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

Two excerpts from the post.  Fair warning, I may still revise after publishing it today, 3/28/2016. Also, some of its many tags actually refer to the one I just published yesterday, which also has some (minor) revisions, relating to list of YE 2014 sub-grantees from Futures without Violence, towards the bottom of the post…I took that post from the middle of this one, in order to keep this one shorter, and linked with the “Part 2” for which it is “Part 1.”

ABOUT THIS POST

This “Part 1” INTRO commentary introduces occasioned by a re-post of my 6/4/2011 “Ellen Pence and Casey Gwinn — Will the real  Minnesota Program Development Inc. please stand up?“by Dede Evavold on Red Herring Alert  3/15/2016 under the title “Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs,” In “Part 2,” I simply block-copied the text (but not comments on original post) of my June 4, 2011 post to clean up the html (formatting of quote and tables) for easier reading, and possibly updated broken links or some of its information. 

and:

• Many of us may know about the 1994ff “VAWA (Violence Against Women Act) which brought funding (grants, presumably also contracts) through the USDOJ along certain lines.
• However, there was an earlier 1984 “FVPSA” (Family Violence Prevention Services Act) passed by Congress, from which some of these resource centers apparently date.  HHS itself only dates to 1980 (before, there was HEW, Dept. of “Health, Education and Welfare).

As you can see from the excerpts, I’m (a) responding to a recent re-post from 2011, and, as ever (b) have certain topics I wish to continue talking about.   As I learn, so I also teach.    This post then concludes with some information about the Colorado-based NACC (National Association of Counsel for Children), as it came up in a Huffington Post article quoted by the re-blog and a reference to NCJFCJ’s “Project One.”   For “Project One,” …”One World Order,” despite all the talk of desired outcomes protecting human rights, women, children, reducing poverty, increasing justice and equity, etc., this One World Order (Government) seems to be the overall agenda — total control of major aspects of life and commerce (including of domestic human livestock — which is a “resource” of a different kind — breeding and training).

Despite how “special” we in the USA may wish to believe our country is, and that in many respects, no question it IS quite special, a lot of this type of programming can be traced back — which I can say because I have been tracking several programs and operations back to originators and designers —  to two countries, both of which attempted to and to a degree established empires: England (Great Britain), and Germany.   Both tried this in Africa as we know (along with others) AFTER the USA fought England in a war for independence in the late 1700s.   Include some Freud et al., for the 1900s, maybe a few more countries could be referenced.

What I would like to call attention to is the use of private corporations as a method, in addition to the combination of tax / tax-exemption to sway the outcomes AGAINST the individual rights and against individuals, in the name of services provided and problems solved.  All I’m saying is, the “solutions” seem to trend in a certain expansion of scope and shrinking of accountability to taxpayers, which continues to turn up the heat on the public at large.   It’s not good enough to provide even some very decent services while progressively compromising justice and fiscal accountability.  Fiscal accountability is EVERYTHING when it comes to administering justice!!

My most recent post (published March 27, 2016 — yes, on Easter Day) fills in some background on the networked organizations involved in the HHS-funded “DVRN” (Domestic Violence Resource Network) as set up, I learned, under the “FVPSA.”    In 2011, obviously, I didn’t know all this.  It’s important information to know, however…    In expanding such “resource centers” which then receive — and, to a degree, sometimes redistribute — public and private money both — the trail of public “ROI” (Return on Investment) of tax revenues continues to expand, become more complex, and become less carefully watched.

It is much harder to write up than to simply “show and tell” in person to individuals who are willing to hear AND put their eyes (ideally, also hands) on a tax return — where there are often internal inconsistencies with the numbers reported on the face of those returns.  I do have some local friends around when writing and often do share it informally.  They “get” the situation — anyone with some number sense would…  Presenting it in writing to a broad audience of mixed interest — is another story.  I do what I can.

For Example (from recent Form 990 reviews): Organization names on subgrantees don’t match legal entities.  Sometimes details inside the Form 990 are WAY off from the summary report on Page 1.  Sometimes, supplemental schedules which ought to, for example, explain why 25% of expenses a two-employee operation was spent on “Professional Fees – Other” (Line 11g) are missing as uploaded (it’s said, from the IRS images) to the database at 990finder.foundationcenter.org.  In addition, things very relevant, and probably honestly reported, are simply not noticed by most of us in order to build a better picture of WHAT, exactly, is an organization doing with its millions of dollars, over the years, of federal financing in the designated field?   Some of us, seeing this, are shocked.  For example, when people subject to ongoing domestic violence, often enough mothers, become homeless — while the preventative organization becomes a significant real estate investor, 100% controlling a real estate corporation, which in turn controls two LLCs?   These types of things can be seen on the tax returns…IF you look!

This expansion/convolution — but funneled through actually a SMALL (limited) number of organizations  and their entrenched board members/networked relationships —  in my opinion (observation) is not good for the public, however good the attitude or behavioral changes of:  judges, law enforcement, service providers direct to battered women, children, and men, community leaders, faith-based leaders, etc.  No question it’s been good, steady, career-building and salaries for some (well over $100K, $200K, some (such as Esta Soler of Futures w/o Violence) even $300K/year, consistently.  It’s been good for the subcontracting companies.

But what about what’s lost in the accountability cracks?  It would require actually a “cadre” of individual, volunteers or others, to acquire a good database (computer firepower), organize it appropriately to produce timely and reliable reports, and follow the money — connecting dots from subgrantor to major grantee  (i.e., one of the organizations handling the respective “Resource Centers.”

Many of us may know about the 1994ff “VAWA (Violence Against Women Act) which brought funding (grants, presumably also contracts) through the USDOJ along certain lines.

However, there was an earlier 1984 “FVPSA” (Family Violence Prevention Services Act) passed by Congress, from which some of these resource centers apparently date.  HHS itself only dates to 1980 (before, there was HEW, Dept. of “Health, Education and Welfare).

This October 24, 2015 review of the FVPSA “Background and Funding” by CRS (Congressional Research Service) will be good reading.(Hover cursor over the link for some summary paragraphs).  This represents a federal law, an Act of Congress, setting up certain networks based on subject matter, and operating primarily through tax-exempt organizations to do so.  Here’s a fragment describing the more recent “DELTA” programming — which you can also see over at TAGGS.hhs.gov:

Third, FVPSA funds efforts to prevent domestic violence through a program known as Domestic Violence Prevention Enhancement and Leadership Through Allies (DELTA). The most recent iteration of DELTA supports efforts in selected communities to prevent domestic violence. FVPSA activities are administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), FY2015 funding for these activities was $145 million.

I became aware of the FVPSA after I first went to the HHS grants when became aware that post-1996 PRWORA funding for responsible fatherhood/healthy marriage (and access/visitation) was affecting my household’s, and my personal, ability to detach from a persistent, and litigating in family court, ex-batterer.  I also became aware of the increase of father’s rights groups in the 1980s characterized as “Children’s Rights” groups.  Seeing that the FVPSA intending to frame DV as a health issue (not criminal issue) goes as far back as 1984 (when also the A/V funding was authorized, emphasizing co-parenting and increased “noncustodial parenting access” and federal support through the states of, literally, professions that make this happen at the state & county level), I guess we can say that the “family values” contingent got their programming in there faster than women’s rights groups who oppose domestic violence in its reality, versus just in theory, were able to set up appropriate protections and boundaries between violent parent and the nonviolent parent. This came “hard on the heels” of the decade of the 1970s, which began with the first no-fault divorce law in California, and other prominent activities in the battered women’s shelters and in general, feminist activity.

ABOUT THIS POST

This “Part 1” INTRO commentary introduces occasioned by a re-post of my 6/4/2011 “Ellen Pence and Casey Gwinn — Will the real  Minnesota Program Development Inc. please stand up?“by Dede Evavold on Red Herring Alert  3/15/2016 under the title “Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs,” In “Part 2,” I simply block-copied the text (but not comments on original post) of my June 4, 2011 post to clean up the html (formatting of quote and tables) for easier reading, and possibly updated broken links or some of its information. 

For those who read HHS grants from the database, it becomes clear that Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs (“DAIP”) [originally, as Minnesota Program Development, Inc., or MPDI) is indeed one of the HHS-labeled “Four Special Resource Centers” taking grants along with the other “Special Issue Resource Centers” around the domestic violence theme.   Minnesota organization people ought to understand this organization, and this network, along with those others (including NCJFCJ out of Nevada and the National Domestic Violence Hotline out of Texas, one of the larger statewide “coalitions against domestic violence” (CADV), “Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence” (PCADV).

I discovered an HHS/ACF/FYSB (Family Youth Services Bureau) page updating the labeling of the Four “Special Issue Resource Centers” and noticed that what was on the HHS grants list “PCADV” has become in the public information page, “NCRDV” — which is at the same street address and was spun out from underneath PCADV anyhow.  I also see an additional organization in Chicago on the list, and how tricky it is to actually deduce WHO was getting the grants shown under the “resource centers.”  Apparently, no one administering the funds is too eager for the public to connect the dots between the great work being done in the DV field with the organizations being paid to train others and put up the information centers, clearinghouses, and of course offer technical training and assistance to anyone else even THINKING of coming close to the same funding streams.

Because the federal agency HHS has been granting to them under this coordinated approach, and because of the also coordination of domestic violence provision at the state level through “statewide coalitions” to define, refine, and collaborate on How to Respond to (and, allegedly, “Prevent”) Domestic violence — everyone ought to know this like a simple religious catechism.  It’s DV101 which a local nonprofit service provider is UNlikely to bring up or teach clients, along with handling their personal and legal emergency and referring them to other services — and getting them at times on the social services (food stamps, cash aid, child support rights assigned to the local county agency, etc.) circuit if they aren’t already.

It’s also Healthy Justice Habits/Responsible Citizenhood to get your face in front of some of the grantees in general from HHS and become familiar with that federal agency.  Why not start with those claiming to promote awareness of an encourage the diminishment of (At no point do I see a claim it will actually STOP) the severe beatings, threats, killing, child-stealing, isolating targeted victims and treating adult women like children, and in general domestic nightmare behaviors many must endure, and to serve the public interest through specialized policies, procedures, and treatments? Here is as good a place to start as any!

Here, my intro also clarifies — makes a disclaimer —  that I am not connecting the Duluth, MN organization “Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs” with a Delaware custody case involving a DuPont heir, and even after some off-line discussion still do not know why Red Herring Alert re-blogger apparently did.  I do not know that there is any direct connection, although in general DAIP pushes treatment over prosecution.  I also do not know offhand that the treatment DAIP might be pushing includes for sexual offenders — their sphere has been specifically domestic violence.

It was not my idea to juxtapose a sensationalist article about a child-rapist with the reblog of an expository blog about an organization known for its involvement in the domestic violence field. Also, PCADV is not to be confused with “MNCAVA” — another topic, with MNCAVA being project with primary involvement by (formerly) Minnesota’s (UMN’s that is) Jeffrey L. Edleson.

FamilyCourtMatters (this blog) started in spring 2009 as I recall. RedHerringAlert blog, I see, [Red Herring Alert’s 3/15/2016 post titled “Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs,”] recently linked to my June 4, 2011 post “Ellen Pence and Casey Gwinn — Will the real  Minnesota Program Development Inc. please stand up?”

My 2011 post begins, and is on:

The Nonprofit Preventing Family Violence and Dispensing Family Justice world can be a very friendly set of associates.  In getting to know these individuals, besides hearing what they say & write (including positively about each other), I think it’s also helpful to look at who is paying how much for the time and the talents.

Getting to know each other …

On a  recent post and here (currently), there is a graphic of Ellen Pence — well-known in Domestic Violence circles — interviewing Casey Gwinn, well known in San Diego and for his work on the National Family Justice Center Alliance, i.e., for starting it.

This shows that nearly five years ago (June, 2011) I was already commenting/protesting about such things as “Telling Amy’s Story” by PCADV with help from Verizon Foundation (Amy being a DV victim in Pennsylvania who was shot to death when she returned to a home for some diapers right after confronting her problem ex.  Much mileage was made out of this murder which shouldn’t have happened because this woman should’ve known, by then, NOT to go back to that home…)

And, gol-dang-it, she had a last name, although it was her killer husband’s last name:  McGee:

• In The Daily Beast, 12/8/2010 by Roja Heydarpour, “Shot by Her Husband, Point-Blank.” Amy Homan McGee was killed by her abusive husband while her kids waited in the car. A new documentary about her is now a case study of what not to do about domestic violence, says Roja Heydarpour.”  
• Still up at “PSU” (Penn State U) under “Telling.psu.edu“, apparently still selling spinoff products from her unnecessary murder:   “Hosted by actress and advocate Mariska Hargitay, and told by Detective Deirdri Fishel, Telling Amy’s Story follows the timeline of a domestic violence homicide that occurred on November 8, 2001.”  http://telling.psu.edu/film/buy.html  “Buy a Telling Amy’s Story DVD for personal use, or purchase one with rights for classroom/library use.”  [DVD, Rights for Classroom/Library Use, DVD + Curriculum:   $24.95, $74.95, or $174.95, respectively…]

and other such things as another organization “Family Violence Prevention Fund /Futures without Violence” engaging in Fatherhood Initiatives). But, that’s a separate discussion:

Generally, not Specifically Related Subject Matter

As timely as I think it is for people to realize what I was learning (five years ago) about MPDI (Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs)’ connections to, say, the Family Justice Center Alliance – – – that type of information has only an indirect connection to the sensationalist topic that blog Red Herring Alert’s 3/15/2016 post, called”Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs,” leads off with.  The Red Herring Alert post begins under the “DAIP” title quoting a 3/31/2014 Huffington Post article (itself apparently from “infowars”) about a child-raping “One Percenter” getting reduced punishment with sex offender treatment.  The article I see also quotes  the Executive Director of  “National Association of Counsel for Children,” NACC being an organization I’ve also posted on at times.

Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs is an “Inc.” (a corporation).  I talked about i and related corporations in terms of their founders, their networking, and their funding, in addition to in general, as I learned the socialist origins of the “Coordinated Community Response” idea.

Red Herring doesn’t explain any specific, or state a generalized connection between the title ‘Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs and  a sensationalist article (about two years old) on another rich trust-funder heir getting sex offender treatment in a plea bargain as opposed to jail time.  

Out of the “Four Special Issue Resource Centers,” from my TAGGS.hhs.gov lookups (of HHS grants) it seems that certain specialities were allocated among the “expert organizations.”  Among those expert organizations, one was the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) — who would be a more obvious one for addressing the child abuse/child-rape issues — they are custody issues as in “custody and visitation…”

An HHS website names the National and Special Issue Centers.  I’m introducing it here only long enough to show (at least briefly) how HHS labels those ‘Four Special Issue” centers.  I remember YEARS ago noticing the similar amounts of grants to certain organizations, much larger than the average organization the same or similar grant series.  Obviously HHS was picking winners & losers and playing some favorites.  It took further time and effort to comprehend also the tactic of having a project of a nonprofit be called one of the centers, and receive name-recognition before being “spun off” under its former project name.  I understand there is a legitimate purpose in one nonprofit “incubating” others — but not when the pre-birth baby (so to speak) is given adult characterization as though it were separate from its mothers womb – -in this case, “Domestic Abuse Intevention Programs” formerly? “MPDI.”  Why HHS doesn’t want people to look more closely at DAIP remains a good question.

For example, this HHS page, I see, calls “DVRN (Domestic Violence Resource Network) a combination of some National “Resource Centers” four “Special Issue” resource centers, and some “Culturally” resource centers.  http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/fysb/fv-centers:

Of the websites below, some probably tie directly (on a 1:1 basis) to an existing 501©3 organization, whose names is NOT featured prominently, and some may not, but actually be sponsored websites.  This does not help the viewing public (who somehow manages find this page) develop a “WHO IS IT, really?” vocabulary, but encourages them to be labeled with the non-accounting, non-corporate, non-governmental-entity label which could mean, almost anything, “Resource Center,” in all its indefinite, variegated glory and vague point of reference:
A closer look at the articles (HuffPost/Infowars) shows their spin is more about rich people getting lenient treatment, than organizations coordinating activities to switch the justice system over to the “treatment” model.  

One good investigative journalist follow-up to this article and specific judge’s decision-making might be to look into the judge’s non-judicial investment interests, or patterns of court connections with to the treatment providers:  Was it a unique occurrence, or a repeating pattern. I’m not going to be doing that, however I WILL mention that (as I recall) Delaware Family Courts were one of the chosen pilot program areas for “Family Court Enhancement Project,” and the HuffPost relates in part to a Delaware custody and divorce case, or related to such a case.

Speaking of wealthy patriarchs and couples (and their related foundations) having badly-behaving offspring …. in San Diego area ….another connection, which I doubt is commonly known or remembered, between the original (first) philanthropic sponsors of the San Diego Family Justice Center (or, Camp Hope — I DNR which without looking) actually were a couple whose son was arrested for attempting to kidnap (more than once) young girls from nearby elementary schools.  I do believe that might be worth looking into from the perspective of the insistence on treatment providers of the “Family Reunification” sort in setting up and running camps for abused children. (Comment on this blog if you want links — I learned this within the last year, and have already written it up, but not posted).

One Percenter Convicted Of Raping Child Dodges Jail Because He ‘Will Not Fare Well’

Ashley Alman
The Huffington Post
March 31, 2014

A Delaware man convicted of raping his three-year-old daughter only faced probation after a state Superior Court judge ruled he “will not fare well” in prison.

In her decision, Judge Jan Jurden suggested Robert H. Richards IV would benefit more from treatment. Richards, who was charged with fourth-degree rape in 2009, is an unemployed heir living off his trust fund. The light sentence has only became public as the result of a subsequent lawsuit filed by his ex-wife, which charges that he penetrated his daughter with his fingers while masturbating, and subsequently assaulted his son as well.

Richards is the great grandson of du Pont family patriarch Irenee du Pont,a chemical baron.

same article, different topic:

Kendall Marlowe, executive director of the National Association for Counsel for Children,** told The News Journal that sex offenders are jailed for the safety of the children they threaten.

“Child protection laws are there to safeguard children, and adults who knowingly harm children should be punished,” she*** said. “Our prisons should be more rehabilitative environments, but the prison system’s inadequacies are not a justification for letting a child molester off the hook.”

News of the lenient sentence for the confessed rapist comes as a new book, Thomas Piketty’s Capitalism In The 21st Century, has put new focus on the distorting role of inheritance in the free market economy.

*How did author know to call the NACC?  The NACC is a nonprofit organization, legal domicile Colorado, entity location the Kempe Center for Children, and it has been an HHS grantee to develop a certification standard for “Child Welfare Law” under “Adoption Opportunities” (as I recall the TAGGS grant.).  It has a friendly, co-conferencing, membership-overlap sort of relationship also with AFCC.

Kendall Marlowe, apparently now its Executive Director, writes articles for its blog: Children, Families and the Law | The NACC Child Law Blog, and yesterday’s (3/14/2016’s) article, ironically, was “U.S. Department of Justice Practice Tips for the Three-Year-Old Pro Se Litigant”  This article is in reference to three-year-old unaccompanied minors an immigration law, and its tone is sarcastic.  Part of the ‘NACC” philosophy is to get more lawyers (Counsel) for children across the system.  SO, in the blog, three-year olds are advised, to protect themselves legally, to “1.  Throw a Toy at the Opposing Counsel.  2.  Fill Your Pants.  3.  Have a Sudden, Inexplicable Meltdown. or 4.  Go to Sleep. On the Floor. Now.”

Kendall Marlowe, however, appears to be a “he,”  a man.  So why the quote as if he was a “she“?

Kendall is the Executive Director of the National Association of Counsel for Children, the national advocacy organization of attorneys and other professionals representing children and families in child welfare, juvenile justice and custody cases.

Teaching point — NACC wishes to be “THE” national advocacy organization for three different venues — dependency (Child Welfare), Juvenile Justice, and Custody (Family Law).  This matches the overall AFCC philosophy that we’re all better off with “UNIFIED” family courts, (I call this a “jurisdiction-grab.”  “One Family/One Judge” etc.

And blends nicely with the concept of “One-Stop Justice Shop” of the Family Justice Centers, which also melds into the concept of “Coordinated Community Response.”  NCJFCJ even has its own version of the same general idea and terminology, “Project ONE.” (under “Our Work”).  Listen to the language and notice, what else — Pilot Courts so it can be written up and recommended to apply (as a model) to the rest of the entire country:

The NCJFCJ continues to be a leader in advancing the use of effective multi-system responses to youth and families. In 2010, with funding from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to support critical cross-departmental and cross-system work, the NCJFCJ began work on the Multi-Court Collaboration (MCC) Initiative (now known as Project ONE, named to signify a holistic approach to families through One Family/One Judge, No Wrong Door, and Equal and Coordinated Access to Justice). Project ONE seeks to provide judges with guidance for supporting the needs of families and children no matter which jurisdictional “door” of the courthouse – family law, child welfare, family violence, juvenile justice, etc. – they enter.

So, it started out as “Multi-Court Collaborative” (sounds good) before getting its new branding, “Project ONE” and pulling out, presumably, the ONE Family/ONE Judge, etc.   So — tell me, how does that work when the “One Judge” may be corrupt, incompetent, or on the take?  In fact, don’t tell me, got interview Sandra Grazzini-Rucki, currently couch-surfing/homeless after a stint in jail and unable to support herself through family court order by “David Knutson” in Minnesota.  The stint in jail I doubt helped her work prospects much.  How’s THAT for a great “outcome” under “One Judge” and plenty of referral to services in that 5-children-family law case?  The two runaways-hauled back (older daughters) are I hear/d undergoing forced reunification with their father, in California (?? Check Red Herring Alert for latest news).

Central to Project ONE is a holistic view of individuals and families, a life-course perspective on human development, and a focus on ensuring equal and coordinated access to justice regardless of presenting issues. A Steering Committee of NCJFCJ member judges has been convened to lead the initiative with NCJFCJ staff and develop a road map for its success. One of the initiative’s goals will be to develop and share resources for innovative practices across the country, where courts effectively demonstrate multi-court collaboration in practice.

The Project ONE Courts and Lead Judges are:

• Jefferson County Family Court, Louisville, Kentucky; Honorable Joan Byer, Lead Judge
• Milwaukee County Circuit Court, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Honorable Marshall B. Murray, Lead Judge
• North Okaloosa County Unified Family Court, Crestview, Florida; Honorable Terrance Ketchel, Lead Judge
• Orleans Parish Juvenile Court, New Orleans, Louisiana; Honorable Ernestine S. Gray, Lead Judge
• Sixth Judicial Circuit Court (Pasco County), Dade City, Florida; Honorable Lynn Tepper, Lead Judge
• Second Judicial District Court, Family Division (Washoe County), Reno, Nevada; Honorable Egan Walker, Lead Judge

Continue looking at all this, and you’ll see in essence the “ONE” we are actually talking about is ‘ONE world government” managed by the self-anointed, I mean “-appointed” experts.  Notice the NACC blog has the words “Chid Welfare, Juvenile Justice, and Custody” on its banner also.

Kendall served as Chief of the Bureau of Operations and as Deputy Director for the Department of Children and Family Services {{“DCFS”}} in Illinois, where he was also spokesperson for the Department of Juvenile Justice and the Governor’s Long Term Care Reform Task Force. Kendall grew up in a family that welcomed six adolescent foster youth, has been a foster and adoptive parent himself, and worked as a social worker with at-risk, homeless and foster youth on Chicago’s south side. He holds a Master’s in Social Work from the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration, where he received the Wilma Walker Honor Award; and a J.D. and Certificate in Child and Family Law from the Loyola University Chicago School of Law, where he was an Honorary Child Law Fellow.

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From those posts I see the upcoming NACC Conference “Child Welfare, Juvenile Justice, the Family Law, and You” (August 2016 in Philadelphia) is being co-sponsored with the Juvenile Law Center, on which I have been posting recently, in the context of “Models for Change” not to mention the “NCJFCJ” which is also an organization, I learned, taking Models for Change Grants.  So, for that matter did the Department of Juvenile Justice in Illinois.  (See Wendall Marlowe biography, above).  First paragraph of conference ad references “over 700” participants, across several professional types.  NOTE:  This is a lot of people, but not a significant representation of the nation’s lawyers, OR judges:

Yes, it’s already time. The National Association of Counsel for Children’s 39th Annual National Child Welfare, Juvenile and Family Law Conference is set for August 12-14, 2016 in Philadelphia, and it’s time to submit your abstract. We’re unique in that we’re the largest such gathering of attorneys and other professionals in our field, but also because we have an open, competitive submission process for the presentations and workshops that will educate and engage over 700 attorneys, judges, social workers, clinicians, professors and administrators.   …

We’ll do all that, but in a more substantive vein, we’re lucky to be working on this conference with our good friends at Juvenile Law Center. They’re the nation’s oldest non-profit, public interest law firm, and they’ve been at the center of some of our field’s biggest achievements. We’re hanging with a pretty cool crowd this year in Philadelphia. We want you there, too. Join us

[[Conference costs, early-bird, look to be $450, plus $250 for an optional Pre-Conference “Red Book Training,” more for a dinner, and if you’re lucky, prompt, or apply right, a $169/night conference rate for the three days.  So, with the Pre-Conference Institute, it could easily be a $1,000 cost (not including airfare).]]

I finally looked at his LinkedIn and realized that his J.D. only dates to 2012, and that his work with DCFS was while getting it from Loyola.  Immediately before that, he was getting his Masters in Social Work (Year, 2006).  This man looks to be ABOUT my age (and I got my college degrees, plural, in the previous century) which makes me wonder what the man was doing for a living before getting his Masters in Social Work from the University of Chicago.  Both UC and Loyola are prestigious universities..  Is Ina Marlowe (artistic director of three different theaters in Chicago) his wife or a relative?  (her resume mentions an “Adaptation by Kendall Marlowe”)

Ina & Kendall Marlowe at 2014 Kempe Foundation Gala (courtesy photos.blacktie.colorado.com) Check out event description. NACC (a 501©3) is located at Denver’s Kempe Center and Kendall Marlowe (to right, with beard!) as of 2014 was its Exec. Director; Ina directs theater, etc.

MORE ON THAT LATER, SEPARATELY.  Do, Please, Bookmark or Make a Note of “NACC” the 501©3 and its strategic (policy) goals — more lawyers for more children (certified/qualified) of course is presumed to lead to more justice for children, somehow.

DuPont heir and that child-rape case = Delaware.

MPDI, Ellen Pence and “The Duluth Model” = Minnesota.  The Connection = ?? Treating everyone? 

(I did comment also over at Red Herring Alert; not a big deal, just puzzling why one was put next to the other).

Other than, THE Duluth Model, and apparently in synchronization with the OTHER “Four Special Issue Resource Centers” (a specific set of HHS grants involving specific organizations), absolutely pushes supervision, training (training-the trainers), batterers intervention, and the collectivization (under centralized control by subject-matter experts, who of course are first also trained in how to think and  talk about DV and how the community should coordinate its responses to a specific, wide-ranging, all-encompassing model, in fact, what appears to be a sociology-based AND to a degree socialism-based philosophy which particularly inspired Ellen Pence and those who backed similar ideas)….. I don’t see the connection to the DuPont man. However, it does seem to symptomize how people who also might be prosecuted a lot more harshly and for longer, less lenient terms, MIGHT wish to instead be handled….

What struck me on reading the 2011 “Let’s Get Honest” Post is besides how little html (technical skills especially in setting up or standardizing any style quotes from other sites and charts & tables from HHS database) I knew at the time that I still basically read the overall situation pretty accurately, that early; that long ago. The response IS being coordinated multi-jurisdictionally; and it’s being directed into the treatment model, which ignores the problems of the family courts, largely, in favor of re-structuring government to sponsor more treating professionals, lay, certified, or by degree qualified.

This tells me that with an awareness that more than two approaches (i.e., Pro/Con) to looking at systems do exist, and that sometimes the nature of the Pro/Con public debate reveals the underlying operating infrastructure — and with a willingness to develop some basic vocabulary and invest personal time in getting some relevant (non-anecdotal) evidence in front of one’s face — the reality can be seen, and it can also be described in basic terms accurately.

ONE goal of those running the systems seems to ensure that the pro/con debate is conducted in terms of social science “effectiveness” not system integrity, and definitely NOT any sensible look at the financial powerhouse incentives, and drivers.

I also notice that while HHS (TAGGS.hhs.gov, specifically) chose since I published, to correct (or update) the name of Minnesota Program Development, Inc. to “Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs,” and a related (in this field) company name from “Family Violence Prevention Fund” to “Future without Violence,” — to this day, they have not yet updated or corrected (not sure which applies until I look at history of the name at the state site) the name of “National Council of Juvenile Court Judges” to “National Council of Family and Juvenile Court Judges.”

I am currently blogging NCJFCJ, and find this odd. Does someone NOT want the dots to be connected for those few (?) outspoken family court reform/ protective mother / (etc.) people that the $21M GRANTED to a private judges’ membership (and, it says, also a charity) association from HHS is the same technical advisor to grantees and grants solicitors under the Office of Violence Against Women (i.e., under the USDOJ/OJP/OVW grants series), as well as the one which was running a “division” NCJJ out of Pittsburgh whose key employee (E. Hunter Hurst III) also ran a MAJOR NASDAQ-traded company specializing in serving the HHS sector, behavioral change institutions, private prisons and fatherhood (“Parent Equality”) groups also in its board members’ background — referring to Youth Services International, and PACT, Inc., that is, “Parents and Children Together, Inc.” — and with unusually strong connections to Arizona, known also for its private prison proliferation. That’s what my latest post (“About NCJFCJ …. Find”) refers to.

In 2016 I again found myself writing up the quality of “special resource centers” in the private sector, backed by the public (and private) sector, as well as the potential for RICO which increases drastically with the obsession with “diversionary services” (JDAI as Annie E. Casey Foundation might refer to it) for juveniles pushed nationwide with impetus from the MacArthur Foundation and cooperation from “lead entities” in states chosen to Model what kind of Change that private/public partnership desires….

So, discussion of this smaller (under $10M) Minnesota Nonprofit alongside the larger ones backed by the truly big guys (US federal agencies + networked tax-exempt foundations) is definitely timely. Or, I should say, “About Time.”

So let me see how much formatting cleanup I can pull off for this otherwise, nearly verbatim post, all 10,700+ words of it below. I see “nearly verbatim” to cover for any other comments I MIGHT add as updates, below.

Actually, in “Part 2 of 2,” with similar title.

To go back to the top of this post: My June 4, 2011, Post on Four Special Issue Resource Centers (Ellen Pence/MPDI), a 2016 Intro (Pt 1 of 2) (short-link ends “–3aW”).

TO go to the second post in this series: http://wp.me/psBXH-3e?? (back here soon…)

TO go to the third post in this series: http://wp.me/psBXH-3e7 (now you know what “short-link ends” signals at the top of more recent posts are referring to.  WordPress generates Case-sensitive (past the wp.me/) short links every time.