Let's Get Honest! Absolutely Uncommon Analysis of Family & Conciliation Courts' Operations, Practices, & History

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 53,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 12 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.

The December 3rd post was about financial incentives in custody matters.

In 2012, there were 119 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 512 posts. There were 13 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 13 MB. That’s about a picture per month.

The busiest day of the year was December 3rd with 856 views. The most popular post that day was Mothers in Custody Cases: Please read! Unaudited State Incentives (Title IV-A, IV-D) affect Family Court Decisions.
What’s interesting — that was a July, 2011 post!

Also near the top was the older — but still relevant — “Let’s Get Honest About Kids’ Turn and Judges’ Profits.” (February 27, 2011!!) . . . Which primarily began listing the board of directors for this nonprofit (which is now a national money-making model (psycho-educational classes, required by court order for all divorcing parents, cf. “Kids First” series in various states, including Pennsylvania, as well).

The model of nonprofits formed of public employees (by trade association) forming lobbying groups to change the government (laws) by first changing the practice, then lobbying to say “look, the practices have changed” (as if this was a natural occurrence unrelated to previous strategizing in conferences.

Here’s a brochure to a 2013 “ACFLS” conference with 8 judges, plenty of attorney attendees (no doubt) and I noticed at least ONE prominent AFCC (itself also being a nonprofit, trade-association, “interdisciplinary” of the same general concept)person,Leslie Drozd coming by.*** Plus a few Commissioners… Besides being in nice luxurious locations often outside the jurisdiction of whoever the employees (civil servants, right?) are representing — they are often expensive: (this one is from $450-$525 to attend (cheaper for members, of course) and $450 for the DVDs of the conference — they also follow a common pattern of providing CLE or MCLE (i.e. Continuing Legal Education) credits as another motivator. I’m sure the business angle should be obvious; another question I have is, who pays for the conference, membership, hotel, and air fare fees when the entire association is for people already elected and on a payroll to do their jobs better?

“AFCC” & Minmizing Child Abuse/DV, reframing it as “high-conflict” and/or “Parental Alienation”
BY THE WAY…

Leslie Drozd is a well- known name among AFCC, probably has been on its board of directors, I DNR if is now.
However, WHO attends conferences is important to note, up to a certain point. Here’s that bio blurb (link provided) Protective parents (mothers in particular) should notice immediately the general drift of her studies, and the Harvard background:

Leslie M. Drozd, Ph.D.

Dr. Drozd is the co-author, co-editor or author of several important books, book chapters, and professional articles including Is it Domestic Violence, Alienation, and/or Estrangement: A Decision Tree Safety First: Children in Domestic Violence Cases; Domestic Violence: True of False; and the Missing Piece: Solving the Puzzle of Self. Dr. Drozd is a graduate of the California School of Professional Psychology. She also holds degrees from the University of California, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. She is a past president of the Orange County Psychological Association and has been honored by that organization with its highest reward, the Orange Psi Award for outstanding contributions to the field of psychology. She is the editor of the peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary journal, the Journal of Child Custody.

Dr. Leslie Drozd is a licensed psychologist. She is a clinician, a forensic expert, a professor, an author, a researcher, and an editor of an international journal, the Journal of Child Custody. She has an independent practice in Newport Beach, California. She has conducted child custody evaluations for over 20 years. She works daily doing forensic work (including expert witness testimony, mainly in Family Law Court), seeing patients, teaching other professionals, or writing.

She conducts post divorce work with families including reunification therapy when a child has rejected a parent. She works as a parenting coordinator and as a co-parenting therapist and she reviews the work of other colleagues and serves as a consultant to attorneys.

Dr. Drozd is a well-known expert on family violence, abuse, and alienation – especially in high conflict divorce cases. She has spoken for** the Association of Family Conciliation Courts (international, national, and state conferences) as well as at conventions held by the American, California, Arizona, Minnesota, Missouri, Orange, Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Luis Obispo Psychological Associations, Alliant University and California School of Professional Psychology, Argosy University, University of California, Irvine, and Harvard University doctoral program in the School of Public Health. She is the co-author of a bench book for judges in how to deal with domestic violence in child custody cases. She has served on a joint task force and she has spoken at a national convention of the American Bar Association and the American Psychological Association on issues of alleged abuse, neglect, & endangerment, and she helped create the new Model Standards for Conducting Child Custody Evaluations for the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts.

…and we still wonder why children are being given to abusers, or family reunification seems particularly to apply after molestation has been alleged, or even prosecuted?…

“Crisis in the Courts” Advocacy groups which work alongside instead of reporting on this particular association — while simultaneously publishing material protesting “Parental Alienation,” are simply dishonest. This is the society of (self-appointed/congratulated) professional experts who will determine (the judges among them taking advice from the psychologists and custody evaluators that are getting such negative press) are omitting a key element. Would you teach people to read English (Psy.D. or Ph.D. and all) while omitting the function of vowels, and how in different contexts, a vowell has a different sound?

So why would anyone who sincerely is bothered by “custody being given to batterers” simply talk, and talk, and talk (write, publish, sell, conference, promote) and talk some more about “Parental Alienation” without mentioning the name of a key organization pushing this theme — who it is, where incorporated, and how it functions?

Among those functions is not just the economic angle involved in having a nonprofit trade (professional) membership association running conference and selling the resulting DVD’s (and books) — and forming more nonprofits that I call “critters” (offspring of the larger ones) to then to sell the FOR-profit material (classes, often) that a judge — or a changed rule of court — can demand all divorcing parents take.

ACFLS is I think an Association (filed as a nonprofit) of CFLS (Certified Family Law Specialists), and they have actually had some debates with CFLS who were not association members. In California (check other states) the Certifying of “Family Law Specialists” entails a certain set of courses and a mindset. Last I looked qualifications to know much (at all) about either domestic violence or child abuse (chief complaints from the mothers’ side on the family law system) were minimal. Among the benefits of being an “association” are tax-exemption from income and, depending on the type, the ability to take donations (not just membership fees). There are dozens (if not more) of national, regional, and state associations of various employees who themselves work in government — and as it’s presumed such associations are in the public’s best interest we (often) get to pay membership fees. TO check more, contact (FOIA, or look on-line) at a local county (etc.’s) vendor payments database, assuming they have a public one.

So, in their conference, among the topics I saw was when to pull in a mental health person in “DVRO” (Domestic Violence Restraining Order) hearings, naturally. If the DV itself doesn’t drive an individual crazy, the process of being repeatedly called crazy (or making it up) in a court venue, sooner or later is likely to….

OK, when a JUDGE presenting to an ATTORNEY (who might between them have a case in front of that judge with said attorney representing a client) is paid to present at a conference the attorney has paid to attend, or courtesy a nonprofit someone donates to — Hmm, does that get a little interesting? Then, where are the checks (or electronic records) paying for this recorded — on the government payrolls?

We may never know, as originally AFCC itself began, from what others have been able to unearth, operating FROM the county courthouse, UNDER the county EIN# but checks (then subpoenaed courtesy Richard Fine, Marv Byer, I DNR who exactly) were being made out to all different kinds of payees, while deposited into a common account. So this is really, a matter of tracking electronic payments — internal controls, etc. Right? In case someone doesn’t think that’s a big deal, either read my last several posts, or consider the child support industry and the divorce rate. Putting two and two together — how much money is changing hands? Then add in the diversions to nonprofits all over the country who may (or may not — and it’s by now obvious, plenty do not) actually maintain their own corporate status — so, if someone keeps on collecting for them after they no longer exist, then where did that money go?

So, imagine how many societies (nonprofit corporations) of this character are flying and running around the place, as we (allegedly) are driving over the fiscal cliff? How much airfare and conference fares (public reimbursements) go into all this? No way to know without looking it up. But it’s good to be aware of.

That’s what happens when you head for principles, and sprinkle it with examples. You know this is UNcommon analysis, but my intention is, that it become COMMONplace to analyze the courts, and after figuring out that the operational system is (basically) transferring wealth to private hands through private tax-exempt nonprofits (also on the federal dole, etc.) — that we ought best to head straight to the local CAFR, read it, and quit emptying our pockets in the pursuit of justice. Or even “court reform.”

That’s why I say:

The issues of 2013 are Economic, as is the primary matter of “Justice.” TO handle this I request:

Get up to speed on Welfare De-form [Privatization of federal funding under the Social Security Act, Title IV-D, IV-A, IV-E, etc.) See a post I filed in March 2009, quoting a Poor Magazine article from Dec. 2003 to learn that some things never change, direction, at least…. In which a single parent (why they are single could be for a variety of reasons) mistakenly asked for some help, expecting it to be temporary. Next thing you know, there goes her son. How many of us can identify with that?

This is hardly new material), understand (COMPREHEND) that this is one primary way that your political nightmare (right-wing if you’re leftist, leftist if you’re rightwing) is going to make sure that this nightmare WILL happen through slush funds, embezzlements, and unlimited access to money-laundering opportunities through what we think is a basically benign (if we still think that) government — when in fact, it’s simply a very aggressive corporation dressed up with The Myth of the Rule of Law and for those to whom this appeals, a sanctimonious pretension to be doling out more services than sustenance.

I am not a radical feminist, but I am radically against having any more men shove their face in mine in a religious institution, or any women who buy into the same rhetoric doing so up close or afar. Standing up for economic facts has to face that they are indeed often driven with other dressings (gender, religion, caste, race, etc. etc.).

I personally consider my best series this year to be the “Long and Winding Rhodes” (referring to the connections between the scramble for africa/diamond cartel) to the welfare reform system, up to current date.

In (I don’t even remember 2011 or before?) the Parenting Coordination series (Evaluate, Coordinate, Alienate) was also a good one. However, we have to look for the simplest, most coherent, and most relevant (in many circumstances) understanding.

And for that I have to point us to the recent CAFR material which should be COMMON knowledge, but isn’t; the need for people who do not alreayd understand these things (including people who have never owned a home), the Catherine Austin Fitts material on “How the Money Works: The Myth of the Rule of Law” and the reading on HUD. However, that leaves out of the mix, the religious element and HHS funding. No one should be uninformed on this scope.

And one more item — the polarizing of the country and its finances (while centralizing them into a Behavioral Health Model, such that NO ONE is un-managed by either a resident psychologist and/or pharmacists in some sort of state institution (either with walls, or with rules that are going to affect family relationships) — was first done, I think, around grassroots battered women– and sorry, guys, but this is a legitimate issue. “Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Marriage” is not; it defies definition– one reason it’s so effective. But assaulting other human beings, extorting them, and kidnapping are universally inappropriate.

So, obviously, a battered women’s “movement” requires funding. They are taking it from HHS, DOJ and probably more — and collaborating with the HR/FR movement openly, resulting in system change (the entire emphasis of the Duluth Model — DUluth, MN, Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs) — and what this does is blend public and private money, divert funds to training and technical assistance (translation primarily: Websites; software corporations, and training curricula), making some into millionaires, and others back on the street (or welfare) for you!

They did not have to handle it in this manner, but chose to compromise (a.k.a. “sell out”). In the past several years, I have not found one head of any DV agency willing to take street-level feedback about the family court fiascos. These are not nice to read about — but they are part of the collective national history now, and should be known.

Regarding “FISCAL CLIFF” — just go read your CAFRs (after identifying just how many thousands of government entities — a school district is one, a water district, any fund-raising entity using either ROI from prior public investments (assets) OR tax revenues, etc. — is a government entity. The “CAFR” (Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports”) explain this just fine, and Walter Burien, Clint Richardson (realitybloger.wordpress.com) and now people like Carl Herman (who has written on this) explain it pretty well. You were lied to, by having “budget” shoved in your face, and actual funds, kind of kept on the back shelf til someone ferrets them out.

It’s important coming up to think in-depth, conceptually, cross-systems, and sensitive to language — including with sensitivity to when one is simply being lied to, and then to respond accordingly.

The last woman to die after trying to stay alive post-marriage, that I’m aware of, (I was emailed) relates to a situation in Georgia, and was avoidable. A top (well-known) Georgia Judge made excuses, hardly new, and I’m still not sure whether I believe the media reporting on it. This same judge sits on a CCJDP (Coordinating Council of the Juvenile Delinquency? Program) which is a centralized grants and programs dispensing setup.

I have now spent fully one-third of my adult life standing up to some of these human rights abuses, on behalf of my daughters (their future), myself, and others — and doing this in a blue state, in a supposedly decent country. As technology speeds the pace of change (including of government), we need more, not less, people to stay in HONESTY mode, in CARING mode, and not be psychologically overwhelmed, or retreat into a drug- or music-induced euphoria because it feels better.

We also need loosely networked (not “co-dependent”) leaders who can name the issues without regard to bribes and step outside their favorite pre-fab profile labels, to name the game, and see what can be done about it.

To be able physically to survive while doing this, people also need their own financial independence. In that regard, we have got to look at private equity, the impact on real estate etc. of “Narco-Dollars” (as Ms. fits puts it) and that the “squeeze” being put on all the public (the ‘churning’ of the situation) was pre-planned, deliberate, and unnecessary.

Again, I posted from (you can google this) “The Bentley 500” that the United States of America, it says, is the largest owner of the world’s (not just our country’s) assets (infrastructures). To comprehend how this can be, look at some of my links to the right– by giving up more (much, much more) money to our own governments year after year ,than it actually needs to operate (a.k.a. by not MOST of us understanding how the money works, even if we didn’t learn it in school), and by continuing to ask for services instead of organizing differently to not need them (which would indeed be a radical change). Someone is leasing that infrastructure. Someone is paying the money for the leases, and someone is servicing the debt, there is profit. We are also the largest per-capita jailor in the world (that too represents a lot of real estate and privatized prison corporations, Corrections Corporation of America, etc.)… How can the USA be broke when it owns all this?

I believe the answer is, it looks broke on the books it wants the public to know about, and simply covers up the existence of the full (collective net worth) books. Hence, the California Parks system can be about to close 70 parks, until someone discovers that there is actually $54 million sitting in two separate funds, not really on the radar! When an individual then follows up on this (after a few department heads roll), then no one really wants to talk about it, at least from the political angle. (Search “Carl Herman” and “City of Industry” or “Demerjian” on this blog for more; including a diagram of how it works).

Perhaps it’s in these times one should call on one’s faith, if not in human nature, on something better than the base instincts of greed, fear, hate, jealousy, envy and above all, what I’m going to call simple “idolatry,” which is the tendency of most people to head for their personal comfort zones, and let the sociopaths running the place deal with the sociopaths running amok.

Speaking of which, I take this next item personally — it has affected many people I know personally, and I’m not dropping the ball on this topic, either. Enough is ENOUGH!!:

(Found yesterday in reviewing another DV coverup by another megachurch(Rick Warren’s Saddleback) revealed another type of nonprofit — overtly religious, and seriously aggressive: “The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood” (a nonprofit corporation, and my post, a visceral (nauseating) gut response to realizing that such a group exists. None of us wants to become a long-term casualty of such beliefs. While the essence of any government is that we all subscribe to the myth that a huge state apparatus is in our best interests (“take it on faith — we are going over the cliff!”) — I think that the heart of this matter is the Profit/Nonprofit dichotomy — and then the On the Record/Off the Record (AKA “laundered // lost” funds) dichotomy.

The same day, another mother had emailed me some recent news from Georgia, which seems to typify the situation. Again, keep repeating — fatherlessness causes domestic violence and abuse. Hopefully this mantra, if loud enough (and also propped up with enough millions) will drown out evidence of how it works when a family court judge is called to make a thumbs-up or thumbs-down decision, and THUMBS-DOWN it was. (of course, this wasn’t helped by the fact that someone was released from jail after stalking, threatening, harassing, etc…). The man was told to go forth and be good from now on, and we’re supposed to believe that was in the best interests of the couple’s sons?

I’m including because Georgia is a key state, it seems, and because this is a highly-placed judge on a federal program to prevent juvenile delinquency (CJJDP). This is another reason I don’t see why we should keep funding both streams — domestic violence industry and fatherhood/marriage promotion. Why bother, when it’s going to be up to the individual self-restraint of people who have made it clear they don’t have it (in the circumstances)?

Sorry to inflict this on the readership at this time of year — but I’m sure those two sons are also sorry — their mother is gone and now their father will be also. However, there will be outreach to the Dad in prison to reconnect with the sons afterwards. And so it goes, round and round, these funds:

From Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Bill Torpy. This incident happened last Saturday 12/22/12. Read the rest to learn how very avoidable it was, and what Judge Adele Grubbs quipped in denying this woman the right to live by putting the man back in jail…

“Donna Kristofak was terrified and was letting the court know it. John S. Kristofak, who was her husband for 19 years, had been arrested six months earlier as he chased her in a Wal-Mart parking lot. In his car were a butcher’s knife and what police called “a suicide note.”

During a court hearing Oct. 12, Mrs. Kristofak begged a Cobb County judge not to release him from jail. “I fear for my life,” she told Superior Court Judge Adele Grubbs, telling the judge that a court-issued order of protection would not stop her crazed ex-spouse.

Douglas said the fact that Kristofak had a knife and suicide note when arrested in March was “a huge red flag.”

{{yes it’s been known for decades what the red flags are, so basically anymore we are ordered to play Russian roulette with our lives, while being lectured how to co-parent better…}}

“Every one of these cases is excruciating; the victim called it right here,” she said. “She did incredibly well. She articulated exactly what he would do. He was determined to do it and no piece of paper would stop him.”

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© 2012 Cox Media Group.

[See story; I’m dealing with a different input device today, may revisit the matter later.)

Well, I may look at the Resource Center, or this case again — (and it seems to have some real estate involved as well; who’s going to get any real estate involved the long run? Hmmm…HE will be in jail, not working. Mom’s dead. Can the relatives take it over? .) — but the basic patterns don’t change much. I don’t know if there was an owned home or a rental in this case, but other cases are known (same judge) where allegedly real estate sold improperly while one parent was in jail; the one I’m aware of it was the mother in jail!

So much for the holiday for those sons….. and the family ……

_______ ________ __________
The only way I know for the United States people, as a country (not speaking of the actual incorporated entity it seems to be) to handle this is for more people to get their basic financial education, start acting on it, and figure out other ways to live and to organize themselves socially. Particularly the more moral, ethical, responsible and hard-working individuals who actually believe that the government is there to enforce and protect (verses “force the collect”) and that religious institutions do anything different — need to reconsider their ethics and morality.

Some people are angry with me because after the first umpteen rounds of being economically battered after physically battered, I”m not making like a bull and going after the flags being waved, for sport, to watch it happen again, but actually much more interested (being a person, not an “animal”) in stopping this blood sport.

Again — a few basic resources explain the basics of the “financial coups d’etat.” People to whom this has already happened individually should be able to catch on quickly. If they will keep their heads screwed on straight and think straight. By the way, time is of the essence!

NOTE: Many personal changes have happened (been forced) in my own life also recently — and in the lives of others I network with. Among the most significant things I did was start the CAFR blog, start processing better understanding of real estate and private equity, and dissociated (or was thrown off) some time-wasting forums, which I trust will continue in 2013 as well. At times I am frightened, but more often indignant, and rarely doing much other than giving attention to this issue, and other survival needs.