This is a wakeup call.

So — Are you still Fiddling Around while Rome Burns? This is something interesting to “Fiddle” with.

What’s below — How hard is this? Not hard. Just do it!

This morning {{when post was in draft, that is}}, I looked up and looked at CFDA 93086 (Marriage/Fatherhood) selecting the state of Minnesota. This “How-To” page can be applied in any state. It shows less than the tip of the iceberg, but that an iceberg does exist. I decided to post it here for an example of how EASY it is to get started looking things up and compiling at least a basic understanding of how the federal government is funding local policy in this field, and you will have taken a few steps away from “passive” and might actually be able to better understand some of the local craziness in the courts, or among, for example, some of your neighbors.

So this is just a quick look. It took me only five to seven minutes to find out some fairly valuable information, for those who live in the state — about how some of the program funding is distributed.

Then teach someone else (and after you teach one, then teach four more, for a total of five (5) others). Encourage them (and I encourage you) to spend one hour, once, to acquire and follow up on their curiosity about this field, to look it up, wake up, make it their own. See if curiosity remains among the populace, and then apply some basic evangelistic, franchising or MLM (Multi-Level-Marketing) techniques back on the government — after all, it’s been applying them on us through HHS for years…..

Examples: How HHS Dumps Federal (=your) Dollars into Attracting Money to “Promoting Responsible Fatherhood.” See the Pattern, Look ’em Up Locally!

(that last was a new one on me — not the Alliance for Children & Families (behavioral health outfit) but their linking to Fatherhood.gov clearinghouse… Or, for example, setting up a “National Responsible Fatherhood Capacity-Building Initiative” (Grants-steering college)..led by the “NFI,” a nice 1994 nonprofit with connections to HHS personnel…. This then trains (see “PAVLOV”) people to come to the website for more NRFCBI news, a.k.a., money and where to show up for handouts in local areas — basic marketing principles: Recruit offering rewards, clone the programs, solicit from the religious sector, who’s already used to the pattern…!

Between the double lines is a California example, found simply by looking at the HHS-“Capacity-Building” mother ship off-loading site. The Children’s Institute, Inc. (HHS grants, $52 million) and Children’s Institute of Los Angeles — both nonprofits with the exact same street address and registered agent; one just happens to be a new identity which got started out with about $28Million of assets, in 2011 or so..) And it IS a fatherhood organization in intent and focus, entwined with the theme that preventing child abuse and violence is a fatherhood thing… I then looked at the older “Children’s Institute” and saw how very many other sectors of local (City, State) and other Federal groups this ONE organization is taking funding from, like a powerful magnetic. While this is an older (1917) Corporation, its purpose and focus has apparently been revamped since welfare reform.

Grant Opportunity for California organizations offered by Children’s Institute;”

Request for Proposals: Project Fatherhood Community Grants Program
Proposal Submission Deadline: August 13, 2010

Children’s Institute, Inc. (CII) announces a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Project Fatherhood SM Community Grants Program. Made possible with funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the program will identify small faith-based and community-based organizations that will collaborate with CII to replicate the agency’s Project Fatherhood SM groups.

For more than a century, CII has provided the healing, support, and resources children and families {{why not just say “People” and specify what kinds? Because children and families is a buzz-word}}need to thrive through innovative programs and policies {{systems change… Vague enough description?}}. A good example is the agency’s Project Fatherhood SM. Developed in 1996 [[Same year as TANF}}, the project works to increase the involvement of primarily urban, low-income, disadvantaged fathers in the lives and upbringing of their children. Project Fatherhood SM provides fathers with comprehensive parenting skills and support activities. Recognized as a model program by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Project can now reach more fathers through grants to additional community-based organizations.

How does it increase these fathers’ involvement in the lives of their children? Legal help in custody matters? Prisoner re-entry? Promoting mediation? Case-steering? COAR (Compromise of Arrears Reunification)? Whatever the means, to INCREASE father involvement where the parents are separated, and mother has custody, means to DECREASE the mother involvement. If the child is in foster care, that’s another matter. This group also has a high interest in Early Head Start, Abandoned Infants, etc. You have to look to see what’s going on!

Then re-incorporate somehow at the same address, or change corporation name, move it, and in general, don’t leave a clear set of bread crumbs to which grants went where….(This next is from the Calif. Secretary of State):

C3365104 03/30/2011 ACTIVE CHILDREN’S INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES MARK ENGEL
C0085636 12/13/1917 ACTIVE CHILDREN’S INSTITUTE, INC. MARK ENGEL

(See State Charitable Search page, key in the new #C3365104) and see an organization that somehow started out with $28 million of assets and over $1 million of income (year one), none of which came from the Government…; it first received assets July 28, 2011, its charitable filing was April, 2012 (days before tax-time), and has five directors (Mark Engel, treasurer). EIN# 45-1505136 Its 990 tax return states a purpose is to “help children in Los Angeles who have been affected by violence and abuse” Only these five voting members of the nonprofit say what happens to the $28 million of assets and $1+million of revenue, I guess… per p. 8 of the tax return, they spend about 2 hours a week on this, and are paid nothing for the privilege. The org received “$985K” from the “related organization” and is paid $57K or so in rents….On page 14 of this tax return, the (older) Children’s Institute” is listed as a “related organization” (Type I) which is not listed in their governing documents, which they have not notified they are going to support.

That organization is Org. C0085636, above, I gather — its EIN# is 95-1421624, and per TAGGS EIN# search (must re-do it yourself), it has received $52 million of HHS grants over the years, plenty, but not all, of them of the Promoting Responsible Fatherhood sort. I count $12,500 in 93086 only — and that’s only since 2006.
(“Non-CC” means “non-Competing Continuation). I think you get the general idea, right?….

This larger, older organization has not only the above grants, but per its RRF filing (charitable registry for the State of California), you can look up what other government funding is coming in. This is an ASTOUNDING funnel for money from not just HHS, but the OJJDP, and all kinds of grants from Los Angeles AND California (DOE, Mental Health, Substance Abuse, plenty of DCFS, etc.) — and for some reason, a department of HHS in North Carolina, the dept. of Homeland Security, you name it. (please browse the list! ). How’d you like to be a woman in a Los Angeles Custody matter in those courts now??

Now, In Minnesota

See also recent page called “ISIS and HHS in Dakota County, Minnesota.” (Don’t forget the comments also). That itself was simply a find while commenting (over-commenting, to be exact) on “Carver County Corruption” blog (Dakota County Section, another egregious custody case marked prominently by a GAL’s decision. Somehow, this mother was ordered OUT of the house, and two aunts ordered IN). Finally I had to ask this:

Can you teach this information, and why it’s important to someone no less than ten years younger (or better, a full generation younger) than you? Few better ways to learn something than with a view to teaching someone else, right?

Overall question: WHY are we paying taxes, again? WHERE are they going? HOW necessary is this top-heavy bureaucracy in MY neighborhood (and what’s it been doing to the neighborhood, etc.).

HHS has centralized operations and is not just basically running, but also funding, policy affecting the family court system (and dependency, etc. systems) — and it hath been decreed: more fatherhood = less poverty.

That may be true or false depending on circumstances, but it’s still policytalk throughout the welfare system. Stating it as a generic policy (without qualifications) constitutes a virtual religion. However, if anyone protests, the feds are not responsible for states’ matters, like divorce and custody. And if there’s a problem with what judges are doing individually, or program-wise, well, let’em consult a judicial complaint board, but remember the judicial immunity — a wide umbrella for individuals functioning as an aide to the court (like that Family Court Services apparatus, GALs, etc.)

Whether True or False, you Do need to Look at the Funding, and See if the Recipients are Real, and if Real — Who Are They, and What’s the Influence?

Because of this, we might as well find out which such HHS-funded programs under which organizational names are operational in “our” state, not just in our local county. Along the lines of we already know some basics…
Danger of HHS programs to women and children, acknowledged by both fathers and mothers, and DIRECTLY tied into welfare reform, “Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act” (PRWORA) of 1996.

So, I figured (after finding that $23++ million fake organizational name, and probably plenty more, under the HHS OpDiv/Program Office combo “CMSORD” (Center for Medicaid Services/Office of Research and Demonstration), I thought I’d look up the 93086 stuff also.

{To repeat, two paragraphs]:
This morning {{when post was in draft, that is}}, I looked up and looked at CFDA 93086 (Marriage/Fatherhood) selecting the state of Minnesota. This is a “How-To” page and can be applied anywhere else. It shows less than the tip of the iceberg, but that an iceberg does exist. I decided to post it here for an example of how EASY it is to get started looking things up.

So this is just a quick look. It took me only five to seven minutes to find out some fairly valuable information, for those who live in the state — about how some of the program funding is distributed.

It’s far harder for me to get it into shape on this blog than it was to look at, and comprehend the material right on TAGGS. (Of course, I have some practice; it does get easier with practice and your eye gets quicker to see things with greater exposure. Contrast this to further and ongoing exposure to horror custody stories which disturb the emotions, and/or make one angry — which is perhaps a better use of time?)

Remember, though: Not all Fatherhood Programs are under a single CFDA, as whole government agencies have been incorporating the theme. I believe I have already showed (just to be fair) that major nonprofits in Minnesota in the business of stopping violence against women (or at least “Families,” or is it just Abuse in General?) have been making millionaires out of software providers (such as Blackbaud, Inc.) and have fantastic, web-based sales platforms. What they’re selling is training, supervising, and consulting services. (DAIP, MPDI, etc.)

I ran ONE advanced search (http://taggs.hhs.gov/advancedsearch.cfm) for some preliminary information, some of which is self-explanatory. It remains to do some more follow-up from another angle and another source. Within these 7 minutes, I found out:

1.

That ALL the (listed) 93086 programming on TAGGS in Minnesota on this search comes from 2006 forward. As funding existed before then, that search has a flaw in it, and another one should be done to find out why the monies from 1995-2006 aren’t even showing up.

2.

That all the programs showing up are in only two counties — Hennepin and Ramsey.

2a. How many counties does the state have? (74).
Map Courtesy of Digital-Topo-Maps.com

2b. Second TAGGS search, “By Location” (Sort by County) shows that Ramsey County dominates, then Hennepin, then Olmstead. Only these three received Billions of federal aid; all other counties were in the Millions. So, the state’s HHS programs are highly centralized.

Ramsey: $64 billion, Hennepin, $4 billion (thats 8:1 dominated by Ramsey), and Olmstead, only $2 billion. Where are those counties in the state — and why are they getting the lion’s share of HHS money?

2c.
Here’s a map. Ramsey (small blue) and Hennepin are neighbors, and Olmstead, a little southeast of them. (Cities, from “CityData.com” shows it’s primarily the “Twin Cities” (Minneapolis/St. Paul) — with Duluth up north on Lake Superior). Even so — to have ALL fatherhood programs going to only TWO out of 74 counties, is a bit much, no?

2d. On seeing this, I decided to look further (not in the five to seven minutes), and posted this below the chart of Fatherhood Grants, under 2d (light pink background, a large section of the post). Until and Unless it’s moved (more properly) to a separate page on “Childrens’ Law Centers,” which these lookups pointed to.
I want to show how the courts, and those that choose judges, set up GAL standards, etc. — have overlapping interests. As citizens we also should keep an eye on these things, as it tends to be Governmental (or Supreme Court) assigned “Advisory Task Forces” that are influencing rule, and legislative changes which then the public doesn’t notice until it slaps them in the face (or puts a hole in their wallets).

If we’re not happy with the results, then we need to pay closer attention to how System Change is forced (top-down) on us from the Governor’s Mansion, from D.C., and from the Courthouse. I know I’m not happy with the results; why do you think I keep blogging here? For amusement?…..

Anyone OUT of a state can — and should — be able to gain insight by looking at another state. The states aren’t all that different, and to think they are is to live an era that is now extinct. See internet, etc.

3.

That only four entities are listed: Goodwill Industries, Minnesota Council on Crime and Justice, Resource, Inc., and Urban Ventures Leadership Foundation. Of those (since I included the field “Grantee Type”), two are listed as “Welfare Department” (the 2nd and 4th). The search also provides names for followup, i.e., they could be looked up. Please note that Goodwill was one of the ones mentioned by Anne Stevenson on her Huffington Post blog (I believe on the HHS programs one, AND elsewhere).

4.

Only a few grants (I believe it was six total) are involved, all of which are in the 90FR or 90FK series:

5.

That while “CFDA 93086” CLEARLY says “Marriage/Fatherhood” all (without exception) of these programs seem to favor the second half of the equation, unless “Strengthening Families [below]” is somehow about marriage. L
inguistically, it’s circular reasoning — it’s not a real family [social policy wise] unless there’s a father in it; children in women’s (mothers’) households are being “helped” by helping the bioDads, if that makes sense…

This also seems to be the policy for children who have been removed from their mother’s households as well, and there’s a good example, in a 2009 CLC (Children’s Law Center) newsletter herein — where a juvenile put in foster care age 13, within 3 years was by the county put back into his father’s household (who’d been in prison for sex offence against a child at the time CPS got involved in the youngster’s life) and tried to make this permanent. The father ultimately said no thanks, which then shunted the adolescent back into some sort of institution which I HOPE doesn’t resemble the ones Luzerne County was infamous for.
The trickle-down philosophy?

There are two issues — the subject matter content (and its potential influence on where children live/custody cases) — but also the issue of the centralization of influence further and further away from the courts themselves, which are actually the “user interface” (primary) of the families. Where are they included in the strategic feedback loop? (intentionally, they aren’t. They have spokesmodels on taskforces…)
__________________________________________________________________________________________

This printout won’t show interactive (if you’re tired of this, contact me through comments, send help, and I’ll get the other input device back in operation which allows better showing of graphics!).

You should run this VERY simple search yourself for more “clickable fields” (including grantees, which will show their other grants; grant itself (which will give a total), and the dollar amounts, which should lead to more specific information a concerned person could track — for example, what’s the document “Obligation” number and other accounting codes. The Obligation number shows what document justified the spending.

It takes less skill (a lot less, in my opinion) than learning Facebook to run these searches. You have to be able to read, a moderate amount of thinking, and click on fields and a drop-down menu, then hit “search” at the bottom. I believe most people with fingers are qualified to do this.

Of course, the people’s names associated with the grants should be checked out too; are they real people and of the non-welfare dept. entities, are the principal investigators also public servants, or were they recently public servants (i.e., on the public payroll). Then anyone could look up the two county CAFRs for those year, or the legal/budgetary reports to attempt to find what FUNDS (government operates by FUND accounting) the money went into and came out of; or for the non-government organizations (there are two, one is Goodwill Industries) — check out their financial reports. In short, don’t just sit still and let counties dispense money left and right without demanding some accounting for it, and for its ramifications. If you find something interesting, make sure at least five people within the next week who might have a serious interest in this, understand it. If you run across someone enchanted/ entranced with Lawless America and telling their story, see if they can be convinced that this is something that might change the story — but it’d require doing some homework, and not repeating their own story, which is by memory by now. This, by contrast, is a new TYPE of information they ought to know about.

I expect that effort will be fruitless, which would be good information for those who ARE interested to keep in mind. Why are people more into telling about themselves than learning about their own government, including geographically local? I find it fascinating….

~~~~~~~~

This time, I simply put all: grantees, Principal Investigators, Grant #s, and DUNS#s, into the blogpost “tags” list below. Guess if you can’t beat’em, join’em. Maybe we should start publicizing this, and any related EIN#s. People who want to know what their money was spent on, can ask the principal investigators, and then ask for proof, too.

Below, I’ve looked up some of the material and expanded on it. But, you find the grants, look up the grants, look up the organizations, and find out WHO is doing WHAT with the grant monies. This is probably a better use of time than reporting on our custody disasters, which are going to keep going so long as it’s profitable to engage in them. Think in terms of systems, and develop some understanding of what is going on. We know our own narratives (and yes, they are important) — but EQUALLY important is to have a narrative of WTF is happening in this country with the millions of $$ going OUT from HHS and influencing State, County and Local governments?

No one should have been able to get away with $23 million of grants to a fake corporation by slightly changing the corporation name — but they have been. It’s time to change this.

No woman (or man) should go into a court hearing, or domestic violence agency or nonprofit pro bono law firm — without checking out how much fatherhood funding is flowing through the same circles. No one should spend another half year uninformed of the names and roles of the major private nonprofit associations setting up specialized courts, and of HOW certain things work!

A person can be academically brilliant, morally upright, and informed of every rule of court and law (broken) in whose case — but what we really need to become more expert on is, WHO has the power and HOW it’s delegated, and part of this power is — face it — funding! As unpleasant as the topic is, we should understand what money-laundering is, and how it happens, with a view to making it stop — as citizens!

We should know how to look things up, which things to look up, and prioritize — and be able to justify that priority to people who, like us, don’t like dishonesty in government, or undue influences (or bribes, etc.) being made available to judges, from the State, County, or Local Treasury! (Or anywhere else!)

LOOKING UP “MINNESOTA COUNCIL ON CRIME AND JUSTICE”

Minnesota Secretary of State Business Search Site. This is where you find out if a group incorporated properly in the state.

First of all (and typical), HHS apparently got the grantee name wrong. The word “Minnesota” apparently is not in the title. In any “alpha sort” it would then show up under “M” when a person wanting to search that Council from encountering it locally — and then going to HHS — would be naturally looking uner “C” for “Council” (or “T” for “The” once they realized HHS database is hardly following normal filing standards).

Is it a “welfare department”? Not if I have the right connection…

Looking at TAGGS advanced search (again), I see that ONLY one grant — FR0028, above — the fatherhood grant — goes to this organization. ALL awards from 2006-2011 are “Discretionary” and all are “Demonstration” and this is called the “Family Strengthening Department.” The classification of grantee — on TAGGS — is definitely “Welfare / State Department.” MOre on the address in a moment, but let’s look at the funding, and the Principal Investigators, again: At bottom of screen, click only the fields seen in the top row (it’s more clearly directly on the Advanced Search TAGGS.hhs.gov site; recommended)after typing in the Grantee Name and making sure “Year” is set to all,” which will quickly show that between 2006-2010, whoever this is, received a total of $2,050,000 for one program called “Family Strengthening” –and it will show the principal investigators, and how the “program office” kept switching from year to year.

(Simple search by the same DUNS# 020499885 brings up ONLY this result/interactive; click on it to see the one grant).
Recipient Name City State ZIP Code County DUNS Number Sum of Awards
Minnesota Council on Crime and Justice 
MINNEAPOLIS  MN  55415-1200  HENNEPIN  020499885  $ 2,050,000 

That should grab our attention.

I then took this same DUNS# over to USASPENDING.gov and saw 13 grants totaling $2,453,767, showing clearly that this one (FR0028) is coming out of TANF funds; it also had grants from the DOJ/OJJDP and “Corporation for Community and National Service” (Americorps/Vista, etc.) which is actually a federal agency. About $294K was coming under “Crime Victims Fund/ Legal Assistance to Victims.” (type the DUNS# in — only — under Prime Awards –and hit “search.” Be aware that a different time span is probably being pulled up).

A yet closer look at the USASPending list of grants under this same DUNS confirms that “THE Council on Crime and Justice” which TAGGS labels “Minnesota Council on Crime and Justice” are the same — EXCEPT in name, and EXCEPT in which suite#. When it’s taking grants from the OJJDP, it’s called “Council on Crime and Justice” and displays Suite #100. When it’s taking grants from TANF, it’s called “Minnesota Council on Crime and Justice” and is suite #10. Something’s funky about that. The question is (in my opinion) — on the HHS TANF Marriage/Fatherhood end — even if the other organization is legitimate, and doing legitimate work.

I looked up the street address listed on TAGGS for this Council on Crime and Justice and found a detailed building blueprint! (822 South 3rd Street #10, Minneapolis). As I am NOT a local, I’m going to leave this with any viewers who may be http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/public/@cped/documents/webcontent/convert_264007.pdf
Is this mysterious council going to be housed in the new building?
I don’t see this council on the MinneapolisMN government list of boards and commissions

See address on this 2012 Contribution Form: it says Suite #100.
http://www.crimeandjustice.org/pdfFiles/Donation%20Form-2012.pdf
In a sample DOJ/OJP award (#2007IJCX0042) we can see the street address #100, the same DUNS#, but for some reason — the “CITY” listed is not “Minneapolis” but “Commerce.” Why??? The study is “Effects of Low-Level Offence Records and Race on Employability” amount $33K. (i.e., small)..

FINALLY (after this post was published) I found the EIN#: 410798280 and by viewing its returns (search on EIN#, not name!) on 990finder — see that until 2006 (year of first fatherhood grant, above), it was called “MINNESOTA CITIZENS’ COUNCIL ON CRIME AND JUSTICE dba COUNCIL ON CRIME AND JUSTICE.” IN 2006, apparently the word “Citizen’s” was dropped from organization name? (arrgh!)

I have linked to an earlier tax return, above — which tells more about the organization; for example, Tom Johnson and Pat Steiger are paid board members, there are about five FT staff paid from the low $50K’s up to $70+K, and a consultant, $54K. Its contributions ($500K++) are NOT the main income, rather its program service revenue “including government fees and contracts” ($1.9 million). It also has $755K rental income (see note on the street address), some of which is written off as expenses, reducing rental income to $200+K. There is page after page of detailed “depreciation” of parts of a building, in other words, time to face the concept of nonprofits as a way of writing off real estate ownership and the profits therefrom.

The IRS Exempt Search site confirms this organization is “Minnesota Council on Crime and Justice” — is exempt — and it would appear NOT to be part of government.
1-1 of 1 results Results Per Page     « Prev | 1-1 | Next » 
<strong<EIN Legal Name (Doing Business As) City State Country Deductibility Status
41-0798280 Minnesota Council on Crime and Justice Minneapolis MN United States PC

The next legitimate question regarding the fatherhood grants would be — who are those principal investigators, and are they public or private employees (and are they real people). ALong with man HM/FR grants in the year 2011, you can see (from the multi-color striped table of grantees) that one year, the investigator’s first name was doubled, and last name omitted, i.e., “Pamela Pamela” — which was consistent for that year’s grantees acrosas the board, as I recall….

FYI, the “Minnesota Council on Crime and Justice” is not, as it is labeled in HHS database here, a “welfare department” but calls itself an independent 501(c)3 started in 1957 as the Prisoner’s Aid Society. A prominent link on the google results is to the page on “Expungement.” It’s essentially prisoner-re-entry transition services, a great place to promote fatherhood. On the board I noticed David T. Schultz, also a partner on a law firm mentioned prominently also in the CLC (Children’s Law Center) newsletter, below.

Here is a 148 page report (as of 2007) from “THE Council on Crime and Justice” (notice the logo, please), showing other judicial participation. HOWEVER — this entity is a nonprofit, and not part of the welfare department! Another what seems to be government site, again, plainly links to THE Council on Crime and Justice (click through), but the Board and Staff of that group do not include any of the named principal investigators in the TAGGS grants list:
http://www.mnplan.state.mn.us/cj/cj-sites.html

Moral of the Story — Pay Attention To Details about Grantees, AND their street address, fact-check Info and be alert to strange grantee names, or street addresses off by one digit, etc. Use the DUNS# for further research, use common sense and look it up!

Judges the Boards of Nonprofits Taking Fatherhood Funding — Appropriate??? or not?

Also on its board is the Presiding Judge of the Hennepin County Criminal Division, Judge Mark Wernick, plus attorneys, plus a law professor or so, plus business men, plus a Baptist pastor. So, I’m going to look up the judge, right? OK, let’s review that — a group receiving fatherhood funding has a criminal judge on its board. Would this affect, possibly, the disposition of any criminal matters coming before him involving fathers? How would that affect the other parent, and the children?

Judge Mark Wernick

Here is Judge Wernick’s “re-elect” me website (very tastefully put together, I have to say). In fine print at the bottom I notice that one of the co-founders of the committee to re-elect this judge is Dean of Wm. Mitchell College of Law, which I happen to know is also very favorable to, and (last I heard) hosts an AFCC (present or past?) Board Member, Nancy Ver Steegh.

While it does mention some community involvement (which should be read), it doesn’t mention THIS nonprofit and its fatherhood grants received under “welfare department” label in HHS. However, this is informative about our judge’s other involvements, specifically as on the board of a nonprofit which is a landlord to other nonprofits, and which owns the property a certain Junior High is on, and (Legal Rights Center) which provides criminal defense to minority and low-income populations in Hennepin County. Judges on nonprofits and nonprofits (and judges) as landlords is common theme, it seems:

Other Nonprofits Judge Wernick is involved in — (Look ’em up!)

:

“The Legal Rights Center is the first and only non-profit poverty criminal defense law firm in Hennepin County. We are one of four such public defense corporations in the State of Minnesota.” 

Let me talk about the “LRC” that a board member of this (above) fatherhood grantee “Minnesota Council on Crime and Justice” Presiding Criminal Division Judge ALSO sits on: Let’s talk, “restorative justice.” This is where the issue of very real prejudice against minorities, and over-incarceration of them (due to racism) really does conflict with gender issues of the mothers of some of their children (referring to the MEN in prison) — as sometimes the violence is against family members — her, or them (the kids). This is where, with fatherhood, a woman of color seeking protection from an ex-abuser is going to run into some serious opposition:

(from LRC “Family and Youth Restorative Justice” page), it talks about their Projects. Notice that an actual “court” is considere this group’s project:
Co-Parent Court
As part of a pilot problem-solving court led by Judge Bruce Peterson of the 4th Judicial District (Hennepin County), the LRC provides mediation or restorative family conferencing to unmarried parents in order to create a plan for each to remain cooperatively involved in their child’s life. Other partners—the University of Minnesota Extension, Domestic Abuse Project, Father Project, and Northpoint—provide case management and parent education services.

There is a US District Judge on the board of this LRC. The two staff include a Mark Peterson. Hopefully this is not a relative of the Judge Bruce Peterson of Co-Parent Court, but if I were in the area, I’d want to know.

(I think you catch my drift, right?)

In case you don’t get how “Fatherhood” “Co-Parent” Court is (or notice the heavy involvement of child support personnel, an extra $450,000 “1115” (special waiver) grant from ACF, and the involvement of other known father-involvement writers (P. Amato — see Oklahoma Marriage Initiative; K. Edin, Francesca Baeder-Adler (on this blog — I think she’s from Alabama; see my 2011 post “Footloose in Tuscaloosa”, focusing on step-parenting stuff. She’s on the grants stream also…
Here’s a nice 55-page powerpoint on the plan to DESIGN this Co-Parent Court and who can be funneled into it (no protection order in place. Easy enough — strip off the protection order!) They say up-front, heck — divorcing couples have to take parent education classes now, but we’re missing an ENTIRE market niche — what about all those unmarried parents? “Let us now reconsider how to order co-parenting out of the Paternity Calendar docket, and run more classes!” (the sarcasm reflects a bit of my anger, as I’d already picked up on the fatherhood industry’s realization of how wonderful it could be to reach out to state “extension” universities: Hence, they talk about Parents Forever ™.

“Parents Forever (TM)” from the University of MN Extension site:

Parents Forever™ is an educational program developed by the University of Minnesota Extension, based on research about the effects of divorce on children. Minnesota Statute 518.157 requires judges to court order parents with contested custody and visitation issues into an approved parent education program. Parents Forever™, including the online course, is an approved program, meeting all 25 minimum standards set by the statute.**

**{{Access Visitation is written all over this. They are collecting the money upfront. Who owns the trademark?}}

What does the research say about divorce?

Research shows that less than 50% of children can expect to live with their biological parents throughout their childhood. Children who experience family disruption often:

• Live with parental conflict before, during, and after the divorce.
• Experience the absence of the non-custodial parent. [[‘experience the absence’ means exactly what?]]
• Are more likely to be poor.

{{given how much money is poured into making the unwilling co-parent, fetching fathers out of prison to fight for custody, and in general churning the pot through the child support system, then abating arrears while one parent is actually in a contested custody fight (sometimes around issues of abuse), it’s no surprise that these kids are likely to be poor. So are victims of family violence. Is it the violence, or the absence of the noncustodial parent which causes the poverty? How bad is poverty, and under what circumstances should poverty, per se, result in parentings being charged ($89 a pop, as it shows below) to take parent education classes — BOTH parents?}}

The “conflict” talk refers to AFCC theory that conflict is worse than, at times, the abuse that gave rise to the conflict…. A copyright 2012 brochure informs readers that this course is $89, and provides a further link to Northern California’s Center for the “Family in Transition” in its wording: these classes are “Education for Families in Transition” (note the capitalization) who may be experiencing:

• Divorce
• Separation
• Issues of Paternity, parenting time, or child support.

Although the last three were run together (paternity parenting time, child support) these are known to be issues of access/visitation — and it has a lot to do with child support, which ties into of course welfare funding and much more. Of course the brochure doesn’t mention this…. But here’s where they’ve got it so far (consider the price, do the math)

Still under “Minnesota Council on Crime and Justice,” just one of the board members, this particular Judge: from his re-elect me site:

• 1985 to present – For 25 years, Judge Mark Wernick has served on the Sabathani Community Center Board of Directors (Got its start in 1966 from Baptist Church by same name). Sabathani owns the former Bryant Junior High School building in south Minneapolis. The organization has two primary functions. First, Sabathani provides social services and developmental programs for children, adults, and seniors living in south Minneapolis. Second, Sabathani is a landlord for non-profit organizations serving south Minneapolis. As a member of the Board, Judge Wernick has served the organization in the following ways:

• Board Secretary and Executive Committee member for 14 years;

• Restructured and drafted portions of the by-laws, and worked with an outside labor lawyer to draft the employee handbook;

• Attendance at Board and committee meetings among the highest of any Board member.

[[Looking up the “Sabathani Community Center” in Minnesota Corporations Search (link above), it filed twice on the same day (10/5/2010) to trademark the exact same name. I’m not sure why.]] EIN# 410985859, here’s a 2011 tax return. It looks like a decent community organization providing normal services.

Regarding the HHS Grantee “Minnesota Council on Crime and Justice” (sic):
The only grant it got is the one listed above. It is also not CALLED “Minnesota Council on Crime and Justice” but “THE Council on Crime and Justice.”

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MORE BACKGROUND — and ODDITIES ABOUT THIS FATHERHOOD FUNDING:

About Ramsey County (remember, HHS funding is 8:1 higher here than the next highest county, Hennepin — and the above grants come only to those two counties….

Further background (not done obviously in just a few minutes); file under Section 2, above! Pink background section….

Ramsey County First District has lots of judges, and includes Carver, Dakota, and a few other counties:

The First Judicial District has 36 judges and more than 250 staff that handle nearly 150,000 cases annually in the counties of Carver, Dakota, Goodhue, Le Sueur, McLeod, Scott and Sibley.  The court’s mission is “to provide justice through a system that assures equal access for the fair and timely resolution of cases and controversies.” 

If you are a pro se (self-represented) litigant or anyone seeking legal information you can access a county webpage to the left and also visit the extensive statewide online Self-Help Center.  The virtual center provides access to general legal information, one-on-one help to learn court procedures, online tools for filling out forms, videos on how to represent yourself in court, one-on-one review of completed court forms, and referrals to community resources and legal services.

Some Background on Minnesota’s GAL programming

Clicking (out of curiosity, what else?) on First District’s Guardian ad Litem (left sidebar) I can see that this is keyed off Minnesota state-level Judiciary GAL information — back to early information on the promotion of GALs in every abused or neglected child’s life, and who gets to train them, appoint them, etc. At 1996 (oddly, right about the time of welfare reform which freed up more A/V and fatherhood funding to the states from TANF funds) there was a >a href=”http://www.mncourts.gov/gal/documents/GAL_REPORT_1996.pdf;”>Minnesota Supreme Court Advisory Task Force “Final Report and Proposed Rules</strong" Feb. 16, 1996, on the Guardian ad Litem System. From here, anyone can see that, first of all, pay better attention to Supreme-Court-Advisory Task Forces (as well as Governor’s Task Forces), and who’s on it. (pp. 3-4).

Especially how very, very, very few members of the public at large were invited. I see ONE person representing a shelter, one from “Children First” (Hugh McLeod, III) and someone from the Children’s Defense Fund. I see who was on the Training sector, and that a Minnesota Judges Association 1986 documdent is quoted a lot. All this is additional (and put up later) than the simple HHS TAGGS sort, below. I see how centralized the state is…

In charge of the Training and Education Subcommittee of this task force, was “Jean F. Holloway” (currently, I guess) President of Hennepin County Bar Association (Minnesota’s largest, and the nation’s ninth largest (county) bar association, with nearly 8000 lawyers), and on the Children’s Defense Fund. This is significant:

In the middle of her decade with Dorsey & Whitney, Ms. Holloway served for nearly a year with the Children’s Defense Fund as a lobbyist on children’s issues and as its senior attorney. Much of her volunteer service as a lawyer has focused on children’s issues, and she continues to be a passionate supporter of public service by the profession.

Holloway has taken many leadership roles within the HCBA as well as in local and national organizations such as Minnesota Women Lawyers, Minnesota Supreme Court Task Forces for Guardian ad Litem and Foster care issues, the Governor’s Council on Action for Children, and the Children’s Law Center.

“Leadership Roles” — translation, asking for systems changes. The connections (as with other members of the same task force) ARE significant; anything with the word “Children” in it is going to be significant. Really, the public should be provided links to these places; but they aren’t, so we get to look it up ourselves.

For example, “Children’s Law Centers” are often associated with law schools, OR they are private nonprofits. In Connecticut, for example, a Children’s Law Center shows obvious AFCC & NACC influence and their CEO, a typical policy attitude reflected by those associations. Childrens’ Rights as a field is, like Civil Rights, Women’s Rights, etc. is a form of institutional forced change towards a different model. Children’s Defense Fund is a major player in this field; so that Holloway has worked with them is significant. The subject matter label is for public appeal — but the purpose is institutional change, and funding to do so.

Understand Children’s Law Centers (NCLN – Eight Nonprofits Get Organized)

[[~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~Material was moved from this post to a separate page. The topic is broader — about the use of “Children” as a Banner to introduce System Change, from Private or Professional agenda ~ ~ ~ ~ ]]

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Returning from a little background on the MINNESOTA nonprofit “Children’s Law Center” (one of those eight), and the initial connection was that a certain person over subcomittee of “Training and Education” of GAL’s subcommittee (1996), Ms. Jean Holloway — hopefully a little more enlightened on how GALs have come to have so much influence in our lives (yes, mine too — one came around, at court expense — after my kids were stolen to long-distance (no meeting) diagnose me, protect the father who’d stolen the children, and make sure I had no real chance of contact with them again. The County must’ve paid her fees, too..

DID YOU EVER ASK why don’t all these lovers of hummanity see fit to protect adults, including adults of the same gender? Why are they always after protecting children who have been separated from one or both of their parents, and help them sstay that way? There’s a certain mentality behind it all… partticularly when women in power (as GALs) are involved. They are on a career path and a systems change course. We are on a “where’s my KID!” course — and it often collides. They show up as heroes after the disasters. As associations of attorneys, they know systems, and in general, atttorneys are not an underpaid sector of society, or less than connected with the wealth, would you say?

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(here’s an “Action for Children Commission” report to the Governor (with the First Lady on the task force), called “Kids Can’t Wait” and mentioning single-parent families, and racial breakdown of graduation stats (i.e., African-American, Hispanic); they believe young people should be delivered a “vision of what their lives should look like”) Governor Arne Carlson called for this commission (and I guess set it up) in April 1991. It’s less attorney-heavy than the other one, but includes Children’s Defense Fund, and more corporate influence.

Ms. Holloway (Yale BA, JD/MBA — University of Chicago) I see is now a member of the Minnesota Commission on Judicial Selection (scroll down) Very influential — and that she was Subcommittee on “Training and Education” in a field, GALs, which has been providing high-profile protests around the country as favoring abusive parents, covering up abuse, and relating to fatherhood — is relevant here. She is also involved in various healthcare industries:

Holloway currently serves as Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary to C.R. Bard. She previously worked as the Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Medtronic, Inc. and served as the General Counsel for the Children’s Defense Fund-MN. Holloway was also Chair of the American Heart Association Twin Cities Go Red for Women Campaign and was a former president of Minnesota Women Lawyers.

C.R. Bard? I noticed it because it’s “underplayed.” It’s an international-market company with a U.S. base in Murray Hill, NJ, marketing to the healthcare industry. New York Times summarizes it as of Dec. 31, 2011 (I’d put up the company’s website but it’s large, and ugly). Picture a high-profile, woman attorney, President of the Hennepin County Bar Association, also having influence on Judges and small children, low-income populations — with this type of industry connection!:

C. R. Bard, Inc. (Bard) is engaged in the design, manufacture, packaging, distribution and sale of medical, surgical, diagnostic and patient care devices. As of December 31, 2011, the Company sold a range of products to hospitals, individual healthcare professionals, extended care facilities and alternate site facilities on a global basis. The Company participates in the markets for vascular, urology, oncology and surgical specialty products. Bard also has a product group of other products. Through subsidiaries and a joint venture, Bard markets its products to customers in over 100 countries outside the United States. The Company’s principal international markets were in Europe and Japan as of December 31, 2011. On November 10, 2011, Bard acquired Medivance, Inc. On December 16, 2011, the Company acquired Lutonix, Inc.
C.R. Bard Inc.
730 Central Avenue MURRAY HILL NJ 07974
Phone: +1 (908) 277-8000
Fax: +1 (908) 277-8412
Web site

Browse the NYT articles to understand that, like many corporations, it’s involved in buying other companies [CRBard Completes $143.2 Million Acquisition of Impra] (Impra being in Tempe Arizona and privately held), or being bought off in parts, and occasionally having key executives sued for conspiring to sell faulty equipment, or other fraud. (August 1996 article on Bard having manufactured and sold Faulty Catheters causing deaths, and how a US District Judge handled it. Don’t forget the TINY fine print NYT correction — they weren’t jailed after all….) In 1996 Bard, it says, had sales of $1.1 billion. I’m just wondering HOW is it this Yale/Chicago grad, given her professional backround, so identifies with low-income children? If a Maryanne Godboldo case came up in Minneapolis as it did in the Detroit area, how would that case go? Differently? Bard also has an Atlanta, Georgia Division. And this is just ONE of Ms. Holloway’s current positions while sitting on the Minnesota Judicial Commission Board as Fourth District Attorney Member.

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[[Good grief, Minnesota had Tim Pawlenty as Governor from 2003-2011
hover cursor, not to mention the “faith-connection” and his Judicial Wife..see also HHS-related/Abstinence & budget material.]

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Ramsey County (Home: St. Paul, MN — part of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul, right?)

About the Second District Court

The Second Judicial District Court (Ramsey County) is a unified trial court with general jurisdiction to hear all types of civil and criminal cases. The Court has a total of 29 judges, four referees and two magistrates. Judges can hear any criminal or civil matter brought before them, so they are assigned to various calendars as determined by the Chief Judge who has the authority to assign judges and referees. The main Courthouse is located in downtown St. Paul. The Second District is legislatively mandated to maintain a suburban court site, which is located in the city of Maplewood.

The Chief Judge is going to then have some clout. Is this an AFCC judge, ya’ think?
Ramsey has got Domestic Abuse, Family, Guardian ad Litem, and Juvenile courts all under its ‘Second District‘ as “neither civil nor criminal” (take note) and under “SPECIAL COURTS.” Among the special rules is that you don’t get to have a motion (unless there’s a no contact order) without a settlement conference first. So, ladies and gents take note (I’m sure many gents have, but ladies better realize): Domestic Abuse is NOT a crime, apparently…. It’s a “Special” situation….

Further Exhortation

Our government. media, schools & work grind, have got us so passive particular as to government itself, that just about anything could be done — and it has been done — to anyone so long as we are scrambling for scraps.

Compared to the collective clout and wealth of the government investing platform, that’s an accurate description — scraps! Walter Burien and some who have learned from him (Clint Richardson, Carl Hermann) to look at the CAFRs, Catherine Austin Fitts especisally with her background in HUD, and understanding of the economic system, has explained “Narco Dollars for Dummies” and Lucy Komisar (The Komisar Scoope” has explained HUD’s “Fees for Friends”//Andrew Cuomo and HUD in user-friendly terms, how our government is deliberately investing for a NEGATIVE Return on Investment in specific areas (which are also often areas with high drug trafficking, no coincidence, apparently):

Fees for Friends/Cuomo Scandal (Part 2, 8/30/2006 by Lucy Komisar)

When Andrew Cuomo became HUD Secretary in 1997, he axed a federal program that had saved the US $2.2 billion between 1994 and 1997 and reinstituted a system that lost the government money while earning billions for favored friends.

He used the power of his office to target a former HUD official who had assisted his predecessor in operating the successful program. A HUD legal vendetta destroyed the official’s company before the Justice Department finally admitted there was no case and dropped it.
Now he is running for Attorney General of New York State.

I have an issue with Ms. Fitts failing to educate Americans to read their CAFRs (as Burien, Hermann and Richardson are doing, and me) while promoting her new business Solari.com — as well as her convenient “omission” of the religion factor (see bio for religious backgrounds). But information is information, and it builds an overall piece of the larger picture, which we — honestly — need to grasp.

Regarding Concilliation Courts and Conciliation Law, Cindy Ross and Karen Anderson (of Amador County) have written and Karen has posted the mis-use of access/visitation grants for all to see at johnnypumphandle.com. Cindy Ross has also published extensively; Liz Richards (Anandale, Virginia) has the website “NAFCj.net” to show the AFCC // Fathers’ Rights movement connection.

Marv Bryer long ago — that’s just one man — has shown, in detail HOW funds are laundered in Los Angeles, and about the origins of the AFCC that runs the courts; I have reposted these, and added my own to it, specifically from long (too long!) looking at this specific database. I believe the main point of the marriage/fatherhood programming is to set up systems of money-laundering and give what was already in place (in other sectors) a good kick in the rump to produce some more. I believe that my repeated showing of how many corporations on the “take” are constantly shifting their corporate status — which state they are operating in — etc. yet they continue to get contracts and grants from HHS — this should tell us that the status quo is not acceptable.

Richard Fine also has done his part — and done time for it; Joseph Zermak/Janet Phelan on the dual-docketing systems. Nebraska (probalby former by now) Senator John DeCamp has told us clearly that child abuse is about money-laundering; that IS its purpose, apart from the sick perversions themselves — and it’s been shown that some of this (how much, who knows?) exists in positions of power and influence, up to the White House. Richard Fine was helped and supported by some individuals who told his story; it’s on the web.

I have shown clear enough, I believe, that the Unification Church is entrenched in American right-wing politics and from there (thanks to G. W. Bush in early 2001, that’s BEFORE “9/11”) influencing the family law system, and the collectivist mentality behind them, undermining any concept of rule of law or individual “rights” whatsoever. I have also shown, as best I can, that the types of people, and specific families, that stripped-down Africa (i.e., “The Great Scramble”) and set up the diamond cartel, etc. — are active in influencing American university system and politics (i.e., the Rhodes Scholars). And what they did to Africa was horrible; using in part American technology, and starting by first funding one side of a natural enemey (i.e., one tribe against amother) and disorganizing their social fabric, changing the culture from self-sustaining, to dependent on trade, while (raping) the natural assets. Those who protested were overcome, genocide was committed, and concentration camps organized — around the turn of the 1900s.

MANY people, male and female, have told us and been continuing to tell us, what is going on

. What are you going to do with that information TODAY? and TOMORROW? Complain? or Communicate to Others about how the money works in government, and seek to change it? In ONE WEEK the House Ways and Means Committee is getting ready to do it again — TANF Reauthorization Act. How many people can between now and then, be shown about this particular type of funding — which is part of TANF?

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There are only so many ways this can be “told” to people who just don’t “get” the significance yet. I know that what convinced me, in large part, was looking at the TAGGS database. So, here’s another example of some fun and games (data sampling) in that area. You have to then take this information and go OUTside that database to check facts, and see what comes up. This will require helpers, and some organizing with others.

We have to somewhere, sometime, take a look at what was previously taken by the collective governments of this country (and they are in over two-hundred-thousand entities; NOT just Federal/State/County/Municipal — what historically was given them in expectation of some sort of honest return, and whether that return justified what was taken. Staying “stupid” about this endangers others, and it has to stop.

With this platform, some have invested in the prison industry (and then privatized it), the mental behavioral health industries (and then privatized it, setting up institutions to control people medically where prisons won’t work), expanding jurisdiction within the courts to send people to prisons and juveniles to behavioral reform institutions, “wilderness camps” (see “Luzerne County Kids for Cash,” or see one I discovered recently, youths (boys and girls) who got out are now suing: Mormon Gulag (West Ridge Academy, formerly “Utah Boys Ranch”), and of course developed to a fine art, forcing captive audiences to sit through various indoctrinations, either at their expense, or public expense, or both — effectively taking them out of the productive/creative sector for that many hours, and putting them behind economically for that many dollars. (See “Ground Zero in Connecticut” post for what only two families paid into this kind of system).

RE-FORMING our YOUTH, or Breaking the Spirit, Free Labor, and Religious Recruiting?

Some of these camps have direct ties to a Utah Senators, and one, to Mitt Romney. Do you think we should pay better attention to our government institutions? Alanna Krause (if you remember her) was sent away to a place in Utah, at age 13 for wanting to be with her mother, and reporting that her father was having an affair with the therapist. The next generation IS growing up, they ARE suing, they are running, they will have changes.

Do not they — and us — deserve to know where our country is getting the funding to set those things up, and in general, why it’s breaking up families and trafficking in children, while preaching “strengthening families” and preaching marriage? I think so.

(Quotes about values, drives, passion, and personal vs. financial, risks, from Randy Komisar, “The Monk and the Riddle: Education of a Silicon Valley Entrepreneur“)