_qr05wkoK-o5ZqqbTvhgOS9KWGPvBqS9BJQBVYtc1CZf4XgiECIyecrU0h29ViijHfdz1qDLUCmz-loiBuhY/s640/Mary+weeping+.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Father <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Lawrence
Murphy</b>, a predator priest, groomed children for sex at a Roman Catholic
school for the deaf in Milwaukee. After five of those boys came to grips with
this in adulthood, they started a movement that forced the church to release documents
that showed how top Vatican officials had covered up for priests who targeted
children. Some monsignors minimized sexual aggression as normal behavior
in all-male enclaves. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Church upheld <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">omertà,
</i>a code of silence. Ironically, pedophile priests groomed and assaulted deaf
children around the world precisely because their victims could not speak. And
yet, the eloquence of these five men telling their stories in vivid sign
language launched a resounding battle that helped force <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pope Benedict</b> to resign this year, the first Pope to do so in 600
years. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I watched the powerful HBO documentary <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the
House of God</i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>while I was
writing <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“Gift of the Mommies, A True
Story”</b> that shows the generational fallout from a pedophile priest.
Suddenly the connection between the two provided another insight to what is
happening to children abused in family court.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For more than two decades, I have followed custody cases in
Rhode Island, the most Roman Catholic state in the nation. I’ve wondered what
kind of culture could have given rise to obvious abuses of power. Why did judges,
like clergy, often fail to accept the simple truth spoken by children
protesting abuse? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I saw how the judiciary resembles the Church, with its all-powerful,
black-robed judges, using inscrutable Latin words and assuming divine authority,
“So help you God!” while people sit silently in pews awaiting judgments that seal
their fate and their children’s. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The case of “Molly and Sara” described in this blog had a
different twist. The girls’ father and his brothers had grown up in a sexually aggressive
culture. The boys’ own father abused them with impunity and later went to
prison for molesting two mentally disabled children who were his psychotherapy
patients. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Molly and Sara’s father hated the Church and said it was “dumb”
– an ironic term when contemplating “silence in the House of God.” Molly had pleaded
with him to let their mother take her and Sara to church on Christmas Eve.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After Molly disclosed sexual abuse, police removed their
father from the house while the state investigated and lodged a finding against
him. Once he was out of the house, the children and their mother eagerly went
to church, where they met a remarkable group of townsfolk who supported them
for years afterward: writing letters, holding meetings, raising money for a
lawyer, pacing the marble corridor outside the courtroom as they prayed the
rosary, while the father fought and won sole custody of the girls. The
court-appointed guardian <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ad litem,</i> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Lise Iwon</b>, who was close friends with
the father’s defense attorney, had orchestrated the children’s removal from
their mother. Iwon also hated the Church. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The family’s church friends contacted the Parenting Project and
asked us to investigate this case. One of the important lessons we learned is
that we cannot judge others on their creeds or their credentials, but only on the
integrity of their character. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">You can see:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mea Maxima Culpa:
Silence in the House of God </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH6dc449jec">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH6dc449jec</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Gift of the Mommies, A True Story” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.readwave.com/gift-of-the-mommies-a-true-story_s18098">http://www.readwave.com/gift-of-the-mommies-a-true-story_s18098</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lise Iwon’s role in Molly and Sara’s case:<br />
<a href="http://littlehostages.blogspot.com/2009/12/why-did-lise-iwon-do-it.html">http://littlehostages.blogspot.com/2009/12/why-did-lise-iwon-do-it.html</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anne Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00027601171660269956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343475258897154710.post-60822884248498950402013-05-27T20:27:00.001-04:002013-05-27T20:27:37.531-04:00Even in France, "Sara" and "Molly" remember that today is their Mami's birthday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQzEp-Sy6N7OPrEpzNlHORDC2OBq7zGiaA3_L0soIMVyJx2M-xd28BNhUpSaDYtrB2KaGVTqQtA9eX06CtkJKbBS_eTaQKuhWmIuJZ9jlNXRLEuy4mEx00OHiuV2TU9fY1krW3faWW9pa_/s1600/262.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQzEp-Sy6N7OPrEpzNlHORDC2OBq7zGiaA3_L0soIMVyJx2M-xd28BNhUpSaDYtrB2KaGVTqQtA9eX06CtkJKbBS_eTaQKuhWmIuJZ9jlNXRLEuy4mEx00OHiuV2TU9fY1krW3faWW9pa_/s320/262.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The shocking failure of Rhode Island's Attorney General, DCYF, and Family Court to believe "Sara" and "Molly" when they reported their father's sexual abuse and domestic violence, makes it all the more important to join EVAWI and the <i>Start By Believing</i> campaign. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.evawintl.org/Default.aspx" target="_blank">http://www.evawintl.org/Default.aspx</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.startbybelieving.org/">http://www.startbybelieving.org</a><br />
<br />Anne Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00027601171660269956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343475258897154710.post-76393191338485591412013-04-08T17:20:00.001-04:002013-04-08T17:25:59.374-04:00Lise Iwon could help to right a great wrong<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIQYyPtaAs5mR1a2QJawPSw1Unbp-CPUuZ61XUc4ndigDGvj67fiX8BFeC3cmUHcvegPirY7cbPTq9ESKkaUnOIoFCI5ovB9_Ijhd1KGG4j1m7ro_x1ud4i3cnJlyw8rsHGACWksPLQ1Bu/s1600/Iwon+20130321+Senate+Judiciary+IMG_8298.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIQYyPtaAs5mR1a2QJawPSw1Unbp-CPUuZ61XUc4ndigDGvj67fiX8BFeC3cmUHcvegPirY7cbPTq9ESKkaUnOIoFCI5ovB9_Ijhd1KGG4j1m7ro_x1ud4i3cnJlyw8rsHGACWksPLQ1Bu/s400/Iwon+20130321+Senate+Judiciary+IMG_8298.jpg" width="295" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>10</o:Words>
<o:Characters>58</o:Characters>
<o:Company>Writer</o:Company>
<o:Lines>1</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>1</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>71</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>85</o:Words>
<o:Characters>486</o:Characters>
<o:Company>Writer</o:Company>
<o:Lines>4</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>1</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>596</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;">Seven years ago, Lise Iwon was the <i>guardian ad litem </i>who oversaw the removal of "Molly," then age 5, and "Sara," age 9, from their lifelong home. She did it through a marathon search to hire mental health experts who maligned the children's mother, accusing her of neglect, though other experts found her fine and fully attentive</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"> to her children's needs. Scores of neighbors and teachers wrote letters attesting to the close and healthy bond between mother and daughters. </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Times; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggPDaQt_HsYwxBaZMx6pyGEdlRcLX7sR1YfrtaPbALaQLlHJthO1Bbp72lQljgQwakYxHhyphenhyphenorXrKc5GK-ukc2_buDHPF0Zg02RwnKZ89cO72qVGpafib_JX2HO8_COCG4cd5dDqpoARLzm/s1600/Mengia%2527s+Home-RockingChairWindow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggPDaQt_HsYwxBaZMx6pyGEdlRcLX7sR1YfrtaPbALaQLlHJthO1Bbp72lQljgQwakYxHhyphenhyphenorXrKc5GK-ukc2_buDHPF0Zg02RwnKZ89cO72qVGpafib_JX2HO8_COCG4cd5dDqpoARLzm/s640/Mengia%2527s+Home-RockingChairWindow.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
</div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">The girls' graphic allegations of abuse by their father, whose defense lawyer was Iwon's friend, led to a long and </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">protracted legal case, described in posts <a href="http://littlehostages.blogspot.com/2009/12/why-did-lise-iwon-do-it.html" target="_blank">below</a> and elsewhere. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHJeq7uAs26kxcWly7cgmK-BS2WiEXCXqqHBDSBtTj4vUdNReZ7mdATQcNAZi1BRYDJlQ1XkExeAkSt8eIdQfZTndUR-8zG8pZAzAtRXeaQgLAIUY2pOFcTVf8V9X0wT8Wk6G5M1xfpDP1/s1600/A.+sausage+m+040817.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHJeq7uAs26kxcWly7cgmK-BS2WiEXCXqqHBDSBtTj4vUdNReZ7mdATQcNAZi1BRYDJlQ1XkExeAkSt8eIdQfZTndUR-8zG8pZAzAtRXeaQgLAIUY2pOFcTVf8V9X0wT8Wk6G5M1xfpDP1/s640/A.+sausage+m+040817.jpg" width="468" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Molly's" drawing of her father's "sausage games"<br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Eventually their mother ran out of money and could not pay the many thousands of dollars that Iwon and others demanded. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi70WzBcrNEOgzSTf6jjPB2T11XFg6XAwaBOUhHZOjA8Xmc2YZ1S1L4s-5yvE7f0dF3ng84uSb8H2azwKOFaHe9AxNHPggloQQ9rnPIpq5t59wwmKY_I2N38DW9K4rEgjzl10La_hgku5LJ/s1600/Mengia+home+from+Blurb+book+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="638" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi70WzBcrNEOgzSTf6jjPB2T11XFg6XAwaBOUhHZOjA8Xmc2YZ1S1L4s-5yvE7f0dF3ng84uSb8H2azwKOFaHe9AxNHPggloQQ9rnPIpq5t59wwmKY_I2N38DW9K4rEgjzl10La_hgku5LJ/s640/Mengia+home+from+Blurb+book+.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">For Iwon to use government this way to separate children from an excellent parent is cruel and ironic, for she knows that government bias does enormous harm to loving homes and relationships. She and I are both committed to winning marriage equality for same-sex couples, whose children need the stability that legal marriage can provide. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Iwon recently testified at the State House about her late partner's encouragement for her to take <i>pro bono</i> cases at their law office<i>.</i> Perhaps she </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">will recognize the suffering this case has inflicted and will devote herself to </span><i style="font-family: Helvetica;">pro bono</i><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"> work challenging Family Court's abuse of psychotherapy in custody litigation. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>APRA Request </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">T</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">he Parenting Project filed a request </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">under Rhode Island's Access to Public Records Act (APRA) and </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">found that Family Court has <b>no written policies and procedures </b>regulating the work of independent mental health experts who advise judges in custody cases. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Specifically, we asked:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>181</o:Words>
<o:Characters>1032</o:Characters>
<o:Company>Writer</o:Company>
<o:Lines>8</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>2</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>1267</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. What are the <b>qualifications</b>
for mental health experts who serve in Family Court? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. What <b>training</b>,
if any, is required in the areas of domestic violence, child sexual abuse,
trauma, dissociation, personality disorders, and addiction?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. What <b>psychological
tests</b> are experts permitted to use?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 3a.
How is the <b>relevance</b> of these tests
established?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 3b.
How is the <b>reliability</b> of these
tests established?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. What forms of <b>treatment
</b>are permitted by court-ordered experts? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 4a.
How is the <b>efficacy</b> of this
treatment established?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 4b. How is this treatment <b>monitored</b>? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 4c. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How is this treatment </span><b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">evaluated</b><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. What professional <b>supervision</b> does the Family Court require for professionals serving in these capacities?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6. What is the relationship of court-ordered experts to private therapists? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 6a. Are they required to <b>consult </b>with a subject's private therapist? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 6b. Are they permitted to <b>displace</b> a subject's private therapist? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7. Does the Family Court set <b>limits</b> on </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 7a. the <b>fees </b>these experts may charge?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 7b. the <b>duration</b> of their services?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 7c. the number of experts the court may impose on each subject?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8. How are these <b>reports</b> submitted to the court?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 8a. What<b> format </b>is specified for these reports? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 8b. How are reports<b> disclosed </b>to the subjects or to their parents? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">9. What is the Court's process for <b>monitoring and evaluating</b> experts?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 9a. <b>Who</b> at Family Court is responsible for doing this?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 9b. <b>How</b> is feedback secured from subjects and parents?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">10. What process has the Family Court established for subjects or outside professionals to file <b>complaints</b> regarding the performance of experts? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></b>
<b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">APRA Response</b><br />
<b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></b>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In response to Questions 1 and 2, above, the Court provided a one-page Vacancy Notice from 2012 (Reference Position Number 2729-10000-#0444, "Pending Availability of Funds") for: </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">an Assistant Intake Supervisor who performs screening, evaluation and assessments for juveniles as part of the Family Court's Juvenile Mental Health Clinic. </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In response to Questions 3, 5, and 8, the Court replied: </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the Family Court is currently in the process of updating its Policy and Procedure Manual for the Juvenile Mental Health Clinic which may contain information responsive to this request. </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In response to Questions 4, 6, 7, 9, and 10, the Court replied: </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are no documents responsive to this request. </span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first two responses apply only to the Court's Juvenile Clinic, and not to independent experts hired by litigants. </span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thus Family Court has no written policies and procedures </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">regulating the work of independent mental health experts hired to advise judges in custody cases. </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">This raises significant questions about the liability of the handful of mental health practitioners who report to the Court without adhering to their own profession's ethical standards. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipSf7k4hJeo0PezJEbXrijepRi4NyV0N7yi_VU8np56hAm6T0w5RohH5tIgIoDEHDAVuQsYuYJfvdoFuXNqbPt1DFqYuTuzJikw7FEbValllBEUwJj1fid9hqsH-kINsVQZed7whM6xBCi/s1600/Blue+Cross+Blue+Shield+NEWEST+2978984_vk_20081009234513_320_240.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="402" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipSf7k4hJeo0PezJEbXrijepRi4NyV0N7yi_VU8np56hAm6T0w5RohH5tIgIoDEHDAVuQsYuYJfvdoFuXNqbPt1DFqYuTuzJikw7FEbValllBEUwJj1fid9hqsH-kINsVQZed7whM6xBCi/s640/Blue+Cross+Blue+Shield+NEWEST+2978984_vk_20081009234513_320_240.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">It also calls into question the practice of medical insurers that reimburse these expenses without requiring proper adherence to medical standards. The Court's abuse of psychotherapy for assessments of questionable value reduces the number of sessions available to insurance clients for genuine therapeutic services. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">When I met with representatives of Rhode Island Blue Cross / Blue Shield in 2010, they assured me that they did not reimburse court-ordered sessions that were not in fact therapeutic. The evidence suggests otherwise. W</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">hen the insurance company fails to examine conditions under which their clients are being "treated" for court purposes, this lack of oversight </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">subjects their clients to psychological harassment and harm. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>72</o:Words>
<o:Characters>416</o:Characters>
<o:Company>Writer</o:Company>
<o:Lines>3</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>1</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>510</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Lise Iwon cannot give back the lives taken from
these girls and their mother. I am not in touch with them, but a friend of their
family told me the girls remained in state custody from April 7, 2006, for well
over a year, until DCYF gave the younger girl to their father. Some time
later, DCYF gave the older girl to him as well. Family Court allowed him to move out
of the country with them. This picture was taken six years ago during a supervised visit with their mother while the girls were still in state custody.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMT4_ywOUsb6-X615UgXUbIBKY3nxGLrgZEd0w3c9Q7eCfNxqj-WhS4c9DHTgR3lbLsDxbR6q6yL61c0C06frNfYM4pq7GgwYi-qDX4AwYEw9oX0IJYlz2p1beKeaaZBB8O5wp-qi83E-Q/s1600/Mengia+20070518B+with+Michelle+Seraina+2068M00010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="596" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMT4_ywOUsb6-X615UgXUbIBKY3nxGLrgZEd0w3c9Q7eCfNxqj-WhS4c9DHTgR3lbLsDxbR6q6yL61c0C06frNfYM4pq7GgwYi-qDX4AwYEw9oX0IJYlz2p1beKeaaZBB8O5wp-qi83E-Q/s640/Mengia+20070518B+with+Michelle+Seraina+2068M00010.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<!--EndFragment-->Anne Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00027601171660269956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343475258897154710.post-85921620963832410522013-03-01T16:44:00.003-05:002013-03-01T16:44:51.059-05:00Did Connecticut Judge Lynda B. Munro award sole custody to a man who raped his son? <a href="http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/heart-without-compromise-children-and-children-wit/2013/feb/28/finding-ground-zero-connecticut-part-i/" target="_blank">http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/heart-without-compromise-children-and-children-wit/2013/feb/28/finding-ground-zero-connecticut-part-i/</a>Anne Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00027601171660269956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343475258897154710.post-7507684491807476132013-02-03T11:18:00.000-05:002013-02-03T11:18:43.025-05:00How Government Agencies Perpetuate the Incest Problem<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixXTaLAle-4mjS8pxMdmWGn0a8QH5RebUb8I5I9pIvZs_zQgl6uivrGlHk89Mlpp_bUOkZ_6W9YGndQ0BtVavStLH867Uac_QUdg5dizBAQMVw8urdqgUEZ7W7lnu7Y5_s3YVLMcUWsfev/s1600/A.+sausage+m+040817.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixXTaLAle-4mjS8pxMdmWGn0a8QH5RebUb8I5I9pIvZs_zQgl6uivrGlHk89Mlpp_bUOkZ_6W9YGndQ0BtVavStLH867Uac_QUdg5dizBAQMVw8urdqgUEZ7W7lnu7Y5_s3YVLMcUWsfev/s320/A.+sausage+m+040817.jpg" width="234" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;"><i>The Atlantic</i> has published an important article, "America Has an Incest Problem," by Mia Fontaine: </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Last year offered plenty of moments to have a sustained national conversation about child sexual abuse: the Jerry Sandusky verdict, the BBC's Jimmy Savile, Horace Mann's faculty members, and a slew of slightly less publicized incidents. President Obama missed the opportunity to put this issue on his second-term agenda in his inaugural speech. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;">
Child sexual abuse impacts more Americans annually than cancer, AIDS, gun violence, LGBT inequality, and the mortgage crisis combined—subjects that Obama <i>did </i>cover. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;">
Had he mentioned this issue, he would have been the first president to acknowledge the abuse that occurs in the institution that predates all others: the family. Incest was the first form of institutional abuse, and it remains by far the most widespread.*</blockquote>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; min-height: 15px;">
<br /></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">In Rhode Island, the Parenting Project has been researching the systemic ways in which DCYF and Family Court allow and sometimes encourage this abuse to continue by refusing to believe children who protest sex abuse in the home and even giving these children to the sole custody of parents who have been indicated as perpetrators. </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;" /><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; min-height: 15px;">
<br /></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">We are focusing specifically on the ways defense lawyers, guardians ad litem, and judges have enabled a small pool of clinicians to produce biased "evaluations" that vilify good parents and assign custody to parents who litigate aggressively, some of whom have been indicated as abusers. This occurred in the case of "Molly" and "Sara" at <a href="http://littlehostages.blogspot.com/" style="color: #999999; text-decoration: none;">http://LittleHostages.blogspot.com,</a> where significant evidence was never considered, including the sisters' graphic drawings of erect and ejaculating penises, scores of letters from neighbors, teachers and others attesting to the mother's excellent parenting, and official reports riddled with bias. </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;" /><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; min-height: 15px;">
<br /></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">These are some of the areas that we are investigating in Rhode Island's practice of assigning unqualified clinicians to evaluate child custody cases (whether or not there are allegations of child sex abuse) and the methods these clinicians employ: </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;" /><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;">
1. What are the clinical presenting <span style="color: #c42319;">symptoms</span> and how are these documented?<br />2. What is the <span style="color: #c42319;">diagnosis</span> and the science behind that diagnosis?<br />3. What is the prescribed<span style="color: #c42319;"> treatment </span>and the science behind that treatment?<br />4. Who have been primary <span style="color: #c42319;">providers</span> apart from the court's involvement? Have court-ordered clinicians consulted with them?<br />5. Do court-ordered clinicians have relevant <span style="color: #c42319;">training</span> in trauma, domestic violence, child sexual abuse, etc.?<br />6. How is the court-ordered treatment <span style="color: #c42319;">paid </span>for, and does this deplete insurance coverage for more appropriate treatment by primary providers?<br />7. What <span style="color: #c42319;">new symptoms</span> appear during and after court-ordered treatment and how are these documented?<br />8. What kinds of <span style="color: #cc0000;">coercion</span> and <span style="color: #c42319;">penalties </span>have been imposed related to the involvement of court-ordered clinicians? </blockquote>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;">
Those who wish to share relevant information may write confidentially to the Parenting Project coordinator, Anne Grant, at parenting project@ verizon.net </div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">*Read The Atlantic article and see its sources here: </span><br /><div style="color: #126ce7; margin-bottom: 13px;">
<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/01/america-has-an-incest-problem/272459/" style="color: #999999; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/01/america-has-an-incest-problem/272459/</span></a></span></div>
</div>
Anne Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00027601171660269956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343475258897154710.post-50556675862114894252012-08-29T14:02:00.000-04:002012-08-29T14:02:24.868-04:0016 year old uses the EAA to demand justice against his father<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;">PRESS RELEASE: For Immediate Release Contact Kathleen Russell: 415-388-9600 </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;">Wednesday, August 29, 2012 <a href="mailto:kr@centerforjudicialexcellence.org" style="color: #1e66ae; line-height: 1.22em;">kr@centerforjudicialexcellence.org</a></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;">TEEN MAKES VIDEO PLEA TO D.A. URGING PROSECUTION OF HIS ABUSER</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;">Damon Asks for Protective Order for his 16th Birthday</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;">Monterey, CA Damon, a boy in hiding, has made a video requesting the Monterey County D.A. prosecute his sexually abusive father and grant him a Protective Order for his 16th birthday, so he will finally be safe and can return home. His video can be viewed at: Safe Kids International.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;">"It's been 10 years since I first reported that my father was sexually abusing me and the family court is still making me go back with him," said Damon, a victim of sexual abuse who is currently living in hiding to escape the abuse. "I'm using social media to spread the word and let everyone know what's happening. I'm hoping Monterey County DA, Dean Flippo, will give me a protective order for my birthday so that I'm able to go back to my home. I really miss my family and friends." </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;">Although Damon is from San Diego, he asserts that the San Diego District Attorney and Family Court judges have failed to do a proper investigation, have swept his abuse under the rug, and forced him to live with his father. Damon says that the court and his father have threatened to send him to a lock-down behavioral modification center to be coerced into recanting the abuse. So Damon ran away and went into hiding a year ago to protect himself. That is why, although Damon is from San Diego, he wants the case to be heard in Monterey County, where the abuse first occurred at his grandmother’s house.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;">Along with social media, Damon has used a novel idea, the Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit (EAA). Born out of the Drew and Stacey Peterson case (currently at trial), the EAA was created by violence expert Susan Murphy Milano to insure that the victim’s accounts of assaults would not disappear if she did. It combines videotaping of the victim’s words attesting to the abuse coupled with creative witnessed and notarized legal documents that successfully satisfy legal hurdles often faced in these cases. Damon says he wants his EAA to be used in case he is sent to a lock-down facility, disappears, or is murdered. The EAA is a newly released iPad app making it easy for other teens in Damon’s situation to use. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;">Former FBI director, Louis Freeh, when describing the Penn State cover up, said, “I want to remind everyone here, and those watching this press conference, of the need to report child sexual abuse to the authorities.” Damon has asked the public in his video to report his abuse to the D.A.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;">Barry Nolan of the Boston Daily wrote, “In the Wake of Jerry Sandusky”, in which he observes that one of the recurring themes of the victims’ testimony was “Who would believe a kid?” He uses Damon’s case as an example of how sexual abuse reports are not taken seriously or investigated properly in family courts. Nolan says, “If enough of them come forward and enough of us start to listen, maybe one day one day when the question is asked — who would believe a kid? — the answer will be different.” Damon is hoping the answer will be different for him. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;">District Attorney Dean Flippo: Office: (831) 755-5070 Email: <a href="mailto:flippodd@co.monterey.ca.us" style="color: #1e66ae; line-height: 1.22em;">flippodd@co.monterey.ca.us</a> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;">Richard Ducote, Consulting Attorney: Office: (412) 687-2020 Email: <a href="mailto:info@ducotelaw.com" style="color: #1e66ae; line-height: 1.22em;">info@ducotelaw.com</a></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.22em;">Damon’s videos to the public and EAA: Safe Kids International</span></span></span>Anne Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00027601171660269956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343475258897154710.post-31561851967635119742012-05-30T09:38:00.001-04:002012-05-30T11:27:01.113-04:00Is Truth and Reconciliation possible for DCYF?Sunday, May 27th, was the 55th birthday <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;">of "Molly" and "Sarah's" beloved Mami (which is the Swiss-German way of spelling Mommy). One day I hope to find out where she has gone and what she is doing, now that Rhode Island has torn away her daughters. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;">When the girls refused to visit their father, he blamed his wife. She had never wanted a divorce until the girls said how much they feared him. Now that DCYF has given the girls to him in another state -- and washed their hands of it -- I wonder if he allows the children to see their mother at all. Or has she returned to Switzerland to make the "torture" (her children's word for it) less painful for them? </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;">In my years of working with battered women, I have seen many good mothers lose children to abusive ex-spouses. Some mothers went on to accomplish important things--though that was no substitute for raising their own children. Two such stories are told in these books by Dr. Jerri Nielsen at the South Pole: </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBlf-FW7h13kxj8KwCEfu-dRgn27dKpLGxKBDpqGvSaeqhyphenhyphenmaeYzyq0JR89tTvRRSB14SF1LQNSb5NwMMMW_VHHVN-SbHepC8zw2mZU4dNZsoYKHL-hpmelLBgmNzRlA9BPctyEIgGbyEt/s1600/51YW9V9C2EL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBlf-FW7h13kxj8KwCEfu-dRgn27dKpLGxKBDpqGvSaeqhyphenhyphenmaeYzyq0JR89tTvRRSB14SF1LQNSb5NwMMMW_VHHVN-SbHepC8zw2mZU4dNZsoYKHL-hpmelLBgmNzRlA9BPctyEIgGbyEt/s1600/51YW9V9C2EL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;">and by the Peacekeeping Whistleblower Kathryn Bolkovac: </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiEdtjKN0MzgFR4-CzpmIADsPdirMD2O3GTDWUh2UUxmTheayAnWp89K3szquUvXughw0AxB4vjAII2qm1Ugtsxz2ykumtgQ1KMFRBQ86w66SmdvagGd51yCDvautSuaXTiyX-i5DkJ3BS/s1600/51m5QigpbEL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiEdtjKN0MzgFR4-CzpmIADsPdirMD2O3GTDWUh2UUxmTheayAnWp89K3szquUvXughw0AxB4vjAII2qm1Ugtsxz2ykumtgQ1KMFRBQ86w66SmdvagGd51yCDvautSuaXTiyX-i5DkJ3BS/s1600/51m5QigpbEL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;">Someday we will learn Mami's story as well. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;">Today's <i>Providence Journal</i> has this to say <i>(click once to enlarge): </i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-vZgG7UzOw3ny1yLYhM_reNzboiQHrGTVC1grIKKGG4okUWJuQvaqE-qAe2dVhag7dP1MVlHZU5hQicxqJV5UtS2FLPe-BgsabiqbucZKNU2yjtlFFoZMU4J6Y2iDNhkSkXCQqplyVm7L/s1600/Screen+Shot+2012-05-30+at+7.43.03+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-vZgG7UzOw3ny1yLYhM_reNzboiQHrGTVC1grIKKGG4okUWJuQvaqE-qAe2dVhag7dP1MVlHZU5hQicxqJV5UtS2FLPe-BgsabiqbucZKNU2yjtlFFoZMU4J6Y2iDNhkSkXCQqplyVm7L/s320/Screen+Shot+2012-05-30+at+7.43.03+AM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;">If the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) is willing to evaluate its own performance in the case of Molly and Sara -- and many other children -- the state must provide a way for us to question this agency with the evidence of abuse by its own staff. We need a genuine process of Truth and Reconciliation to evaluate the way DCYF has abused its power in the past if we are to trust it with such an important job as protecting vulnerable children. </span>Anne Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00027601171660269956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343475258897154710.post-74865277289399776972012-05-13T22:48:00.000-04:002012-05-30T11:29:32.955-04:00In honor of Mami on Mother's Day<div id="badge" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid #00adef; height: 240px; margin: 0px; padding: 10px; position: relative; width: 120px;">
<div style="border: 0px; height: 100px; left: 10px; line-height: 118px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; top: 10px; width: 118px;">
<a href="http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1119986/?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=140x240" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank"> <img alt="Spontaneous!" src="http://www.blurb.com//images/uploads/catalog/49/765849/1119986-f6295d7417f4c22cd9758c187e881b31.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #a7a7a7; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 118px;" /> </a> </div>
<div style="border: 0px; left: 10px; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: left; top: 140px;">
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; width: 105px;">
<a href="http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1119986?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=140x240" style="color: #fd7820; font: bold 12px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">Spontaneous!</a> </div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #545454; font: bold 10px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
Remembering the bes... </div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #545454; font: 10px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
By Anne Grant </div>
</div>
<div style="border: 0; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px; top: 197px;">
<a href="http://www.blurb.com/?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=140x240" style="border: 0; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"> <img alt="Photo book" src="http://www.blurb.com/images/badge/photo-book.png" style="border: 0; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /> </a> </div>
<div style="border: 0px; bottom: 8px; color: #fd7820; font: normal 10px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; left: 10px; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute;">
<a force="true" href="http://www.blurb.com/books/1119986" style="color: #fd7820; text-decoration: none;" title="Book Preview">Book Preview</a> </div>
<div style="border: 0px solid black; clear: both;">
</div>
</div>Anne Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00027601171660269956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343475258897154710.post-34006921320067353202012-04-04T09:44:00.000-04:002012-04-04T09:44:36.691-04:00Healing is a process for survivors of incest<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3FFu1wJthzTPruSkHSwPVkEAVAJjBcRamJQk4hguNruJNrwvF3dosKE0m6MaZKim2256qwIzj-SeAZLZYIoiNoFd7Sl3hAcZwLYnrZ19KDCEq18VBJx4PunGBqmoDLlpxrBUxEztIuK4O/s1600/WSK_Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="236" width="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3FFu1wJthzTPruSkHSwPVkEAVAJjBcRamJQk4hguNruJNrwvF3dosKE0m6MaZKim2256qwIzj-SeAZLZYIoiNoFd7Sl3hAcZwLYnrZ19KDCEq18VBJx4PunGBqmoDLlpxrBUxEztIuK4O/s400/WSK_Logo.png" /></a></div><br />
To visit Donna Jenson's website, "What She Knows," and to hear counselors at the Stetson School for Boys tell of the importance of helping children talk about incest, click on the title above, or paste this link in your browser: http://www.timetotell.org/Time_To_Tell.org/Film_Clips.htmlAnne Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00027601171660269956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343475258897154710.post-51037935265887351952012-02-28T16:03:00.000-05:002012-02-28T16:03:58.213-05:00Dr. DeFrances to speak at COA Conference<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_BFMseBEUcencBbANlQUKIjkm8V-N7ZqnRgVYZIG8ZAIx71w10oM_IdTo9cPQdHjukfupA1ZdvI8MvLMNc7siYd7sh955B89zYrEHy56DUt8wmS8LIrJvcItA797rBqbRxBmsmeOyOw8t/s1600/Scan.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="191" width="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_BFMseBEUcencBbANlQUKIjkm8V-N7ZqnRgVYZIG8ZAIx71w10oM_IdTo9cPQdHjukfupA1ZdvI8MvLMNc7siYd7sh955B89zYrEHy56DUt8wmS8LIrJvcItA797rBqbRxBmsmeOyOw8t/s400/Scan.jpeg" /></a></div><br />
"Molly" and "Sara's" supporters, who convened a community-wide meeting in 2006, wrote scores of letters, and met with the Child Advocate to protest DCYF's handling of this case, never succeeded in bringing the girls back home.<br />
<br />
But that case prompted the Parenting Project to meet with DCYF and work with legislators to require the Department to get accredited with the Council on Accreditation (COA). We are delighted to learn that DCYF's director, Dr. <b>Janice DeFrances</b>, will speak at COA's National Conference in August. <br />
<br />
<b>COA's mission</b> is to partner with human service organizations worldwide to improve service delivery outcomes by developing, applying, and promoting accreditation standards.<br />
<br />
For more about COA, go to their website at <br />
www.COAnet.org<br />
<br />
Free training webinars are available at<br />
http://coanet.org/training.html<br />
<br />
To read the announcement about Dr. DeFrances, click on the title above, or paste this in your browser:<br />
<br />
http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/364877/dbdf2b33e4/1471595639/a75e87bcfa/Anne Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00027601171660269956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343475258897154710.post-35686037966993441742012-02-14T15:33:00.003-05:002013-11-24T13:01:29.984-05:00Who is Norbara Octeau?<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="444" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv1mEefWae9mChrzo8IiYl2yQf8ZPt-88v-6eOXVnTw1hMo8rqFLkvDo28sZnvbxRgG_OWGA84M2PAaBwEy2_SjQw4Rg4pVxr0084JxKKzeq-vrIbLnEYXFH7geTmB6OxHDWPbPh5sEXL4/s640/Screen+Shot+2013-11-22+at+5.21.46+PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><i>Norbara Octeau and her mother celebrate Summer Solstice in 2013, nine years after her 2004 decision as administrative hearing officer for DCYF set the stage for Molly and Sara to be taken from their mother into state custody in 2006, kept in foster homes and a state shelter, and eventually turned over to their father's sole custody, despite the girls' graphic drawings and protests against his "sausage games." </i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv1mEefWae9mChrzo8IiYl2yQf8ZPt-88v-6eOXVnTw1hMo8rqFLkvDo28sZnvbxRgG_OWGA84M2PAaBwEy2_SjQw4Rg4pVxr0084JxKKzeq-vrIbLnEYXFH7geTmB6OxHDWPbPh5sEXL4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-11-22+at+5.21.46+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br /></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv1mEefWae9mChrzo8IiYl2yQf8ZPt-88v-6eOXVnTw1hMo8rqFLkvDo28sZnvbxRgG_OWGA84M2PAaBwEy2_SjQw4Rg4pVxr0084JxKKzeq-vrIbLnEYXFH7geTmB6OxHDWPbPh5sEXL4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-11-22+at+5.21.46+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5grN7sIejqF3sXMHNYkpj4rqz_0ty-OsJsflOdAvHxx-4IoFu4wReBjz6bctI5M7WqUvnzfVlTF8fJkAv31cNcjMqfMMPvjYSzOwESdj-Lo-QhvEGowsLEIk8nndtQq17pS-1iwrGjIIr/s1600/IMG_2068.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5grN7sIejqF3sXMHNYkpj4rqz_0ty-OsJsflOdAvHxx-4IoFu4wReBjz6bctI5M7WqUvnzfVlTF8fJkAv31cNcjMqfMMPvjYSzOwESdj-Lo-QhvEGowsLEIk8nndtQq17pS-1iwrGjIIr/s640/IMG_2068.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><i>DCYF headquarters at Friendship Street, Providence.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Attorney <b>Norbara Octeau</b> works for the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) on contract and hears administrative appeals against that Department. Her 21-page "Decision" (AH/04-55, December 20, 2004) found that "there is not a preponderance of evidence to support the finding of sexual molestation" against "Molly's" father. <br />
<br />
Octeau said that she based her decision primarily on evidence presented by Molly's father: <br />
<blockquote>
1. printouts of three e-mails and a letter he had written in February 2004; <br />
2. the affidavit of a private investigator he had hired to interview his associates; <br />
3. his testimony; and <br />
4. testimony of DCYF's child protective investigator (CPI) <b>Ann Murphy</b>.</blockquote>
<br />
Since the father was the "Petitioner" in this appeal against DCYF, the mother was not considered a party. She and her attorney did not even know of the administrative hearing held on October 12, 2004. Octeau had never seen the woman she vilified in her Decision.<br />
<br />
The father and his defense attorney, <b>Lise Gescheidt</b>, attended the hearing, but only one person appears to have represented DCYF:<br />
<blockquote>
Child Protective Investigator (CPI) Ann Murphy appeared on behalf of the Department; investigative report #375756 was prepared by CPI Murphy, and references by her in giving testimony at this hearing, but was not offered by the Department as an exhibit. . . . No exhibits were presented by the Department. (Decision, pp. 2-3) </blockquote>
<br />
Why did DCYF have no lawyer representing it? And why did DCYF accept Molly's father's emails, letter, and private investigator's report "as full exhibits without objection"--the only exhibits introduced at the hearing?<br />
<br />
At this time, DCYF's chief legal counsel, <b>Kevin Aucoin</b>, was responsible to "Enhance communication and problem solving initiatives between the Family Court and DCYF" according to DCYF's "Child and Family Service Plan" (November 2005, p. 52). Parents who turn to DCYF and Family Court to protect their children from abuse complain especially about the role of DCYF's legal department. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho-Q66MuTuuO-Jc97I46OLPsrawXt3AxpL_hWk99X5tSaH7VCUp5AIdUo-_TC51ZEnVemUiNqwRK4LyrIW2zSOUtjdQMZv1vdSxU0vQ-DqiM2ejV2ujbDwH-b6rRUeGEhhbO6jYsCNjfsS/s1600/Scan+2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho-Q66MuTuuO-Jc97I46OLPsrawXt3AxpL_hWk99X5tSaH7VCUp5AIdUo-_TC51ZEnVemUiNqwRK4LyrIW2zSOUtjdQMZv1vdSxU0vQ-DqiM2ejV2ujbDwH-b6rRUeGEhhbO6jYsCNjfsS/s400/Scan+2.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><br />(Click on photos to enlarge; click "escape" to return to text.)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Norbara Octeau claimed that this hearing "was held in accordance with the Administrative Procedures Act, R.I.G.L. 42-35-1 Et. Seq. and the Rules and Regulations of the Department for Children Youth and Families" <i>(sic)</i> (Decision, p. 2).<br />
<br />
With no one to object, Octeau's Decision set forth fifteen pages of errors, hearsay, and speculation as "Facts" that gained a life of their own. For example, Octeau describes the hotline call that opened the investigation "on or about January 2, 2004" (apparently by a nurse practitioner--though Octeau leaves the caller's identity unclear): <br />
<blockquote>
The hotline caller disclosed that the child had been brought to her pediatrician by her mother. . . and while there, the mother had told a nurse practitioner that [her daughter] relayed accounts that the Petitioner came into the child's room at night and exposed himself. (Decision, p. 3) </blockquote>
<br />
When I interviewed the mother in 2006, she said she had never reported this to the nurse practitioner or anyone else. The child was always consistent that her father played his "sausage games" during the day when they were home alone, her mother at work and her sister at school, and that these experiences were very upsetting to the child and sometimes physically painful. <br />
<br />
So it was irrelevant that the father "denied ever having entered his daughter's room at night to masturbate" or that he "explained that the girls share a very small bedroom and that it would have been impossible for him to have encountered [her] while she was asleep while not also waking his older daughter" (Decision, p. 11). <br />
<br />
Octeau's Decision includes warning signs that should have alerted any hearing officer with minimal training in sexual molestation. The father acknowledges to CPI Murphy that he "had been sexually abused by his own father in his native country of Switzerland, and the Petitioner's father had been incarcerated as a result" (p. 3). <br />
<br />
(This, too, is inaccurate. The father acknowledged that he and his brothers had been sexually abused by their father. But their father went to prison for abusing disabled boys who were his psychotherapy patients--not for abusing his sons--which apparently remained a family secret. Their father's prison sentence was reported on June 18, 1981.)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6rEIRn2LE4C616MID4M_SDCNsPqoAxTNdXhrkQl2xfR3odXJo1opeuAxF08N4xJf1I-nocYx65XxBqPJ09-ORuuM_kq5M0f5jRLRNxKuHCFuiakAa-gnL5prsxMxGlcy5DX4HAmzM69Hx/s1600/German+article+andre+8106+C.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="379" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6rEIRn2LE4C616MID4M_SDCNsPqoAxTNdXhrkQl2xfR3odXJo1opeuAxF08N4xJf1I-nocYx65XxBqPJ09-ORuuM_kq5M0f5jRLRNxKuHCFuiakAa-gnL5prsxMxGlcy5DX4HAmzM69Hx/s400/German+article+andre+8106+C.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
In another warning sign that Octeau ignored, CPI Murphy says: <br />
<blockquote>
. . . the child had described events with her father using phrases such as "we took a bath together and washed each other all up", "I was in my room playing and Papa came in naked and played with his sausage", "I told him that is not a toy, stop it" and "juice came out of the sausage". [The child] also told the investigator that [she] had complained that "Papa hurt her back and belly and she yelled for her Mom". (p. 4) </blockquote>
<br />
Octeau wrote that Murphy "described the child's mimicking of the masturbation act as not something she could have performed unless she had actually witnessed it" (p. 10). <br />
<br />
Octeau wrote that the father said he and his daughter "did take a bath together because <i>he</i> wanted to be close to his young daughter" (p. 5, italics added). And that, on the advice of his brother, a lawyer specializing in child sexual abuse, he introduced the concept of "Parental Alienation Syndrome [that] <i>could have</i> accounted for his daughter's disclosure" (p. 14, italics added). <br />
<br />
Molly's father had, at first, suggested that either his brother or their father might have molested Molly. The brother, a survivor, and now, a defense lawyer for those accused of sexually abusing children, came to the U.S. to defend his brother. Together they suggested that their father might have molested Molly. Their next line of defense was to blame Molly's mother. <br />
<br />
Four years earlier, in 2003, the brother had given Molly's father this article describing the theory of "parental alienation" that blames mothers for coaching their children to accuse fathers of sexual abuse: <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwIbm31f_I9ScFncu3BCxVYlijIFfic92UxFgoazgTaZ48_WYUU_4VNmqwjr-qAS9jUcfp-G05ORoRVV7AwE4-eZ3xoiid-d2Wy4HauZ8SC8iFvzB1W2xEULKD19xikML1VnKacLI9MbPD/s1600/Swiss+newspaper+6337-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="353" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwIbm31f_I9ScFncu3BCxVYlijIFfic92UxFgoazgTaZ48_WYUU_4VNmqwjr-qAS9jUcfp-G05ORoRVV7AwE4-eZ3xoiid-d2Wy4HauZ8SC8iFvzB1W2xEULKD19xikML1VnKacLI9MbPD/s400/Swiss+newspaper+6337-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Octeau recognizes the Petitioner is on a campaign to find information in his defense on the Internet. She writes that the two brothers' arguments did not persuade the DCYF investigator, the police, or the pediatrician. But she finds them credible. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5QJrkHA-y3j3gGs3Qfb1t5dzzzS0gN3q3FwrdBHo5kOdVtzM2_2EPrmytLi1GELRwoPO9-nbqWxOHD1-udZsp9etlbyRD3m_-yzzLpmUcpjCmc_5dwp6RSsw10G4su1XKnNlZHB5HDo-n/s1600/Scan+9.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5QJrkHA-y3j3gGs3Qfb1t5dzzzS0gN3q3FwrdBHo5kOdVtzM2_2EPrmytLi1GELRwoPO9-nbqWxOHD1-udZsp9etlbyRD3m_-yzzLpmUcpjCmc_5dwp6RSsw10G4su1XKnNlZHB5HDo-n/s400/Scan+9.jpeg" width="277" /></a></div>
<br />
She focuses on hearsay and speculation that Molly's father presented about his wife and the journals she kept for her children--which the police had examined but did not consider significant. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxyIF8OfNpXMSjjHsBfnvNAn6cRP-hnaIacFVXnA6hZsez4ExksUtCKZdmKPvMARdk2XNQ2uF8MRllpzgnHM6j1HDkbehkTYeJO2x5KpdIRC22M7wyoI83Sz7OsyPiDO_ycL2q01038nTK/s1600/IMG_2530.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxyIF8OfNpXMSjjHsBfnvNAn6cRP-hnaIacFVXnA6hZsez4ExksUtCKZdmKPvMARdk2XNQ2uF8MRllpzgnHM6j1HDkbehkTYeJO2x5KpdIRC22M7wyoI83Sz7OsyPiDO_ycL2q01038nTK/s400/IMG_2530.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Nevertheless, without ever seeing the journals herself, Octeau writes: <br />
<blockquote>
The journals were <i>apparently</i> a record of information meticulously gathered by the mother about the alleged abuse during the time frame of the investigation. (p. 19, italics added) </blockquote>
<br />
The mother had kept journals for each daughter from birth--not to record abuse, but to remind them of good memories. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0QSVE7nBXIlxeUQhN3DT6DanvwmIWA0-Im99f58AYxMBerxhnUCnmfECWv0NAY_71pXI40wDQO7cI0nj85EelRi7oLwASjRtXXbe6dfLgHFNCz85flfOeQOhvRiqoMtDy4MKlReFEDK8U/s1600/6+yr+flowers+cake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0QSVE7nBXIlxeUQhN3DT6DanvwmIWA0-Im99f58AYxMBerxhnUCnmfECWv0NAY_71pXI40wDQO7cI0nj85EelRi7oLwASjRtXXbe6dfLgHFNCz85flfOeQOhvRiqoMtDy4MKlReFEDK8U/s400/6+yr+flowers+cake.jpg" width="364" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Instead of insisting on seeing those journals and questioning the wife directly, which Octeau could have done, the hearing officer merely overturned the investigator's finding and made her own remarkable "finding:"<br />
<blockquote>
This Hearing Officer finds [the mother's] behavior and conduct . . . to be highly unorthodox and rather suspicious given the marital discontent existing at the time. This maternal behavior casts a shadow over the reliability of the child's statements and, therefore, closer scrutiny of the circumstances surrounding the child's disclosure should have been pursued. (p. 20)</blockquote>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqoRYE1UoTgKjCMO3omCYK6tXkv25nAJ1ARnlSenOSvv6OcmKwkZS65NxRAEnGnTbegoYNxO2o0ZRjXhdSDry1fKm35EQEF0GFbzGVpzFRHIIW31WRPY6qTFqthHzNR2RbBNjdcmPlekzn/s1600/Scan+10.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqoRYE1UoTgKjCMO3omCYK6tXkv25nAJ1ARnlSenOSvv6OcmKwkZS65NxRAEnGnTbegoYNxO2o0ZRjXhdSDry1fKm35EQEF0GFbzGVpzFRHIIW31WRPY6qTFqthHzNR2RbBNjdcmPlekzn/s400/Scan+10.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Octeau's Decision offers information that appears ironic in light of the ongoing strategy to vilify Molly's mother. For example, Octeau writes: "CPI Murphy further noted that this multilingual child was hard to converse with because during speech she continually mixed together various languages" (p. 5). <br />
<br />
It is easy to comprehend that a traumatized child without even the terminology to describe upsetting sexual behavior would struggle for words. But this, too, became a basis for DCYF staff later to punish Molly's mother whenever she responded to her children in Swiss-German. By then, the entire Department had fallen into line behind Norbara Octeau and seemed to accept the father's defense strategy that his wife used Swiss-German to "coach" the girls against him. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4yQcgxImIzzgxwPxU7gkRfhQr5SyE3qDILEuoR7CasXmswCL0_zE7Ferg_d9HdiPiHO9FNXbHXof3qRTKi0QovWvyIEb940avuD0wB9TDfOyINL728ZuKxjOEBLPT6RvTw9MEGhZ9VvMV/s1600/Scan+12.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4yQcgxImIzzgxwPxU7gkRfhQr5SyE3qDILEuoR7CasXmswCL0_zE7Ferg_d9HdiPiHO9FNXbHXof3qRTKi0QovWvyIEb940avuD0wB9TDfOyINL728ZuKxjOEBLPT6RvTw9MEGhZ9VvMV/s400/Scan+12.jpeg" width="360" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
Who is Norbara Octeau? I kept googling her name. In April 2007, I found her online article, "Are the Rhode Island Family Courts against Fathers?"--apparently published to attract fathers to hire her as their divorce attorney <http: rhode_island_di_12.html="" www.rhodeislanddivorcetips.com="">. <br />
</http:><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTjz-LXL0VjtejXFu_vhO0wW9CB8dArn3LOHJsxWwe5Woe6glCaZlO-DL327fpGk32gnlEXuRR1e6PO4z10Aq5rssZFNxv6z7GAOntAmB0uyeox_8N5Q1PDbnZ4gkZRPfmSJ349VLwzRMq/s1600/Scan+3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTjz-LXL0VjtejXFu_vhO0wW9CB8dArn3LOHJsxWwe5Woe6glCaZlO-DL327fpGk32gnlEXuRR1e6PO4z10Aq5rssZFNxv6z7GAOntAmB0uyeox_8N5Q1PDbnZ4gkZRPfmSJ349VLwzRMq/s400/Scan+3.jpeg" width="319" /></a></div>
<br />
With not even a pretense of judicial restraint, Octeau sarcastically mocks the “pedestal of holy motherhood.” In another article, she writes that mothers’ “traditional roles . . . elevate their argument to a pedestal which still elicits a knee-jerk reaction to the hallowed image of mother and child.”<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbejCfO6_OYmayn7Lb88S6vLQJkBipxdWTq_IPCinvWUEbkW3iXqxZrroUvbhy3TEnyLF3vAmN9uPvFNAbb56iG38OooL5jdMh2J45oPsRar3_VrHAAteWBsu-UrRwOOxOiH2EjQ_r93Bt/s1600/Scan+5.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbejCfO6_OYmayn7Lb88S6vLQJkBipxdWTq_IPCinvWUEbkW3iXqxZrroUvbhy3TEnyLF3vAmN9uPvFNAbb56iG38OooL5jdMh2J45oPsRar3_VrHAAteWBsu-UrRwOOxOiH2EjQ_r93Bt/s400/Scan+5.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
I sent a copy of her article with a letter to DCYF director Patricia Martinez on April 20, 2007. Nearly five months later, Director Martinez responded. She ignored the question of Octeau's clear bias, offered no evidence of special training, and defended the hearing officer as “a seasoned attorney” who has conducted more than one hundred administrative hearings for the Department.<br />
<br />
According to online state payroll records, attorney Norbara Octeau still works as a hearing officer for DCYF. (The average amount paid to 34 DCYF contractors on December 12th, 2011, was $1,387, but Norbara Octeau received $15,437, by far the largest check of all.) <br />
<br />
In 2007, Kevin Aucoin responded to the Parenting Project's Access to Public Records request: <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5C2KrNGTTrRFzDG5TtyRDQZQ6cdtB-giOa2Fly7IeG0ATit8WOeMehEl_-QxVGJYNTRbJLYaQedstR1zNvVoJ2mVdB3TcWvlZKIURs-ITe10ry3tA6IePS0QOTtQGZbFsphXJVNP3mTdy/s1600/Scan+6.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5C2KrNGTTrRFzDG5TtyRDQZQ6cdtB-giOa2Fly7IeG0ATit8WOeMehEl_-QxVGJYNTRbJLYaQedstR1zNvVoJ2mVdB3TcWvlZKIURs-ITe10ry3tA6IePS0QOTtQGZbFsphXJVNP3mTdy/s400/Scan+6.jpeg" width="322" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8j9WlzTe7H-lg5Mp8wH-s0vadGtpFMp5E3AI8YP7mZ0d8KMZOLmuIT707gf0nbGxI-gEIBKcq-YIPjoigcEFUOFxTVVBfIGmF93AcHIoHDVOKBu331BnHziub2qUDuefr-ilPlQ1RAOMY/s1600/Scan+7.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8j9WlzTe7H-lg5Mp8wH-s0vadGtpFMp5E3AI8YP7mZ0d8KMZOLmuIT707gf0nbGxI-gEIBKcq-YIPjoigcEFUOFxTVVBfIGmF93AcHIoHDVOKBu331BnHziub2qUDuefr-ilPlQ1RAOMY/s400/Scan+7.jpeg" width="270" /></a></div>
<br />
DCYF Administrative Hearing Officer <b>Stephen Morris</b> has not sent any further data from his review of the administrative hearing files. The numbers Aucoin provided do not include findings that were expunged from their records after three years. This rule allowed "Molly's" father to win custody of her in 2007. <br />
<br />
Reporting on this, the Parenting Project noted that DCYF: <br />
<blockquote>
1. fails to track cases of credible sexual molestation;<br />
2. fails to assure that its hearing officers perform their duties in an objective and neutral manner;<br />
3. uses a nationally discredited, unscientific “theory” called “parental alienation syndrome” (PAS) to overturn credible charges of molestation; and<br />
4. works as a team with privately paid contractors (lawyers, assisted by clinicians) who rely on secrecy, delay, and misinformation to win family court custody cases for their clients in ways that harm children. </blockquote>
<br />
The Parenting Project's 2007 "Press Advisory" is posted online here:<br />
http://www.thelizlibrary.org/liz/therapeutic-jurisprudence-in-Rhode-Island.pdf <br />
(Paste this in your browser.)Anne Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00027601171660269956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343475258897154710.post-71268407062409884342012-02-06T09:43:00.001-05:002012-02-06T09:44:59.906-05:00WPRI shows how sex offenders win on appeal<b>Tim White's</b> story at WPRI reveals the way convicted sex offenders are succeeding in getting Special Magistrate <b>Patrick Burke</b> to reduce their status as sex offenders without ever hearing from the victims of their crimes. <br />
<br />
This is exactly what happened in the administrative review process at the Department of Children, Youth and Families when DCYF hearing officer <b>Norbara Octeau</b> overturned the finding against "Molly" and "Sara's" father. (An outline of that case appears at the January 12, 2012, post below, "Eight years ago," with detailed information in prior posts.) <br />
<br />
Tim White's story is here (click on the title above, or paste this in your browser): <br />
http://www.wpri.com/dpp/target_12/target-12-sex-offenders-winning-on-appeal<br />
<br />
I will post additional documents regarding <b>Norbara Octeau </b>and the bias she revealed.Anne Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00027601171660269956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343475258897154710.post-55088712459795755862012-01-24T01:01:00.001-05:002012-02-06T09:51:08.309-05:00Cost to Orange County, CA, of lying social workers: $10.6 Million<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic2pegAn-Dor4xMttG7TgnvDSm5gog004ZHX9nxSJW5t2zloPFRC3skNAfLBbNcltuhihXpwz3wXHVRRzWEmT_8xkvPjJGjmbvEeLxcZOLiMElegc20BWwhcUrR3AMULYqsspU-4nrB6k/s1600/0001ed.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="400" width="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic2pegAn-Dor4xMttG7TgnvDSm5gog004ZHX9nxSJW5t2zloPFRC3skNAfLBbNcltuhihXpwz3wXHVRRzWEmT_8xkvPjJGjmbvEeLxcZOLiMElegc20BWwhcUrR3AMULYqsspU-4nrB6k/s400/0001ed.jpeg" /></a></div><br />
The total cost to Orange County of a case in which a jury found that two social workers lied to take away a woman’s daughters is $10.6 million, according to a new audit.<br />
<br />
The U.S. Supreme Court last year declined to hear the county’s challenge to a 2007 jury award of $4.9 million to the Seal Beach woman, Deanna Fogarty-Hardwick. With interest on that amount plus her attorney fees, the total payout by the county was $9.6 million. In addition, the county incurred another $1 million of its own legal costs in the case.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggbabqjJDX74BdA20PflrZYjtaoCnBSnmsYJZQ0tQABgO_epffwr0rHjU5YoOkrdtCpVJ-xpWn-ylj8FeaUwZaKOI5wSxHI2YjD8JbmZ2zQjSM_GI6cX98m_0OAllsRzJo0VbN0tbSJc0/s1600/deanna-300x195.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="195" width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggbabqjJDX74BdA20PflrZYjtaoCnBSnmsYJZQ0tQABgO_epffwr0rHjU5YoOkrdtCpVJ-xpWn-ylj8FeaUwZaKOI5wSxHI2YjD8JbmZ2zQjSM_GI6cX98m_0OAllsRzJo0VbN0tbSJc0/s400/deanna-300x195.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<blockquote></blockquote>Photo of Deanna Fogarty-Hardwick<br />
<br />
For more on the County's response to this award, go to<br />
http://taxdollars.ocregister.com/2012/01/19/cost-to-county-of-lying-social-workers-10-6-mln/146871/Anne Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00027601171660269956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343475258897154710.post-29205252021678788122012-01-12T12:01:00.014-05:002012-01-13T08:40:48.300-05:00Eight years agoLate in 2003, three-year-old "Molly" angrily complained about her father's "sausage games." What the State of Rhode Island did to Molly and her older sister "Sara" in the years that followed outraged their neighbors, who convened a community meeting and asked the Parenting Project to investigate. By 2009, we set a goal that finally began coming to fruition this week, when Governor Lincoln Chafee's new director of the Department of Children, Youth and Families, Janice DeFrances, confirmed that DCYF is beginning an assessment as its first step toward getting accredited. <br />
<br />
In 2004, DCYF's frontline staff properly helped Molly and Sara by referring them to counselors at Day One.<br />
<br />
When DCYF indicated their father for sexual molestation, his defense attorney appealed. The father first blamed his own father, a psychiatrist and convicted pedophile who had sexually abused his own children. But Molly insisted the offender was her father. <br />
<br />
Next, he blamed his wife for "alienating" the girls against him--which did not explain how Molly could re-enact male masturbation and draw a graphic portrait of her father. <br />
<br />
A year after Molly's complaint, DCYF's legal department flipped the case at an administrative hearing where the father was the plaintiff, and DCYF was the defendant. Since the girls' mother was not a party to this proceeding, DCYF never informed her of it. She was not present when DCYF's administrative hearing officer ruled that the father was credible, while the mother (whom the officer had neither met nor questioned) was not. <br />
<br />
She ruled that the mother's alleged demeanor made Molly's complaint unbelievable. (Over a year later, the hearing officer revealed her own strongly worded bias against mothers on the Internet, where she was seeking men as divorce clients.) <br />
<br />
The father's defense attorney's friend became guardian ad litem, who orchestrated the case at Family Court, searching for clinicians who would blame the mother in order to remove the girls from her and their lifelong home in 2006. DCYF sent the girls to a foster mother who told them their mother had mental problems, which was completely untrue. <br />
<br />
Distraught there, the girls went to their next foster home and then to a state shelter in another city at enormous expense to tax payers. <br />
<br />
The father's defense team needed time--three years until his indication for sexual molestation could be expunged. Finally the Court turned the girls over to their father in another state and limited all contact with their mother. <br />
<br />
The DCYF legal department's fear of lawsuits has led the agency to fail many other children. Family Court gives enormous authority to guardians ad litem who have close ties to defense attorneys and judges. The Court's confidence in unreliable psychiatric "evaluations" and its use of gag orders to intimidate protective parents has vastly increased the damage, so that the truth is rarely found within this costly system. <br />
<br />
As DCYF begins its process toward accreditation, the General Assembly and Family Court are grappling with entrenched problems throughout Rhode Island's child-protective system. <br />
<br />
For more about this, paste this link in your browser:<br />
http://custodyscam.blogspot.com/2012/01/praising-architects-of-change.html<br />
<br />
While we honor the leaders who are working on these issues, we also must praise the three-year-old who would not be quiet about the behavior that made her feel so angry and frightened.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiME4oz2U0iHpuFLjlfgsnkJKO3tjpSFyZBgxFRubY6ZUc_c9-AjjojCwuApfJv9qSgnLV4c66yHsoFbIZ1LX1GReQwaTd7UWW4u2AlC4XmMNRrfKmi_ZAA1PmkCoPYw64aImnSfTaXADpR/s1600/A.+sausage+m+040817.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="400" width="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiME4oz2U0iHpuFLjlfgsnkJKO3tjpSFyZBgxFRubY6ZUc_c9-AjjojCwuApfJv9qSgnLV4c66yHsoFbIZ1LX1GReQwaTd7UWW4u2AlC4XmMNRrfKmi_ZAA1PmkCoPYw64aImnSfTaXADpR/s400/A.+sausage+m+040817.jpg" /></a></div>Anne Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00027601171660269956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343475258897154710.post-35468470027679742011-12-13T08:35:00.000-05:002011-12-13T08:35:27.913-05:00Rhode Island needs the Attorney General’s Child Abuse Unit"Molly" and "Sara" were harmed by Family Court, DCYF, and Hasbro Hospital's Child Protection Program, as well as their father, his legal team, and the court's clinicians. The sisters needed the kind of protection promised by the Attorney General's Child Abuse Unit. <br />
<br />
Click on the title above or paste this in your browser: <br />
<br />
http://custodyscam.blogspot.com/2011/12/rhode-island-needs-attorney-generals.htmlAnne Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00027601171660269956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343475258897154710.post-3445306796823679652011-05-27T09:42:00.001-04:002011-05-31T11:06:07.341-04:00Happy Birthday, Mami!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL5utOyxb5cJhUdIEigp2MKtY9eZub8zVmi5YSoFF9uif6eet7zsU63ttbQNTa9dKvF69hbdCxmCICmjspgYVumk3rv0hhoDFWitsGuikFCyN_n-IFfxZJC2hl0ZQwJlnUCP0QwDsAH_Us/s1600/0003wv.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="400" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL5utOyxb5cJhUdIEigp2MKtY9eZub8zVmi5YSoFF9uif6eet7zsU63ttbQNTa9dKvF69hbdCxmCICmjspgYVumk3rv0hhoDFWitsGuikFCyN_n-IFfxZJC2hl0ZQwJlnUCP0QwDsAH_Us/s400/0003wv.jpeg" /></a></div><br />
Today is the 54th birthday of "Molly" and "Sarah's" beloved Mami (which is pronounced the same as Mommy). Although I am not in touch with her, I hope this blog will assure their mother that we will never forget or stop writing about what this country and state did to her and her children. <br />
<br />
Today, I want to show a page from the picture book <i>Spontaneous!</i> that includes an entry from Mami's journal and photos of the cakes she made to celebrate her daughters' birthdays. (You can enlarge the page by clicking once on it.) <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD6GfeXKwTTnngtxLI8dYVr4GQCMnHrinSkAjgZaKyl45iio24OlzjW39qf10W4fk3YQrOrl7QtSvHQNAx8dGL4SVMlufHGxLpu0OJDpAXQsS7r0IZI8OXBVbtfBcxE2Ewi9fzx4o6peKk/s1600/0015jM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="400" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD6GfeXKwTTnngtxLI8dYVr4GQCMnHrinSkAjgZaKyl45iio24OlzjW39qf10W4fk3YQrOrl7QtSvHQNAx8dGL4SVMlufHGxLpu0OJDpAXQsS7r0IZI8OXBVbtfBcxE2Ewi9fzx4o6peKk/s400/0015jM.jpeg" /></a></div><br />
Lise Iwon has been for many years a close friend of Lise Gescheidt, who was hired by the girls' father to be his criminal defense lawyer--if only Attorney General Patrick Lynch had been doing his job when three-year-old Molly angrily protested her father's "sausage games" in 2003.<br />
<br />
The two lawyer friends had no qualms about Iwon serving as Guardian ad litem (GAL) on the case, gouging the boundaries of a role that is supposed to remain neutral. Iwon made direct contact with numerous clinicians and many others, including the Child Advocate. Iwon made no secret of her valued role on the father's defense "team." (Iwon is now president of the Rhode Island Bar Association, and Gescheidt chairs the Rhode Island Supreme Court's Ethics Advisory Panel.) <br />
<br />
At one point, Iwon and other women lawyers publicly honored Judge Haiganush Bedrosian with an award as a "role model for women," knowing that she was expected to take over this case if Judge John Mutter recused. (Judge Bedrosian is now Chief Judge of Family Court.) <br />
<br />
Iwon oversaw the girls' removal from their mother, home and schools more than five years ago. They were forced to live in foster care and a state shelter and forbidden to communicate with their mother. <br />
<br />
I do not know where their mother is today, but I know she is profoundly bereaved. I want to honor her on her birthday by telling her daughters what she often told me before Judge Mutter imposed a gag order on her over three years ago. <br />
<br />
She said how amazed she was to hear people complain about their children, because her children were always her greatest joy, and they never gave her any problem at all.Anne Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00027601171660269956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343475258897154710.post-13219567662622252522011-04-07T09:42:00.003-04:002011-04-23T22:31:24.139-04:00Five years ago todayOn April 7, 2006, Lise Iwon succeeded in removing "Molly" and "Sara" from their mother and life-long home. <br />
<br />
The following year, Family Court Judge John Mutter imposed a gag order, threatening further harm to the children if their mother spoke about them or mentioned anything about this custody case-- including its criminal aspects. Consequently, their mother is unable to communicate with me, and I do not know if she and the children are even able to have court-ordered visits. <br />
<br />
To date, no one in law enforcement or in the legal community has held anyone accountable for what was done to these children.<br />
<br />
Here are two articles that tell part of the history of how that happened:<br />
<br />
<i>www.opednews.com/articles/How-lawyers-manipulate-doc-by-Anne-Grant-110327-242.html<br />
<br />
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Dr-Gardner-s-ghost-still-by-Anne-Grant-101219-843.html<br />
<br />
</i><br />
<br />
More is written about the case in this blog and elsewhere.Anne Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00027601171660269956noreply@blogger.com