CPS forced to notify dads

Robert Franklin reports on a new federal court decision:

It holds that a father with joint legal custody but with no physical custody (i.e. visitation rights) of his child has a right to be informed by state officials such as the police and child welfare workers when his child may be suffering abuse. Astonishingly enough, in the case reported, no state, county or municipal official informed the father when his daughter complained of sexual molestation by the father of her mother's boyfriend, physical abuse by the boyfriend or the boyfriend's attempt to coerce her testimony.

A couple of readers have been suggesting federal court action. Here is an example of a federal lawsuit that just did some good. It should have been obvious that CPS would notify the dad of a child being abused in the mom's care. Now CPS has to, or it faces damages in federal court.

Visitation terminated

My ex-wife has terminated my visitation of my kids. She said that the current visitation doesn't "make sense in the light of the new order". When I requested visitation under the terms of the new order, she said that I was not being "reasonable". Sigh. This psychological evaluation has been a disaster. I guess that I will have to bring another motion to the family court to force her to comply.

Update: The comments speculate about the precise reason for the non-compliance. The court order says that I can choose the visitation supervisor from a list; my ex-wife says that my choice was not reasonable.

The bad money incentives

A reader writes:

BTW, really, what is the incentive for separation of fathers from their children by the system? I can understand why the mothers would do it from a revenge and increased $ standpoint, but really, I've not gotten a clear picture why courts, shrinks, social workers etc. Must be a variety of reasons but I'd like to see a more comprehensive theory. Glenn Sacks a good resource for this?

The simplest explanation is that all those family court leeches profit from separating the money from the kids. If the dad has money and can be separated from his kids, then he will spend the money to see them.

I have heard that when the mom has more money, then the bias is to take the kids away from the mom, and then make her pay to get them back.

The shrink who did my evaluation charged $20k. If his recommendations are followed, the total cost for courts, shrinks, etc. could ultimately be ten times as much. The system is evil and corrupt.

Yes, Glenn Sacks is good. I also recommend these books.

$16M verdict for false molestation charge

From a recent court opinion:

In 1995, the biological father changed his mind and permitted White to adopt both children. When an acquaintance asked Tina why the children’s biological father agreed to the termination of his parental rights, Tina replied that she had threatened to charge him with child molestation if he did not cooperate.

What kind of a father would cave in to such a threat, and give up his parental rights?

A smart one. Tina conspired with the police and prosecutor to frame husband no. 2 for molestation. He tried fighting the charges in court. He even tried fleeing to Costa Rica. He served several years in prison before eventually proving his innocence. There is more info at freetedwhite.com.

New order issued

I guess I spoke too soon about Cmr. Joseph being fired. He is still causing trouble.

Last Friday, the day he got his pink slip, he signed a new custody order for my kids and mailed it to me.

I must have some misunderstandings about the American legal system. I thought that such orders can only result from someone making a motion to the family court, allowing both sides to present legal arguments and witnesses, and the family court judge issuing a ruling.

Cmr. Joseph is not even the family court judge. He is not even a real judge. He is the acting juvenile delinquency court judge. No one made a motion to either him or the family court. My ex-wife did send him an email asking for some legal advice, but he did not answer that. Not to my knowledge, anyway.

The order was a rubber stamp of what the $20k psychologist recommended. He had not even discussed his recommendations with us. He just sent them to the court and to Cmr. Joseph, as if they were the best thing to do. So I am ordered to do something without even any notice that it was under consideration.

Here is the visitation order:

6. Plan 1. Father shall have one supervised visitation per calendar month with the children. These visits shall occur on Saturday or Sunday. These visits shall last two hours. Mother shall provide father with a list of available dates and specific times (e.g. 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., Noon to 2:00 p.m.) at least one month in advance (for example by July 1 she will provide the available dates for the month of August). Father will then select the date and once the date is set there shall be no changes to it. Father shall select the supervisor from the County list of accepted supervisors (he may continue with Ms. XXXXX if he so determines). Father shall be responsible for all fees associated with these visits. No longer than 45 days shall pass between the visits unless agreed to by the parents.

The court clerk also sent copies to my ex-wife, some lawyer who was fired from the case 2.5 years ago, and to the $20k psychologist. I never heard of a court sending a copy of a court order to a witness who is not a party to the case.

Cmr. Joseph's unfairness and maliciousness surprises me. It appears that he wants to cause as much damage as possible before his termination.

Chain-link fence not enough for paranoid judge

The Free Range Kids blog writes:

After Anne realized her mistake of course she ran out and brought Caitlin in. She also notified her supervisor, and papers were filed. And at last her case — yup, it’s an actual “case” — came up before a New York State administrative law judge, Susan Lyn Preston. Judge Preston’s ruling?

Anne should be placed on New York state’s Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment. She could remain there for 25 years (almost assuring she never works with children again), because:

“Clearly, Caitlin was at imminent risk of harm in this situation. The fact that the playground was surrounded by a chain-link fence does not eliminate the risk that Caitlin could have been abducted. A person with an evil intent could have easily gotten over the fence or lured Caitlin to the fence.”

The blogger has been called the world's worst mom because she defends parents who actually let kids play by themselves. I think that this paranoid judge should go on a register of foolish judges who should not be allowed to rule on cases involving kids.

Cmr. Joseph is fired

The Santa Cruz Sentinal newspaper reports:

SANTA CRUZ -- About 20 court employees, including Commissioner Irwin Joseph, got pink slips this week.

The layoffs are the latest cost-saving measure for the cash-strapped Santa Cruz County Superior Court system. ...

Joseph is the only member of the bench who was laid off. His current assignment is in delinquency court at Juvenile Hall. Come July, juvenile matters will be split between two judges in Watsonville courtrooms.

Cmr. Joseph had a personal grudge against me because I once got him reversed on appeal in a published decision. He claimed that he was not allowed to read this blog. One of his employees monitored it for him, and one time he wrote a letter to my ex-wife inviting her to bring a motion to have me held in contempt of court. He could not bring the motion himself, because of the irregularity of how he got the information.

Locally, he was known as Junk Justice Joseph.

He did not answer my ex-wife's email this week asking for legal advice on how to further separate me from my kids. I guess that he knew that he was being fired.

Here is the video of the Wicked Witch of the West melting. I wanted the song and dance scene from the Wizard of Oz, but the audio is disabled.

Accepting teachings without resistance

I am still digesting my psych report, and not commenting on it.

There is an amusing letter from a teacher that has been circulating the net for a few years. It is described here:

That is the set-up in the letter displayed above, putatively written by a teacher (Adam Hilliker) to the mother of one of his students, notifying the parent that her son (Alex) will be serving one hour's detention for "disregarding authority" and demonstrating a "complete lack of respect for his school." The student's transgression? Having corrected a teacher who insisted to his class that a kilometer was longer than a mile. (In fact, a kilometer is only about 62% of a mile.) Although Mr. Hilliker acknowledges that the student was indeed correct, he maintains that young Alex "would be better off simply accepting my teachings without resistance."

I am inclined to think that no teacher is this stupid, and that the letter is fake. The truly stupid professionals are in other occupations.

Shrinks study exorcism

AAAS Science magazine reports:

As head of psychiatry at Marjolein van Duijl didn’t get many Technology in Uganda, The Spirit requests local Prozac. “There’s no Dutch psychiatrist says. But in the patients at her clinic or in rural villages she visited complained of disturbing trances in which they spoke in strange voices, clawed the air, and trembled. Patients blamed bewitchment or spirits of dead relatives, angered by unobserved rituals.

To dig deeper, van Duijl asked 80 local healers to identify 119 patients suffering from spirit possession. She used a dissociation questionnaire to check for symptoms, such as losing spans of time or feeling disconnected, often linked to trauma in Western patients. She also used trauma questionnaires to check for experiences such as going without food or witnessing a murder.

And I thought that shrinks attribute "losing spans of time" to space alien abductions!

Before long, Western witch doctors psychiatrists and psychologists will develop a multiple choice test for spirit possession, and then convince the Uganda authorities to use it for child custody decisions and Prozac prescriptions.

Ex-wife tries to bypass court clerks

My ex-wife just sent this email:

Commissioner Joseph,

I am emailing you in regards to our case, AngryMom v. AngryDad, FL 0xxxxx. Dr. Perlmutter mailed his completed child custody evaluation to the Court and to both Roger and myself on Friday, May 7, 1010.

Is the next step to set up a status conference regarding review of the evaluation? If so, would we do this through your staff?

Just in case the following information is needed, below is a list of the dates that I am available for court appearances: ...

Thank you for your time,
AngryMom

She is a lawyer. Judge Heather D. Morse is the family court judge. Cmr. Irwin H. Joseph is just the acting juvenile delinquency judge. Why is she asking Cmr. Joseph for legal advice?

If she wants the family court to take some action, then the proper procedure is to make a motion to the family court. Apparently she is trying to take advantage of Cmr. Joseph's personal maliciousness towards me in order to get some sort of improper intervention from him.

I will be interested to see whether Cmr. Joseph is crooked enough to even reply.

New evaluation sent to court

I just got the report from the latest evaluation for my family court case. It was done by Ken Perlmutter of Palo Alto California over the last 11 months. He spent the first 6 months trying to interpret a boilerplate order from Cmr. Irwin H. Joseph. It cost $19,350.

It is my ninth evaluation in 6 years.

His report has some threats in it that could have some long-term negative consequences for my kids. For that reason, that is all that I am saying for now.

Ex-cop wants to run local family court

California's Santa Cruz county is electing a new judge. Usually there is an incumbent running unopposed or with token opposition. Next month's election will fill a vacancy.

The rumor is that all the regular judges in the county hate the family court. They like putting gang members in jail, or evicting tenants, or even putting kids in foster care, but they hate family court where they have to listen to lying parents and then micromanage their lives.

A local free weekly reports on one of the three candidates:

Philip Crawford's law career varies from the traditional track, which he says would bring a different and he believes welcome perspective to the bench. The four-decade Santa Cruz resident started as a police officer in San Jose. He then went back to school to earn his law degree and taught law for a number of years.

He also served as a court administrator in Contra Costa County, helping to oversee other attorneys and track legal decisions in family law.

If elected, Crawford would ask to use that background as the designated judge for the family court. The practice in Santa Cruz County has been for judges to alternate assignments, but he would relish the chance to provide a stable presence.

"Nothing changes more often than family law. People rotating in and out is not good for kids and families," said Crawford, who believes that the county's other Superior Court judges would welcome the chance to avoid what can be an unpopular assignment.

"That's where my primary interest is," he said.

If he is elected, then he could get all the county family court cases for years to come.

The article says the local lawyers are pushing for Gallagher, a public defender. The third candidate is a prosecutor, and most of these judges are ex-prosecutors.

The lawyers in town probably like public defenders better than prosecutors and cops, so their preference does not mean much.

Does anyone know anything useful about these guys? I'd like to be an informed voter, but I don't have much to go on. I am suspicious of anyone who wants to run other peoples' lives. But maybe Crawford has some experience making domestic violence arrests, and would be an improvement.

Update: Crawford's web site is at http://crawford4judge.com. He believes that the family courts use too much voodoo psychobabble. I am convinced!

New California truancy law

AP reports:

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—The state of California would hold parents responsible if their children are chronically truant under a bill the state Senate approved Thursday.

The bill would let prosecutors charge parents with misdemeanors punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine if their kids miss too much school. Judges could delay the punishment to parents as an incentive to get their children to class.

It applies only to parents or guardians of children age 6 or older in kindergarten through eighth grade. Prosecutors would have to prove the parents failed to reasonably supervise and encourage the student to attend school.

Chronic truancy would be defined in a separate pending bill as missing 10 percent or more of the school year without a valid excuse.

The bill is Calif SB 1317.

A year in jail for missing some school seems extreme to me. The teachers at my kids' school seemed to waste about 50% of the time anyway. Nobody puts the teachers in jail for failing to teach.

My ex-wife asked CPS to send the police after missing a day of school. The cops reported that everything was fine. CPS normally does not intervene unless the kids are missing more than half of the school year.

I think this proposed law is ridiculous, but at least it would set a standard. I could miss 10% of the school year, and cite this law to say that it is legal.

Standing up for his kids

Fellow angry dad Dan got this email:

I don't think the approach of your website is the right way to go. I am a child psychologist and I know that fathers often get screwed in custody arrangements. I also think you were probably screwed. and treated unfairly. I do not think your website comes across the way you intend. When I read your website, I could feel your anger, which is justified. I felt a lot of bitterness in your statements and it seemed to me like you were feeling victimized. I don't think that's the tenor you want on a website trying to get your kids back.

So he should sit back and be silent when crooked court officials take his kids away?

Dan cannot win. If he were silent, then people would assume that he is guilty.

Of course Dan sticks up for his daughters, and speaks out against the evil forces that are conspiring to separate him from his daughters.

I think that something is wrong with this child psychologist. What kind of a child psychologist tells a father to keep quiet about people harming his daughters? Are there child psychology schools that teach such contemptible attitudes?

When I think of child psychologists, I think of that TV quack, Dr. Phil. He is not someone that you would ever want to take serious advice from. As far as I know, child psychologists pay little attention to objective research or common sense.

Kindergarten teacher acquitted

Tennessee news:

Tonya Craft was found not guilty of all 22 counts of child molestation by a jury in Ringgold on Tuesday afternoon.

As soon as the first not guilty count was read by Court Clerk Norman Stone, a shout arose in the hallway from supporters of the former Chickamauga Elementary School kindergarten teacher. ...

Three young girls had taken the witness stand to claim that Ms. Craft had molested them. Ms. Craft, who spent over $500,000 for her defense that included four attorneys, took the witness stand to deny every allegation. ...

Ms. Craft, who was facing some 400 years in prison if convicted of all counts, had soon arrived at the courthouse with her lead attorney.

The jury has deliberated a day and a half.

I did not follow this case, but there was apparently no hard evidence against her. It was mainly her word against the word of coached children.

Usually men face these phony charges, and they cannot escape by just taking the stand in their own defense. Some people naively think that kids always tell the truth, and don't realize how easily kids can be manipulated.

We don't have any male kindergarten teachers anymore, because of the fear of these kinds of false accusations.

If the teacher were really a child molester, then I would expect some tangible evidence and credible adult witnesses. Congratulations to Ms. Craft for standing up to this witch hunt, and winning.

Of course, she hasn't truly won. She lost her daughter, her home, her job, two years of her life, and $500k. She will probably never teach again, and have to move to another state. A false accusation can do a lot of damage.

New book on long sad story in family court

Dr. Helen recommends this new book:

Broken Family Law: In the Best Interests of the Minor Child, is Thomas A. Cherewick's contribution to anyone who has faced, or will be subjected to, the vagaries and unpredictability of the U.S. family law system. Two decades of being the Respondent in a child custody case give Cherewick the knowledge, expertise, and ammunition to deliver this no-holds-barred and highly enlightening book. More than a how-to guide, every section is about what works and what doesn't in a system that is flawed, often unfair, and undeniably broken. The author delivers important information about finding the right attorney and protecting oneself from setups, becoming well-versed in giving straightforward depositions and testimony, while juxtaposing against each informative point his frustrating encounters. Whether dealing with an ex, a divorce attorney, social worker or family law judge, Cherewick exposes how facts and the law are often manipulated for the good of one, often to the detriment of the child.

About the Author
Thomas A. Cherewick, a medical physicist and attorney dedicated to resolving medical malpractice cases that involve radiation exposure, came to this subject after being the Respondent in a child custody case that spanned twenty years and took place in both Montana and California. After losing custody of his daughter in Montana, and then gaining custody in California, he was convinced that the system of family law was sever ely flawed. He believes no parent or child should have to endure these struggles. Cherewick and his wife reside near Yellowstone National Park.

I cannot stand to read these books. They are too depressing.

Sometimes I think that my story is unique, and that no other family court could be so corrupt and destructive. But then I hear about some family court horror story elsewhere.

Video of SWAT Raid on Missouri Family

Reason magazine has video for this:

"http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2010/feb/23/family-questions-swat-drug-search-that-led-to/"> SWAT team breaks into home, fires seven rounds at family's pit bull and corgi (?!) as a seven-year-old looks on.

They found a "small amount" of marijuana, enough for a misdemeanor charge. The parents were then charged with child endangerment.

So smoking pot = "child endangerment." Storming a home with guns, then firing bullets into the family pets as a child looks on = necessary police procedures to ensure everyone's safety.

Just so we're clear.

A corgi is some sort of dog with a long body and short legs.

The libertarian magazine wants to legalize marijuana. But that is not my point. If possessing a small amount of marijuana is a misdemeanor offense, and they charge the guy with a misdemeanor, then I have no complaint about that.

But how is this child endangerment? Watch the video. The SWAT team looks like they are raiding Al Capone. It is overkill for a misdemeanor pot charge. Surely the child was more endangered by the SWAT team than anyone else.

Child's lawyer tries to destroy evidence

An angry mom in San Jose lost joint custody of her son because bruises were taken to be evidence of abuse. The bruises were shown to have a medical cause, but she still gets very limited visitation anyway.

Now the bruises continue, as well as cuts and rashes, while the boy is in the father's care.

The mom just got this email from the boy's court-appointed attorney:

All, I have, since my initial involvement in this matter had a big problem with photographs taken of [10-year-old son] in an effort to document evidence for the court proceedings. If this continues, and I’m assuming that these photos were not taken during [Mom]’s time with [visitation center], I will file a motion and request that only supervised visitation be allowed. I am very firm on this issue and if it doesn’t stop immediately, or if I’m made aware of it in the future, I will have no choice but to take action.

The court-appointed lawyer is not protecting the child; she is using her power to prevent the mom from documenting the truth.

The case of this boy has involved endless motions, hearings, evaluations, etc, burning hundreds of thousands of dollars. And there is no merit to any of it. The process only continues to exist in order to cover up the mistakes of the past. This email from the lawyer is the proof.