Well Ain’t that Something: PBI coaching Judges and Attorneys on How to Set Up Nonprofits…
Irony prompted this post. And that’s the PBI, the Pennsylvania Bar Institute (education branch of the Pennsylvania Bar Association — see their website) is putting out AFCC material. PBI as it turns out is running, soon (this May) its 11th annual seminar on how to set up a nonprofit, properly, that is.
You’d think certain interdisciplinary organizations would get the hint by now. Apparently they still haven’t.** I guess rules and laws of incorporation are just for the masses of common workers and plebeians who are not anointed with a superior purpose and calling to disseminate therapeutic jurisprudence and save the children of the world from high-conflict relationships (and parental alienation, etc.). I should add, allegedly saving….
By the way, “Plebeians” weren’t the slaves, they were the inbetween, and eventually they got fed up and rebelled. As that’s the class basically funding the courts, perhaps that’s who it’s going to take getting fed up, and making this stuff stop. (check out that last link or hover cursor for part of it).
(**I refer to the fact that this organization displaying a Wisconsin address and showing Wisconsin-address tax returns with the IRS — is not incorporated (as itself) to do business in Wisconsin, with the State of Wisconsin, if you catch my drift about 6525 Teton Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin…..)
The Pennsylvania Bar Institute is the educational arm of the Bar Association (whereas the Bar FOUNDATION is the charitable arm that financially supports desired programs). The PBI has a press [pause to browse link….] and appears to do a booming business with on-line publications and CLE courses. For example, here’s a new one on Custody Law (as the laws recently were revamped in PA):
Get the one book you need to skillfully represent your clients in custody cases. This book—written by some of Pennsylvania’s best family law professionals—gives practitioners at every level a comprehensive, useful resource. Plus, a detailed analysis of the new Child Custody Act, major issues of custody law and practice, and a long-term view of the future. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION.
I just did click, and looked at the faculty. So far, I see plenty of AFCC professionals listed. In family law, membership or leadership in AFCC does matter…. In fact I looked about half of them up (have links, may post.)
Anyhow, I looked up The Pennsylvania Bar Institute after hearing that a recent ruling abolished Parent Coordinators for the State, (after publishing a three-to-four-page Rule 1915.11 about it in November 2010; go figure; starts on 2nd page, here). That’s ironic because (see inset table below) — the PBI had really helped promote Parenting Coordination by publishing prominent professionals promoting it, a practice it’s marvellous to behold in action, kind of like an inside look at the gestation of another bad idea coming from the court-connected crowd:
PARENT COORDINATORS IN PENNSYLVANIA: HANDLING HIGH-CONFLICT CUSTODY CASES.
All that work — and yet in one short Rule-Amendment, there it goes….
The “It’s Abolished” Rule is three short sentences!
Rule 1915.11-1. Elimination of Parenting Coordination.
Only judges may make decisions in child custody cases. Masters and hearing officers may make recommendations to the court. Courts shall not appoint any other individual to make decisions or recommendations or alter a custody order in child custody cases. Any order appointing a parenting coordinator shall be deemed vacated on the date this rule becomes effective. Local rules and administrative orders authorizing the appointment of parenting coordinators also shall be deemed vacated on the date this rule becomes effective.
No explanation offered. I don’t see (easily, on-line) any lead-up to what caused this. Did someone actually IN the profession get on the wrong side of a parent coordinator in (his) own divorce, and put up a stink to the judges? Are the judges getting a little touchy about their authority? I really am curious — and doubt this is the end of the issue. Too many professionals have poured too much effort into protecting (and expanding) their professions to let go that easily. If you saw who these professionals actually are, I think you’d understand that “No” doesn’t mean “No” when they’re anointed and coordinated to promote a cause….
Reviewing (again) parent coordination in general, and a certain Parent Coordinator from Lackawanna County, known [if not appreciated] among parents being forced to pay Parent Coordinators in that area, and who has impacted (by running trainings and, along with AFCC, promoting the field) parents all over the country are having to engage in local political and judicial-level street-fighting against parent coordinators (on top of GALs) state by state — (like in Maine).
Said Parent Coordinator Trainer’s Cooperative Parenting Institute of Pennsylvania, as it so happens, is not registered to do business in Pennsylvania (at least under any name with the word “Cooperative” or “parenting” in it…. Well, that’s hardly news…
RE: PARENTING COORDINATION and the PENNSYLVANIA BAR INSTITUTE
I put up two quick pages on the topic– see right sidebar –knowing very well how much energy nationwide was put (and still is being put) into promoting that practice and publicizing Parenting Coordination, before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, for reasons unknown to me, suddenly abolished it by Administrative Rule, looks like, this past April 23, 2013.
So, I ran across this publication by PBI, The Pennsylvania Bar Institute:
PARENT COORDINATORS IN PENNSYLVANIA: HANDLING HIGH-CONFLICT CUSTODY CASES. After noticing the publication data, click on Table of Contents, to see WHO has been promoting it, including our friends from Lackawanna County:
Yep, that’s ironic — the PBI published this for an organization that ought to be (but isn’t) famous for “failure to incorporate” to help them promote parenting coordination – and the same institute then runs a seminar on how to form nonprofits.
Unless there are some tricks of the trade I’m missing, that’s ironic!
| Conference publication Document Type: Book All Authors / Contributors: Pennsylvania Bar Institute. OCLC Number: 72726153 Description: xvii, 328 p.: forms ; 28 cm. Contents: High conflict couples: who are they and what do we do about them?** / Robin M. Deutsch — |
As you can see here, Steven J. Anderer, one of the heavy-hitting attorney/psychologist parenting coordination promoters comes from Pennsylvania, and has contributed (a lot) to a publication put out by — you guessed it, “PBI” (Pennsylvania Bar Institute).
This book, judging by its table of contents, is flat-out AFCC-policy promo, and has chapters by other high-profile judges, and of course, up front with an AFCC person, who happens to be faculty at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology also — Robin Deutsch.
What’s WITH this Psychologist Attorney Crusader, Anderer? and Dr. Deutsch?
Perhaps we need a post on
The Heavy Hand of Psychology:
. And, what’s with the feeling “we” (the anointed) must “Do something” about “high-conflict couples” which is a made-up term. (See Bill Eddy). Whatever happened to “irreconciable differences”? Some people can’t reconcile themselves to co-parenting with someone who’s hurting their kids. Or falsely accusing one of alienating the children. Or vice-versa. So the real conflict I have, personally, is with someone, the self-appointed so-called helpers, telling me who I must get along with (no more Bill of Rights, freedom of association, unalienable rights to stay alive, etc.?)
The contributors to the above book on High-Conflict Divorce put out by the Pennsylvania Bar Institute include members of the Pennsylvania Bar, and some judges, and some psycholgists. Fancy that.
…. *David N. Wecht is no slaggard — he’s a Judge, he’s Yale (summa cum laude), and he’s Marine Corps. (see link). Jeanine Turgeon is a Dauphin County judge who has taken (per another website) Advanced Parent Coordination Training and administers it. Katherine B.L. Platt is a Judge. Chester Harhut, obviously is a (retired, I think), Judge, with the dubious honor of having the FBI raid the courthouse, and a favored GAL got charged with several counts of tax evasion (see local news on the matter, 2011-2012-2013).
In fact, here’s article on The Hon. Turgeon sitting over child support contempt cases: “…The Things I Do are Good for the Child” (May, 2011, pennlive.com. You should read it…)
Here’s some 2007 minutes from a Pennsylvania Psychological Association meeting on how to push parenting coordination. Read the personnel list carefully! (remembering that the critical case ruling FOR Parent Coordination was Yates v. Yates in 2008). Same group of judges that wrote the book together, plus some….. Here’s a seven-page form (Dauphin County) for a parenting coordination order with Turgeon’s name on it….
Here’s the DAUPHIN COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION CLE showing Arnold Shienvold [AFCC past president) & The Hon Jeannine Turgeon offering three classes in Parenting Coordination (years, 2011, 2012, 2013):
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Wednesday, September 28, 2011 CLE Program Topic: “Continuing Education for Parenting Coordinators,” featuring Dr. Arnold T. Shienvold and the Honorable Jeannine Turgeon. 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 Noon. Thursday, September 6, 2012 Tuesday, January 15, 2013 |
Pushy, much?…..
So what we have here is the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, which runs CLE trainings for judges and lawyers, publishing a book (contents of a conference) on how to promote a specific profession developed by a PRIVATE interest group called AFCC, for the mutual benefit and profits of its members.
Does anyone want to place a bet who is going to provide the funding for those CLE trainings and whether this is in addition to or simply part of, the already fairly high salaries paid by the public to have judges to start with?
And yet, from what I heard not too long ago, the city of Scranton (Lackawanna County, see Harhut and Termini) was going bankrupt. Also, in a review of the Judicial Programs (including Lackawanna County’s GAL program) it developed that Ms. Termini herself had been (as I recall) operating without contract. I also am fairly sure that the organization bearing her name which runs Parent Coordination Trainings (and claims to be a leade rin the field) does not, itself, incorporate properly. I have to qualify that becuase it’s not in MY budget to go through all 50 states and look for it. However it’s not in Georgia, I don’t see it in Pennsylvania.
Just a very quick lookup
| Termini
This is a LinkedIn, showing “205” connections and that this individual’s employment is at a Cooperative Parenting Institute, before which she was working for Lackawanna Family Court. Interesting…. Ann Marie Termini, Ed.S., M.S., LPC Doesn’t a LinkedIn listing imply, where one is working? So where’s the Cooperative Parenting Institute incorporated? The link shows its name as “The Cooperative Parenting Institute of Pennsylvania.” Corporations Search in PA (got to go through “Captcha,” choose an appropriate type search. (not the first time I’ve looked); Does Not Show: “Search Type: Starting With Search Criteria: cooperative parenting institute Browse through here and see what was said about Ms. Termini’s relationship with the court; it’s the AOPC report in Lackawanna County’s GAL program. When it came to this woman’s comings, goings, and billings, the general question was somewhere between “Huh?” and “What, me worry?” Joe Pilchesky got some of her invoices (posted them on Scranton Political Times) and then was sued because whoever provided them forgot somehow to redact her SS#. Anyhow…. And yet, many people have gone through those trainings (lists are available; see 2013 schedule, multistate and CHINA, there) so to whom were the checks or payments made out? Many, many unanswered questions — and too many regarding people working in or around or for the courts, and calling themselves leaders with the best interest of the public in mind, specifically of KIDS. |
On May 22nd, and for varying levels of tuition, the Pennsylvania Bar Institute is going to coach and teach a CLE class on Nonprofits — all the basic facets of how to do this legally. This is a large Nonprofit, Nonstock organization with a high responsibility and a large staff: http://www.pbi.org/aboutpbi/staffdirectory.html
11th Annual Nonprofit Institute
6 Total CLE credits, 1 of which may be applied toward Ethics
Course №: 7574
Register Now
Tell a Friend
BrochureCourse Materials
Course Book (2013-7574) — $69
Audio CD (ACD-7574) — $39
Audio CD & Book Set (ACDS-7574) — $99
To order course materials, please call PBI`s Customer Service Department at 1-800-247-4724.
If you are ordering course materials separately, please allow two weeks after the program for the shipment of books and 4 to 6 weeks for shipment of the CDs and book/CD sets. Include $6.00 shipping & 6% Pa. Sales tax on all orders.
TUITION: Runs from (Sliding scale depending on your position — and from what I can tell, ALL of these are civil servant (public employment) positions) from $150 to $424. I’ve listed below (or see on-site).
Are tax dollars paying for these trainings?
WHAT STRUCK ME — IS HOW MUCH HELP THESE ARE GETTING TO FORM NONPROFITS>…..
I’m open for feedback — obviously if there are going to be lawyers and judges, at some point there has to be “CLE” (Continuing Legal Education). However, what about when this is itself a racket (in addition to all the no doubt excellent and relevant CLE courses around) –and that racket is used to lobby for rule-changes, set up professions (for profit to those in those professions) and then, due to influence and connections — used to disrupt the public who must fund those professions, possibly destroying their homes and families meanwhile?
WHY I’M INTERESTED
For one, the pre-eminent (that much I’ll admit), well-financed AFCC is operating illegally in state after state, being itself a nonprofit, allegedly. It started this way, it has continued this way to the present, and its self-description of having begun in 1963, is blatantly false –which more than one individual has been reporting for years, as I now also am (see “Looking up a Nonprofit” page, Scroll far down to the tables; I used AFCC for an example. Or see “AFCC A User’s Manual” post…and stay tuned; I’m not the only person on that trail).
No wonder taking children from parents is starting to become like “taking candy from a baby,” when we ourselves have stayed ignorant about the basic requirements of corporations, and failed to understand that when a civil servant/public employee (judge, court-appointed attorney or mediator, or GAL, etc.) chooses to function in a private capacity, taking payments to a privately-named corporatino of ANY sort — they are under the law. The corporation taking checks and depositing them, or electronic payments, has to incorporate. The county has to remain accountable to taxpayers who are curious and diligent enough to ask for it, how they are spending their money. They have gotten away “hidden out in the open” for decades because the stressed out public is looking, I guess to mainstream media (MSM) for what’s important, and not teaching themselves how to read a governmental financial statement, or knowing just how very important those statements, produced by the State Comptroller (and county comptrollers) etc. — are to our own health and wellbeing. CAFR!!!!
However — if they are doing private business contracting with the courts, even being a public employee on the board of any such nonprofit or for-profit doing such business — that business HAS TO FILE as a charitiy if they are a charity in which filing is required — and they have to provide tax returns. We, whose money (the efforts of our labor, wages minus income tax, purchases plus sales tax, court filings for fees, etc.) are supporting the courts — deserve to know how the money is being spent.
Pennsylvania Seems to be Different
Pennsylvania appears to be a state in which corporate reporting requirements are NOT annual, making it easier to set up fake and nonfiling organizations. I may be wrong about that, but it’s my recall from spending a LOT of time looking things up on their unwieldy corporate registration database. (http://corporations.state.pa.us)
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Click on the Business Entity Name or Entity Number to view more information.
Business Entity Name Entity Number Type Status Entity Creation Date PENNSYLVANIA BAR INSTITUTE 272326 Non-Profit (Non Stock) Active 7/13/1965 |
Click on its details, and its Registered Agent address is “c/o itself” (which is improper) and it has no mailing address as a corporation:
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Business Name History Name Name Type PENNSYLVANIA BAR INSTITUTE Current Name Non-Profit (Non Stock) – Domestic – Information Entity Number: 272326 Status: Active Entity Creation Date: 7/13/1965 State of Business.: PA Registered Office Address: % Pennsylvania Bar Institute 5080 Ritter Rd. Mechancsbrg PA 17055 Cumberland Mailing Address: No Address |
Corporation search of “Pennsylvania Bar” brings up this:
Business Entity Name Entity Number Type Status Entity
Creation Date
PENNSYLVANIA BAR ASSOCIATION 708677 Non-Profit (Non Stock) Active
PENNSYLVANIA BAR ASSOCIATION County Orphan County Orphan 7/9/1895
PENNSYLVANIA BAR ASSOCIATION ENDOWMENT 272325 Non-Profit (Non Stock) Active
PENNSYLVANIA BAR ASSOCIATION ENDOWMENT County Orphan County Orphan 11/12/1946
PENNSYLVANIA BAR FOUNDATION 815269 Non-Profit (Non Stock)Active 5/15/1984
PENNSYLVANIA BAR INSTITUTE 272326 Non-Profit (Non Stock) Active 7/13/1965
PENNSYLVANIA BAR SUPPLY COMPANY 2390876 Fictitious Names Active 4/25/1918*
(in Scranton. Unclear whether this is legal, or ‘alcoholic’ however, there’s a note that the Lackawanna Bar Association may have been starting up around 1918… See their website).
By the way, I just discovered there is no entry for “Lackawanna County Bar Association!” There is a “Lackawanna Bar Association” which reads “County Orphan” and shows no results….) Interesting….
Checking “Charities.pa.gov” we find there is a Pennsylvania Bar FOUNDATION (no Institute) and fully eight County Bar Foundations (not “associations”). In other words, the Institute (PBI) has an EIN# but possibly is not a charity (although it’s a nonstock nonprofit organization created in 1965.
It does have an IRS_issued EIN# (I just looked it up: 23-6412256). However, it does NOT show under Pennsylvania Charitable Registries under that EIN# or its name: http://charities.pa.gov
The Pennsylvania Bar Foundation (not “Institute”) Does:
| PENNSYLVANIA BAR FOUNDATION Registration Number 5835 EIN 23-2303925 Type Legal Address PO BOX 186, 100 SOUTH STREET City State Zip HARRISBURG, PA 17108 Phone 717-238-6715 Fiscal Year End Date 12/31/2011 |
Looked up their tax returns. Seems like their assets are definitely increasing with time:
ORGANIZATION NAME STATE YEAR FORM PAGES TOTAL ASSETS EIN
Pennsylvania Bar Foundation PA 2011 990 37 $1,051,875 23-2303925
Pennsylvania Bar Foundation PA 2010 990 39 $930,093 23-2303925
Pennsylvania Bar Foundation PA 2009 990 37 $1,019,771 23-2303925
Pennsylvania Bar Foundation PA 2008 990 35 $862,311 23-2303925
Pennsylvania Bar Foundation PA 2007 990 42 $895,207 23-2303925
Pennsylvania Bar Foundation PA 2006 990 28 $857,378 23-2303925
Pennsylvania Bar Foundation PA 2005 990 35 $767,295 23-2303925
Pennsylvania Bar Foundation PA 2004 990 21 $670,161 23-2303925
Pennsylvania Bar Foundation PA 2003 990 27 $589,415 23-2303925
Pennsylvania Bar Foundation PA 2002 990 18 $423,173 23-2303925
By comparison, it looks like the PBI is more of a money-maker: (see assets column):
ORGANIZATION NAME STATE YEAR FORM PAGES TOTAL ASSETS EIN
Pennsylvania Bar Institute PA 2012 990 31 $11,276,094 23-6412256***
Pennsylvania Bar Institute PA 2011 990 38 $11,140,466 23-6412256
Pennsylvania Bar Institute PA 2010 990 32 $10,434,907 23-6412256
Pennsylvania Bar Institute PA 2009 990 30 $9,065,932 23-6412256
Pennsylvania Bar Institute PA 2008 990 32 $9,809,113 23-6412256
Pennsylvania Bar Institute PA 2007 990 32 $9,779,583 23-6412256
Pennsylvania Bar Institute PA 2006 990 27 $9,799,191 23-6412256
Pennsylvania Bar Institute PA 2005 990 20 $9,707,984 23-6412256
Pennsylvania Bar Institute PA 2004 990 22 $9,482,624 23-6412256
Pennsylvania Bar Institute PA 2003 990 21 $9,575,866 23-6412256
Pennsylvania Bar Institute PA 2002 990 25 $9,673,776 23-6412256
OK, a quick look at the return (PBI) shows that:
Donations — only about $1,000
Program Service Revenue (where the big bucks are) — $13,352,605.
Investment income — not bad (though less than prior year) — $148,040.
—
Expenses: Salaries (145 employees) — $5.8 million
Other expenses: — $7 million. Net profits — $320K for the year (not bad!)
—- > > take a look at the tax return — you won’t get a much more detailed description of “Program service accomplishments.” Somone has to provide CLE (it IS necesssary), they mention some of the most experienced judges and attorneys donat their time, and that attorneys with trouble paying (for the courses) also get help. I see in this particular year, almost $4 million profit was made in the CLE section. (further review possible of the 31 page tax return; take a look!).
Eight “County Bar FOUNDATIONS” (out of the entire state) show up. Where are the bar associations? (I did find a very few). For how many counties Pennsylvania has — look it up! (A lot!). I’ll be almost every single county has a prospering bar association….we’re talking a state with Philadephia, Pittsburg, Harrisburg and other cities…..Not far from the East Coast metropolis (urban areas) of New York and Washington D.C. …. with just NJ inbetween, somewhat….
| Charities Online Database Entity Name Name Type ALLEGHENY COUNTY BAR FOUNDATION Legal BERKS COUNTY BAR FOUNDATION Previous Name CHESTER COUNTY BAR FOUNDATION Legal CUMBERLAND COUNTY BAR FOUNDATION Legal DAUPHIN COUNTY BAR FOUNDATION Legal DELAWARE COUNTY BAR FOUNDATION Legal WASHINGTON COUNTY BAR FOUNDATION, INC. Legal York County Bar Foundation Legal |
(there are some variations in search results from whether or not the word “county” is in the search, above)
A search for tax returns on the word “Bar Foundation” brought up 14 (one of which, obviously, has nothing to with law) — that is, I limited it to 2011 only. We can see that the Philadelphia One (not listed above, maybe I named it wrong) is larger — or at least has more assets — than the state-wide one. And I guess Luzerne County (kids for cash) had a few problems in 2011
Your query: ( Organization Name: bar foundation , State: PA , Zip: , EIN: , Fiscal Year: 2011 )
14 documents matched. 14 documents displayed. Click on the column headers to sort.
Search Again (for you to do the same search, I’m not creating a special table this time, but have linked to three returns or the larger ones….!)
ORGANIZATION NAME STATE YEAR FORM PAGES TOTAL ASSETS EIN
Allegheny County Bar Foundation PA 2011 990 40 $4,151,479 25-1383622
[[Bar M Operating Foundation PA 2011 990PF 23 $1,492,684 20-3698065]]
Chester County Bar Foundation PA 2011 990 32 $586,095 23-2385021
Dauphin County Bar Foundation PA 2011 990EZ 12 $315,788 23-7209442
Erie County Bar Foundation Inc. PA 2011 990EZ 13 $235,663 25-1629259
Lancaster Bar Association Foundation PA 2011 990 28 $418,008 42-1551989
Luzerne County Bar
Association Foundation Inc. PA 2011 990EZ 19 $7,352 76-0745484
Montgomery Bar Foundation PA 2011 990 23 $492,384 23-2436024
Montgomery Bar Foundation PA 2011 990 32 $492,384 23-2436024
Pennsylvania Bar Foundation PA 2011 990 37 $1,051,875 23-2303925
Philadelphia Bar Foundation PA 2011 990 32 $6,337,769 23-1660797
Washington County Bar Foundation PA 2011 990EZ 14 $190,981 25-1612623
Westmoreland Bar Foundation PA 2011 990EZ 11 $374,134 25-1662271
York County Bar Foundation PA 2011 990 29 $1,301,093 23-2647164
How many of those registered with the State of California as Charities?
Concepts to keep in mind: Nonprofits and Foundations have tax advantages, including the ability to receive tax-deductible contributions from others. Lawyers tend to be highly paid, and willing to contribute to causes they collectively believe in. Foundations are also corporations — they are allowed to acquire real estate, and do things that corporations do (subject to regulations) — in short, they are usually going to be MORE powerful than individual wage-earners, whether well-employed or underemployed.
They then have the ability to take this wealth and direct it to specificed causes. What causes they direct it to is not run by representative government — it’s run by those running the foundations. They can also earn (and do) some significant program income (see the tax returns). Overall, it’s a lot of clout.
Look at the website of the Pennsylvania Bar — see hyperlinks across the top: http://www.pabar.org/
The last two on the right are the Bar Foundation and the Bar Institute….
My Concern about an Institute which Publishes and Promotes Publications the Public is Probably Not going to get around to Reading — to their Detriment, can be demonstrated, for example, in This:
(Foundations are contributing to the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, from what I can tell, and many members are judges earning in excess of $150K/year at public expense, not to mention their private real estate holdings, landlord situations, and the royalties on books they are promoting through the courts, or other investments, to better supplement what’s already a public-funded retirement pension)
From the AFCC website, regarding their turning into the 20th century and receiving foundational help:
The Turn of the Century
The twenty-first century would see unprecedented growth for AFCC, beginning with one of the largest conferences in AFCC history. Nearly 750 delegates** joined AFCC for its 37th Annual Conference in New Orleans in May 2000 as U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone and his wife, Sheila Wellstone, a well-known advocate against domestic violence, provided the keynote address. AFCC members were saddened to learn later of the Wellstones’ tragic death in an airplane crash in 2002.[[Use of the word “delegates” makes it sound like Congress, which is no accident. In fact, the word is “members” or Conference attendees. Unless the agenda is to set up an alternate set of laws for the nation (world), as government by local AFCC representatives, including from states where it’s not incorporated to do business — which is most of them!]]
The New Orleans conference theme, “Alienation, Access, and Attachment,” provided the opportunity for members of the Northern California Task Force on the Alienated Child, led by Dr. Janet Johnston and Dr. Joan Kelly, to share their reformulation of Richard Gardner’s controversial Parental Alienation Syndrome. The work of the task force was then published in what would become a landmark special issue of the Family Court Review.
[[Meanwhile, about four nonprofits from Northern California complaining about parental alienation, continue to FAIL to even mention the existence of the AFCC, how smart was that?]]
AFCC received a second organizational development grant from the Hewlett Foundation in the late 1990s and used it to focus on the future, survey its members regarding their needs, develop a Web site, and take stock of AFCC’s organizational structure and its capacity to move forward. AFCC initiated a revision of its bylaws and governance procedures, and the AFCC Board of Directors was downsized from 50 members to 19.
With AFCC staff and many members en route to New York for the 2001 Regional Conference, terrorists struck the World Trade Center on September 11. The conference was cancelled, but the AFCC spirit was not to be daunted by these events. With the support of AFCC New York members and Hofstra Law School, the conference was held five months later, and AFCC members worldwide contributed money and support to help the organization weather this challenge.
2011 Tax Return for this Organization list $3.4 million gross receipts, a Wisconsin Address, and it’s EIN# 952597407. It definitely calls itself a 501(c)3 and is definitely listed in Wisconsin. Its directors for this year include Robin Deutsch (above) and Matthew J. Sullivan (with whom she does some business?) (see “Page 1” link), and about 5 “Hons,” i.e., Judges. The only paid director is Peter Salem, $180K and $10K from a related organization.
Executive Director
Peter Salem, MAPeter Salem has served as Executive Director since 2002 and was Associate Director from 1994-2002. He taught mediation at Marquette University Law School for ten years and served as mediator and director of Mediation and Family Court Services in Rock County, Wisconsin.[[I decided to look it up. See below]] Peter is a former president of the Wisconsin Association for Mediators and is co-editor of Divorce Mediation: Models, Techniques and Applications. He has provided training and technical assistance to family court service agencies throughout the United States since 1990. He is author of numerous articles and videos on mediation, domestic violence and divorce. He received the John M. Haynes Distinguished Mediator Award presented by the Association for Conflict Resolution in 2008 and received a William T. Grant Foundation Distinguished Fellows award in 2009. He holds an MA in Communication and Mediation Management from Emerson College in Boston and a BA in Political Science from McGill University in Montreal.
That’s Peter Salem’s bio from the AFCC website. As we can see, he’s primarily been into mediation, and it looks like, has also functioned in Rock County, Wisconsin as a civil servant (public employee).
Marquette University is a Catholic & Jesuit University dedicated to serving God:
Marquette is a Catholic and Jesuit university in Milwaukee, Wis., dedicated to serving God by serving our students and contributing to the advancement of knowledge.
Enrollment: Almost 8,300 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate and professional students; all states and 69 countries represented(history page):
Marquette began as a dream of the Most Rev. Martin J. Henni, the first Catholic bishop of Milwaukee, but it took a trip overseas to find an investor to make it a reality. Belgian businessman Guillaume Joseph DeBuey promised $16,000 for the proposed “academy of learning.” It was hardly enough to fund the establishment of a college but just enough to keep Bishop Henni’s dream alive for the next eight years until he could purchase a parcel of land on a hill topping today’s North 10th and West State streets.Nearly three decades passed before the doors of Marquette College, a small liberal arts school for men named after Rev. Jacques Marquette, S.J., opened on Aug. 28, 1881. Bishop Henni died just two days later, one might guess satisfied that his work was finished.
Throughout the years, thousands of students have passed through Marquette’s halls and classrooms, aspiring to achieve academic success and a spiritual foundation to last a lifetime.
More re: Peter Salem’s background, that has led to now earning a $180K + $90K salary from an organization in Wisconsin (AFCC) that isn’t registered to do business in Wisconsin. I’m wondering how the ethics of that relates to Teaching Mediation for 10 years at a Jesuit Law School — perhaps the idea of “COMPROMISING” (away from) what’s right maybe has carried over into the general theme of the organization?
Rock County Wisconsin, Mediation and Family Court Services is apparently pursuant to State Statute 767.405. Looks like this got started only in 1989 (note: at this time things were heading towards Access/Visitation funding — which can be looked up, I believe 45 CFR 303.109, there may be a history of it, or I blogged recently (like around February, 2013). …
Welcome!
Rock County Mediation and Family Court Services (MFCS) was established in 1989 under State Statute 767.405 for the primary purpose of providing mediation services for family members in dispute over periods of physical placement (previously called “visitation”), legal custody (making decisions), grandparent visitation, child removal (moving with the child) or other court actions affecting the family and involving children.Mediation is a confidential cooperative problem solving process designed for parents who live apart to help settle disagreements about the children.
Message from Judge James P. Daley(2005) Message from Rita Costrini-Norgal, Director (2009)
Mediation… To Promote Positive Co-Parenting
Basically this Statute 767.405 ORDERS circuit judges to set up mediation services, appoint a head to it, and require couples go to go mediation… It’s anticipated, even if issues of child abuse, protection, etc. (see page 2 of intake worksheet; it’s up to the protected party to CALL the Director of FCS if they have concerns about their safety…) Among the notes on the site — if parents don’t agree, a GAL will be assigned. …..
I decided to look up Ms. Costrini-Norgal and found out that (unfortunately< in 2011 she lost a son at age 46 (him) and it looks like his parents also were divorced, or at least she's not married to Scott's father. But, more to the point, she is involved in NEST –supervised exchanges, ordered specifically by the Rock County Court (described in 2007, pp. 7 & 11 scribd, here, featured article. Ms. Costrini-Norgal says her model was from Illinois and Florida, and she hoped to expand the program to “reunite families of prison inmates.”). She comes up in AFCC & ACR searches.
Rita Costrini-Norgal was with us today (Kiwannis, 2009) from N.E.S.T-Neutral Exchange SiTe.
The NEST is a monitored child exchange location and provides an opportunity for parents to exchange their child in a safe and neutral setting. The NEST offers safety and removes the potential for conflict when parents are exchanging their child for periods of placement.
The highest priority of the NEST is the child’s safety and supports the child’s right to have a relationship with both parents. Parents are referred to the NEST via a Court Order as a result of divorce or separation. The Court Order remains open until the child is 18 years of age.
To volunteer as an Exchange Monitor or for further information please call Rita @
Again, just because someone was dangerously violent enough to require one parent obtain a protection order so they weren’t hurt, or killed — doesn’t mean that parenting rights should be abridged! Enter, Supervised Visitation…..
Parenting Coordination is an Invented Profession (that’s obvious) put forth by a FAKE Corporation with REAL influence throughout the Family and Conciliation Court System, which the same organization (to call it a “corporation” would be disingenuous — because this ORGANIZATION has a primary leading-edge feature — FAILURE to properly incorporate as a nonprofit in states where it practices, and once in a state, doing business illegally from the local courthouses for private purposees — it then goes about setting up mutually profitable rules of court, mandating the consumption of unneeded and unwanted services (such as sitting through “KidsFirst” classes) at public expense.
What are we (the non-incorporating individual, SS#-holding and wage-earning, employee or individual LEGALLY incorporated small businesses) to do in competition with self-interest groups esconced in the judiciary? And telling their behavioral health friends sitting in social welfare, or other government employ, with influence over grants, funding, contracts, and in short, public money — to “come on down, the waters’ warm: Here’s what profession we are promoting THIS decade!”) ?????
The appearance of this CLE TRAINING will show better on its original website from the PENNSYLVANIA BAR INSTITUTE. I still have no “visual” (WYSIWYG) mode for this input device; any formatting is html’ed in by hand. Pain in the neck….
Network with others from the nonprofit community
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Honorable Kathleen G. Kane
Attorney General of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg
Join us as we kick off a day of informative and energetic discussion examining the most current issues impacting the nonprofit sector with a Keynote Address by Honorable Kathleen G. Kane, Attorney General of Pennsylvania.
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Program Schedule
10:25 – 11:25 am 1. Starting a Pennsylvania Charity (BASIC) 2. Financing Options — Core Concepts and Common Choices 3. Model Protection of Charitable Assets Act 4. Don Kramer’s Annual Legislative and Case Law Update 11:35 am – 12:35 pm 5. Becoming a 501(c)(3) Charity (BASIC) 6. Navigating a Tax-Exempt Financing 7. Update on Standards of Charity Watchdog Groups 8. Managing the Board/Executive Director Relationship 1:20 – 2:20 pm 9. Fiscal Sponsorship — An Alternative to Forming a 501(c)(3) Organization (BASIC) 10. Planned Giving and the Economy: Successful Planned Giving in an Uncertain Fiscal Climate 11. Mergers and Joint Ventures Part I — Due Diligence 12. Responding to Sexual Misconduct Cases in the Institutional Setting:Reporting Obligations, Title IX, Clery and Other Considerations 2:35 – 3:35 pm 13. Top 10 Issues for the All-Volunteer Organization (BASIC) 14. Hiring, Firing and Evaluations 15. Mergers and Joint Ventures Part II — Regulatory Considerations and Overcoming Obstacles 16. Real Estate and Sales Tax Exemptions in Pennsylvania — Where Are We Now? 3:45 – 4:45 pm 17. Top 10 Ways to Avoid Getting into Trouble with the AG and IRS (BASIC) 18. Examining the Ethical Issues of Nonprofit Financial Failure:A Case Study of In re Lemington Home for the Aged (3rd Cir. 2011) |
(More information from the same website, copied and pasted below):
This Institute has been approved by the Pennsylvania Continuing Legal Education Board for 6 hours of CLE credit. Workshop choices will determine whether credits are in substantive law, practice and procedure or ethics, professionalism or substance abuse.
PBI is pleased to cosponsor this program with the PBA Charitable Organizations Committee
Special Thanks to Our Gold Sponsor (the Philadelphia Foundation/ Logo shows on website)
This Institute has been approved by the Pennsylvania Continuing Legal Education Board for 6 hours of CLE credit. Workshop choices will determine whether credits are in substantive law, practice and procedure or ethics, professionalism or substance abuse.
Course Planners: Morgen CHesire, Esq., Joseph M. Geiger, CAE, Donald W. Kramer, Esq., Jack R. Owen, Esq., Mark A. Pacella, Esq., Laura Solomon, Esq., Beatriz F. Vieira
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If you are ordering course materials separately, please allow two weeks after the program for the shipment of books and 4 to 6 weeks for shipment of the CDs and book/CD sets. Include $6.00 shipping & 6% Pa. Sales tax on all orders.
lm/ce
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That’s a LOT of firepower.
SO WHY DON’T AFCC PROFESSIONALS and THER MULTIPLE / MULTIPLYING NONPROFITS FIGURE OUT AND STAY INCORPORATED? THROUGH LACK OF UNDERSTANDING HOW TO, OR THROUGH SHEER ARROGANCE?
NOT JUST IN PENNSYLVANIA, …..
Let's Get Honest! Absolutely Uncommon Analysis of Family & Conciliation Courts' Operations, Practices, & History 
OK, I know it — that post was all over the place.
One reason why — what I saw when looking more closely at that Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology that Dr. Deutsch teaches at. It bears a lot more scrutiny (stay tuned.).
I haven’t quite figured out the Bar Association vs. Bar Foundation situation (at least in Pennsylvania) — but I do know that collectively (nationwide) if you go: statewide, county, sometimes even smaller municipality — that’s a LOT of bar associations. Add to this the Inns of Court (havens of privilege and opportunities for schmoozing with judges, copied after the British model), there arises the question of who really is running this place? FInancially, I mean.
The Court-Corporation-Foundation connection is clearly a lot of clout. Who’s left out? People whose livelihood is actually working FOR corporations (which is most of us), which habit doesn’t tend to accumulate long-term wealth for most people (maybe some, but at this expense — someone else is running government while you are helping the corporate bottom line).
I had to think about this as someone who ran afoul of the Family Court System (by being female, apparently and reporting violence in the home — and leaving it, also being a mother). You tell me how to fight THAT, retain work, help your kids — and survive long-term.
I don’t know how much of me is left to resist, or strategize some serious system change at this point — but I know that it has to change. there’s no valid reason for an institution to exist which specializes in bankrupting innocent people, or putting them homeless, or causing long-term stress to the point it leaves someone with a serious disability (i.e., PTSD), and having serious problems imagining a better future.
That is, without just ignoring the evidence, and simply engaging in pure fantasy.
It’s that bad. We got cults in the courthouse, and one thing cults are good at is sucking the life out of a neighborhood. Knowledge is immunization, and the next thing is, either get out of that neighborhood — or that neighborhood is transformed (which takes energy, financing, and collaboration — the one thing the classes of people who aren’t quite making it even as they ARE maintaining steady work — often isn’t interested in.)
Anyhow — this thing about AFCC not incorporating; we’ve known it (many have, anyhow), we’ve seen it — but you tell me how they got away with it for so long, why there’s more interest in publishing and promoting, than keeping their own corporate noses clean — and filing!
SeeLookingItUp Page
May 5, 2013 at 3:44 pm
Am I reading this correctly? Pennsylvania has done away with parenting coordinators and evaluators? Gone? Bye – Bye? Something serious has happened. Major liability coming? IRS hot on their trails? Co mingling funds with the conflicts of interest they have already dealt with? Heck all parents have fought in their states to limit the use of these over paid hostage taking hired guns ordered by family court. I only know of 2 states getting a cap placed on how much they can charge but that’s about it. I really want to know what was the deciding factor of such a change. We all need to push for the same in our states.
Two “expert” witnesses in the Travis Alexander murder in AZ who testified on behalf of the defendant (murderer), were the epitome of “quack” “quack” “quack”………..Have decades of experience in family courts and people could hardly believe these people had work after listening to their unethical behavior in the case. It stunk of bias in favor of the payor (defendant). These professionals couldn’t answer a question yes or no if their life depended on it either. The work was substandard and the charge was at least $300 per hour. I thank them for showing the world what “experts” really look like that are making decisions regarding children’s lives. Maybe more parents will be believed when they attempt to tell their stories through their tears.
Eliminating the custody evaluators in Pennsylvania all together and in essence “immediately” and retroactively effective in existing cases says a whole lot. Something has happened that made the proverbial ax fall. GOOD I say.
Today I was curiously researching a “house” business too close to my house which looks very suspicious and has only men coming in and out of the backyard parking lot (?) where too many white vans go in and out, has a name with some letters on their sign which of course tell you nothing. Due to my life situation, I felt I should at least find out what type of characters are right here. I looked up the address with the county assessor and couldn’t find anything. I then looked up the name which ends in “Inc” with the corporation commission and of course nothing is there. I did a random search and found “social services” and few other tidbits of information leaving me to believe there is a tax exemption grant type situation going on. I just wonder why I cannot locate any public info on this organization. It does appear to be similar to the facts already found with shotty records, filings and grants. I hope it’s legit and a good deed doing business. Things have started out too shifty thus far.
Back to your informative post as usual,, I wish the powers that be, you know that one guy and one gal who still have morals and ethics, I hope they are reading your blog and having many ah-ha moments which start the questions and answers game. The IRS keeps feeling like the main organization which won’t appreciate the abuse of the funds and failed filings. The government should care most as they are sending money (federal tax dollars-grants) to non-compliant non-profits and this money is never to be seen again with no idea what it was spent on…………………..I need a bit of that money tree at my house. Maybe I should go to one of those seminars to “learn” how to start a non-profit properly………..Is that with a proper address or just the same PO Box as the rest???????????
stillhere
May 5, 2013 at 4:26 pm
The rule doesn’t say anything about eliminating custody evaluators; it addresses the burgeoning field of Parent Coordinators. Across the land, psychologists and attorneys are disappointed, but I’m sure will find a way back in. There are still masters and hearing officers.
It doesn’t say, no GALs, it doesn’t say no mediators. You think mediators aren’t going to make recommendations to the court?
_ _ _ regarding the people with funky van near your home — I would follow up as best you can; surely someone owns that property, and if there’s a license plate, someone owns it.
If anyone from PA knows the background of the sudden Supreme Court ruling, I’d like to know more about it. I do know enough about the crowd that pushed parenting coordination behind our backs, that my personal belief is — they’d better keep their books in order, and if they are running trainings that take payments — make sure the payments are to a legitimate organization, and that orgnization IS legitimate to due business in the state.
————————————–
And for every county in an area — their contracts should be matched with the people doing business with them, should be matched with their financial statements (CAFRs for the local area, budget, etc.). It’s too late in the game to ask someone else to do the auditing. If I can find a fake organization in Minnesota (which I did, on TAGGS.hhs.gov) which got $28 million of grants, many of them HHS style, plus the real one — I know others can do lookups.
I’m not going to be reporting on the murder trial you’re referring to. People who want to follow, can look it up on-line. If you want to name the family court experts (?) that testified, that might be relevant to this topic.
Many people reading this blog may have PTSD, and gruesome just doesn’t cut it. As the writer, I do.
Let’s keep the focus on the courthouse itself, the fundings, and the related organizations.
Thanks.
SeeLookingItUp Page
May 5, 2013 at 7:40 pm