2017 International Year of Co-Parenting

After the International Year of the Family in 1994 to remind us that the family is the basic unit of society and therefore deserves special attention,

Following the resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly entitled "A world fit for children" (S-27/2, 6 May 2002) which recognizes the shared responsibility of parents in the education and upbringing of their children, and the importance of making every effort to ensure that fathers have the opportunity to participate in the lives of their children,

In noting a transformation of family patterns in recent decades characterized among other things by an increase in the number of separated families and therefore the risk of disengagement of a parent,

we ask for :

An international year to increase the awareness of the general public and all the elected officials in every nation on the equal importance of the roles of both parents – be they together, separated or divorced – in the upbringing of their child(ren).

A year to create opportunities and find solutions to promote and above all value the commitment of each parent to their children); a year to focus on action and results, by the exchange of good practices.

A year to rethink greater equity (particularly in parenting time) between the two parents in case of separation / divorce in the best interest of the child.

A year to recognize the prime role of each parent and celebrate the commitment of both parents towards their (s) child (ren).

A year to remember that each child has two unique parents - father and mother – with the same rights and responsibilities to provide the best possible living conditions, to give him/her affection, assistance and protection, education, to encourage the development of his/her personality, to transmit values.

In this perspective, regardless of political allegiances, social or religious beliefs, father, mother, grandmother or grandfather, or just a citizen committed to human rights, we ask the General Assembly of the United Nations to declare 2017 : International Year of co-parenting.

Important !

If You Seek a Bio-chemical Cause for Mental Health Disorders, You will become the “Little Train that Couldn’t”

If You Seek a Bio-chemical Cause for Mental Health Disorders, You will become the “Little Train that Couldn’t”

By Linda J. Gottlieb, LMFT, LCSW-r

If You Seek a Bio-chemical Cause for Mental Health Disorders, You will become the “Little Train that Couldn’t”

My opinion on the origin of mental illness is controversial to many in my profession. I maintain that emotional disturbances are situationally and not bio-chemically caused. But this position did not originate with me. It originated with my mentor, Salvador Minuchin, the world-renowned, highly respected child psychiatrist. Dr. Minuchin (as with his contemporaneous psychiatrists who founded the family therapy movement, such as Murray Bowen, Don Jackson, Jay Haley, Carl Whitaker, Nathan Ackerman, John Weakland, et al.) does not accept an intra-psychic or biochemical cause of mental disorders. Resulting from 65 years of practice, Dr. Minuchin affirms that traumatic situations; unhealthy relationships; and dysfunctional family dynamics, such as the PAS, cause mental health disorders. Diagnosis of mental health is not a science! There is no empirical evidence for any mental health disorder. You cannot inject the brain, withdraw serum, and have it analyzed. Any psychiatrist or mental health diagnostician worth his/her salt (and even those who are not worth their salt) must acknowledge that diagnosis of emotional disorders is based merely upon “impressions.” 

Mental health patients are guinea pigs when they are prescribed an array of psychotropic medications and subjected to a host of invasive procedures, such as ECT. At least Dr. Minuchin’s assessment for the cause of mental disorders offers optimism while remedy is benign and unintrusive: if you discard unhealthy relationships and situations, you will be symptom-free. A symptom free life is therefore possible without being subjected to invasive medications and procedures. Dr. Minuchin has recognized that he is a salmon swimming upstream when he articulates this; but think about it: if his analysis was to become the norm, then 90% of the psychiatric community would need to become educated about relationship therapy. And it would also be more costly for the health insurance industry, which would then have to incur the expenses of reimbursing for more protracted relationship therapy instead of for the quick fixes of drug therapy. No wonder there is such resistance to accepting this not so novel assessment of mental health diagnosis—-in spite of 60+ years of empirical evidence and scientific support for this perspective.

Although this may come as a shock to many readers, our current state of psychiatric diagnosis is NOT science. If it were, then psychotropic medications would not need to be persistently adjusted up or down in dosage, completely changed, and/or supplemented with other medications. The simple explanation for why medications so frequently fail to achieve a reduction in symptoms is because symptoms do not result from a chemical imbalance. Just compare the administration of medications for medical disorders: when, for example, an antibiotic is given for an infection, it is highly probable to be effective in resolving the symptoms. And if Dr. Minuchin was to be asked, he would likely explain that it is a patient’s history of having taken psychotropic medications that subsequently caused her/his chemical imbalance: in essence, such medications had upset a NORMAL chemical balance. Do not take my word for it: read the many books by Dr. Minuchin and the previously referred- to psychiatrists—-all of whose writings are listed in the reference at the conclusion of this article.

Dr. Minuchin’s opinion is supported by the recent research of Dr. Irving Kirsch, psychologist at Harvard University, who discovered that a placebo was equally as effective as were antidepressants in treating mild to moderately depressed patients. It was only the small percentage of highly depressed patients who responded better to antidepressants.

Two fundamental problems in our present family court system

We have identified two fundamental problems in our present family court system and have provided tentative solutions for them:

1. Lack of judicial accountability: in many areas of the country, especially in Florida, up to 80% of judges do not have to appear on the ballots when their term is over, so if they are doing a bad job, there is no viable way for the public to get them out. As a matter of fact, it looks like the worst a judge is, the less likely he/she will be challenged in elections.

Solution: constitutional amendment that will require all family court judges to appear on the ballots even if they have no one running against them (merit retention vote). Since judges may feel that we are targeting them, we have legislators willing to help us put an amendment that will even require all elected officials to appear on the ballots for a merit retention vote. I was told that this measure would be even easier to pass in Florida or even across the USA for we could get massive support from voters to strengthen our democracy. What elected official will argue against giving the people the power to decide if they are doing a good job or not? Only the ones that are doing a bad job, of course, so they would think twice before opposing such a measure. Accountability is essential to fixing this problem. The Pink Slip Project, at Newjudge.com, aims at this effort in Florida. Similar efforts are possible all over the USA, and around the world, if we unite to make this possible.

2. Inability to enforce judicial accountability: So, even if judges appear on the ballots, how can we make sure that we are able to vote off any judge not truly working towards the best interest of children and families?

Solution: The creation of a national organization to defend children and families in the USA. It will require presence in all states, and local branches in all judicial circuits. Its function will be to evaluate the performance of judges, and have volunteers ready to mobilize come election time to vote off any incompetent judges.

If you agree with these ideas and are willing to work towards these goals, send us a message, so we can have your name added to the Merit Retention Constitutional Amendment Coalition (MRCAC) group in Facebook, or you can provide your contact information to NewJudge1@gmail.com. United we can extirpate this cancer once and for all. 

Thank you in advance for your support.

We will be standing up and speaking up for our children.

Children need both parents! Stronger Families & Stronger Children Build Stronger Communities

Bring your parents, grandparents, children, friends and family.

We will be 1,000 strong in Tally!!!

About the Venue -- Saturday, November 5 at 9 AM - 6 PM

We are Fathers helping Fathers.

We are parents helping parents.

Stronger Families and Stronger Children Build Stronger Communities

We are Fathers helping Fathers.

We are parents helping parents.

We are advocates dedicated to bringing a change to end Fatherlessness in Florida.

Family Court - Source of the Corruption?

Unhappy with child-custody award, woman and parents plotted to murder her ex-husband and his mom - ABA Journal »

A former elementary school teacher and her father pleaded guilty Thursday to their admitted roles in a plot to murder her former husband because they were unhappy with a child-custody award in the couple’s divorce case.

Then, after onetime third-grade teacher Kathleen Dorsett was arrested in the 2010 slaying of Stephen Moore, her mother, Lesley Dorsett, met with the jailed woman to plot the slaying of the dead victim’s mother, according to theAsbury Park Press and the Associated Press.

“The goal was to kill (her) because we were afraid she was going to testify,” Lesley Dorsett told a New Jersey judge during a hearing in Freehold. The Dorsetts also were reportedly unhappy because Evlyn Moore was awarded custody of her young granddaughter after the murder of her son.

However, Evlyn Moore was not harmed and attended Thursday’s court hearing. “I’m as satisfied today as I will ever be,” she told reporters afterward. “I feel that Stephen has gotten justice today.”

Lesley Dorsett, a former member of the Ocean Township school board, pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy to commit murder. Her husband and daughter pleaded guilty to murder and other charges.

The plot unraveled after Lesley Dorsett handed over an envelope filled with cash to the hit man she thought she was hiring to kill Evlyn Moore. In fact, he was an undercover cop who had been tipped by Kathleen Dorsett’s cellmate, according to the newspaper articles.

Prosecutors are expected to recommended an eight-year prison term for Lesley Dorsett, and 58 years, with no parole for at least 51 years, for her 38-year-old daughter, when the two are sentenced in August along with Thomas Dorsett, 66. He faces a potential 50-year sentence, with no parole for 30 years.

See also:

Asbury Park Press: “Inmate can testify about talks with woman charged with killing ex-husband”

From the eyes of a child...

...who saw this happen to my Father, just know. You are in our hearts, forever and always.

The Fathers' Rights Movement

Amber Dawn ~

I know I can never fully fathom what my Father went through, let alone the pain that is in all of your hearts, after being separated from your children - it's absolutely devastating, and sickening that mothers can turn so manipulative and mean, and cause so much pain, using children as a manipulation tactic against you.

I know even after all of my Father's rights were taken away (literally, from weekend visits, to supervised visits) because my Mother, like many of your ex's lied to the court system, and completely eradicated any rights he did have.

My father once fought to the extremity to just even see us, call us, talk to us for five minutes on the phone, and it makes me so sad to know how much time had been wasted, not being able to even connect with my Father.

With that being said there is hope, and this is what this comment was about.

I know usually it does not come granted through the court system, since it's completely biased, and one sided, but there is hope. Never give up, because your children, everyday, think about you. Miss you, love you, and you are in their hearts and you will forever have a place there, there is nothing in this world that could replace you, you are planted there, like a tree, with roots of love that will never be eradicated by any court system, any manipulative mother, any lies, distance or time.

Is the DOJ in collusion with the Judicial Branch??

"There is no crueler tyranny than that which is exercised under cover of law, and with the colors of justice "
– U.S. vs. Jannottie, 673 F.2d 578, 614 (3d Cir. 1982).

← Should Judges Be Required To Pass Rigorous Tests? Poll #26

Obstruction Of Father/Son Relationship

COLLUSION OF DOJ WITH THE JUDICIAL BRANCH IN VIOLATION OF SEPERATION OF POWER

• Letter to Congress on the Denial of the Right to Impartial Judicial Review of Misprison of a Felony
• 2008-Opposition to the Appointment of Eric Holder as Attorney General of DOJ
• 2008-Criminal Compalint for violation of 18 U.S.C. Secs. 4, 241, 242, 1513 etc.
• VIOLATION OF SEPARATION OF POWER BY THE COLLUSION OF THE VIRGINIA COURTS AND BOB McDONNELL
• OPEN LETTER TO MEMBERS OF THE U.S. SENATE
• FATHER'S/SON RIGHTS
• THE REASON FOR THE SUIT AND NOTICE OF FEDERAL TORT CLAIM
• CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS, VIOLATED 18 U.S.C. SECS. 1001 & 1204
• Court of Appeals Confirms Duty to Protect Father's Rights Under Treaty
• PETITION FOR INVESTIGATION OF ABUSE OF JUDICIAL AUTHORITY
• RICO/Bivens and Federal Tort Complaint Against Judge J. G. Roberts et al.
• July 2005--Recent act by Judge J. G. Roberts and the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
• August 2005 CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN G. ROBERTS INTENTIONAL FALSE STATEMENTS TO CONGRESS
• Exception to Judicial Immunity
• MISC. MATERIAL IN SUPPORT OF ACTION AGAINST JOHN G. ROBERTS
• 2005 Letter to Congress on Collusion of DOJ with Judicial Branch
• NEGLIGENCE OF NCMEC

Adios Fidel!!

"History will absolve me"

...is what Fidel Castro told the court that sentenced him to fifteen years for a failed coup attempt prior to his successful overthrow of the Cuban government. Pardoned and exiled, Castro returned and executed a successful coup against the Batista regime.

History has not absolved Castro.

History will condemn him.

Parental Alienation is Recognized as a Form of Child Abuse by American Psychological Association

CASE STUDIES OF PAS IN COURT

Compiled by DV LEAP, Joan Meier, Director, and Andrew Hudson (intern) for consideration by the Committee on the DSM-V

The following brief compilation includes cases that DV LEAP is aware of, either through its own litigation, that of colleagues, and/or press accounts. Where there are published appellate opinions, cases are cited instead in the accompanying memorandum overview of all published cases referencing PAS as of 2009. A very few cases are cited in both this memorandum and the accompanying one.

It is time to resolve our ambivalence and contradictory ideas about fathers’ and mothers’ roles in their children’s lives

Big changes are afoot Down Under. And these presage changes in the U.S., Canada,  and Europe as well.

For the past few years, a research report issued by the office of the Australian Attorney General, with statements of its lead author, has exerted a disproportionate impact on the lives of young children whose parents are separated. Bucking the trend to keep both parents regularly involved with their children whether or not the parents live together, Australia’s guidelines, widely adopted in the U.S., have discouraged allowing young children to spend overnights with both parents after separation. In most cases such “blanket restrictions” mean that mothers do all the caregiving at night.

Introduction to Parental Alienation from Stan Korosi

Nearly half of all marriages end in divorce. When they do dads are being made increasingly irrelevant in the life of their kids, often as a result of spite or malice, with tragic consequences on children, families and communities.

Parental Alienation-What is it? How Does it Happen? How Does it Affect Children? from Stan Korosi

From Parental Alienation to Reunification-Toward Parent-Child Reunification from Stan Korosi

But all this is changing. Practically overnight. Australian professionals are shredding their guidelines in the light of two recent papers exposing the flawed science behind denying young children the pleasure of their dads’ bedtime stories. A balanced view of the research data supports common sense. If young children can take naps during the day under their fathers’ watchful eyes, they can sleep at night in their fathers’ homes. If young children can be apart from their working mothers all day long, they shouldn’t be deprived of quality time with their dads during the night.

Strong parent-child bonds begin at birth — for mothers and for fathers. Caring for children at night and being there in the morning is part of the process of developing a solid relationship. The more time parents spend with their infants and toddlers, the better able they are to read their baby’s signals and respond sensitively to their children’s needs. In two-parent homes we encourage hands-on shared parenting night and day. It takes nothing away from mother-child relationships when dads change diapers and bathe babies.

One of the game-changing papers, I am proud to say, was mine. But I had a lot of help with it. The manuscript was improved, vetted, and endorsed by 110 scholars, from 15 countries, who are at the top of their professions: Professors Emeriti, Deans, former Presidents of professional associations such as the American Psychological Association, and department heads. Collectively the group have about 10,000 publications to their credit.

We were united in wanting to make a public statement about where science stands on the issue of young children’s needs following their parents’ separation. Our goal was not just to clarify the accepted, settled science. We wanted to ensure that reliable science plays an important role in policy and decisions about young children’s contacts with each parent. Read about the consensus reporthere.

False Allegations Hurt Children!

False Allegations Hurt Children!

“When you are falsely accused (and intentionally for that matter) the pain can be crippling at times. 

That aside; I wish people cared about what their false allegations would do to the children involved. Even with the pain I suffered and the meds I now have to take on a daily basis, I would have given my life to take my children’s pain and fear of being taken from me away.” — Sara

WHAT CONSTITUTES A FAMILY OFFENSE?

The criminal behavior which has been “civilized” by Family Court Act Article 8 is defined in the penal laws.

This is a crucial aspect to determine whether or not a family offense petition makes out a prima facia case, and is too often overlooked when defending against a family offense petition. Many practitioners look solely to whether or not the alleged actions occurred.

More importantly, a judge is supposed to look at whether or not the petitioner can prove all the necessary elements of the family offense alleged and defined in the penal laws.

Each of the family offenses requires that the petitioner allege and prove intent or recklessness or a repeated course of conduct. A few of the family offenses require a prior such offense conviction.