31.1.10

Court Watch Works: Family Court Judge Follows the Law When Observers Are There

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Thank you Justice4Mothers!!

 

January 31, 2010

Court Watch Works: Family Court Judge Follows the Law When Observers Are There

Filed under: Best interest of the child, Child Custody, Child Custody Battle, Child Custody Issues, Child custody for fathers, Children's rights, Claudine Dombrowski, Corrupt bastards, Court Watch, Domestic Abuse, Domestic Violence, Family Court Reform, Family Courts, Family Rights, Fathers Rights, Guardian Ad Litem, Hal Richardson, Jason P. Hoffman, Jill Dykes, Judge David Debenham, Kansas, Legal abuse, Non-custodial Mothers, Noncustodial Mothers, Parental Alienation Disorder, Parental Alienation Disorders, Parental Alienation Syndrome, Shawnee County, Topeka, parental alienation — justice4mothers @ 1:04 pm

Dear Claudine Dombrowski was in another hearing this past week on January 28th.  She sought to be able to have a normal relationship with her child after being denied it for 10 years.  I was there as were other court watchers, and I will tell you that nothing makes a court behave more than having a front row full of people taking notes furiously through a hearing.  After years of having her rights being walked all over by Kansas courts, she finally got some justice.

Claudine is part of the lawsuit against the United States with the Inter American Commission on Human Rights, ten mothers and one adult child survivor of the process.  The case claims that U.S. courts, by frequently awarding child custody to abusers and child molesters, has failed to protect the life, liberties, security and other human rights of abused mothers and their children.  She had been brutally abused by the father of their child, yet he received full custody and she has had supervised visitation for the past six years.  Visitation she could not afford because the father disabled her to a point she cannot work anymore (100% disabled, and now us taxpayers take care of her on subsistence-only monies).  The court and the court whores were able to completely overrun her rights with no witnesses there.  This time there were folks there for her, and Judge David Debenham (Division 13, Shawnee County) had to follow the law.

The witnesses heard such things in court as “First Amendment Rights” and “Constitutional Right” that had never been said before…and this from the judge.  I focused on what was happening at the opposing table while the hearing was going on.

Opposing attorney Jason P. Hoffman seemed hyper-focused on blaming Claudine for expressing her views on various blogs.  Eventually the judge stopped this and said she had a “First Amendment Right” to express her views out there on the internet, as long as it didn’t involve her child’s image and name.  Guardian ad Litem Jill Dykes rolled her eyes frequently during the hearing, including when Hoffman asked Claudine if she had degraded dad to the child, and Claudine answered no.  I wonder if she ever wondered about dad’s own actions.  I don’t think so.  Dykes smirked during discussion of the tribute video made after her mother’s death.  This wasn’t the only display from the opposing table though.  Hoffman snorted when Claudine was asked if there were problems during a visitation if the child could contact anyone, and she answered yes.  The father hung his head and placed hand over his eyes when testimony was given that the father had not provided child for supervised visitation on previous attempts by Claudine to see the child.

As a final act, Jill Dykes tried to have a document admitted that was written by their visitation supervisor, and the court refused to accept it since it was hearsay evidence.  Normally, Claudine reported that the court would take everything before this hearing, so I suppose Jill Dykes expected it would be business as usual when she brought this “letter” to court.  Surely she would know she could not legally admit it.  But then a court full of watchers prevented that.

During the closing arguments, opposing attorney Jason P. Hoffman spewed those infamous words “parental alienation at it’s worst.”  Apparently he is not aware that the National Association of Juvenile and Family Court Judges have warned judges not to accept claims of “parental alienation” because of it’s use by abusers to keep children from their victims, just as this father had kept the child away from Claudine for years.  This is what they say about it:

2009: A Judicial Guide to Child Safety in Custody Cases
National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges Family Violence Department

Page 12:

C. [§3.3] A Word of Caution about Parental Alienation34

Under relevant evidentiary standards, the court should not accept testimony regarding parental alienation syndrome, or “PAS.” The theory positing the existence of PAS has been discredited by the scientific community.35 In Kumho Tire v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137 (1999), the Supreme Court ruled that even expert testimony based in the “soft sciences” must meet the standard set in the Daubert case.36 Daubert, in which the court re-examined the standard it had earlier articulated in the Frye37 case, requires application of a multi-factor test, including peer review, publication, testability, rate of error, and general acceptance. PAS does not pass this test. Any testimony that a party to a custody case suffers from the syndrome or “parental alienation” should therefore be ruled inadmissible and stricken from the evaluation report under both the standard established in Daubert and the earlier Frye standard.38

The discredited “diagnosis” of PAS (or an allegation of “parental alienation”), quite apart from its scientific invalidity, inappropriately asks the court to assume that the child’s behaviors and attitudes toward the parent who claims to be “alienated” have no grounding in reality. It also diverts attention away from the behaviors of the abusive parent, who may have directly influenced the child’s responses by acting in violent, disrespectful, intimidating, humiliating, or discrediting ways toward the child or the other parent. The task for the court is to distinguish between situations in which the child is critical of one parent because they have been inappropriately manipulated by the other (taking care not to rely solely on subtle indications) , and situations in which the child has his or her own legitimate grounds for criticism or fear of a parent, which will likely be the case when that parent has perpetrated domestic violence. Those grounds do not become less legitimate because the abused parent shares them, and seeks to advocate for the child by voicing his or her concerns.

Congratulations to this mother and child, as they begin their first unmonitored visit in six years, being given two precious hours to spend together.  The visit began just a couple minutes ago, and my thoughts are with them.  The court needed to build up to full visitation, since access has been denied so long.  Court will reconvene in a month to expand the visitation.


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    Kansas Committee to hear testimony on Domestic Violence Bill (CJ-Online)

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    http://cjonline.com/news/local/2010-01-30/committee_to_hear_testimony

     

     


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    BY THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

    January 30, 2010 - 4:08pm

    Members of the House Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice will hear testimony Monday about proposed legislation that will assist the criminal justice system in documenting crimes associated with domestic violence.

    Curt and Christie Brungardt, who created Jana's Campaign to Stop Domestic Violence after their daughter, Jana Mackey, was slain in 2008 by her ex-boyfriend, will speak in support of the proposed legislation.

    House Bill 2517 requires a domestic violence tag be placed on all legal documents associated with a criminal act that is based on a domestic relationship. The tag is important because offenders often repeat their crimes, Curt Brungardt said in a news release. If passed, the legislation will encourage sanctions to be put in place before violence escalates.

    Also testifying at the hearing include representatives from the Attorney General's office, the Governor's Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board, Department of Corrections, law enforcement and the Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence.

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    KS: Start early to stop domestic violence

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    http://www.kansas.com/opinion/editorials/story/1158068.html

    Start early to stop domestic violence

    Comments (8)

    Recommend (0)

    Domestic violence doesn't always happen at home. Sometimes it starts at school, where teen relationships grow and can go wrong.

    That makes schools an excellent staging area for the fight against dating violence in the short term and domestic violence in the long term.

    So it's good to see Start Strong Wichita, a four-year project of Catholic Charities of Wichita, working with USD 259, the Wichita Area Sexual Assault Center and Wichita State University to arm local teens with information about the risks and consequences of dating violence and their power and responsibility to prevent it.

    The effort, part of an 11-city national campaign fueled by $18 million from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, kicked off locally in October and will continue with an art exhibit of works by Wichita youths from 6 to 10 p.m. tonight at Hewitt's Antiques, 228 N. Market, as part of the popular Final Friday art crawl. More student-driven activities are planned throughout February, which is Teen Dating Violence Prevention Month, including theatrical events dealing with the dangers of teen dating violence, "sexting," cyberstalking and sexual assault.

    The point isn't just to educate the potential perpetrators and targets of dating violence but also to empower bystanders to help stop and prevent it. The Start Strong Wichita organizers also aim to extend the message to school curriculum.

    Adults in school and parents at home also need to be part of the solution, by modeling healthy relationships.

    "We can't ask teens to do something they don't see," Nancy Carroll, violence prevention coordinator with Catholic Charities Harbor House, told The Eagle editorial board.

    The program's stakes are high and rising: Wichita has accounted for almost 22 percent of reported sexual assaults in the state; nearly 50 percent of those have involved victims younger than 19. And Kansas' death toll from domestic violence saw an awful spike last year: At least 35 adults and 13 children lost their lives, up from 33 total domestic-violence-related murders in 2008 and 23 in 2007.

    If Start Strong Wichita succeeds in building healthy teen relationships at school, its impact on lives and families will linger long after graduation day and build a healthier community.

    — For the editorial board, Rhonda Holman

    Read more: http://www.kansas.com/opinion/editorials/story/1158068.html#ixzz0eCX3wKq8

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    KS: Start early to stop domestic violence

    ·

    http://www.kansas.com/opinion/editorials/story/1158068.html

    Start early to stop domestic violence

    Comments (8)

    Recommend (0)

    Domestic violence doesn't always happen at home. Sometimes it starts at school, where teen relationships grow and can go wrong.

    That makes schools an excellent staging area for the fight against dating violence in the short term and domestic violence in the long term.

    So it's good to see Start Strong Wichita, a four-year project of Catholic Charities of Wichita, working with USD 259, the Wichita Area Sexual Assault Center and Wichita State University to arm local teens with information about the risks and consequences of dating violence and their power and responsibility to prevent it.

    The effort, part of an 11-city national campaign fueled by $18 million from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, kicked off locally in October and will continue with an art exhibit of works by Wichita youths from 6 to 10 p.m. tonight at Hewitt's Antiques, 228 N. Market, as part of the popular Final Friday art crawl. More student-driven activities are planned throughout February, which is Teen Dating Violence Prevention Month, including theatrical events dealing with the dangers of teen dating violence, "sexting," cyberstalking and sexual assault.

    The point isn't just to educate the potential perpetrators and targets of dating violence but also to empower bystanders to help stop and prevent it. The Start Strong Wichita organizers also aim to extend the message to school curriculum.

    Adults in school and parents at home also need to be part of the solution, by modeling healthy relationships.

    "We can't ask teens to do something they don't see," Nancy Carroll, violence prevention coordinator with Catholic Charities Harbor House, told The Eagle editorial board.

    The program's stakes are high and rising: Wichita has accounted for almost 22 percent of reported sexual assaults in the state; nearly 50 percent of those have involved victims younger than 19. And Kansas' death toll from domestic violence saw an awful spike last year: At least 35 adults and 13 children lost their lives, up from 33 total domestic-violence-related murders in 2008 and 23 in 2007.

    If Start Strong Wichita succeeds in building healthy teen relationships at school, its impact on lives and families will linger long after graduation day and build a healthier community.

    — For the editorial board, Rhonda Holman

    Read more: http://www.kansas.com/opinion/editorials/story/1158068.html#ixzz0eCX3wKq8

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    Kansas Domestic Violence Rally Aims to Save Lives

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    Note: Cross posted from [wp dreamzfree] BatteredMothers How Do you want to die.

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    http://www.saljournal.com/news/story/Domestic-Violence-Rally-1-31

    Jason Hewitt and Vera Johnson speak on stage at the Salina Heights Christian Church on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2010 during a domestic violence awareness rally. Johnson is the co-chairwoman of the Saline County domestic violence task force; and Jason Hewitt is one of the first people to complete a new batterer's intervention course offered in Salina. (photo by Jeff Cooper/ Salina Journal) | Buy Journal Photos

     

    Rally aims to save lives

    1/31/2010

    By GARY DEMUTH

    Salina Journal

    Jason Hewitt didn't think he'd be accepted at a domestic violence awareness rally. In fact, he was afraid people there would want to lynch him.

    As a former batterer, he thought the audience would be full of "the kind of people that hate people like me."

    But the Salina man said it was important to share his story with others.

    "I have been a perpetrator of violence all my life -- because of drugs, or because I couldn't get my way," he said. "It was a big step for me to know I could change. I believe there is hope to stop violence. There's no reason for it."

    Hewitt was a guest speaker Saturday at Resolve 2010, a rally designed to spread awareness of domestic violence and bring about change, at Salina Heights Christian Church, 801 E. Cloud.

    The event was organized by Salinans Michael and Jean Mason. Michael Mason's grandfather, Charles R. Losey, was shot to death Oct. 8 at the Ramada Hotel and Convention Center along with his co-worker Rosa Gomez.

    They were killed by Gomez' estranged ex-husband Mario Chavez, who court records showed had a history of domestic abuse and had been arrested three times in 2008 for violating a protective order issued to Gomez.

    This violent tragedy motivated the Masons to organize the rally as a way to create a positive solution out of a sad situation.

    "You can't save everyone, but you can save someone," he said. "That's what we're about."

    In addition to Hewitt, guest speakers included Claudette Almaraz, sexual assault victims advocate for the Domestic Violence Association of Central Kansas; Janell Zimmerman, an officer with the Salina Police Department; and Vera Johnson, co-chairwoman of the Saline County domestic violence task force.

    Johnson also is the facilitator of a domestic batterer's intervention course offered in Salina, of which Hewitt was one of the first graduates.

    While helping the victims of domestic violence is vitally important, Johnson said, it also is important to help batterers take responsibility for their actions and realize the destructiveness of their ways.

    "Often there are children involved in domestic violence situations, so we want to make batterers accountable and try to help make them productive citizens in our community," Johnson said. "We want to restore families if possible, but if the victim wants to move out of the relationship, we support that too, and hope the batterer can move on and move out of that situation."

    Hewitt, who spent two-and-a-half years in prison on a drug conviction, said he feels blessed his wife was there for him when he was released just over a year ago.

    The couple have five children.

    "It was a spiritual awakening I had," he said. "I'm not perfect, but it was nothing compared to what it used to get to. I believe there's hope for everyone."

    While Hewitt is a success story, Johnson said, domestic violence doesn't always have a happy ending -- as was the case with Losey and Gomez.

    Johnson, who said she was a 12 year victim of domestic abuse, lauded the Masons for creating awareness of the issue in the midst of a family tragedy.

    "Standing here in honor of Michael's grandfather is an honor for me," Johnson said. "What could have been made them angry and bitter they've used for productive anger and change."

    Zimmerman recited the legal definition of domestic abuse: assault, battery, destruction of property or any other crime between associated individuals or formerly associated individuals, used as a method of coercion, control, revenge or punishment.

    This usually involves spouses, a man and woman in an intimate or formerly intimate relationship, or family members that might include parents, children or stepchildren, she said.

    While that may be the legal definition, Zimmerman said domestic violence involves more than just spouses or family members -- it can and should involve the entire community.

    "We get a lot of third party calls from people who hear a scream or someone being slammed against a wall," she said. "We rely on neighbors and citizens' intervention. That's where we get our most valuable information."

    Almaraz said domestic abuse is a much larger issue than many people realize.

    "Every day women walk to our door, broken and battered from years of abuse," she said. "Sometimes we see the worst human beings have to offer. They don't have to keep living with someone who says 'I love you' and in the next breath strikes them down.

    "People are dying because of domestic violence, and we can stop that."

    The rally ended with the lighting of memorial candles in remembrance of the 48 victims who died as a result of domestic violence in Saline County in 2009, according to preliminary statistics by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

    Of these, Michael Mason said, 34 were adults and 14 were children.

    "That's just one year in Saline County alone," he said. "Until you have something happen to you that opens your eyes, you don't realize how bad it is."

    nReporter Gary Demuth can be reached at 822-1405 or by e-mail at gdemuth@salina.com.

    Join the Discussion:
    Salina.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here. Read our full online terms of service policy.

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    Who’s Your Daddy? Er, your Mommy? er. . . . Let the Courts Order…

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    Note: Cross posted from [wp angelfury] Battered Mothers Rights - A Human Rights Issue.

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    Let'sGetHonestBlog

    Not a Private Matter – Why "Family" "Law" System Hurts Us All

     

    This NYT article from Dec. 13th is overdue for posting.  A story of how important motherhood really IS and what lengths a mother (whether financial,  or surrogate — neither with any biological relationship) will go to protect their own.

    Sounds like, here, both the people who PAID for the babies (they were twins) and the surrogate mother (no biological relationship) were happily married.  And it would seem in both cases, employed…Surrogacy is a job…

    Anyway, I presented some “teaser” information.  Check out the article (multiple links and graphics), and just ask yourself, what are the responsible fatherhood folk going to do with THIS one?

    Building a Baby, With Few Ground Rules

    Uncertain Laws on Surrogacy Can Leave Custody at Issue.

    Unable to have a baby of her own, Amy Kehoe became her own general contractor to manufacture one.

    For Ms. Kehoe and her husband, Scott, the idea seemed like their best hope after years of infertility.

    Working mostly over the Internet, Ms. Kehoe handpicked the egg donor, a pre-med student at theUniversity of Michigan. From the Web site of California Cryobank, she chose the anonymous sperm donor, an athletic man with a 4.0 high school grade-point average.

    On another Web site, surromomsonline.com, Ms. Kehoe found a gestational carrier who would deliver her baby.

    Finally, she hired the fertility clinic, IVF Michigan, which put together her creation last December.

    “We paid for the egg, the sperm, the in vitro fertilization,” Ms. Kehoe said as she showed off baby pictures at her home near Grand Rapids, Mich. “They wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for us.”

    [[So far, so good . . . . Everything is worked out.  Looks like the courts, the police, and the parental education folk will have to go look somewhere else, as well as supervised visitation supervisors....]]

    A month later, a police officer supervised as the Kehoes relinquished the swaddled infants in the driveway.

    Bridget and Ethan are now in the custody of the surrogate who gave birth to them, Laschell Baker of Ypsilanti, Mich. Ms. Baker had obtained a court order to retrieve them after learning that Ms. Kehoe was being treated for mental illness.

    “I couldn’t see living the rest of my life worrying and wondering what had happened, or what if she hadn’t taken her medicine, or what if she relapsed,” said Ms. Baker, who has four children of her own.

    Now, she and her husband, Paul, plan to raise the twins.

    The creation of Ethan and Bridget tested the boundaries of the field known as third-party reproduction, in which more than two people collaborate to have a baby. Five parties were involved: the egg donor, the sperm donor, Ms. Baker and the Kehoes. And two separate middlemen brokered the egg and sperm.

    Well, that’s not my main post this afternoon….  Interesting reading, though.  I poke fun at Designer Families from the Top-Down perspective.  But you ain’t seen nothin’ yet . . . .


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    Kansas lawmakers to hear testimony on domestic violence law Monday Feb. 1st 2010 1:30 PM -RM S-144

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    Note: Cross posted from [wp dreamzfree] Battered Mothers Have No Rights.

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    Testimony on Domestic Violence Law in Kansas to be Heard

    Kansas lawmakers to hear testimony on domestic violence law

    Newton Kansan  Posted Jan 29, 2010 @ 05:00 PM

    TOPEKA — At 1:30 p.m. Monday, (State Capitol Rm S-144) members of the House Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice will hear testimony about proposed legislation that will assist the criminal justice system in documenting crimes associated with domestic violence and track repeated offenders.

    Curt and Christie Brungardt, parents of the late Jana Mackey, will speak in support of the proposed legislation. Jana Mackey, a 25-year-old KU Law student was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in July 2008. Recently the Brungardts have created Jana’s Campaign to Stop Domestic Violence to encourage and promote a public policy response to domestic violence. “We believe it is our responsibility to use the story of Jana’s life and the story of her death to help reduce violence against women.” The campaign’s goal is to promote new and effective legislation that will secure safety and justice for victims of domestic violence. “It is our deep desire to turn this tragedy into something positive and play a significant role in reducing domestic violence.”

    House Bill 2517 requires a domestic violence tag be placed on all legal documents associated with a criminal act that is based on an intimate relationship. Having this DV tag is especially important as offenders often repeat their crimes against victims. Therefore, this legislation encourages sanctions to be put in place before violence escalates.

    Others testifying at the hearing include representatives from the Attorney General’s office, the Governor’s Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board, Department of Corrections, law enforcement, and the Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and

    Kansas lawmakers to hear testimony on domestic violence law - Newton, KS - The Newton Kansan

    AT 13:02 SHARETHIS

    LABELS: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE LAW, DV, HOUSE BILL 2517,JANA MACKEY, KANSAS, KS

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    28.1.10

    Dads 'not entitled to shared parenting'

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    Caroline Overington

    http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/dads-not-entitled-to-shared-parenting/story-e6frf7jx-1225824407249

    From:The Australian

    January 28, 2010 4:23PM

     

    SEPARATED fathers are not entitled to a 50-50 time split with their children, and legislation introduced by the Howard government in 2006 should be amended to make that clear, a report says.

    A 300-report by retired family court judge Richard Chisholm recommends five changes to the so-called "shared parenting" law, which he described as a "tangle" that had taken the focus off "what is best for the children," The Australian reports.

    The hotly anticipated Chisholm report, which was ordered by Attorney-General Robert McClelland after the shocking death of Melbourne girl Darcey Freeman, who was thrown to her death from the West Gate Bridge last year, says the shared parenting law has made it difficult for women to raise allegations of violence in the Family Court system.

    A separate, 1000-page report by the Australian Institute of Family Studies, also released this afternoon, says the majority of lawyers now believe that the 2006 reforms favour fathers over mothers, and parents over children.

    The two reports into shared parenting - plus a third report, by the Family Law Council - were released simultaneously by Mr McClelland this afternoon.

    Mr McClelland said the Government would review all reports before making changes but agreed that a false idea had taken hold in the community that fathers were entitled to a 50-50 time split.

    “How we address that is what we've now got to decide,” he said.

    Read more about the released reports at The Australian.

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    Credentials unchallenged in case of man accused of posing as psychologist (another Court Whore)

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     http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/credentials-unchallenged-in-case-of-man-accused-of-posing-as-psychologist/article1446955/

     

     

    Credentials unchallenged in case of man accused of posing as psychologist

    CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD

     

    Published on Thursday, Jan. 28, 2010 12:00AM EST Last updated on Thursday, Jan. 28, 2010 3:09AM EST

    cblatchford@globeandmail.com

    ***

    Who knew what about Greg Carter, and when?

    One thing is clear, and that's that some people knew or should have known that the 63-year-old criminally charged this week for posing as a psychologist wasn't what he appeared to be.

    The Globe and Mail has learned that at least one lawyer involved in a child custody case where Mr. Carter was described as a psychologist soon discovered he wasn't.

    The Globe has a copy of a letter that lawyer Elizabeth Saad received from Robert Feldman, an investigator with the College of Psychologists of Ontario, on Sept. 15, 2008.

    She had contacted the college that day, asking about Mr. Carter's credentials. Mr. Feldman faxed the letter - telling her Mr. Carter "is not registered as a psychologist with the College" and that he was also not allowed to offer diagnoses - to her Whitby office.

    This was almost exactly a month after Ms. Saad, asked by Ontario Superior Court Justice Theresa Maddalena, "then is Dr. Carter also a psychologist?" replied, "Yes he is, Your Honour."

    Ms. Saad was representing Mr. S., a father seeking temporary primary custody of his two young sons. It was on that day, Aug. 14, that Judge Maddalena granted the mother, Mrs. S., an order to retain "Dr. Gregory Carter" to submit a critique of a psychologist's report which had strongly recommended Mr. S. get custody.

    The parents are identified only by an initial to protect their sons' identities.

    The matter continued on at least two dates before Ontario Superior Court Justice Alex Sosna until, on Oct. 16, he delivered a stunning judgment, tossing out the psychologist's report and accepting in glowing terms "Dr. Carter's" recommendation for joint custody.

    Judge Sosna also dismissed the psychologist's finding that the mother was suffering from borderline personality disorder and instead accepted Mr. Carter's suggestion that Mr. S. was likely a narcissist - a suggestion he made despite never having spoken to Mr. S. The judge also awarded Mrs. S. exclusive possession of the matrimonial home and assigned about $14,000 in costs to the father.

    Mr. S. said yesterday that he believes that, after learning Mr. Carter wasn't a psychologist, Ms. Saad attempted to argue that he wasn't qualified, but that she was cut short by Judge Sosna. Mr. S. said, however, that Ms. Saad did present the letter to the court, though whether the judge ever read it is unknown.

    This couldn't be confirmed because Ms. Saad didn't return detailed e-mails or a phone message left with her receptionist yesterday. The receptionist at one point said the lawyer wouldn't comment because of confidentiality, but Mr. S. in fact had waived solicitor-client privilege in an e-mail yesterday.

    However, at about the same time, another lawyer in Ms. Saad's small office, Sandra Scovino, was representing a father involved in a battle for custody of a then-nine-year-old girl.

    As far back as December of 2006, Mr. Carter had suggested in a letter to Ms. Scovino that he would be willing to act as an independent assessor in the case, though he had already worked with the little girl as a therapist, hired by her grandparents, with whom she had lived for much of her life.

    Three months later, in March of 2007, Mr. Carter, or, as Ontario Superior Court Justice Craig Perkins referred to him 32 times, "Dr. Carter," was hired by Ms. Scovino on behalf of the father to do an assessment.

    Mr. Carter's report is dated Oct. 22, 2007, and by late October the following year - after Ms. Saad got the news he wasn't a psychologist - he was testifying before Judge Perkins as one.

    Indeed, the judge cited Mr. Carter, whom he pronounced "an impressive, thoughtful witness with considerable experience and expertise," and his report and testimony as factors which "tipped the balance" in his decision to give the father custody.

    The grandparents had to pay court costs of about $40,000, including $7,000 for the report which saw their granddaughter taken from them.

    In the first case, both Mr. S. and the psychologist Mr. Carter critiqued complained to the college. Mr. Carter has been charged with professional misconduct and awaits a disciplinary hearing.

    In the second case, the grandfather has also complained to the college, but his complaint is still pending.

    The irony is that, though Mr. Carter was being described in family court as a psychologist and addressed as "Dr. Carter," and though for some years his business cards and letterhead identified him as "Dr. Gregory Carter, Practice in Psychology," it appears no one in authority publicly challenged his credentials.

    Mr. Carter does have a doctoral degree, which he has described in writing both as "a PhD in psychology" and a PhD in "clinical psychology" and which he has said he obtained either in 1991 or 1992 from Pacific Western University, discredited in a 2004 United States Government Accountability Office investigation as a "diploma mill."

    He was charged by Durham Regional Police on Monday with perjury, obstructing justice and fraud.

    The Whitby, Ont., man is a psychological associate, meaning his registration is based on a master's degree. Psychologists, on the other hand, have doctoral degrees. And while most of Ontario's 2,700 psychologists and 500 psychological associates can assess, treat and diagnose alike, some, like Mr. Carter, have a limitation on their practice.

    According to Dr. Catherine Yarrow, the registrar of the college, the limit on Mr. Carter's practice - that he isn't allowed to offer a diagnosis on his own - was imposed when he first registered as an associate in 2001.

    Mr. Carter never applied to the college to have the restriction removed.

    • Latest Comments

    Happily Retired

    1/28/2010 7:01:40 AM

    A big wake up call for the courts and for the citizens of Canada who depend on the judicial system to dispense JUSTICE! Incidents like this one discredit our justice system. Our courts have a responsibility to the public and they have failed in that responsibility. Like the forensic "expert" that testified in many children's deaths in Ontario, this only serves to further undermine public faith in the justice system and throw it into disrepute. It's time to clean house!

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    The Mothers Not Found in the Media- (the author/mother was silenced)

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    Looks like she's still silenced. The page is gone and her blog is empty. (but we have the article) Hang in there Julie- they CAN’T Silence us all!

    The Mothers Not Found in the Media

    by JULIE LEVINE

     

    Mrs. Tiger Woods, Mrs. Aaron Spelling, Ms. Britney Spears, even our first lady, Mrs. Obama ....all mothers that you can read about on an almost weekly basis. The media loves to cover them and to expose them. Whether they like it or not.

    The media does not cover the women who have lost custody battles to perpetrators of domestic violence. Their abusers are almost never exposed. The children in these cases are damaged, their lives stained forever. Over and over again, these children are torn from the arms of a loving parent-their mothers.

    When will you read of Debbie, Rachel, Susan, Maria, and hundreds of others who have lost their children in a court system that enables such injustice? Probably never. And the silence is breaking them.

    In our judicial system of today, powerful men, dominating men, are able to use the court system as a weapon. Tragically, they are able to use their children as ammunition. The media doesn't know the women that have fallen victims to our courts. We should read about the personal enfolding of celebrity moms, professional athletes' spouses, and other characters that are deemed of high interest to the public. Or so they say. When do we read of the other mothers?

    No one wants to report on the woman whose husband repeatedly raped his 5 year old daughter. That man was then given sole custody of the young girl, as the woman could not fight the court battle laid out before her. Who would want to read of the woman whose husband broke every bone in her face, over a period of years? He was then given custody of the children who witnessed this horror.

    In another case, a forensic psychologist stated that he was of the professional opinion that two boys had observed their father being psychologically and physically abusive towards their mother. Documentation regarding physical abuse of the mother was evidenced. Then the judge deciding this particular custody dispute awarded sole custody of the two boys to the father.

    When this woman sought safety prior to the divorce dispute, her husband warned her that she would never see her children again. After custody was "awarded" to this male perpetrator, the mother never had a relationship with her sons again. A judge looked her in the eye and told her that just because her husband had raped and beaten her, it did not mean he couldn't be a good father.

    Not understanding any of the court's instructions, she contacted newspapers, radio stations, and magazines. In our wonderful United States of America, there was not a single reporter that would come to her aid. No one wanted to speak of her story, her life....It was her own, never to be shared.

    Until now.

    It happened to me.

    In our country that promises protection and justice, judges are awarding custody to men with violent histories. Women that have made their children a priority, are left childless. Many times, these women turn to the media for assistance...only to be turned away.

    These are the mothers not found in the media. Reporters refuse to reply to coverage requests, as judges are never held accountable for their poor and damaging decisions. If these cases are told to the public, how are they remedied? Perhaps this is why reporters run from such stories. Rather than ignore such tragedies, it seems that finding an answer would be a much better conclusion.

    In order for there to be a solution to many of these horror stories, the stories themselves must be told. Bullied and emotionally battered by judicial figureheads, the mothers not mentioned in the media must be heard. They need a voice. We need a voice.

    If you are reading these words, that proves there is hope. It says things can get a little bit better. This is all being told from a mother who lost her children in a court of law to the abuser; from a mother not found in the media.

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    27.1.10

    Okla. man accused of beating wife to death has kidnapped her daughter

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    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH1RHVxJJvE&hl=en_US&fs=1&]

     

    This undated photo provided by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation shows Aja Daniell Johnson, 7. Oklahoma authorities issued an Amber Alert on Monday Jan. 25, 2010 for Aja Daniell Johnson, whose mother, Tonya Hobbs, was found slain in her motor home Sunday. Authorities believe Aja may be with Hobbs' estranged husband, Lester Hobbs. (AP Photo/Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation)

    This undated photo provided by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation shows Aja Daniell Johnson, 7. Oklahoma authorities issued an Amber Alert on Monday Jan. 25, 2010 for Aja Daniell Johnson, whose mother, Tonya Hobbs, was found slain in her motor home Sunday. Authorities believe Aja may be with Hobbs' estranged husband, Lester Hobbs. (AP Photo/Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation)(AP)

    Enlarge Photo

    » Links to this article

    By SEAN MURPHY

    The Associated Press
    Tuesday, January 26, 2010; 5:19 PM

    OKLAHOMA CITY -- A woman found beaten to death in a motor home recently sought a protective order against her estranged husband, an ex-convict who was charged Tuesday with killing her and kidnapping her 7-year-old daughter.

    Comanche County prosecutors charged Lester William Hobbs, 46, with first-degree murder and kidnapping in the killing of Tonya Hobbs and disappearance of her daughter, Aja Daniell Johnson.

    Hobbs' body was discovered Sunday inside Lester Hobbs' motor home in Geronimo, a small town about 100 miles southwest of Oklahoma City. Lester Hobbs and the missing girl, who is not his biological daughter, were last seen by relatives Saturday evening.

    "He has gone from being a person of interest in this case to a criminal defendant," Comanche County District Attorney Fred Smith said.

    The medical examiner's office has not determined the official cause of death, but charging documents show Tonya Hobbs suffered blunt force trauma to her body.

    In August, Tonya Hobbs sought a protective order against Lester Hobbs, writing in a petition that he threatened her daughters and vowed to kill her if she ever left him.

    "My husband has threatened to hit my daughters in the head with a hammer and kill them," she wrote.

    An emergency protective order was granted, but the case was dismissed two weeks later when both Tonya Hobbs and her husband failed to appear in court, records show.

    Tonya Hobbs traveled with her two daughters to Geronimo on Saturday in an attempt to reconcile the relationship with Lester Hobbs, said Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Jessica Brown.

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    Tonya Hobbs' older daughter stayed with Hobbs' relatives and is not missing.

    Aja's father, J.J. Johnson of Oklahoma City, delivered a tearful plea Monday for the girl's safe return.

    "Please Lester, if you're listening, anybody who knows where she is, please take her to a safe spot," Johnson said. "I'll see that she's picked up with no questions asked.

    "She's only been seven years old for 20 days."

    Oklahoma authorities issued an Amber Alert on Monday and asked law enforcement agencies to be on the lookout in Texas, California and Oregon, where Lester Hobbs has relatives.

    Lester Hobbs was last seen driving his wife's 1992 Toyota Paseo with the Oklahoma license plate number 577-BPW. The car has no hubcaps and has plastic covering the rear passenger window.

    "Time is not working in our favor in this situation. We need to find this girl as soon as possible," Brown said.

    Lester Hobbs has several tattoos, including the letters "LOVE" stitched on the fingers of his left hand and "ROSE" on the fingers of his right hand.

    Aja Johnson is 4 feet tall and weighs about 65 pounds. She has brown, shoulder length hair and brown eyes, officials said.

     

    Oklahoma grandmother fears the worst for missing girl

    NewsOK.com - Johnny Johnson - ‎21 minutes ago‎

    "He hated that little girl," Oklahoma City resident Alice Dunkin said. "He's very mean to her. He would all but beat Aja." Lester Hobbs was charged Tuesday ...

    Video: Police: Girl Missing, Mother Found Dead in Home

    The Associated Press

    Amber Alert: Suspected Oklahoma killer may be headed to BakersfieldKGET 17

    Okla. man accused of killing wife, kidnapping girl Washington Post

    News 8 Austin - KMJ Now

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