This post title with a “shortlink” attached is:

Evaluate, Coordinate, call “Alienator!” Pt. 4– Three AFCC Ph.D.’s on ONE case & “PAS” = 2011 NH Supreme Court custody reversal. And what’s Warshak got to do with it? [First publ. June 15, 2011, not on blog TOC yet]. (WordPress-generated, case-sensitive shortlink ends “-JR”. Note: for normal URLs (web addresses), upper or lower case alpha doesn’t seem to matter, but I’ve learned that within this domain (WordPress) and in such short-links, it does.

LGH UPDATE NOTE:  My current table of contents only goes back to Sept., 2012; this is a June 15, 2011 post (early on in this blogger’s learning curve!) so would only be found by search, some other link reference to it, or by Year/Month/Date through the “Archives” (by month) on this blog.  

I added some quick (not thorough) updates on Overcoming Barriers at the bottom in response to a comment submitted March, 2016…including tax returns, California corporate registration (Massachusetts could also be searched). 

For a December 2017 Update (which at first I thought might fit in here), see:

I was just going to add a very short update (that comment, it seems, in March 2016), but instead added a section on renewed Parental Alienation discussions, and the socialist “re-education camps” in Viet Nam after South fell to the North, in 1975.  Similar in other countries.   Major quality and scope difference — but force is force, and at some levels, it’s also a form of psychological, personal violence. In my opinion.  So, the original (written/published in 2011) post begins in maroon font and below a double-line after the following paragraphs and a few quotes:

Speaking of how to continue keeping “Parental Alienation” conversation going — and ordering services to undo it through the family courts — I recently noticed that a “Dr. Craig Childress” (Craig A. Childress, Psy.D.) is resurrecting parental alienation under a different theory; I have some comments on it over at Red Herring Alert (a wordpress blog).  “Same old, same old” with new window dressing and tactics (Childress recommends pressuring providers who do NOT recommend IMMEDIATE, safety-for-the-child total separation from the alienating parent (i.e., “mom” typically) through their licensing board, if this could be categorized under some existing DSM-defined disorder.  

You cannot really argue with self-referencing, self-congratulating circles of experts on this matter which is why I recommend a more interesting angle of approach:  If they incorporate, find tax returns and corporate records; if they get contracts with the courts, or government grants to run “reunification camps” and similar therapy for parental alienation (in its old or new classifications), pay attention to the details!

The technique and ability to re-indoctrinate people in groups, as well as children, was also in common use in socialist countries; I believe the term used was “re-education camps,” referring to those in South Viet Nam after the fall of Saigon in 1975:   Search “Vietnamese Re-Education Camps: A Brief History” (that’s supplemental reading, from a man’s father’s oral history — he lived through such camps — from “Choices” program at Brown; see website) or  “Vietnamese Re-Education Camps” from “VietNamWar.info.”

The second link introduces and describes the various levels.  I wonder, in the USA, why the country is so heavily invested in a class of professionals whose purpose seems to be behavioral change and keeping up-to-date with tactics and strategies for re-indoctrinating children, women and men into their proper social relationships with each other and particularly after one or more of the same has spoken out about some prior injustice, or sought to escape being subjected to abuse by a family member.  These camps apparently went on from 1975 – 1986 until people still being held were allowed to emigrate to the US.

 “Vietnamese Re-Education Camps” from “VietNamWar.info.” Posted 4/17/2014 by “kubia”

Following the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, Vietnamese Communist government began to open hundreds of “re-education” camps throughout the country. Those camps, as Hanoi officially claimed, were places where individuals could “learn about the ways of the new government” through education and socially constructive labor.

In 1975, it was estimated that around 1 to 2.5 million people1, including former officers, religious leaders, intellectuals, merchants, employees of the old regime, and even some Communists, entered the camps in the hope that they could quickly reconcile with the new government and continued their peaceful life. However, their time in those camps did not last for ten days or two weeks as the government had claimed.

Re-education Camps Levels

The re-education camps were organized into five levels. The level-one camps which were called as study camps or day-study centers located mainly in major urban centers, often in public parks, and allowed attendees to return home each night. In those camps, some 500,000 people2 were instructed about socialism, new government policy in order to unlearn their old ways of thinking. The level-two camps had a similar purpose as the level-one, but attendees were not allowed to return home for three to six months. During the 1970s, at least 200,000 inmates entered more than three hundred level–two camps2.

The level-three re-education camps, known as the socialist-reform camps, could be found in almost every Southern Vietnam province containing at least 50,000 inmates2. Most of them were educated people and thus less susceptible to manipulation than most South Vietnamese in the level-one and two camps. Therefore, the inmates (or prisoners) in these camps had to suffer poorer living conditions, forced labor and daily communist indoctrination.

The last two types of camps were used to incarcerate more “dangerous” southern individuals – including writers, legislator teachers, supreme court judges, province chiefs – until the South was stable to permit their release. By separating members of certain social classes of the old regime, Hanoi wanted to prevent them from conducting joint resistances and forced them to conform to the new social norms. In 1987, at least 15,000 “dangerous” persons were still incarcerated level-four and level-five camps2.

Camp Conditions and Deaths

In most of the re-education camps, living conditions were inhumane. Prisoners were treated with little food, poor sanitation, and no medical care3. They were also assigned to do hard and risky work such as clearing the jungle, constructing barracks, digging wells, cutting trees and even mine field sweeping without necessary working equipments.

Although those hard work required a lot of energy, their provided food portions were extremely small. As a prisoner recall, the experience of hunger dominated every man in his camp. Food was the only thing they talked about. Even when they were quiet, food still haunted their thoughts, their sleep and their dreams. Worse still, various diseases such as malaria, beriberi and dysentery were widespread in some of the camps. As many prisoners were weakened by the lack of food, those diseases could now easily take away their lives.

Starvation diet, overwork, diseases and harshly punishment resulted in a high death rate of the prisoners. According to academic studies of American researchers, a total of 165,000 Vietnamese people died in those camps4.

The End of “Re-education” Period

Most of the re-education camps were operated until 1986 when Nguyen Van Linh became the General Secretary of the Communist Party. He began to close the harsher camps and reformed the others5. Two year later, Washington and Hanoi reached an agreement that Vietnam would free all former soldiers and officials of the old regime who were still held in re-education camps across the country and allowed them to emigrate to the United States under the Orderly Departure Program (ODP). As of August 1995, around 405,000 Vietnamese prisoners and their families were resettled in the U.S6.

– See more at: thevietnamwar.info/vietnamese-re-education-camps/..

The forced “Reunification Camps” (far less harsh, but still forced, and still designed to produce an attitude change) have their professionals willing to engage in these practices.

I think it must take a certain kind of mentality, if not personality aberrancy, to believe in this and what’s more preach about it and take in business to engage in it.

For some reason, those “Re-education camps” remind me of, though lesser in degree, the same idea as, for example, “overcoming barriers.”  It’s still based on force — and who knows how many similar programs are operating around the country.  As I write this, the Grazzini-Rucki runaway teens were reported (in 2016) to being re-indoctrinated to like their father (who they’d run away from as young teens), while the mother, until recently, was incarcerated for parental interference.  See my more recent 2016 posts).

Here’s a sample.  I see he’s from Pasadena, California (Los Angeles area).  To see it in better formatting (the “copy” function sometimes removes all spaces between words!) click on link:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/165394444/Dr-Craig-Childress-DSM-5-Diagnosis-of-Parental-Alienation-Processes#scribd.

C. A. CHILDRESS, Psy.D.LICENSED CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST, PSY 18857

 547 S. MARENGO DR., STE 105 • PASADENA, CA 91101 • (909) 821-5398

Page 1 of 10

DSM-5 Diagnosis of “ParentalAlienation”

(Found images at the above link and added a few, 2017):

Craig Childress (scribd excerpts) trying to get Parental Alienation (paving the way for forced treatments thereof presumably) into DSM 5 under Borderline Personality Disorder. Apparently. With two other images quoted in my 6/15/2011 post.

Nice to know he’s referring to resources that ALMOST predate the women’s movement, including the movement to protect battered women through development of shelters and laws, of the 1970s,

What is the personality disorder of individuals who need to develop specialized jargon for labeling all other individuals?  Someone needs to develop this taxonomy (make it sound academic; this shouldn’t be to hard with a little practice; make sure to adopt a detached, objective tone before letting loose with a string of names to describe people who may not see the world as you do…).

(more “Childress” from the Scribd link above)

Click image to enlarge as needed.

Anyhow, this is evidently making the rounds, and being promoted on family law and other blogs, for example, this is in March, 2014 from a wordpress blog called “Wallin Family Law Group” (two attorneys are mentioned):

Dr. Craig Childress

I want to be clear that 95% of this blog post will be the thoughts, ideas, and words of Dr. Craig Childress.   He is a licensed clinical psychiatrist who specializes in Parental Alienation. He explains how and why Parental Alienation occurs through explaining the Attachment System.   You can find Dr. Craig Childress at by clicking here.   If this blog post inspires you, I encourage you to go to Dr. Childress’ site to learn more.

The last post hopefully eradicated any questions about the neutrality of the Parenting Coordination Profession, let alone idea.  It’s part over the overall business-producing racket; the heady & VERY profitable business of messing with families and calling it serving them.

And how it’s made a mockery of the concepts of law. Out-come based custody hearings?  Then what’s the point of the farce?  They become kangaroo courts.

I may not feel too responsible after this to continue posting the truth about the AFCC, they are tearing up the place as far as I am concerned.  What to do about this is another matter.  I do know that crying “domestic violence” or “abuse” or even “incest” while this system exists is interpreted as crying “wolf!”  The heavy hand of intervention will reach your neck of the woods sooner or later, more likely sooner.

Anyhow . . …  the New Hampshire case, Miller (father) v. Todd (mother).  It also spans Michigan and New York as we’ll see.

Father-oriented groups and PAS-promoting groups were really crowing over this particular decision, so I decided to read it:

FATHERS & FAMILIES, REJOICING:

Here’s Fathers and Families all excited about it:

http://www.fathersandfamilies.org/?p=14489

NH Supreme Court: Parental Alienation Inimical to Child’s Best Interests

April 4th, 2011 by Robert Franklin, Esq.

This case is excellent, not only because of its result, but mostly because of its sound analysis.  It should serve as a template for courts not only here in the U.S. but in other countries as well.

It comes to us from the Supreme Court of New Hampshire and analyzes a situation in which false allegations of child sexual abuse were used by a mother to deprive a father of contact with his children.  It’s a familiar pattern of facts and altogether too rare an outcome.

In 1999, James Miller met Janet Todd online.  They developed a relationship and, although they never married, had two daughters.  Laurel was born in 2002 and Lindsey in 2003.  Ultimately, a New Hampshire court awarded joint custody with Todd as primary custodian and Miller with visitation rights.

NH Supreme Court on Parental Alienation

Posted on April 5, 2011 by Dr. Richard A. Warshak In a stunning ruling, of interest to all those concerned with parental alienation, the Supreme Court of New Hampshire overturned a lower court’s award of custody to a mother who was found to be alienating her children from their father.After effectively interfering with the father-child relationship, the trial court awarded custody to the mother primarily because the children had spent the majority of their lives with her and that is where they feel most comfortable. This is typical in cases where one parent has effectively interfered in the children’s relationship with the other parent. The absence of contact establishes a status quo that the court then feels bound to honor in order to spare the children a drastic change in their lives.

“Warshak who???”

Warshak is both AFCC and CRC active  Browse the google search.  He presents at AFCC and sells his stuff through them.  It is quite clear from his website that he endorses threat therapy for anyone who alienates and reunification programs to counter it.   So do others.   He markets “FAMILY BRIDGES” ™.

Family Bridges is an innovative educational and experiential program that helps severely and unreasonably alienated children and adolescents adjust to living with a parent they claim to hate or fear.

In some cases the court has determined that a child’s best interests are served by placing the child in the custody of a rejected parent and suspending contact for a period of time with the other parent. *** In other cases, the favored parent is no longer available to care for the child. This may occur, for instance, if an abducted child is found and returned to the rejected parent, and the abducting parent is either in jail, prohibited from seeing the child, or remains underground or out of the country in order to avoid capture.

{{**keeping in mind that many courts have AFCC judges who have swallowed “alienation” theory hook, line & sinker — or who may profit from asserting they do.  If someone can name me several (not just one or two) cases where this happened when the alienated parent was a mother (biological), let me know, I’m all ears…}}

Sidebar:

Our program teaches children how to stay out of the middle of adult conflicts, and how to maintain a compassionate view toward each parent. We teach children to think critically. When children learn how to see a problem from different perspectives they usually begin to heal their relationship without having to acknowledge that they had been treating the parent with contempt and without having to apologize for it. They begin relating in a more positive way.”

AFCC coaches its own members how to be critical of one gender more than the other in a custody hearing, or where in doubt, order more of their services.  Why not teach the children instead how to start and run a profitable business (information downloadable for the greatest profit)  by befriending judges who can order others into therapy?  Or review “How to Win Friends and INfluence People, in the Family Law & Mental Health professions.”  After all, this is primarily what Warshak has demonstrated mastery of…..  Or, teach them web design, so they can get a government contract  to help set up a resource center, or design its logo to lend it more legitimacy….

I advocate people to be critical of those eager to tell their own offspring how to “think.” and instead, go hunt down the EIN# , if it’s a nonprofit, and look at their books.  I think it’s more helpful…..

Here’s a more NAFCJ commentary on Warshak vis a vis Richard Gardner (dating to 2004)

“FamilyCourt Reform 2004 yahoo groupmail notes:” 

This is the latest PAS custody switching case in London, England. Note that transfers of custody in cases like this, are being done in directly in accordance with Richard Gardner’s threat therapy recommendations:

Click here: FAMILY THERAPY OF THE MODERATE TYPE OF PAS

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR DEALING WITH PARENTS WHO INDUCE PAS IN THEIR CHILDREN

Before he stabbed himself to death last year, Richard Gardner apparently was in England for a conference on PAS with an AFCC affiliated group, along with David Levy of the Children’s Rights Council. Right afterward, there was a conference on PAS in Germany, with Richard Warshak, also of AFCC/CRC.

People should be aware that CRC and AFCC are connected to numerous pro-pedophilia and incest advocates and sexologists, including Gardner, Ralph Underwager, Warren Farrell and John Money. Since Gardner and Underwager are dead, other CRC and AFCC members are continuing to promote the PAS agenda via reformulating PAS into PA and “alienated children”, or merely by saying that mothers routinely deny access by making false allegations, in association with other (bogus) fathers’, children’s and family rights organizations:

Family Court Corruption, Part 2: FR and Conciliation Court Law

WARSHAK @ Massachusetts AFCC:

This past April 15, 2011, Warshak was a keynote speaker at a state (Massachusetts) chapter of AFCC.  I though that ironic, given that AFCC got its start as a tax-dodging nonprofit run out of the L.A. County Courthouse, from what I can tell, and (USA) taxes are due April 15th.

April 15, 2011 – MA AFCC Parental Alienation: Not Just Another Custody Case Keynote Speaker: Richard Warshak, Ph.D. Friday, April 15, 2011 Regis College, Wellesley Street, Weston, MA – To view or print a conference brochure, click here.  To register for the conference, please print a conference brochure and mail it to:

Here’s another blog supporting a NY State ruling by Judge Ross, who incarcerated a mother for contempt, i.e., “alienating” and referencing how much work needs to be done in this area (NB:  does it ever include the same treatment of fathers who alienate?) and referencing a Denver conference on the topic.  It gets almost comical:

I recently attended the Association of Family and Conciliation Court’s annual conference in Denver, Colorado which focused on parental alienation.  The conference included all the players in assessing, treating and adjudging alienation, which included psychologists, social workers, therapists, parent coordinators, parent educators, judges, lawyers and everything in between.  And although it was refreshing to see that attention to this issue is gaining momentum, there is still a lot to be done.**  Judges, court personnel, etc. need to be made aware of the reality of parental alienation.  Educating the key players is the only way the courts will take Justice Ross’s stoic position and affect change

Judge Ross “stoic”??  More like vitriolic himself (see my post).  I don’t know how much more could possibly be done to promote the concept of punishing bad alienating mothers other than insist that no non-AFCC member may hold public office in any family or domestic relations court.  Alternately, you could tell mothers leaving or reporting abuse upfront that if they keep up the nasty habit (of truth-telling, or allowing their children to, either) they could just be tossed in jail at the BEGINNING of the court process, and then only one set of public monies would be wasted, which is the cost of incarcerating a woman for a year, or however many months til she kneels and confesses to the right theology.  Stronger mothers may take longer (Richard Fine, Esq. — not on this issue, obviously — lasted 18 months in solitary coercive confinement, so budgets should be thought through in advance if this is the method).

The OPINION:

Good grief…HERE IS THE OPINION FROM NH (see qualifier at the top) MARCH, 2011

THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE Portsmouth Family Division

No. 2009-806

IN THE MATTER OF JAMES J. MILLER AND JANET S. TODD

Argued: November 17, 2010 Opinion Issued: March 31, 2011

Law Office of Joshua L. Gordon, of Concord (Joshua L. Gordon on the brief and orally), for the petitioner.John P. Carr, of Hingham, Massachusetts, and Elizabeth B. Olcott, of Concord, on the brief, and Mr. Carr orally, for the respondent. HICKS, J.

The petitioner, James J. Miller, currently a resident of New York, appeals an order of the Portsmouth Family Division (DeVries, J.), recommended by the Master (Cross, M.), requiring the parties’ two minor daughters to continue to live primarily with the respondent, Janet S. Todd, in New Hampshire.We vacate and remand.

We have reviewed the extensive record in this case and set forth the facts most relevant to the issues on appeal. Miller and Todd met in 1999 over the internet and established a relationship. At that time, Miller lived in Michigan and Todd lived in New Hampshire. Although they never married, their relationship produced two daughters, Laurel born in 2002 and Lindsay born in 2003. During 2002 and 2003, the parties spent some time living together in Michigan, Todd and the children spent some time alone in New Hampshire

This is not your typical marriage . . . .

On December 23, 2003, Miller obtained an ex parte order in the circuit court in Michigan granting him sole temporary legal and physical custody of his daughters.

Of THEIR daughters (they have a biological father AND a biological mother, obviously).2 days before Christmas, he seeks to remove the children completely from the mother.  Hmmm.  Now how (and on what basis) would he have gotten an EX PARTE custody order at this time.  Surely courts know that holidays are tough times for families.

That same day, Todd took the children to her parents’ home in Hampton, New Hampshire.

On January 6, 2004, Todd was served with the Michigan custody order. On January 15, the Rockingham County Superior Court,** in response to Miller’s petition for enforcement of the Michigan custody decree, ordered Todd to appear at a hearing and on January 26, the trial court ordered Todd to bring the children to Miller within twenty-four hours for the purpose of transferring custody to him.Sometime in January, Todd’s mother told her that, four months earlier, she saw Miller molest Laurel by inserting his forefinger into her.

So mother “in law” was involved here.  However, wouldn’t you like to see that original ex parte give me my kids order? And who issued it?  There has to be SOME basis of change in circumstances (supposedly) for change of custody.  At least in theory….(**just a note, the sample “parenting coordinator” report was out of this county…)

I don’t want to drag through all the detail, but the relevant point is when an AFCC alienation-obsessed psychologist gets in the picture.  And that is in 2006, and AFTER DCYF.

DCYF stated that “[t]here has been a concern that Laurel has been coached with the information that she has been disclosing. Please understand that this . . . type of coaching, if proven, is equally as abusive to a child as if the abuse had actually occurred.” The matter was also referred to the Manchester Police Department, which investigated but did not pursue charges.In July 2006, the parties agreed to be evaluated by psychologist Peggie Ward “to investigate and make recommendations . . . on the issues of a parenting/custody assess[ment], abuse allegations by both parties, parental alienation issues, scripting issue[s] and any and all other issues . . . which she deems relevant.” On December 18, 2007, Dr. Ward issued an eighty-eight page report in which she considered several hypotheses.

NEW PLAYER:  Now the ballgame is in an AFCC court..

PEGGIE WARD

(about 3 spellings of “Peggy/Pegge/Peggie” show up.  “ie” is the correct one, evidently)

Please understand, I am not judging this case in detail, although I looked at some of its details.  Rather,  I am calling attention to who are the professionals called in to judge it, and how.  There are agencies (not just individuals) also involved which I’m not investigating, such as a Child Advocacy Center, and so forth.  I reviewed it earlier, and perceiving the three Ph.D.s, began looking them up.  Then the pieces fell into place — ALL are AFCC bigwigs (or at least presenters) and as such, are not as independent as they may have looked in one custody case.

PEGGIE WARD found among this company or authors (on a Parental Alienation blog):

The American Journal of Family Therapy, 28:229-241, 2000

REMARRIAGE AS A TRIGGER OF PARENTAL ALIENATION SYNDROME Richard A. Warshak University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, Texas, USA

Three Types of Alienators  Provided by Douglas Darnell, Ph.D

.Family Wars: The Alienation of Children   Dr. Peggy Ward
Denial of the Parental Alienation Syndrome Also Harms WomenRichard A. Gardner;  Columbia University, New York, New York, USA  

Warshak, Gardner, and whoever Darnell is….  Here’s a clue, though:

http://www.cspas.ca/program_times.shtml

SATURDAY, MAY 28th – PROGRAM

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Registration – Check In Continential Breakfast Keynote Speaker Introduction William Bernet M.D Intermission 2nd Intro – William Bernet, M.D. Q&A with William Bernet, M.D. Speaker Introduction Douglas Darnell, Ph.D. Announcements Lunch Break 2nd Intro – Douglas Darnell, Ph.D. Q&A with Douglas Darnell, Ph.D. Intermission Speaker Introduction S. Richard Sauber, Ph.D. Intermission 2nd Intro – S. Richard Sauber, Ph.D. Q&A with S. Richard Sauber, Ph.D. Closing Remarks

7:30 – 8:30 am 7:30 – 8:30 am 8:30 – 8:40 am 8:40 – 9:40 am 9:40 – 10:00 am 10:00 – 10:05 am 10:05 – 10:45 am 10:45 – 10:55 am 10:55 – 11:55 am 11:55 am – 12:00 pm 12:00 – 1:30 pm 1:30 – 1:35 pm 1:35 – 2:15 pm 2:15 – 2:30 pm 2:30 – 2:40 pm 2:40 – 3:40 pm 3:40 – 4:00 pm 4:00 – 4:05 pm 4:05 – 4:45 pm 4:45 – 5:00 pm

Speaker Profiles:

Sauber, I see, is on the Advisory Board of CRC and is picking up where Richard Gardner left off, with the help of a certain Lorandros, Ph.D.

He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Children’s Rights Council in Washington, D.C. Since 1976, Dr. Sauber has been the Editor-in-Chief of The American Journal of Family Therapy. His most recent book with Richard Gardner, M.D. and Demosthenes Lorandos, J.D., Ph.D.is entitled The International Handbook of PAS: Conceptual, Clinical and Legal Considerations (2006) is now being written in its second edition with Demosthenes Lorandos, J.D.,Ph.D., William Bernet, M.D., and S. Richard Sauber, Ph.D. entitled The Handbook of Parental Alienation for Mental Health and Legal Professionals.

Wm. Bernet is famous (among mothers at least) for bringing in the “Warrior Gene” excuse for a man who slaughtered & hacked his wife and girlfriend, blood everywhere, on an obviously UNsupervised exchange of the children.  Someone was shot, the other person was hacked, and children were on the scene.  Don’t quote me on who was who.  The father was a Bible-toter? and Bernet wants PAS — which is obviously a worse crime — in the next version of the DSM.

This is Darnell, about par for this PAS proliferation set of professionals. Notice that he is BOTh AFCC & CRC, or at least has presented for them.

 He has been a practicing Psychologist for 32 years and previous[ly] worked twenty years for the Trumbull County Family Court. He has testified in twelve states and has serviced [??] over 1000 families. He has appeared on the Montel show and Court TV and numerous radio shows. He has authored and coauthored numerous peer review journal articles on Parental Alienation and Spontaneous Reunification.
He has authored and coauthored numerous peer review journal articles on Parental Alienation and Spontaneous Reunification. Dr. Darnall is on the editorial board for the American Journal of Family Therapy. Reference to his work has been written up in over 50 newspaper articles. Dr. Darnall has given presentations at both State and National Conferences including the Missouri State Bar and North Dakota State Bar Associations, AFCC, Children’s Rights Council, and Local and State Bar Associations on Parental Alienation and Parental Alienation Syndrome. He has gained international recognition for his work with divorced families.

Demosthenes Lorandros, while I”m here, reminds me in some ways of Benjamin Garber (about to come up).  I wouldn’t like to face off with him in court, and there is an extensive commentary by a woman who attempted to get his help at courthouseforum.com.  The guy is highly educated, BOTH JD & Psychology, and also very busy.

Demosthenes Lorandos, J.D., Ph.D.

www.lorandoslaw.com/lorandos-cv.php

Biography:
Dr. Lorandos received his B.A. in Psychology from San Francisco State University. He attended the New School for Social Research in New York City, studying the principles and methodology of science. He earned the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Sciences scholarship award.

He spent the next four years studying the philosophy of science at an experimental university, earning a Ph.D. in 1976. He served two clinical internships and completed his doctorate in Clinical Psychology with Union Graduate School in Cincinnati.

Dr. Lorandos taught as an assistant, then associate, professor at Indiana University, Saginaw Valley State College, and Central Michigan University.

He created the largest private Vietnam veterans treatment program in the United States, which won national recognition from the Vietnam Veterans of America.

As a research scientist, he has published both commentary and original scientific research in many scientific journals.

He has also published three books: Cross-Examining Experts in the Behavioral Sciences (co-authored with Dr. Terence Campbell); Benchbook in the Behavioral Sciences: Psychiatry – Psychology – Social Work (co-authored with Dr. Terence Campbell); and The International Handbook of Parental Alienation Syndrome – Conceptual, clinical and Legal Perspectives which brings contributors from all over the world together to discuss this important phenomena.

Dr. Lorandos retired from the active practice of clinical psychology to attend the University of Detroit Law School, where he graduated with honors in 1991. He is licensed in New York, California and Michigan an attorney, and in California and Michigan as a psychologist.

There was a well-known case where he defended a child-care provider from allegations of sexual abuse of the children, and won.  I can’t imagine his time would be wasted on any Title IV-D cases (who could afford?), but even if a mother has some wealth, what are the chances of coming up against this one in court?  Which is the judge likely to respect more?

Well, back to Dr. Peggie Ward:

Here’s where she’s practicing, apparently, with AFCC Board Member Robin Deutch and Matt Sullivan.

Self-explanatory:  “This Overcoming Barriers” team even runs a camp to counter alienation….

(The link is to a basic wordpress blog.  No image remains See bottom of post (and website) for information since this post was published (in 2011) on “OCB”).

About this camp:  in 2008, 5 families attended, 4 of them with court orders:  [

After struggling for years with some of the most difficult and heartbreaking post-divorce family situations – where a child has rejected one of their parents – three AFCC members designed, funded and conducted an innovative and intensive clinical approach to work with families called “Breaking Barriers Camp”. Five families participated in three and a half days of psycho-educational groups, strategic interventions, and enjoyable family camp activities this summer at Common Ground Center in Starksboro, Vermont. Families (including both the parent(s) the children live with, the “rejected parent and all children) came from Arizona, Florida, Massachusetts, Minnesota,  and Toronto, Canada.

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One challenge that emerged was the difficulty in obtaining commitments from those families who did not have a court order to attend.  

{{This is a clear indication that without it being forced by a judge, there is no legitimate demand for this camp and procedure}}

After, interviewing 25 families, four of the five families who attended did so with a court order.  While not all family members referred were accepted, conversations with the AFCC custody evaluators and Parenting Coordinators helped our decision making process.

Many of these families would not have had the opportunity to attend had it not been for the terrific support of AFCC members who not only provided informed and thoughtful referrals, but also provided individually donated initial funding that allowed this program to proceed.  This was very much an AFCC supported project.

Well, investment capital. I’m sure that if judges order families to attend (and it’s a nonprofit), there will be some later cash flow, plus prestige from the process.

About us

Peggie Ward, PhD, is a psychologist and Co-Founder of the Co-Parenting Assessment Center in Natick, MA.***  She previously held an appointment at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Ward has helped develop GAL Standards in MA and serves as Co-Chair of the MA Parenting Plan Committee. She lectures on topics inlcuding alientation [sic], parenting coordination, and advanced issues in GAL work.  Dr. Ward practices as a therapist, consultant, family systems evaluator, and parenting coordinator and is a member of the AFCC MA Board of Directors.

The Co-Parenting Assessment Center in Natick, MA is same street address as Overcoming Barriers nonprofit. The text showing currently (post minor editing after comment on the post 3/14/2016) as posted from Divorcesource.com on “New Hampshire Divorce Counseling,” looks like a list of contacts, reads:

The Co-Parenting Assessment Center
10 Union Street
Natick, Massachusetts 01760
Contact: Peggie Ward, Ph.D. / Mira Levitt, Ph.D.
Phone: (508) 655-1775
Fax: (978) 443-2961
E-mail: peggieward@comcast.net

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Areas of Expertise: Providing Mental Health Evaluations, Interventions, Guardian Ad Litem Services. Evaluations of, custody disputes, visitation arrangements, children, sibling group and family units. Clinical services to, children of divorce & separation, pre-divorce marital mediation, mediation in the process of separation and divorce, and post-divorce parenting.

Articles: “Family Wars: The Alienation of Children” by Dr. Peggie Ward [active link on divorcresource page).

Matt Sullivan, PhD, is a psychologist who has written articles, presented and done trainings at numerous national and international venues on topics such as high-conflict divorce, Parent Coordination and child alienation and mental health consultation in family law cases. He has served on the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts [AFCC] Task Force on Parenting Coordination and the American Psychological and American Bar Association multi-year working group on legal and psychological interventions with children and families.***

Robin M. Deutsch, PhD, is a psychologist and the Director of Forensic Services of the Children and the Law Program in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School.  She practices as a therapist, consultant, custody evaluator, mediator and parent coordinator.  She is the past president of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC), former Chair of the American Psychological Association(APA) Ethics Committee and the co-author of  7 Things Your Teenager Can’t Tell You (And How to Talk to Them Anyway).  Dr. Deutsch lectures widely throughout North America and Europe on Parenting Coordination, and complex issues related to family conflict, including parent alienation, attachment, abuse and neglect, and trauma.

They are psychologists getting court-ordered business. 
**speaking of "psychological interventions": 
(THe FAMILY Camp):

Peggie Ward, Matt Sullivan and Robin Deutsch are pleased to announce that we are expanding opportunities for families where a child has rejected a parent.  We will spend this summer developing a range of programs including psychoeducational workshops, weekend interventions and camps on both the east and west coasts.

i.e., just like Warshak.

Here, she lists “parenting coordination” as a solution the court’s inability to introduce enough therapy to “binuclear families”

Massachusetts has long been AFCC-friendly at the courts level:

I forgot to mention that in nearby Massachusetts (See US map, Northeast/  New England states, etc.) the Massachusetts Courts themselves have a link right to AFCC.  This brochure came off it:  http://www.mass.gov/courts/courtsandjudges/courts/probateandfamilycourt/afccsharedparenting.pdf

Planning for Shared Parenting: A Guide for Parents Living Apart, sponsored by the Massachusetts Chapter of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC) with the encouragement and support of the Honorable Sean M. Dunphy, Chief Justice of the Probate and Family Court, is acollaborative effort of the legal and mental health communities

Legal & Mental Health Communities basically = AFCC.  Wonder if Hon. Sean M. Dunphy is also..... 
"At home with Dunphy" interview, Boston Globe 2002, says:

In 1978, Michael Dukakis appointed Dunphy as a Probate and Family Court judge. One of his proudest achievements in that post, and one he has worked to replicate statewide, was to institute a mandatory education program for parents going through a divorce. Participants must pay $50 each for two sessions in which they learn about such basics as not using their children as messengers between each other. “People lose sight of the needs of their children in the process of separating themselves from each other,” said Dunphy.He got the idea for the course from an article in Parade magazine about a program in Cobb County, Georgia.  {Also found in Indiana — I wonder whose curriculum it is}

A bit of a digression, but I wanted to know WHICH Cobb County, GA parent education program, if I could find out.  Good pickings — it originated from a Texas transplant, I think…. (A little searching, possibly it was exported from San Antonio, Texas, from a Robin Walton Brown I’ll highlight:)

Here’s HER paragraphs.  As we will also see below, the AFCC and “parenting coordination” connection exists here)

Robin Brown Walton graduated Magna Cum Laude from The University of Texas in San Antonio in 1989 with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology.  In May 1992, she received a Master’s of Science Degree in Counseling Psychology from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas and again, graduated Summa Cum Laude.  Robin was licensed as a Professional Counselor by the State of Texas in 1994.  {Just in time for the National Fatherhood Initiative to get its foothold in the HHS business — see Ron Haskins…}}

(Is she Catholic?)

In June 1992, Robin founded KidShare, the first Neutral Child-Exchange and Supervised Visitation facility ever established in San Antonio, Texas.  In 1993, she created a Cooperative Parenting program with Anne Marie Termini, who moved to Atlanta, Georgia after their first case and developed a recognized national program with Susan Boyan.   Robin was instrumental in bringing the Helping Children Cope with Divorce seminar to Bexar County (TX — back from Georgia?) and in 1996, this four-hour educational program for divorcing parents became a mandate in San Antonio due to her work with Jewish Family Service, the Women’s and Children’s Resource Center, Family Service Association and the Bexar County Judges.

This woman was already connected with the courts, probably.  Welfare Reform (PRWORA) of 1996 freed up money to the states to start supervised visitation centers, and in general encouraged increased noncustodial parenting access by “facilitating” this help.  In Texas, right now, it’s BIG, and probably has been.  Not to trouble us now with this information, but in looking up Access Visitation funding in Texas, which is very overt (on the Office of Attorney General page) it develops that the person (judge) who brought it in (or to her county?) is now on the Texas Supreme Court.  She’s AFCC.  (Tarrant County connection?).  Here is a 2010 AFCC announcement that member Debra Lehrman was appointed by the (republican) Governor to the Supreme Court:

Debra Lehrman, AFCC member from Fort Worth, TX, was appointed by Texas Governor Rick Perry as Justice to the Supreme Court of Texas. Judge Lehrman is a previous president of the AFCC Texas Chapter.

Let’s talk about spheres of influence.  I’m talking so much about AFCC, and how it basically IS family law.  This is not idle chatter.  Here’s an example from Texas:

(more on The Hon. Debra Lehrman here:)

The caseload of the Texas Supreme Court involves large numbers of children and families who are the subjects of litigation. The election of Judge Lehrmann fulfills the need for a jurist experienced with the intricacies of these cases. Judge Lehrmann has been involved with the creation and implementation of the Texas Supreme Court’s Permanent Commission for Children, Youth and Families for the past several years. She currently serves on a committee dealing with the court‐appointed representation of children in abuse and neglect cases through the commission.

I’m sure she’s highly qualified.  And how great, she’s a woman on the State Supreme Court.

But somehow it’s less than assuring that someone on a committee which deals with child abuse and neglect has such close ties to an organization known for covering it up with cries of parental alienation, and prescribing anti-PAS programming for those who report, including the children themselves….

Here she is with a list of articles, including on  “Therapeutic Jurisprudence,” Texas Chapter of AFCC Fall Conference, 2003” again, “Therapeutic Jurisprudence—A New Paradigm,” Texas Association of Mediators, Fort Worth, 2007″ {{yes, it IS a new paradigm!!! is it a GOOD one??}} and “Problem Solving Courts,” Alternative Dispute Resolution Symposium, Texas Wesleyan School of Law, February 2009” and of course “Parenting Coordinators & Parenting Plans—the Proposed Statute,” Texas Association of Domestic Relations Offices (TADRO) Annual Convention, Austin, 2004” or “Domestic Violence in Family Law Cases,” Texas Wesleyan University School of Law, Spring, 2004″ or:  (see code words?):  ”

“Problem Solving Courts & Access Facilitation,” Association of Family & Conciliation Courts (AFCC) Annual Convention, Ottawa, Canada, 2003″

(as it says on the site, “Frequent Author and Lecturer”)

Judge Lehrmann has been an active leader within the legal profession for many years. She is a past president of the Texas Chapter of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC), is a past president of the Tarrant County Young Lawyers Association, is a master member of the Eldon B. Mahon Inn of Court, served on the Advisory Board of Tarrant County Dispute Resolution Services, is a fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation and the American Bar Foundation, and is a charter member of the Tarrant County Bar Foundation.

Judge Lehrmann actively participates in the national legal community as well. She currently serves as the Chair‐Elect the Family Law Section of the American Bar Association (ABA/FLS)….

not to mention Dr. Marsha-Kline Pruett (see last post, I think)

Marsha Kline Pruett, AFCC member from Northampton, MA, has been awarded the 2010 Men-in-Families Best Research Article Award for an article she co-authored, “Promoting Fathers’ Engagement With Children: Preventive Interventions for Low-Income Families,” that appeared last year in Journal of Marriage and the Family

Back to WHICH Parenting Education program in Cobb County Georgia, and why a Massachusetts Judge thought it was such a great idea….

In September 1997, Robin licensed Family Service Association to run the KidShare (supervised visitation services) program and went into private practice.  Since that time, Robin has been appointed in thousands of cases by Family Law Attorneys and Judges in Bexar and surrounding counties to work in divorce cases that oftentimes involve a child custody dispute and/or a high conflict divorce situation.  Robin has been appointed to act as a Social Study investigator, Forensic Interviewer/Evaluator, Co-Parenting Coordinator/Coach, Child Advocate, Mediator, Arbitrator, Divorce Coach, Consultant and Counselor.

This page from the San Antonio Bar CONFIRMS that both Bexar County Shared Parenting receives federal HHS funding help and is associated with welfare (Title IV-D) work, i.e. (see link)  *This program is supported with federal funds provided by the Administration for Children and Families – Department of Health and Human Services as a part of the Texas Office of the Attorney General Access and Visitation Program.   Family Service Association/KidShare & one other provider are listed above it, in case anyone might voluntarily? opt for:

FUNCTION: The Domestic Relations Office (DRO) provides social and mental health services support and a visitation enforcement program to the Civil District Courts in matters before them pertaining to custody and access in Suits Affecting Parent-Child Relationships.

CURRENT SERVICES

Consultation and Referral
Mr. Tony Neugebauer, DRO Director, is available to the individual Civil District Court Judges and at Presiding Court to consult or provide immediate intervention in complex family law matters. Referrals for mental health services related to custody and access issues, such as Social Studies, Psychological Evaluations, Parent Coordination, Counseling and Parenting Classes, are available upon request.

Hardly surprising, then, that:

Professionally, Robin is a member of the following national and international  organizations; The Association of Family and Conciliatory Courts (AFCC); International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (IACP). the Collaborative Law Institute (CLI); Collaborative Professionals of San Antonio (CPOSA);

Back to Massachusetts Family & Probate Courts/AFCC and why they are so closely linked, literally:

Self Help

• AFCC Shared Parenting

Other Helpful Links

• Association of Family and Conciliation Courts

Oh?  Plus, The Hon. Dunphy is also AFCC.  From the 2002 AFCC (Wisconsin chapter?) newsletter:

AFCC Members Travel to Cubaby Hon. Arline S. Rotman (ret.), AFCC Past President, Boston, MA

What excitement! A group of intrepid travelers met at Logan Airport in the wee hours of the morning of November 5, 2001 ready for our Cuban adventure. A Cuban American judge had organized a judicial exchange with members of the Cuban legal community interested in family law. We traveled via Jamaica (since direct flights to Cuba are not allowed) on a permit issued by the Treasury Department. Arriving in Havana only hours before the hurricane, we transferred directly to the famous Hotel Nacional. Our group included AFCC members Hon. Sean Dunphy, Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court and Linda Cavallero, Ph.D., Director of the Worcester Family Court Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. Guide books in hand, we ignored the hurricane winds for as long as we could and set out to explore the old city of Havana. Looking at the 1950’s vintage automobiles we felt as if we were in a time warp. …Is this where the idea to have AFCC develop the “shared parenting” brochure germinated?  (I guess that must have been earlier).

See the world.  Join AFCC, after you have a basic JD, Psy.D. or have completed mediator, or coordinator, training….

“Post-conference New Zealand/Australia Trip AFCC is pleased to announce plans for the post-conference trip to New Zealand and Australia…The trip will depart (from) Honolulu on June 8, 2002, the final day of the AFCC 39th Annual Conference and return from Australia on June 18. The itinerary for this trip will keep even the most active travelers busy.”

Incidentally, in this newsletter some of our other favorite personnel.  Getting the general idea yet?:

AFCC Member News

Connie J. A. Beck, AFCC member from Tucson, AZ, is co-author of the recently published book Family Mediation: Facts, Myths, and Future Prospects. Dr. Beck and co-author Bruce D. Sales trace the development of the field as well as current mediation practices and take a look at the consequences for families and the legal system.

Hon. Thomas Bishop, former AFCC President from Connecticut, has been appointed to the Connecticut Court of Appeals. AFCC sends its congratulations on this outstanding achievement.

Isolina Ricci, AFCC member from Tiburon, California is now the Director of The New Family Center, an organization she founded in 1978. The main focus of the Center is on consulting with courts, communities and government on programs, policies and adminis- trative structures that serve or impact children and families. You can contact Dr. Ricci at The New Family Center, P. O. Box 711, Tiburon, CA 94920-0711. Her telephone number is 415-435-7648 and her email address is IsolinaRicci@NewFamilyCenter.com.

(NOTE above — far above (two posts ago) — she was also formerly (or simultaneously?) on the California Judicial Council/AOC/CFCC as director, or assistant director.  )

Pauline H. Tesler, AFCC member from Mill Valley, CA, has written a new book entitled, Collaborative Law: Achieving Effective Resolution in Divorce without Litigation. Ms. Tesler has been a frequent AFCC presenter on the topic of Collaborative Law. The book is published by the American Bar Association Section of Family Law and may be obtained by calling (800) 285-2221.

Richard A. Warshak, AFCC member from Dallas, Texas, recently published Divorce Poison: Protecting the Parent-Child Bond from a Vindictive Ex. {{Rest assured, the Vindictive Ex is going to be female…}}The book is published by Regen Books and it provides advice for families when divorce poison is in danger of destroying relationships forever

WELL, I am getting a little distracted from the NH case.  But truly if you do NOT understand, or “get” AFCC, you do NOT understand family law.  They are almost the same.

DAVID MEDOFF:

From the NH opinion, we now pull in another player — who “just happens” to be Massachusetts-AFCC leadership:  David Medoff, Ph.D.His opinion reads like a blow-by-blow play from the parenting coordinator handbook.  The mom is delusional, and here’s how.

I could call it, “In which AFCC Pegge Ward hands off to AFCC Dr. Medoff:

That is, that Ms. Todd, after experiencing her parent’s concerns about Mr. Miller and after having experienced her own negative interactions with Mr. Miller, became increasingly convinced that Mr. Miller was harming Laurel.” Referring to a psychological report on Todd that was prepared in August 2007 by Dr. David Medoff, Dr. Ward noted that[p]sychological testing shows that Ms. Todd has a “serious impairment in her ability to accurately process the information she takes in from her surroundings and the degree of misperception she demonstrates has major implications for her adaptive functioning. Ms. Todd’s level of distortion is substantial and predisposes her to misunderstanding and misconstruing intentions, motivations and actions of other people. This places her at great risk for faulty judgment, for errors in decision-making, and for behaving in ways that are based on inaccurate information. These data indicate that Ms. Todd will not only fail to recognize or foresee the consequences of her actions at times, but that she will also become confused at times in separating fantasy from reality.”As Dr. Ward explained,Ms. Todd has the liability of distortion of information and failure to accurately identify intentions, motivations and behavior of others. Ms. Todd’s emotional state placed her at risk for misinterpreting information that she gained from her environment, adamantly believing that Laurel was sexually abused, and acting with full force on this information.

– – – – –

In making her recommendations, Dr. Ward cautioned that “[w]hile it is unlikely that Mr. Miller has sexually abused Laurel, it is not possible to say with an absolute certainty that he did not.

Now, I am going to inflict on the readers the rundown on Dr. Medoff.  This site doesn’t mention his role at AFCC, probably wisely:

http://dmedoff.com/

Forensic Psychological Assessment Services by David Medoff, Ph.D.

David Medoff, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist and tenured Associate Professor in private practice specializing in forensic psychological assessment. He is the former Co-Director of the Children and the Law Program at the Massachusetts General Hospital and holds dual academic appointments as an Associate Professor at Suffolk University and as an Instructor at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Medoff is the Director of the Mental Health Counseling Program at Suffolk University and is a Designated Forensic Psychologist. He is also a Certified Juvenile Court Clinician Mentor I and II. He performs a wide variety of forensic evaluations with specialization in forensic psychological testing, psychodiagnostic evaluations, high conflict custody disputes** and the assessment of sexual offenders. Dr. Medoff regularly presents at international, national and regional conferences, writing, teaching and lecturing on a wide variety of forensic and clinical topics.

((**that’s your AFCC flag — we’ll see later what the involvement is))

Dr. Medoff has published numerous articles on a wide variety of clinical and forensic matters including the scientific basis of psychological testing, the use of psychological testing in the forensic domain, juvenile sexual offenders and the major psychoses. He has presented at numerous professional workshops and seminars on a variety of subject matters including expert testimony, the use of psychological expert consultants, risk assessment, psychodiagnostic evaluations, child abuse and neglect, adolescent and adult psychopathology and legal risk management for clinical practice.

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He obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Boston University in 1986 and his Master’s and Doctoral degrees from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1993 and 1995, respectively. {{in PSYCHOLGY?}} Following his academic training, Dr. Medoff completed his Pre-Doctoral Internship at the Children’s Hospital – Boston, Harvard Medical School and his Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Children and the Law Program at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School.

He sounds highly academic with a genuine interest in the professional fields of both medicine AND the law — however, his expertise and emphasis has been primarily psychology, it would seem.

As such an avid student, certainly he might also be quite interested in teaching, and is doing so….What a huge spectrum of services to do while also being an associate professor:  http://dmedoff.com/spectrum.htmHere is his AFCC connection — President of the Massachusetts Chapter (reminder — it has a direct connection to the courts through Sean Dunphy, etc. in MA) and this  is a member interview, Spring 2010.If Ward & Medoff represent two independent professionals, it coulda fooled me.

Here they are BOTH on faculty of an April 2011 (Note — This decision was in March, 2011) at a keynote meeting featuring Warshak, i.e., “Parental Alienation:  Not just Another Custody Case.” {{<==hover cursor over that link, without clicking on it, to read a short blurb on Ward}}

The lineup went approximately like this:

FRIDAY, April 15, 2011 | 8:00 AM Registration and Continental Breakfast8:20 AM Introductory remarks David Medoff, Ph.D. President Massachusetts Chapter of AFCCPeggie Ward, Ph.D. Conference Chair8:30 – 10:15 AM Parental Alienation Richard Warshak Ph.D.10:15 – 10:30 AM Break with refreshments10:30 AM – 12:00 PM Parental Alienation (cont.) Richard Warshak, Ph.D.12:00-1:00 PM Lunch is providedComments: David Medoff, Ph.D., President Lesley Goldsmith, J.D., President-Elect Massachusetts Chapter of AFCC

Now, no matter what the facts of the Todd & Miller case, just what do you think (Gentle Reader) the odds are that it wouldn’t be labeled “Parental Alienation”? and punishment of some sort be recommended to counter the alienation?  This was a couple who met over the internet (for Pete’s sake!) and in which Dad’s move when the kids were real little was to attempt on Christmas 2003 to completely take them from the mother– sole legal and physical custody order, ex parte — and he GOT it.. (Another therapist also had to be demoted in this process).  Now for reunification therapy…(New Hampshire opinion, again):

The court noted that although Miller had already identified a reunification therapist, Todd had “made no such effort whatsoever.” The court ordered that the parties immediately contact Kelly Khachadourian to begin the therapeutic reunification process, that Todd immediately reenroll in counseling, and that her therapist be given a copy of Dr. Ward’s evaluation and Todd’s own psychological evaluation.

Ms. Todd’s interest in the financial background of all this therapy, etc. had to also be dismissed and ridiculed….

The January 7, 2008 order setting forth a plan for restoring the relationship “failed in relatively short order.” The court attributed responsibility for its failure to both parties: “[Miller] because of his insistence and belligerence with the reunification therapist” and Todd “because of her fanciful concern about the therapist’s ‘fraudulent billing’ of insurance.” 

(…probably therefore an area to investigate IF data could be gotten; fraudulent billing is a HALLMARK of these professions. and has been documented as far back as 1999 (Karen Anderson case, Amador County; Viola Stroud in Shockome case, Dutchess County, NY, etc.)

And she’s not to consider a former therapist that DID say, abuse:

Further, the court denied Todd’s request to depose the children’s former therapist, stating that Todd’s “representation that [the therapist] is the source for her conviction that the children were sexually abused is, at this point, irrelevant; whatever the source of her belief, the fact is that she continues to hold to it no matter the evidence to the contrary.”

Though I wasn’t there, this sure sounds like Ms. Todd feeling that there might actually BE some “evidence to the contrary” and the omitted therapist’s name might a source of it…. which the court was not interested in making public…Now more problems — a little girl discloses fears in school, bringing retaliation:

In April 2009, the guardian ad litem filed a statement with the court indicating that Laurel’s first grade teacher had reported that on April 20 Laurel began to cry in class and disclosed that during her most recent visit with her father he said that he was going to hurt her mother and there was nothing she could do to stop him. In response, Miller (father) filed a motion to modify custody of the children due to new acts of child abuse. Following a hearing, the court denied the motion. The court noted that it understood that [Miller] fears that this new allegation, when combined with previous ones and the recent one in March, is a “slippery slope” spiraling into new and more serious ones.

The appeal had a unique twist in that the couple was unmarried, this appears to have helped the result also:  "

Third, he (Miller) argues that Supreme Court Rule 3 providing for mandatory review of appeals involving married parents but discretionary review of appeals involving non-married parents is unconstitutional.

And — in my MOST obnoxiously long post of the year, probably, we finally come full circle to the 3rd mental health professional brought in on this case.  Seeing the stacking of 1, 2, 3, professionals (all AFCC, all PAS-oriented) led me eventually to the PCANH.org site and the title of this post.  And that is

Dr. Benjamin Garber:

(I am getting truly tired of this — probably you have by now a sense of who AFCC is and what types of activities its members are engaged in, mostly keeping custody matters swirling, business humming and the referrals coming — by writing it into legislation, if necessary.  And that’s not including starting “CFCC’s at the University levels (law schools), in order to keep the Paradigm Shift coming a little faster, if possible.

Dr. Garber — who incidentally (see last post) is co-foundoer of PARENTAL COORDINATION ASSOCIATION OF NEW HAMPSHIRE (which I treated us samples of to last post) — has a VERY full website, last I checked, called HealthyParent.com

(I found and updated website and will insert images from it.  FYI HealthyParent.com is a “dba” of “Family Law Consulting, PLLC” in NH, from what I saw (at first glance) recently, i.e. Dec. 2017.)

HealthyParent.com

His CV on this lists:

• Psychologist New Hampshire License 475
• Parenting Coordinator
• Guardian ad litem New Hampshire Certificate 2005

and the email is “papaben@healthyparent.com”

I think the number of links on the site speak for themselves — about 5 streams of income and practice:

(TO BE COMPLETED, LATER….) (three more images, meanwhile, from the 10-page CV):

Benjamin D. Garber CV (current to 2016)

(part of that 10-page, AFCC-organization and reference-laced resume)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Naturally I clicked on the side link with “Court-related services” bringing up this:

Dr. Garber works with the courts
in several distinct roles to educate, evaluate
and intervene in the best interests of children.

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Dr. Garber enters family law matters as a child advocateproviding:

Guardian ad litem services Parenting Coordinator services Child-centered expert opinion Responding to “alienation”  Developmental evaluation  Termination (TPR)  “social study”

Systems(“custody”)evaluation Education to the court “Reunification” facilitation Co-parenting facilitation Parenting capacity evaluation Child and family therapies

(What is a CCFE?)

 

 

I rest my case that, whether in Massachusetts, Indiana, California, New Hampshire, Canada, Pennsylvania, Ohio — or Texas,

it’s “Houston, we have a problem” regarding the undue influence and intent to shift legal paradigms in

 

AFCC

i.e., this association of expert, PAS-spouting (does it ever save a mother‘s custody status?) professionals running the family law field.

So, how many experts does it take to screw in a _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ?

 

Not everyone can be an “expert” — they are going to run out of people to practice on.  This is why the FIRST step was to pass a law, or set of laws, giving the STATE jurisdiction WHENEVER there was a custody dispute, and coaching and training everyone to follow this.  Or lose your kids.

And the organization didn’t even start paying taxes til they were caught evading them.  Another practice that probably hasn’t changed, since.

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Overcoming Barriers in Natick Massachusetts filed its first tax return only in 2011 and seems like a REAL “minimalist” organization.  They were, however, as recently as November 2015 (still on the website) advertising an training for clinicians to learn the “OBC” method — for only, just about, $2,000 (or a little less for early bird registration).  Compare that to the size of their latest tax return posted to “990finder.foundationcenter.org” (which was for year 2014):

Building Family Resilience From The Ground Up

Posted on November 20, 2015 by OCB Staff

As Overcoming Barriers (OCB) has grown from an original program prototype to a national organization working to expand and deliver programs throughout the US and Canada, we have recognized the critical importance of training to the success of OCB’s mission. While expanding the scope of programming is ultimate goal, maintaining the quality and integrity of the program delivery is essential to positive outcomes for families and long-term success.

OCB provides programs for for post-divorce/separation families caught in intractable parental conflict, bringing the entire family together in a positive, fun, clinically supported, natural environment, to practice skills as a reorganized family. The OCB Approach is unlike the prevailing adversarial court paradigm that engenders distrust and conflict engagement, while consuming public resources with little resolution of parental conflict. OCB has developed and refined a “whole family” intervention, a creative alternative to the ineffective adversarial court process or conventional therapeutic interventions. OCB has run High-Conflict Family Camps annually since 2008, working with the most entrenched families in the country, largely court-ordered to attend.

Sharon Ryan Montgomery, Psy.D., and Marcy Pasternak, Ph.D., had both been doing family forensic work in New Jersey in private practice for many years, including child custody & parenting time evaluations, therapy for individuals and families, mediation, and parenting coordination. They were both finding cases involving child alienation to be the most tragic as well as difficult to treat, and that the common treatment of weekly family/reunification therapy was generally inadequate to shift the family dynamics in a meaningful way.

They began to hear about intensive family treatments, including residential family programs such as the OCB camp conducted by leading experts in the field. Resultantly, Sharon had referred some entrenched families to the camp, and Marcy served as an after-care therapist for one OCB family. Encouraged by their experience with OCB, they reached out to see if they could visit the camp and observe the treatment model for themselves.

Sharon and Marcy attended an OCB outreach event in NYC in the fall of 2012. Robin Deutsch, Ph.D., was present and they discussed their desire to observe camp. Shortly thereafter, OCB announced that there would be opportunity for clinical trainees to attend and observe the Family Camp in summer 2013. They both applied and were accepted.

In the summer 2013, Sharon and Marcy participated in OCB’s first clinical training at camp, learning the model, observing the families and interventions remotely, and participating in the team discussions and the camp milieu. “We found it to be a powerful and amazing experience.” *

As a continuation of the OCB training model, Sharon and Marcy were invited to attend camp the following summer as clinical fellows, to co-lead one of the parent groups and assist clinical staff in family interventions.

Make a “wild” guess — does it sound like “Sharon and Marcy” might have already been AFCC groupie-professionals before coming to this training and writing rave-review testimonials of their (AFCC) colleagues methods?

How does such a wildly successful camp barely raise any money, and not break $100K assets after four years in operation (NOTE:  They said, camps started in 2008, so that’s only counting years for which revenues were actually reported under this name.  Click through to bottom row tax return, and it does indeed have “Initial return” checked and state that starting cash balance (bottom of page 1) was “0” and ending, around $55K.    Just take a look! (Click Organization name for any year to see the return):

Search Again

ORGANIZATION NAME	ST	YR	FORM	PP	TOTAL ASSETS	EIN
OVERCOMING BARRIERS INC	MA	2014	990EZ	13	$29,286.00	01-0909327
OVERCOMING BARRIERS INC	MA	2013	990EZ	13	$22,740.00	01-0909327
OVERCOMING BARRIERS INC	MA	2012	990EZ	11	$15,311.00	01-0909327
Overcoming Barriers Inc.	MA	2012	990EZ	11	$55,356.00	01-0909327

Here’s the California Secretary of State (http://kepler.sos.ca.gov to look) Registration (checked in 2016) stating this “Massachusetts” entity has a Palo Alto, California address.  What changed when? (normally this would display in brown/tan hues on the site.

Entity Name:	OVERCOMING BARRIERS, INC.
Entity Number:	C3423429
Date Filed:	10/21/2011
Status:	ACTIVE
Jurisdiction:	MASSACHUSETTS
Entity Address:	417 TASSO STREET
Entity City, State, Zip:	PALO ALTO CA 94301
Agent for Service of Process:	SHERROL CASSEDY
Agent Address:	417 TASSO STREET
Agent City, State, Zip:	PALO ALTO CA 94301

Their 2015 “Intensive Training” took place at Dallas International Airport and was co-sponsored by “Calvert Partners, PLLC” (in Texas), with the “Calvert” representing one of the first 50 prescribing psychopharmacologists in the US — but send the checks to 417 Tasso Street in Palo Alto….there is a $200 nonrefundable “administration fee,” etc.

Immersion Training took place in December 2015

Family Intensive Intervention

A specialized and unique program for clinicians working with post-separation problems where children resist contact with a parent.  Legal professionals who are interested in attending this training, please contact Dr. Peggie Ward at peggiewardphd@gmail.com for more information.

December 3 & 4, 2015

Dex Media Hotel and Conference Center

(Conveniently located on the grounds of the Dallas, Texas airport)

Details

Follow a family role-play throughout two days of an intensive family intervention with real time guiding narrative provided by the training director. Training also includes small group discussions with the Overcoming Barriers training team that includes the Overcoming Barriers founders and innovators:

Robin M. Deutsch, Ph.D., ABPP (scroll down to bottom of page for bio)

Barbara Jo Fidler, Ph.D., C.Psych (scroll down to bottom of page for bio)

Peggie Ward, Ph.D. (scroll down to bottom of page for bio)

Mental health professionals face significant challenges trying to assist families when a child is resisting contact with a parent after separation/divorce.

This 20 hour immersion training offers an exciting and innovative training experience using actors role playing a typical family. Through a unique combination of advance webinars, both prior to and after the live training, observation of the live intervention with the “family” and debriefing time with the training team, trainees will learn the nuts and bolts of the intensive whole family intervention from intake and contracting, through multiple clinical interventions to aftercare planning.

The training team, all members of the Overcoming Barriers Board, are experienced Clinical Psychologists and educators with decades of experience working with High Conflict families and present and publish nationally and internationally.

Continuing Education

Continuing education will be offered to participants through our training co-sponsor Calvert Partners, PLLC.

Calvert Partners, PLLC is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Calvert Partners, PLLC maintains responsibility for this program and its content.  More info on Calvert Partners here at their website.  <=<=<=

CALVERT PARTNERS and ADVISORY STAFF (notice the “Southern Connection”):

Who We Are

Principals: 

James D. Calvert, Ph.D., MSCP – Jim is the president of Calvert Partners, PLLC.  He is a licensed psychologist and lecturer at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX.  He has spent over 20 years in healthcare as a psychologist, program director, training director, clinical director, and executive director at community mental health agencies, hospitals, and private practices.  He also taught psychology and organizational development at numerous universities.  Jim obtained his bachelor’s degree from Clemson University and his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Louisiana State University.  He obtained a postdoctoral Master’s degree in psychopharmacology from Fairleigh Dickinson University and was one of the first 50 psychologists in the U.S. to be licensed as a prescribing psychologist.  He is currently the CE Director for APA Division 55 (Pharmacotherapy) publication.

Caitlin Schraufnagel, Ph.D. – Caitlin is senior principal at Calvert Partners.  She is a licensed psychologist specializing in assessment, behavioral neurology, and wellness.  She has lived in Australia, New Zealand, and France and brings a multicultural perspective to her work.  She has worked in community agencies, hospitals, and private practice.  She has been a clinical training director and supervisor, and has taught at the University of North Texas.  She obtained her undergraduate and doctoral degrees from the University of North Texas.

Consultants:

Terri Bauer, LCSW, LSOTP – Terri is on our advisory council for education and training.

Michaeleen Burns, Ph.D. – Micki is on our advisory council for education and training.

PhD in what? LSOTP?  Readers might want to realize that “LSOTP” stands for “Licensed Sex Offender Treatment Provider…”

Licensed Mental Health Professionals in Texas-A Fact Sheet

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/…/lmh_fa&#8230;

Texas Department of State Health Services

The LCSW has also completed at least two years of professional, supervised … A licensed sex offender treatment provider (LSOTP) is a mental health …

Terri L. Bauer, Texas LSOTP State Directory listing

Terri L. Bauer, L.C.S.W., L.S.O.T.P. Board Member (Sex Offender Treatment, Council on) Term Ends: 02-01-2019 General Information Home Town: McKinney Personal Information Bauer is a licensed clinical social worker, licensed sex offender treatment provider, and director of the Collin County Juvenile Probation Department Juvenile Sex Offender program. She is a member of the National Association of Social Workers, and a trainer and guest speaker for the Collin County Child Advocacy Center. Bauer received a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in social work from The University of Texas at Arlington. Reappointed 3/12/13

Wow.  That’s “re-assuring” when it comes to training people for reunification camp clinical work.  Check out the board chairman of this Texas council (has an MDiv from Reformed Theological Seminary, self-employed in Plano, Texas…).

Someone should review Overcoming Barrier’s charitable registration status in California and if they are reporting any government income (likely, not).  In the 990 Form-EZ, this doesn’t have to be reported but on a state “RRF” form, it does.  It’s not my blogging priority at this point — and it takes no advanced degrees, or even a bachelors’,  to do.  See “How to look up a nonprofit” or google “Search California Charitable Registry,” pick a search field to fill in, and start clicking and reading.

I’d keep an eye on that group’s activities, especially with the abnormally low revenues being reported.