We have (or, I have…) been talking about “foundations.”  Well, the Foundation of the Family Law SYSTEM in at least the U.S. is a creature out of Hollywood, almost.  And it gradually morphed into the “AFCC” which as you know, I blog plenty at.  Probably because I’m pissed off at its initial premises, as well as pissed off at so many groups purporting to protect women and children FAILING to, er, mention, this group.

Me being somewhat religious in inclination to start with, NOW’s agenda wasn’t usually part of my normal vocabulary, or its concerns.  And being still young (40s), I hadn’t yet begun to fully appreciate how valuable feminism truly is, and how endangered a species, either.  But thank God, they existed, and for Helen Grieco/Rachel Allen et al.’s work on the Family Court Report….

I ran across NOW information almost incidentally while flailing around for some group (nonprofit, agency, professional — whoever) to make some sort of sense in why police thought they could fabricate informations on the reports, why the child support agency didn’t enforce, and how to survive without that danged protection order that had worked so very well for about the first few WEEKS of its existence (and not much more….).

Most of this information is from NOW (CANOW.org family law page) but recently — probably because I pushed this envelope so hard about AFCC — on a certain nonprofit’s web page, under:

The group is “Stop Court Ordered Child Abuse”(.org), a.k.a.

All Rights Reserved: Copyright © 2010
bestinterestsofthechild.com
stopcourtorderedchildabuse.org

{I’m curious about the Copyright, because this “BEWARE AFCC” information seems straight out of this page, almost):

CA NOW 2002 Family Court Report

CA NOW recognizes that there is a crisis in the family courts.  We have had hundreds of complaints from mothers whose divorce, custody and child support cases denied them their right to due process and failed to consider the best interests of the child.  CA NOW documented the results of analysis of 300 family law cases in our 2002 Family Court Report.

About 40% of custody cases are contested today due to allegations of child abuse, molestation and domestic violence. Tragically, in some of these cases perfectly fit mothers are losing custody of their children to abusers. Pseudoscientific psychological theories are used as legal strategies to switch custody from or deny visitation rights to mothers of abused children.   In cases where fathers contest custody, they win sole or joint custody 40 to 70 percent of the time.

This information (below) appears to come from Chapter 9 of this 2002 report:

9 Conflict of Interest and Corruption

a. “Court Cancer Metastasizes”

b. Audit of Los Angeles Judges Fund

(and I note — now that I look again — is credited to its source, as in:

Sincerely,

Helen Grieco CA NOW Executive Director

WHATEVER — so long as we get the message — think about this content!

“BEWARE AFCC“

(I don’t think this info was out, on the site, or in the promotions of this particular group, when I first put up the “ABCs of AFCC ~ Shady/Shaky Origins of Family Law” page, here.)

Registered with IRS and Secretary of State in Illinois, but claimed they were a charity and were brand new. But Meyer Elkin takes charge shortly after their incorporation. (NOTE: he is the co-founder of the CCC) Shortly afterwards they changed to Association of Family and Conciliation Courts** (dropped Law) (Not supposed to use a misleading name, claiming they are a court, but are not.) At the same time the Conference of Conciliation Courts was still operating in California and was not registered with the IRS.

**(a.k.a. “AFCC”)

1978 Child Custody Colloquium had their first conference.

1979 Conference of Conciliation Courts was suspended by Franchise Tax Board

Evidence: Secretary of State Status Inquiry

1981

The Association of Family Conciliation Courts was established as a foreign [i.e., out of state] non-profit corporation

(Get it?  “Metastasized…”)

Located at 111 N. Hill Street, LA (no room number, but in courthouse) Headquarters in Cook County, Illinois They are an Illinois corporation doing business in California. • Margaret Little is a custody evaluator since 1986 until now she is the child custody evaluator and the head of family court services in LA, and is the local agent/president, corporation head of the AFCC) • Jessica Pierson [s/be:  “Pearson”] is also an agent and incorporator outside of CA in Colorado**

Evidence: Secretary of State corporation papers filed in California No IRS papers filed.

**NB:  Center for Policy Research (read on…) operates from Denver, Colorado….

Who else is Jessica Pearson?  [I should go meet this woman some time — and give a piece of my mind…]

Pearson & CRC Per NAFCJ.net site:

Another AFCC founding official is Jessica Pearson, President of Center for Policy Research of Denver, Colorado, which is a primary consultant to the Department of Health and Human Services – Administration for Children & Families (HHS-ACF) which includes OCSE.

{{GOt that?  Got that??  CPR is a primary consultant to DHHS, including the CHILD SUPPORT factor, OCSE…}}

Pearson/AFCC have been using ther influence for many years to create pro-father programs and protocols which are steered to the pro-father court professionals who train others in the anti-mother evaluation tactics such as PAS.  She has been a frequent speaker at CRC and AFCC conferences and works closely with other fathers rights collaborators to promote PAS in government programs.

In 2000

OCSE Responsible Fatherhood Programs, Excerpts from, June 2000 report done for HHS by Center for Policy Research, Jessica Pearson, Ph.D.

they are for abating fathers child support arrears and paying for their custody attorney – which are not allowable services

CONTINUING with the “Beware AFCC” chronology of this group:….

1989 Association of Family Conciliation Courts surrenders their intrastate license to do business in

No longer supposed to be doing business in CA Evidence: Corporation papers

1990

Gregory Pentoney began working as an accountant for LA Municipal Court, 110 N. Grand, LA (same building as 111 N. Hill St., LA)

1990

Judges Miscellaneous Expense Fund bank statements indicate an account was established at Security Pacific National Bank

Address was Room 1198, 111 N. Hill Street, LA. This room is the Finance Department of the LA County Courthouse. Can’t tell exactly when it was established, since bank records destroyed after 7 years (and these records were requested in 1997) Evidence: Bank Statements Current BofA bank statements state that JMEF has been a customer since 1962. Curiously, that was the approximate date of the establishment of the Conference of Conciliation Courts which was also at located at 111 N. Hill Street.

1991

The County Functional Listing directory of phone numbers and addresses does not show any entry for Judges Miscellaneous Expense Fund in Room 1198

BUT there are two entries in LA and Norwalk for a Judges Trust Fund Accounting. • Judges wrote checks out of Judges Miscellaneous Expense Fund for cash. (Kelly O’Meara article) • A check made out to Family Court Services Special Fund was deposited into the Judges Miscellaneous Expense Fund. • A check from a District Attorney and his judge wife, David and Sally Disco, was made payable to Judges Trust Fund, and was deposited into the Judges Miscellaneous Expense Fund. • This is called “diversion of funds” because one can’t cash or deposit checks made out to one entity into the account of another entity. (Penal Code 487 Grand Theft Larceny, or Penal Code 484 if under $400 or Penal Code 242 Theft of Public Funds.)

1992

Al Schonbach began working for LA Superior Court, Manager of the Finance Department (Revenue and Pace-Professional And Court Accounting Expenditures handles all Court money from every part of LA)

Judges Trust Fund Accounting was listed in the County Directory

1992 14th Child Custody Colloquium

This book states that the LA Superior Court Judges Association created the Association of Family Conciliation Courts, which was formerly the Conference of Conciliation Courts founded in 1963. How conflict resolved. Judiciary and attorneys redefined roles, to learn and celebrate interdependence. Grown in stature,work together, cooperative judges, attorneys, mental health Promotes Richard Gardner and PAS. Thanked Pat Higgins especially. She collected money from lawyers to take the classes which were created and taught by judges and psychiatrists, free tickets were given to evaluators. Calderon (legislator) and Lionel Margolin (evaluator) were part of the colloquium.

1992 April 22, 1992 Security Pacific National Bank merged into Bank of America.

BofA is now the bank of record for the Judges Miscellaneous Expense Fund. The bank had to convert all the accounts from SPNB to BofA which took a year-it is a complex process.

1993

April 23, 1993 Bank of America/Security Pacific National Bank conversion completed.

All SPNB account numbers all had to be transferred and assigned a new BofA account number.

Not only was the Judges Miscellaneous Expense Fund given a new BofA account number, but it also received a new name. It is now the LA Superior Court Judges Association. Evidence: a signature card with the old and new account numbers and date of conversion. Neither JMEF or LASCJA is registered with the Secretary of State, FTB or IRS. There is between $60,000 and over $100,000 in the account, and one transaction was $30,000

1993

LA Superior Court Judges Association, an unincorporated, non-profit, nonbusiness

Evidence: On their business card.

Marvin Bryer’s daughter filed disqualifications on Presiding Judge Richard Denner (his Judicial Profile states his court is sexist) and head of Family Law Judge Kenneth Black in December due to fraud. At first both denied, then Kenneth Black disqualifed himself.

1994

January, Richard Denner becomes head of Family Law and is out of the case. Sacramento Judge Ford rules that since Black disqualifed himself, no hearing needs to be held.

Citizen Marvin Bryer reported possible financial fraud and wanted a criminal investigation in LA to Christopher Darden, Bureau of Special Operations (CID) in LA District Attorney’s office. . May 23, Christopher Darden declined to investigate.

Get the general idea?

AFCC’s own page states it started in 1963 with the publication of a certain quarterly.  If you’re a real going concern, one way to look like one is publish a magazine.  Of course with the internet, this is now even easier….

ABOUT AFCC

History

A Legacy of Innovation and Collaboration

The Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC) took root in California in the spring of 1963 with the creation of the California Conciliation Courts Quarterly, the first publication to promote the interchange of ideas between California’s conciliation courts. Judge Roger Alton Pfaff, presiding judge of the Superior Court of Los Angeles, wrote:

California has become a model for conciliation services as a part of the judicial function for other states to emulate and each year we find jurisdictions creating such services. It may well be that in the not too distant future this little publication may have a wider dissemination with similar courts in other states.

How nice;  Organizationally, tax-wise, transparency-wise,

The “BEWARE AFCC” page states the activities around this time as follows:

History of the AFCC – Association of Family and Conciliation Courts

COURT CANCER METASTASIZES Metamorphosis of the Conference of Conciliation Courts into the Association of Family Conciliation Courts A Guide to Destroying Children BY MARV BRYER

1939 Judges, lawyers and mental health professionals got State law passed (SB 737).

The 53rd Session of Legislature. The court became a lobby group. Each and every county would pay for marital counseling to help unclog the court system from divorce cases. The Family Law code • Section 1740 et seq formed The Children’s Courts of Conciliation, which was later repealed. • Section 1760 Article III Whenever any controversy exists, disruption of household with a minor child, the Court of Conciliation takes jurisdiction: to create a reconciliation. Evidence: Senate Bill and Family Law Code Lukewarm reception

1955 A Los Angeles judge formed the first Conciliation Court as per this law in Los Angeles.

1958 The Los Angeles County courthouse at 111 Hill Street was dedicated.

1962
The Conference of Conciliation Courts (CCC) established a bank account at Security First National Bank (which later became Security Pacific Bank)
Evidence: CCC 1968 Financial Statement. A balance from 5th Annual Conference is described. This indicates the account probably began 6 years before in 1962.

1963
Conference of Conciliation Courts, a private organization, was formed. The address of record was 111 N Hill Street, Room 241, which is the LA County public courthouse.
No incorporation documents on file, and no registration with Secretary of State, Franchise Tax Board or IRS. Evidence: Statement from IRS that there is no such entity and corporation papers in 1969. The founders of CCC were Los Angeles judge Roger Pfaff and Meyer Elkin. Six (6) California counties were involved • Los Angeles County • Imperial County • San Mateo County • San Bernardino County • Sacramento County – Albert H. Mundt, Phillip Schleimer • San Diego County 339 W Broadway The incomes of Blacks, Hispanics, Orientals, Caucasians were profiled.

Wonderful.  Here’s what Marv Bryer (Johnnypumphandle) thought of it in 1998, after doing some research:

CONCLUSION: My family and myself have been robbed of our money and our rights by a conspiracy that has operated since 1962. In 1962 a JUDGE NAMED ROGER ALTON PFAFF and his cohort – MEYER ELKIN. The association was called the CONFERENCE OF CONCILIATION COURTS. This association routed money through the LOS ANGELES COUNTY CONCILIATION COURT -111 North Hill Street, Los Angeles California, 90012, ROOM 241. In 1969 – the association incorporated and has NEVER PAID taxes. Assuming they used EIN 95-6000927 – then duping the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT was easy. In 1979 the corporation was suspended. There is no record that they surrendered their bank account or the EIN.

In California – the organization filed as a CIVIC LEAGUE – Revenue and Tax Code 23701g. A CONCILIATION COURT is NOT A CIVIC LEAGUE. The exemption certificate was mailed to a lawyer named Michael Aaronson at P.O. Box 1055, San Carlos California 94070. The STATE 3500 papers states the organization was to improve marriage counseling. However, conciliation court is a STATUTORILY mandated function of the COURT – not a private corporation for lying and thieving judges and their court staff. The income was alleged to be derived from dues and contributions. In reality, the funds came from laundering legal education money through the COURT CONCILIATION DEPARTMENT through the FINANCE DEPARTMENT.

Makes you think about all this constant ‘education” of the courts that the HHS keeps putting out for, i.e., see last post….

Looking up a little more on Judge Pfaff, who in 1941 was an Assemblyperson (see, passage of the Conciliation Law, above…), Lexis Nexis article (abstract) of 1994:

Copyright (c) 1994 San Diego Law Review Association
San Diego Law Review

ARTICLE: No-Fault Marital Dissolution: The Bitter Triumph of Naked Divorce

Spring, 1994

31 San Diego L. Rev. 519

Author

J. HERBIE DiFONZO *

Excerpt

In recent years, widespread disillusionment over no-fault divorce has focused debate on the equity of conflicting distributive schemes. The divorce revolution of the 1960’s has generally been condemned as a failed liberal reform. In this article, Professor DiFonzo re-examines the origins of the no-fault movement, concluding that the abandonment of fault grounds was conceived as a conservative measure intended to facilitate the reversal of the escalating divorce rate and to replace traditional marital dissolution with therapeutic divorce. Compulsory conciliation was the key tool in the anticipated era of modern divorce, in which newly-empowered family courts merged with the social-science and psychiatric establishment to dramatically expand the state’s role in supervising family life.

The reform collapsed at mid-point, achieving only the jettisoning of divorce grounds. Professor DiFonzo argues that while the envisioned super-courts were never funded,

The reform collapsed at mid-point, achieving only the jettisoning of divorce grounds. Professor DiFonzo argues that while the envisioned super-courts were never funded, {{This is 2011, and I’m not sure this statement still appies…}}an unintended consequence of the reform battle has survived to haunt divorce law for the next generation. The elimination of grounds transformed mutual consent divorce, the operating milieu for most of the twentieth century, into divorce on demand. The transition in divorce law from a mild reinforcement of mutuality to an enshrinement of the right of unilateral marriage demolition has resulted in a significant loss for women.

Possibly so, as practiced….

Back to NAFCJ.net on –well, “fathers rights and judges” page…

We need to understand a bit about “CRC” (Childrens Rights Council), and overlap with AFCC:

One important factor which the fathers rights leaders never mention is that their leading group, CRC, was set up many years ago by people who were officials of secretive judicial organizations – AFCC: Association of Family & Conciliation Courts — established in Los Angeles in 1982 [Should/be 1962, I think] by L.A. judges and a few others, including a man named Meyer Elkin, (now deceased) who was a prison sex offender psychologist
(NAFCJ note: a profession notorious for being sympathetic to sex offenders).

But Meyer Elkin was not the only AFCC official who was also a founding official, or closely associated with the leading fathers rights group – CRC.  Joan Kelly, of Marin County CA, does research and trains court professionals,  is also a AFCC and CRC founding official. Several other AFCC officials or leaders are also closely associated with the fathers right groups.   This and other factors show that the fathers rights movement was a creation of a ring judges who dominate the family court system and public policy  in many states.  These judges are not only hearing a large percentage of domestic litigation, they are also writing the state laws covering custody, divorce and child support.  In addition they influence HHS-ACF agency which controls most of the grant funds going to the state level agencies and courts. Their people are getting the grants and using for the fathers rights cases.

READ ABOUT THESE GROUPS TO COMPREHEND THE EXTENT OF THIS COLLUSION

I recently read some of the CRC’s history page also, but now’s not the time to post it.

More from the NAFCJ page, which I WISH I’d read prior to losing my kids on an overnight in an atmosphere of escalating harassment, child support arrears (no explanation offered) and with apparent impunity, no matter what the guy did.

The  AFCC never mentions the multiple cross-affiliations between AFCC officials and the fathers rights group including Children’s Rights Council (CRC), founded by David Levy  in 1985, along with several other key AFCC people.  While this vital fact is no where to be found on any of their recent literature, it did appear in the early (pre-Interent) CRC hardcopy newsletters,  which NAFCJ possesses, and uses to discredit this group and the judges who collude with them.  Also in these older CRC newsletters was discussion of grants they received from HHS and the people who worked with them on those grants – people like incest promoters Richard Gardner and Warren Farrell.  CRC allies were put into high-level HHS-ACF position such David Gray Ross, as Commission for Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) -starting in 1993 through approx 1999..  Ross was a Maryland Judge, who people who knew him say was a dead-beat dad himself.  He spent his time as OCSE commissioner instituting regulations, programs and policies favorable to fathers and CRC.  He essentially set up OCSE to be a fathers rights child support avoidance and custody switching agency.  This perversion of  OCSE’s  agency’s original legislative mission continues to-date.  This is the reason why so many custodial mothers can’t collect on their child support arrears, while non-custodial mothers are hounded incessantly and even jailed for support obligations assessed beyond standard guide-lines and beyond their ability to pay.   Other evidence taken from HHS Inspector General Web site reveals even worse corruption at HHS-ACF/OCSE.

The AFCC claims their focus is on training judges, custody evaluators and mediators about custody and divorce issues. But in reality they are a father focused organization and promoting alienation theories to explain away family violence by men. In reality they act as a “clearinghouse” for organized case rigging.  They hold conferences about parental alienation but never mention the many professional experts who have condemned it as harmful to children or the link to incest promoter Richard Gardner.  Their  scheme involves “recruiting” male litigants through fathers groups and federal HHS programs managed by the local child support agencies for program “services” which are ostensibly for helping non-custodial fathers get their visitation rights so they would have less incentive to default on child support obligations.  Instead the fathers get deals to have their support obligations closed and sent to a program paid attorney to litigant for custody.  The judge hearing these cases proves payments to the court-colluding fathers attorney and other supposedly “neutral” court evaluators.   None of this is disclosed to the targeted female litigant who sometimes is also ordered to pay the fees of these court professionals (e.g. illegal double billing)..  The father is encouraged to file repeated motions (usually on frivolous claims of visitation denial or alienation) so the co-conspiring court professionals can get a steady stream of government payments.  It appears the judge handling these cases gets a kickback from those being paid (with his approval) based on a few exposed examples.  This is what keeps their litigation game going and going.  They label it high-conflict bitter custody litigation to hide their own fraud.  The blame the mother for everything and keep her away from her children so she will be desperate to go back to court and get a chance to convince them of the truth (which of course they already know, and are exploiting perversely against her).

Basic Judicial ethics prohibits judges from belonging to organizations with people who appear before them in the court cases.  However, this doesn’t stop the crooked  AFCC affiliated judges from appointing Guardian at Litem (child’s attorneys) or court psychological evaluators who are AFCC members to the same cases which the AFCC member judge is handling.  Also the AFCC conducts joint conferences with the CRC – fathers rights group – usually on the subject of Parental Alienation – which they all know has been discredited as being not a valid method for use in court evaluations.

Other people on AFCC’s Board of Directors are many people closely associated with the Children’s Rights Council.  Their  favorite researcher  —  Sanford L. Braver, Ph.D. — was a recipient of a $10M federal grant.  Braver,  found, astoundingly, as a result of his study that after divorce, women do as well financially as men!   Bradford and many other purported “neutral” expert evaluators all work in concert behind the scenes to issue rubber-stamp anti-woman, pro-abusive father evaluations for the primary intent of deliberately covering up for abusive fathers (as a protection racket fueled by federal program graft).

The reason so many groups do NOT really follow up on this material is that doing so would expose, as it says, Federal Program Graft, and so very many groups are on the receiving end of — you got it — federal programs directed to solve this or that problem, mostly likely ones created to start with by this setup.

Just how are you going to Reform THIS much indoctrination, plus a little financial incentive too? — Univ. Baltimore Law School & AFCC:

• Marsha Kline Pruett, Ph.D., Working with Children of Separation and Divorce: Fostering Healthy Family Transitions, December 7-8, 2005 (with AFCC)
• Joan B. Kelly, Ph.D., Parenting Coordination: Helping High Conflict Parents Resolve Disputes, January 11-12, 2005 (with AFCC)
• Joan B. Kelly, Ph.D., Parenting Coordination: Working with High Conflict Parents, March 30-31, 2004 (with AFCC)
• Robin Deutsch, Ph.D., Child Custody Disputes: Beyond the Basics, December 6-7, 2004 (with AFCC)
• Phillip M. Stahl, Ph.D., Conducting Child Custody Evaluations, December 8-9, 2003 (with AFCC)

Pruett– Fatherhood friendly, as is her husband.

Joan Kelly — see above, and CRC founding official

Deutsch (sorry, not so familiar, though I recognize the name)

Stahl — I studied this one; he moved from a Northern California County to Phoenix, AZ; paid to train judges, and trains into PAS, straight through from the start, practically… (the link is to a Canadian site…)

CALIFORNIA PSYCHOLOGIST, March 1999, Vol. 32, No. 3, p 23ff

Alienation And Alignment Of Children

by Philip M. Stahl, Ph.D.

Prior to 1970, it was rare that parents disputed custody of their children. Beginning in the early 1970’s, parents began litigating over child custody as a result of changes in societal factors and custody laws. With this increase in litigation, Gardner (1987) observed and outlined a concept that he referred to as “Parental Alienation syndrome.” Currently, there is a significant dispute among experts whether parental alienation is a syndrome, as well as the causes and remedies of parental alienation. This brief article will describe some of the dynamics related to the alignment and alienation of children and provide some solutions for these children. For purposes of this article, I am accepting the premise that alienation exists and that the child is caught in a battle between the alienating parent and the alienated parent. There is little research on the effects of alienation on children, either the long-term impact on a child being alienated from a parent. the long-term impact of a change of custody to remedy alienation, or which qualities within the child might help to mitigate against the alienating behaviors of both parents.

What Is Parental Alienation?

While Gardner was the first to coin the phrase “Parental Alienation Syndrome.” Wallerstein and Kelly (1980) first wrote about a process which they termed “alignment with one parent.” In their break-through book, Surviving the Breakup, they wrote:

Here’s a Philip Stahl site, “Parenting After Divorce”:

Parenting After Divorce
Philip M. Stahl, Ph.D.

About | Services | Books | Articles | Training

Take Dr. Stahl’s online CE courses at the Steve Frankel Group.

Upcoming Trainings:

Please check back for future upcoming trainings.
Philip Stahl, Ph.D., ABPP (Forensic) is a psychologist licensed in California (#PSY 10272), Michigan (#6301001615), and Arizona (#3843). Dr. Stahl lives in Maricopa County Arizona, though his work takes him all over the country. Dr. Stahl is a practitioner, author, and teacher, specializing in high conflict families of divorce.**. He has served on numerous committees and task forces designed to improve the quality of work in his field. He teaches judges, attorneys, psychologists and other mental health professionals about issues affecting families and children. His expertise is accepted in courts across the country.

the categories in red basically comprise who started the family law field to start with….

**high-conflict is a code word (and euphemism)  for violent.  Arizons is where a female legislator was targeted and SHOT recently, and it’s where Dawn Axsom lost her life; it’s a hellhole for divorce.

If you are a professional, you will probably be interested in his training, either at conferences or for ongoing continuing education. Dr. Stahl specializes in training judges, presenting workshops to judges in Arizona, California, Virginia, Utah, Ohio, Texas, Michigan, and other states. He is on the faculty of National Judicial College and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. ***

Most recently, Dr. Stahl, along with several co-faculty, has developed and begun to teach a course titled Modern Divorce Advocacy through the National Institute for Trial Advocacy. As an approved provider of continuing education for the American Psychological Association and an approved provider of legal specialist education (family law) for the California Bar Association, Dr. Stahl also provides ongoing training and continuing education workshops for psychologists and attorneys.

**sometimes mothers get off on stating how this NCFCJ has discredited PAS.  No matter how often I bring this up, they do not process the fact that NCFCJ also hosts people such as Philip Stahl, who acknowledges and promotes the concept

YOU CANNOT, ANY MORE, SEPARATE THE “CFCC” functions of the courts with this AFCC:

Here’s one I found — turns out to be Baltimore, again:

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Families Matter: Reforming the Family Law Process

It is hard to believe it already has been almost six months since CFCC and the ABA Section of Family Law co-sponsored the Families Matter Symposium. We at CFCC are excited about the work that has been done since the symposium to expand the Families Matter initiative. Because of the partnerships that this initiative created – among CFCC, the ABA, the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC), and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ), to name a few – we are able to tackle the issue of family law reform from every angle, something that has been a struggle in the past.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

The Families Matter Symposium: Working Toward a More Therapeutic Family Justice System

The invitation-only “Families Matter” Symposium was held last Thursday and Friday, June 24 and 25, at the University of Baltimore.  Co-sponsored by CFCC and the American Bar Association Section of Family Law, the symposium promises to be a powerful catalyst for change.  It was exhiliarating to participate in the exchange of groundbreaking ideas that emerge when you put together some of the leading professionals from a range disciplines to discuss how to improve the experience of children and families in the family justice system.

More exciting, however, is the fact that this group of high-powered experts is committed to move from theory to action by implementing many of their recommendations for changing the family law system.

Maryland’s Chief Judge Robert Bell’s inspiring keynote reminded participants to keep those families who are less fortunate in mind while developing a roadmap for the future, and Georgia’s retired Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, in her heartfelt concluding address, urged us to focus on the preservation of stable families when possible, even while considering the divorce process.

In the coming months and years, we will work together with our partners to ensure that therapeutic reform touches legal and court structures, relevant service providers from across disciplines, and the lawyers and other legal actors who work so closely with families. It is our hope that family law horror stories – from cutthroat attorneys who seemingly care nothing for the havoc wreaked on their clients’ lives to disjointed, overtaxed systems that extend the time, agony, and unpredictability of already explosive situations – will dwindle and eventually become a thing of the past as this comprehensive, nationwide effort takes its hold. 

CFCC currently is involved in many projects relating to the Families Matter initiative:

• In the coming months, CFCC plans to publish and share a final report from the Families Matter Symposium – complete with insights into the problems underlying family justice system dysfunction across the country, proposed solutions, and concrete action steps that interested parties can take to help ensure that the reform vision becomes a reality.
• In a similar vein, CFCC has devoted an entire issue (forthcoming in January) of its Unified Family Court Connection newsletter to the Families Matter Symposium, with select symposium participants writing in-depth about their involvement in and reflections about the symposium

You see, with all this training — someone always PAYS the trainers — whether the government, or the liigants, or both.  These grants are not monitored as they should be (that’s already been acknowledged) and are in part to conduct research and demonstrations upon the populace that is forced and dragged to show up before them.  JUDGES can order it, and extort compliance by either removing a child, or throwing someone in jail.

DivorceDex definition of AFCC:

DefinitionASSOCIATION OF FAMILY AND CONCILIATION COURTS (AFCC) – an association founded in the late 1960s by professionals concerned about the care and custody of children and the collaborative settlement of disputes.

Application in DivorceAFCC is an association of judges, counselors, court personnel, attorneys, mediators, researchers and teachers concerned with the resolution of family disputes as they affect children. The association develops and improves the practice of mediation and counseling as a complement to judicial procedures.

AFCC conducts research and offers technical assistance and training to courts, legal associations, judicial associations and behavior science processionals.

Behavior science professionals — operating in the courts.  AFCC members also include (probably the majority of them) COURT professionals themselves.  In short, they are steering business to themselves…  They are the originators of the “mediation” concept, it seems (in this field), but as practiced it’s NOT mediation, because federal grants to the states give an incentive for that mediator to switch custody or increase noncustodial parenting time.  Moreover, these professionals are not held to obey their own rules (rules of court rules, I mean) and rarely do consequences happen when they fail to.  “Next, please!”

AFCC Massachusetts: Chapter founded, 1993

ITS RESULTS ARE THE EXACT OPPOSITE, AND THAT’S NOT EVEN NEWS ANY MORE!

Here’s what its president does:

MEMBER PROFILE

David Medoff, Ph.D.

David Medoff, Ph.D.

Boston, Massachusetts

David Medoff, Ph.D., Forensic Psychologist. Associate Professor of Education and Human Services and Director of the Mental Health and Counseling Program at Suffolk University, and President of the Massachusetts Chapter of AFCC, Boston, Massachusetts.

What does your current position entail?

In my private practice, I conduct a wide variety of foren- sic psychological evaluations and consultations. I am trained in both pediatric and adult forensic assessment and I perform evaluations that involve high conflict divorce, child custody, parent-child contact and visitation, child develop- ment and attachment, child abuse and neglect, and juvenile delinquency.

He says regarding this field…

“For mental health practitioners, it is the merging of clinical knowledge and experience with the foreign culture of the law. For attorneys, it is the blending of specialized legal knowledge with the complexity of psychopathology and the field of mental health”

Yes, the law HAS become a foreign culture anymore, in these fields, as AFCC promised on its “History” page it intended to happen.  Transforming from the “old” language of criminal law..  to (therapeutic jurisprudence, what else?).

Remember, this whole organization began with tax evasion, fraud, and people who thought incest (Warren Farrell fans) was a good idea, and spouting Gardner TO THIS DAY on many sites….

Here’s the MASSACHUSETTS “Family & Probate” web page:

It’s convenient to combine family & probate, because someone has to fund all the prolonged family law litigation, and it’s good to find out right up front (if you’re in this field) which parent has the wealth. Then the child(ren) can be suddenly transferred to the OTHER side so that they will fight to get ’em back.  Let the games begin!

However, I note that there’s an AFCC link (actually two links) here, and this is a GOVERNMENT site, but AFCC is NOT a government-funded entity…

Self Help

• AFCC Shared Parenting
• Alternative Dispute Resolution

And, first under “Additional resources…”

Other Helpful Links

• Association of Family and Conciliation Courts

GEE — in California, they just have AFCC publish most of the materials coming through the courts.  In Massachusetts, why bother?  They just put a link right in there…

OHIO — 2007 AFCC CONFERENCE:

The title of this one just makes me want to “puke”: (better seen in original).

The presenters include some of the names above — Stahl (PAS adherent), Deutsch (selling her stuff, too), and many judges.  at $131 a night probably tax-deductible, what a nice opportunity to discuss what to do with families they are helping bankrupt — “in the best interests of the children.”

Association of Family and Conciliation Courts and National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges

Present

Fall Regional Training Conference

Applications for High Conflict Families, Domestic Violence and Alienation

Join NCJFCJ and AFCC for this first-time collaboration!

{{note — they have members in common…}}

• Three days of conference program and skills training with the leading professionals in the field. • Professional Tracks for judicial officers, lawyers, mediators, custody evaluators and parenting coordinators. • Pick one track or mix and match the workshops of interest to you. • Outstanding continuing education opportunities (see details on page 11).

• Three days of parenting coordination programs based on the AFCC Parenting Coordination Guidelines Recommended Training.

Professional Tracks

Lawyers

Mediators

Custody Evaluators

Judges

Parenting Coordinators

Thursday Pre-conference institutes

Representation in Domestic Relations Cases with Family Violence

Mediating Enduring Conflict and Power Imbalances

Domestic Violence and Alienation

The Child’s Voice in Custody Disputes

The Parenting Coordination Process

AND of course, how to handle cases where one partner has engaged in such things as threats to kill, injuries, kidnapping or threats to, consistent patterns of neglect, intimidation, property destruction, and other things that would land a stranger that did that to you in jail.  As we see:

9. Applying Therapeutic Jurisprudence in Domestic Violence Cases (J)

Therapeutic jurisprudence can be conceptualized as a study of how psychology and law can unite to promote therapeutic out- comes. Theoretically, therapeutic jurisprudence is based on both social psychology and cognitive behaviorism. In the case of domestic violence, it identifies the factors that impact judg- ments of procedural justice, which in turn may promote behav- ioral change, or the unintentional reinforcement of maladaptive behavior. Domestic violence research shows that laws, judges, attorneys and mental health professionals can achieve iatrogenic or therapeutic effects for both victims and offenders as a function of the legal system. This workshop will provide an introduction to therapeutic jurisprudence, as well as how that construct can influence change through legal means. In addition, it will help judges and others involved in these cases understand that the manner in which domestic vio- lence cases are processed in court can affect the way offenders and victims view their roles in the violence, which has direct links to issues of safety, recidivism, and compliance with orders.

Gail A. Poyner, Ph.D., Choctaw, OK

Annette Prince, J.D., M.S.W., Director, Palliative Care Resource Center, Oklahoma City, OK

In addition, one can see them promoting their own pamphlets to the professionals, to feed the clients — only 25 cents, or 20cents each for around 1,000.

IF THERE HAS BEEN CHILD ABUSE< THIS CONFERENCE HAS A SOLUTION — read carefully:

8. Evaluating Allegations of Child Abuse & Neglect in Complex Child Custody Cases (CE)

This workshop provides a structured approach for identifying and assessing the interdependent variables of a child cus- tody/visitation evaluation containing allegations of child abuse and neglect. Several myths regarding child sexual abuse (CSA) will be discussed. Using Heilbrun’s forensic evaluation model and Kuehnle’s scientist-practitioner model, this workshop will teach the participants how to organize the evaluation tasks of assessing the child’s needs and the parents’ capacities to meet those needs, while assessing the child abuse and neglect alle- gations. Related variables such as domestic violence, parental “gate keeping,” and alienation will also be discussed.

H.D. Kirkpatrick, Ph.D., ABPP, Charlotte, NC

Children need to be SAFE from molestation, or watching their siblings molested, AND from violence from a parent towards them, a sibling, or the other parent.  The courts are doing the EXACT OPPOSITE of what one would expect in this regard — and AFCC members are coaching each other how to do this, and getting extra credit in the courts (CLE, I mean) for doing so.

For “parental gate keeping” read — Protecting one’s children.  Of course right next to it, ‘alienation’ has to get in there.  This is simply PR and marketing.

ONE MORE FAMILY LAW AFCC SITE: HOFstRA:

This is an AFCC Associate Director (Per AFCC home site):

Associate Director
Leslye Hunter, M.A., LMFT, LPCC

Leslye Hunter has served as Associate Director since 2008 and was Chapter Services and Development Consultant from 2006-2008. She is a licensed marriage and family therapist and professional counselor who has practiced as a custody evaluator, parent educator, mediator and parenting coordinator. She served on the boards of the Family Mediation Council of Louisiana and Voices for Children; chaired a subcommittee on Evaluator Standards and Guidelines for the Louisiana State Bar Association Family Courts Committee and sat on the Louisiana State Board of Social Work Task Force for Child Custody Evaluation Standards. She was on the Steering Committee of the AFCC/Hofstra University Law School Family Law Education Reform Project and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Child Custody. She was President of AFCC in 2004-2005, during which time she appointed the AFCC Child Custody Evaluation Model Standards Task Force. She earned her B.A. in Psychology from Beloit College where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Her M.A. in Psychology was earned from Long Island University, New York.

HOFSTRA co-publishes FAMILY COURT REVIEW with the AFCC.

Peter Salem (Exec. Dir of AFCC) has a role on Hofstra, and a google of AFCC or his name (therein) will bring up many hits.

The “Family Law Education Reform Project” is seen on page 15-16 of this 2005 publication (pdf), and describes the function of family law as it’s now conceived.  This is discussing how to train upcoming family lawyers:

In reality, today’s family courts incorporate a wide variety of dispute resolution procedures and are populated by professionals from multiple disciplines. Many jurisdic- tions have unified family courts that group a range of issues – from divorce and custody to juvenile crime to child support – under one roof, with a single judge.

Specialized courts for domestic violence, drug abuse, and permanency planning also dispense both mental health and legal services, involving the courts in interventions in the family that are designed to meet therapeutic goals.

Only problem — that’s not what courts are for.  Civil courts are not “therapeutic.”  Criminal courts are not “therapeutic” in intention.  Torts are about breach of contract.  Crimes are about crimes.  But family law is about therapy — whether or not we want it, and we must pay for it because of a divorce and (seeing as divorce normally involves inability to get along) we can’t figure out the kid thing?  HOw is a woman support to “figure out” a parenting plan with a man that’s been assaulting her — and why does he even GET a parenting plan, rather than just gol- dang OUT?

The answer lies, among other places,  in welfare reform, and the need of certain professionals to maintain their profession.

As a result, family court judges do not serve only as adju- dicators – they may also oversee a multi-disciplinary group of service providers all engaged with the children and families whose cases are before the court. This com- plex mix of professions, skills and roles is still evolving. In addition to lawyers and judges, mediators, custody evaluators, guardians ad litem, parent educators and par- enting coordinators are all powerful actors in today’s fam- ily courts. Indeed, today’s family lawyer works in a world where understanding the work of dispute resolution and mental health professionals may be as essential as knowl- edge of governing statutes and constitutional doctrine

And THAT, my friends, is why you can’t reform it.  You cannot really separate AFCC (which is a ring of judges, to start with, and ongoing) from the family law system — because one basically started the other in Southern California this long ago.  It’s about fraud, kickbacks, and mental health professionals with their captive audiences.  PERIOD.

You pump in child abuse, or wife abuse or other criminal matters into this system, and it will come out (years later) ground up and re-packaged (shrink-wrapped) as a “family problem” that these people need to solve.

We have seen this in action, far from the conferences and the classrooms.  It punished mothers who protest abuse and has them paying $200 an hour, or $75 an hour to see their own kids — after they report any abuse.  If they get to do even that.  if they flee with the children, they are hunted down and jailed, or punished with total removal, at times — and that includes from overseas.  If they protest and expect child support to actually be enforced, and go to the local child support agency to do so, that agency (behind their backs) is literally being PAID (by the Federal Govt – taxpayers) — to recruit fathers into programs (that enrich people running the programs) to engage in frivolous litigation in exchange for reduced or eliminated child support — or what’s even more of a triumph,Dad gets custody and MOM pays him child support, even after abuse.

You cannot “reform” this.  We need to understand the foundations — and that things not built on a solid foundation (and this on sure ain’t) will need to be propped up and propped up and endanger others near it.

We need to understand also that anything which had a defined BEGINNING can as well have a DEFINED end.

I have just shown you from a private university in New York that those educating family lawyers include that it’s as important to know about mental health profession(als) as it is about constitutional issues.

Please see my post on the “FAMILY COURT ARCHIPELAGO” and I believe that one also referenced BAHRAIN.

This is insane, and it’s improper use of the U.S. populace, especially with the budget problems.

You do not “reform” things that are this far off the mark.  You boycott them. You find ways to shut them down based on their misappropriation of federal funds AND you teach others how to do this.

I am just undressing the thing a little bit here – it’s NOT about law, it’s about endless education, and money laundering seems to be a innate part of the operational system, as witnessed when people get caught.  See my last posts also..