Over the years, hundreds of women have contacted National Organization for Women chapters looking for assistance in their efforts to protect minor children in family court custody proceedings. Often these women have been accused of a phony psychiatric condition, termed Parental Alienation Disorder (PAD). The “disorder” has been proposed by so-called father’s rights (men’s custody) activists to be added to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostics and Statistics Manual – V to give it more legitimacy than it currently has — or should have — in court.
This accusation is made by abusive ex-husbands and is intended to cause the courts to disregard mothers’ claims of fathers’ physical or sexual abuse in an effort to gain the fathers’ full or joint custody. NOW Foundation is concerned that because of the alienation accusation known batterers and child abusers have been awarded custody; the numbers of cases involving dads in custody disputes abusing and murdering children is appalling. (See link below)
The notion of a parental alienation in custody disputes was advanced by the late Dr. Richard Gardner who committed suicide in 2003. The alienation accusation has been embraced by men’s custody activists as an effective weapon to undermine mothers’ bid for legal custody of minor children. Many advocates on behalf of mothers believe that batterers, child abusers and pedophiles populate these men’s custody networks. There have been numerous instances of documented batterers and child abusers being awarded custody by biased family court judges.
NOW Foundation has sent a letter recently to the American Psychiatric Association noting that publications by the American Bar Association and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges have concluded proposed “alienation disorder” is inadmissible in court and has been discredited by the scientific community. Accordingly, family court judges, lawyers and other court personnel should take action against the use of the alienation accusation in cases before them. Read NOW Foundation’s letter (PDF) and for more information on family court issues, go to the family law website.
More information on fathers and ex-partners involved in child custody or child support matters who have killed children, murdered mothers and/or committed suicide, please visit this website.
From the NOW Foundation
The next Supreme Court nominee should be a woman. Agree or disagree?
Agreed! And not just any woman — we need a justice who understands that women’s rights are human rights, and that our fundamental freedoms cannot legitimately be taken away by any legislature. While both men and women should have equal respect, women and men do not have the same bodies. We are different genders that need to be represented as such while respecting our human rights to be free to make our own decisions, live without a guardian, and more.
Out of 111 Supreme Court justices in history, only three have been women. Today, only two of the nine Supreme Court justices are women! In fact, women make up less than one-quarter of federal and well under one-third of state-level judgeships — despite the fact that nationally, women make up 48 percent of law school graduates.
At 17 percent of Congress, less than 20 percent of state governorships, and two out of nine Supreme Court justices, women are nowhere near to equal representation. How long will it take for women to see themselves represented in equitable proportion on our nation’s highest court?
We need equal for all women everywhere - in Congress, state governorships and legislatures and on the Supreme Court — where we belong. What we really need is to have government fully be equal by having one male and one female senator from each state and each district should have one man and one women as a representative. Only then can women have any chance of having their rights both represented and protected.
President Obama has advocated for women to have reservation in India so that women’s rights can be represented in Parliament there. What about representation for women here in the United States? Only two women on the Supreme Court does not represent that about half of the population of the United States are women. Contact President Obama and tell him that the United States has both men and women, and women need to be represented as such in judicial, legislative and executive positions.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
Watch the Dr. Phil Show this Wednesday, April 14th, 2010, for some history-making television!
The Dr. Phil Show worked with Kathleen Russell on behalf of the Center for Judicial Excellence to develop a compelling show that exposes the systemic breakdown of our nation’s family courts. The tragic story of a young mother named Katie Tagle sets the stage for a deeper conversation about the divorce courts’ routine failures to protect children. Kathleen Russell and Marin family law attorney Barbara Kauffman appear as experts in the 2nd half of the show.
Click here to find your local Dr. Phil station & airtimes.
The taping of this show represents an amazing turn of events in the media’s coverage of this growing national crisis. Don’t miss it!
Bizarre quote from abuse denier Richard Gardner
Parental Alienation Awareness Day represents the epitome of disease mongering and propaganda. Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) is the faux mental illness created by abuse denier and pedophile sympathizer Richard Gardner. The promoters of Parental Alienation Awareness Day might as well be promoting “Family Sex Day” as the pedophile communities love this fake mental illness for pathologizing and criminalizing anyone who dares to protect a child from any type of abuse. Claiming a child has Parental Alienation patholizes children for disclosing abuse implying that the victim is a mentally ill and/or a liar. The sexual abusers benefit the most as sexual abuse is so difficult to prove as there is frequently no physical evidence and it is embarrassing for the victims to disclose. The Australian Shared Parenting Debate has published an article listing known pedophile organizations who support Parental Alienation theories:
- Reform Sex Offender Laws Campaign
- Alt.support.boy-lovers
- BoyChat
- IPCE
- NAMBLA
- SOhopeful International
From Australian Shared Parenting Law Debate – Thursday, April 8, 2010
Parent Alienation Awareness Day
If a group of pedophiles and abusers named their cause, “Abusers Awareness Day,” no one would help champion their goals.
There needs to be a little bit of propaganda to blanket their true goals.
Richard Gardner gave them that blanket by promoting ideas that society should punish those to speak against abuse as, “sick” and “requiring therapy”. He coined the term, “Parental Alienation Syndrome”. Appalled by the pro-pedophile material that was circulated on a large scale, researchers on child abuse and family violence worked even harder to debunk this content and for many years it has been frequently rejected by the American Psychology Association as a Syndrome. Regardless of the theory being discredited, it has still been used on court cases all over the world including a case where it was a defense for a brutal murder of a mother. Some backyard psychologists have even held workshops about, “Maternal Gate-keeping” and others have promoted theories such as, “Malicious Mother Syndrome.”
Whilst in most debates, we all amicably prefer to keep things gender neutral apart from where one gender is being targeted in a way no different to the apartheid in Africa, the slavery towards African Americans and of course the stolen generation of aboriginal children. Whilst the use of parental alienation syndrome appears to be one of those gender neutral terms, the literature and statistics of court cases where the reversal of custody cases involving abuse allegations suggests that the number one target is the mother. Enmeshed with child abuse cases are often intimate partner terrorism, mostly perpetrated by fathers and a deep lack of community support towards mothers who try against many odds to protect their children from further abuse and exposure to violence. The superficial surface of parent alienation suggests that their goal is to stop “false accusers” despite statistics stating over and over again that false accusers are a minority of cases and in fact most of the false allegations are use by fathers. Empirical research has defined this as part of a series of behaviors that follow the intervention of a intimate partner terrorism relationship. This is where the real problem lies, with little support thanks to the erosion of domestic violence and child protection services, mothers experiencing false accusations towards them have drifted unknowingly towards the movement that is solely there to continue these abuses against her and the children.
Supporters of this theory have even gone as far as promoting it as a form of child abuse and sadly many court cases involving child abuse and intimate partner terrorism with evidence are treated as alienation resulting with the child being transferred to the abuser. The influence of this theory has been so great that other aspects of the system where the perpetrator could be convicted are thwarted.
Whilst Parental Alienation attracts pedophile lobbyists, batterers and abusers, they also attract mistaken victims. These victims are in turn used to become the front of the organisations eliminating the promotion of any true need for children and victims of violence and appear as though they are gender inclusive. The laws, case statistics and culture of the courts are a true reflection of the backyard psych therapists and abuse excuser’s causes. Some organisations are obvious in their agenda, whilst others confuse the situation.
Given the clusters of abusers that are attracted to the cause, it is important to encourage police abuse units to investigate the members of these groups as they do with pedophile rings. This could help stop abuse occurring. Other things that can be done is reporting professionals who use the theory as a form of diagnosis to psychologist registers, law bars and social worker accreditation organisations. The use of junk science destroys the credibility of professionals who do not practice backyard therapies and such reports are welcomed to peak bodies. By alerting other parents of the dangers of these organisations, parents can then become aware of the potential risks they could expose the children to by engaging with potential abusers activities and prevent abuse from occurring.
Here is a list of links from confirmed pedophile organisations that promote Parent Alienation:
I love my mommy
The worst case scenario has been perpetrated on Cherish Lewis and her daughter with the 5 year girl taken away from her mother to be given to the father. As previously reported in Judge Frederick W. Crow III and King Solomon’s Sword, Judge Crow ordered protective mother Cherish to bring her child to court on March 30th, 2010. With no prior order or motion before him, and without notice to the mother as to why she was called to court, the judge handed over the 5-year-old child to the father’s mother, who, after a week, will hand her off to the father down in Florida. The substantiated child sexual abuse evidence naming the father as the alleged abuser has never been heard. Reportedly, when the judge was told that he needed to hear this evidence he said “I don’t care.”
Researching other decisions by this same judge shows that he doesn’t want to hear from witnesses, he is soft on drug offenses even when there is a DUI arrest from a fatal crash, he does not care for the battered woman defense, permits gambling even when it’s likely illegal, and it seems that he also has no problem not permitting evidence of sexual abuse to interfere with giving custody to the alleged perpetrator.
For further information on this case, please see Cherish Our Children
A growing list of Victims Rights Attorneys, Activists, Organizations from around the country and throughout Ohio are providing their support and expertise: Cynthia Cheatham, Staci Dietrich, Wendy Murphy, Robin Sax, Action Ohio, Biker’s Against Child Abuse, Helpline of Delaware and Morrow Counties, National Organization for Women, PAVE Survivor Justice, The Justice League of Ohio, Kourts for Kids…and many individuals.
If you are outraged over this send your comments to those who are responsible:
Judge Frederick W. Crow, III
100 E. Second St. Pomeroy, OH 45769 P: 740-992-6439
Marty V. Donini, Sheriff
Scioto County Sheriff’s Office 1025 Sixteenth Street
Portsmouth, Ohio 45662
740-355-8245
Jane Castor, Tampa PD Chief of Police
One Police Center, 411 N. Franklin St. Tampa, FL 33602 P: 813-276-3200
Frank McCoy, Oceanside PD Chief of Police
3855 Mission Avenue Oceanside, CA 92054 P: 760-435-4450
No one would disagree that judges, by law, should put children’s best interests and safety foremost when they make decisions regarding care and custody. So why would a judge not care that an Ohio County Public Children Services Agency substantiated child sexual abuse? Why would any judge order a child into the care and custody of his or her alleged abuser? And why would a judge punish a protective father or mother by throwing him/her in jail, depriving the child of a safe and loving parent?
On July 24, 2009 Judge Frederick W. Crow III of the Scioto County Court of Common Pleas in Ohio denied Cherish Lewis’ request for a continuance of that day’s hearing, a continuance she desperately needed. Several days before the hearing, Cherish fired her attorney upon learning he had represented the child’s father, the alleged abuser, in a case of “sexual abuse allegations involving a minor child“. [see the March 11, 2010 Opinion] Judge Crow ignored Cherish Lewis’ plea to hear witness testimony and review the evidence and report from Scioto County Children’s Services substantiating her child was sexually abused and naming the father as the alleged perpetrator. When Cherish refused to give her daughter into the father’s care that day, Judge Crow ordered her to the Scioto County Jail. While Cherish’s appeal was pending, her two young children were deprived of their mother for over eight and a half months.
On March 11, 2010, the Ohio Fourth District Court of Appeals overturned Judge Crow’s decision, stating that Judge Crow “abused his discretion” when he denied Cherish Lewis’ reasonable request for a continuance and that there was “considerable prejudice done to Lewis.” The Court of Appeals ordered her immediate release from the Scioto County Jail. Cherish is free and her 5-year-old daughter is safe…but for how long?
In its March 11, 2010 Opinion, The Fourth District Court of Appeals remanded this case back to Judge Crow’s court for further proceedings “consistent with this opinion.” Judge Crow has now demanded, on penalty of contempt, that Cherish appear with her daughter at 11 am on Tuesday, March 30th for a status conference. Based on Judge Crow’s prior abuse of discretion and the case history, we have little reason to hope that he will protect this child or act in her best interest on Tuesday. On April 10, 2009 the Fourth District Court of Appeals overturned Judge Crow’s order granting the father custody, stating Judge Crow had abused his discretion in determining the best interest of the child. Will this child’s best interest be honored on Tuesday?
We fear that this “status conference” is Judge Crow’s next chance to wield King Solomon’s Sword: either the child goes with the person she named in a substantiated child sexual abuse report or her mother goes to the Scioto County Jail AGAIN. This time Cherish may not be able to successfully appeal the order and will be held in jail until she produces her daughter to the father, or in perpetuity. If she ran with her child she would not be able to continue the fight for Justice so she and her children can one day live a normal, happy life, free of abuse or on the run. Now she has attorneys who will present all of the evidence. Will Judge Crow let them?
If you were Cherish Lewis, what would you do? And if you were that little girl, what would you be hoping for with all your heart?
There is a simple, rational solution. The mother needs to be able to show up with her daughter as ordered by the court with faith in the system. Faith that Judge Crow will act in the best interest of the child and suspend visitation with the father until ALL evidence and witness testimony of neglect, physical, sexual abuse, as well as prior substance abuse issues of the father have been heard before making a decision to place this child with him and putting her at risk of abused for a third time. This father has a history. The ONLY thing this mother has ever done is try to protect her child.
Eileen King 202.462.4688
Catherine Harper Lee, The Justice League of Ohio
614.598.1964 or 614.848.8500
Justice For Children – DC 1875 Connecticut Ave NW Ste 710 Washington, DC 20009 202-462-4688 voice ~ 815-301-5516 fax ~ http://www.justiceforchildren.org/