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

Post title: How Relevant is AFCC — and Who, UNLIKE many ‘Crisis in (or ‘Enhance/Reform’) the Courts’ groups and associated professionals who won’t, in public or on-line — Acknowledges Its Existence and Significance? (started May 7, 2018) (Case-sensitive shortlink ending “-91l”; that’s two numbers, as in the year “1991” and a lower-case “L”) (Posting “as-is” about 5,680 words on Mothers’ Day (USA) May 13.  Subject to later updates for clarity and/or towards bottom of the post).

(I was also active on Twitter today with more links, documentation and as ever, reminder of terms in use in current fatherhood policy, particularly as involves Temple University-housed, Center for Policy Research-organized “FRPN.org” (also previously posted herein).  http://bitl.ly/2KVQHOi)

This post will illustrate both those who won’t (while talking on the same topics) and those who, obviously do acknowledge AFCC when presenting at its conferences or listed among its ongoing board of directors or other activist members (i.e., on individual C.V.s)…

There are many organizations in the country aligned to specific professions, or a few different but related ones, so what’s so relevant and significant about this one, especially as it’s not that large (at least on paper! and if assets and revenues are the measure? (searchable on this blog and see short illustration below).

DEFINITIONS (outside organization self-reporting, some standard has to be applied. A few words on that…)

“AFCC” in this usage doesn’t mean its legal business name (USA) has only those four letters, but does refer to the “mother ship” organizations whose full name (for decades now) has been “Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, Inc.” and as a nonprofit has an EIN# 952597407, a business address, a legal domicile (Wisconsin’s listing says “not in our state” and Illinois’s says “has been in our state since…” while AFCC on its IRS returns both FY2008 and 2016 (and inbetween) say legal domicile “WI” in fact, Madison, Wisconsin.

While legal domicile was probably buried further within the IRS forms (which changed in 2008), it was not asked on the page 1 header information. Why it matters?  Competence & truth in filing.

SEE ALSO (but not in detail on this post) AFCC’s main and state chapter [in the USA] IRS Tax Returns, i.e. do some Form990s searches (accounting for some wrongly-labeled at this 990-search site, which is another consideration in tracking organizations, or government funds to them..). Whatever else is said by itself, or others about the generic term “AFCC” (including, on its conference agendas), business-wise it is a tax-exempt entity in the PRIVATE sector, with Board of Directors typically including judges or justices inside and outside the USA (i.e., Canada, New Zealand..) and others working as “civil servants” in the public sector, i.e., government employees, along with those who are not government employees (but typically will be doing referral business with the courts, or (some) in law schools…  

It is NOT part of government, and to do business legally with government institutions (such as the State itself, or state government-funded institutions, such as the family courts) it MUST register as for-profit, or not-for-profit.  

It also has chapters, but these are not linked to each other at the IRS level (as returns will show) as “related” organizations, complicating fact-check with the AFCC website’s own claim of how many chapters (and where they are) it has at any point in time. See next images from a recent searches (to illustrate this point, and to raise related important questions about how we might obtain tax returns of nonprofits with national court-reform goals (such as AFCC in its chapter capacities) when relying on private sector database providers (like the Foundation Center, used here) that don’t even get the organization’s NAMEs right in search results?..and have no direct accountability to taxpayers, being in the private sector?

Certainly not by relying on “name searches” only!  (Next display is  in “gallery format.” Click on any image, the navigate to others.  They take readers through name search (written out, alternate wording, and acronym) searches, and then EIN# search on the main organization in WI (showing another result) and on California Chapter.  I also did an EIN# search on the Massachusetts chapter to verify there was only ONE full-sized Form 990 on record, although a short-form (990EZ) filing.   

If you consider how many universities with their law schools, or just law schools:

Harvard (!), Boston University, Boston College (Jesuit orientation), Suffolk University, New England School of Law (in Boston) and no doubt some others)

and the former Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology (now called “William James College”) and which specific AFCC leadership make their professional and/or their “spin-off” court-connected nonprofits (i.e., tax-exempt ways to handle business referrals from the family courts) call Massachusetts “home,”) it’s “interesting” that the Massachusetts Chapter of AFCC, Inc. (EIN# 22388 2533 as shown above) is opting to keep a REAL low profile fiscally — I just checked the IRS “Tax Exempt Organization Search (note that url: “APPS.IRS.gov/APP/EOS”) and confirmed [MA AFCC] is mostly filing just electronic postcards, Forms 990-N asserting no revenues over $50,000.

While I mention that, nearby Connecticut, as far as its AFCC chapter, which had been “outed” ca. 2011 (I caught it; separately and working independently from me at the time, so did investigative reporter Anne Stevenson, living closer to the “scene of the crime” than I was in California!) for operating illegally (unregistered) RIGHT FROM the state judicial department (apparently for decades!) — Connectictut chapter filed briefly in ?2012, but I see is showing up as a Form 990PF and (FY2015) says it’s “terminating.”

Think about it: Connecticut is home to, among other universities (such as Fairfield (founded 1942 w/ 303 male students — also Jesuit, (see its Wikipedia) admitted women in 1970, soon after started a school of nursing; has no law school, but does have a pre-law program), Quinnipiac School of Law. Yale.. yet AFCC’s chapter doesn’t want to show its financial dealings within the state. Hmm.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinnipiac_University_School_of_Law, although flagged for “needs citations”

Quinnipiac U School of Law <==(school website) “Wiki” is strongly flagged, but I think it relevant to mention it was only ABA accredited in 1995, and was in part the result of a fiscally UNsound “University of Bridgeport” having been “bailed out” by an entity known to be associated with, well, Rev. Sun Myung Moon (i.e., the Unification Church,” causing some serious upsets.  A decision was made to associated with a number of bidders (including Fairfield), but they went for “Quinnipiac University.”  Per this “Wiki.”

In its own words, after main white-on-navy blue large-font intro, references (“naturally”) a “dispute resolution center..” where students can get coached, and get BA/JD or BS/JD in six yrs (“3+3”):

Quinnipiac U School of Law <==(school website)

If you know early on that you want to earn your JD, our innovative (3+3) BA/JD or BS/JD program allows you to earn a bachelor’s degree and complete law school in six years.

Beyond doctrine, students put their knowledge to work through a range of practical, hands-on learning. Our Center on Dispute Resolution combines mock mediation sessions and work in the Civil Justice Clinic, with judges, mediators and practicing attorneys to coach you. In our Center for Health, Law and Policy you’ll learn the intricacies of complex health care industry issues from experienced medical faculty and health law professionals.

Whatever your primary legal interests may be, we provide numerous outlets, venues and courses of study for you to start turning legal theory into legal practice.

Qunnipiac’s Center for Dispute Resolution, it says, was founded in 1998 (keeping in mind, the school was only ABA accredited since 1995) by law school dean, Jennifer Gerarda Brown:

Quinnipiac Law School main page (top) @ May 12, 2018.

Quinnipiac School of Law Center for Dispute Resolution (after clicking on “read more” link)

I also notice that the user interface (at https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/) has just changed dramatically.  Basically it’s more flexible and better in several ways, but curtails the broad-based search for related organization names I’ve frequently done on this website — unless one wants to download the whole database. Probably a good change, but it will affect searches.  This page was (it says) “updated May 4, 2018” — and (not realizing it yet) I’d taken the above screenprints (except for MA) only May 8, 2018.  It curtails broader, “peripheral vision” listings of similarly named orgs per page.

The point of this question in my post title is, of just how many influential individuals (so say its conference and newsletter materials, and plenty of, but not consistently, professionals’ resumes or CV’s; the word “AFCC-padded” comes to mind with some (not all) such resumes I’ve read over the years)… has the “at-large” public is NOT being given a full scope report on those involved in a field,

…while those NOT giving this full scope attempt to carve another niche in the field w/o calling attention to other players in it. That is, while some draw attention to themselves year after year through pro/con debates on specific issues (such as “parental alienation” or “Fathers’ rights” “parents’ rights” and the handling of domestic violence, child abuse, co-parenting, visitation, child support, relocation, divorce- and separation-related legal matters) as if a vacuum of activist, participating entities with a private agenda to alter the course and purpose of public institutions really did exist.

Such vacuum certainly does not exist, and the organizations being “just not discussed” so consistently by so many when debating problems the same have been conferencing — sometimes co-conferencing — about for years — certainly do!

I wonder what our nation’s custody cases would look like, especially for battered or attempting-to-protect-their-children mothers, during the first and second-generation (or, decades) post-U.S. Welfare Reform (1996, for one turning point, not the only one..) had not the groups I’m referencing in this and nearby post/page titles decided that “Censorship by Omission” was the way to go, even after parts of the truth had leaked out anyhow…

I wonder how mine*** and with it, our children’s remaining childhoods and education through high school/college would’ve gone, had this relevant information been leaked out, even by mistake, in:

• local advocacy or county offices: a domestic violence nonprofit group, a family court facilitators’ office, a district attorney’s office, a “family justice center,” a child support agency;
• in books on domestic violence and custody such as “Why Does He DO That?” (2003) by Lundy Bancroft (or “The Batterer as Parent, ” a follow-up), or…
• in presentation topics over the years (as accessible on-line) from the Battered Mothers’ Custody Conference (“BMCC“), and/or (though by then I’d heard enough to piece it together), in a 2010 book, “Domestic Violence, Abuse and Custody” (editors Mo Hannah, Ph.D., and Barry Goldstein) which I just profiled in a “Evidence of ONGOING Censorship by Omission” and which was being promoted at both BMCC (2011) and as I recall, NCADV/NOMAS (2010) conferences.
• Or a later “Our Broken Family Courts Conference / Initiative / Book (March 2012ff) involving some of the same professionals and bringing in others, with sponsorship by Cummings Foundation for Behavioral Health, as I posted at the time and Tweeted again recently. The addition of Nicholas A. Cummings (and his foundation and associated) brought in more prominent, and powerhouse (it would seem) psychologists into this mix.
  • See my Tweets (username “LetUsGetHonest” with same logo of the blue jay about to take flight as on this blog) esp. 5/9/2018 on both use of that phrase, and (part of the context) PsychNet (an APA database) search for author “Nicholas A. Cummings” — click and read those annotated attachments, typically I have four per Tweet; see any short-links within a Tweet.  First thread:  https://bit.ly/2wBIqf8 another thread: https://bit.ly/2jQqWTg
  • On Twitter I’ve used “#OurBrokenFamilyCourts” and “#HMRF” (for the federal funding). Now I notice there’s a substantial “HMRE” programming (RE = “Relationship Education” while “RF” = “Responsible Fatherhood).
  • For comparison, search on Twitter “Our Broken Family Courts” (not using the “#” and with space between words) and you’ll find plenty of results — both from mothers and fathers).
  • What a social media and conference-circuit PR triumph to suggest and get people to use this phrase repeatedly (unconsciously), acclimatizing speakers and readers to the self-limiting, thought-constricting phrase + implicit concept for the future/ultimate benefit of the would-be fixers (“give US a slice of that pie I see others already eating…”).  If they are now “broken” at sometime in the past, they were intact. The adjective “Broken” also implies accident, not intent, and eliminates by omission the concept of corruption, as explained in any coherent way or even referenced as to how it might happen…. Let alone the word “Our” as a responsibility/ownership concept when a key characteristic is court-forced consumption of the service of private professional services (whether individuals , individuals using a “dba” for their LLCs, or whether nonprofit tax-exempt organizations such as “Kids’ Turn”). To whom, really does the word “Our” refer to in such usage? Are we all really a big happy family with shared ownership of the problem-solving, specialized jurisdiction “family courts”?

***(I was formerly battered, but still-stalked wife and mother and didn’t even initiate the divorce. I just sought protection– a safe distance! including when court-ordered exchange of children for visitation was involved —  to be maintained long enough for full, ongoing financial independence without any need to rely on child support.)

I wonder how my and other mothers’ leaving violent fathers, “intimate partner relationships” and/or marriages and custody cases, locally, nationally —  and with it, our children’s remaining childhoods and education through high school/college would’ve gone, had this relevant information been leaked out, even by mistake, in places generally associated with

• feminist, or women’s rights organizations, such as “Legal Momentum, dealing with domestic violence, poverty, housing, and custody when violence is a factor…
• governmental (federal) resources dealing with the topic of domestic violence

It turns out, historic records from what is now Legal Momentum (formerly NOW Legal Education Defense Fund) , or other places I was desperately looking on-line as a single mother both pre- and post-child-stealing event in the SF Bay Area for understanding which might lead to better protection and which, based on their identified causes (such as preventing or stopping abuse, or women’s rights), …such as abstracts of the “NCJRS (National Criminal Justice Reference Service) database regarding these issues have next to nothing to say about PRWORA (TANF) or AFCC.

Next three NCJRS images  showing what it offers, its “federal sponsors” and how was started in 1972. (Click any image to enlarge then move to next; all three have the same link.) I also just went through its “Thesaurus of terms” (interesting), found several associations mentioned but no “AFCC” (written out), although the (similar but not identical) NCJFCJ (written out) was. Again, in resorting to this database, I was thinking in terms of domestic violence (and, the then-threatened child abduction) in terms of criminal activity, not as it’s being handled (parallel), as a “disease” to be treated therapeutically.  This is a source of valuable information, but still controlled search terms / vocabulary, and cannot be a primary resource for understanding how domestic violence is handled in the “domestic relations” “family” or “conciliation” courts.

Image: Legal Defense Fund History Page by the Decades (further details at end of this post) manages to stay active in Violence Against Women actions (and, primarily, other progressive causes, especially pro-choice (abortion defense) and things affecting women’s poverty — but through 1994, 1995, and 1996 doesn’t even mention 1996 Welfare Reform (!!) which has had dramatic impact on battered women through relentless promotion of social policy pushing marriage/fatherhood programs  (and discouraging divorce, obstructing fair exit from abusive relationships under this mantra). This web-page access is recent (and I’d checked it earlier).  Interesting, because at least California NOW (National “NOW” =/= state “NOW”) in the early 2000s had recognized the impact of HHS grant-making upon women’s safety and, correspondingly, their prolonged poverty post-separation.

• Or by involved lawyers (Joan Meier (George Washington University School of Law & “We are National Thought Leaders” DVLEAP), Joan Zorza, Nancy Erickson, Barbara J. Hart, J.D., “Director of Law and Policy and Domestic Violence” of (currently) University of Southern Maine, Muskie School of Public Service with these responsibilities and bio blurb), not to mention Nancy Lemon (UCBerkeley and, 2012ff , “FVAP”) when discussing the issue.

• Or see Barbara Hart’s November 1, 2017 speech at the “Miles to Go” BISC-MI conference which reveals even more than I’d already picked up about her (and colleagues, incl. other lawyers listed here active in the national “DV advocacy” issues) early-on decisions to incorporate diversionary, behavioral modification programs such as “Batterers Intervention” (and supervised visitation, coordinated community response, etc.) solutions… It’s a short-read, under 2,000 words.

2003 Joan Meier (GWU law) DV, Child Custody, and Child Protectn UNDERSTANDING JUDICIAL RESISTANCE (endorses Greenbk, NCJFCJ, quotes AFCC, ignores PRWORA!) ~~Viewed 2018Apr26

Not the topic of this post, but for an example:

A 2003 article in “GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works” by Joan Meier (see image) is searchable on-line. Use the search function in your browser, on the viewing device, and see where “Association of Family and Conciliation Courts” comes up, or the word “fatherhood” (not much!), strange considering its title!

2003 Joan Meier (GWU law) DV, Child Custody, Child Protectn UNDERSTANDING JUDICIAL RESISTANCE (endorses Greenbk, NCJFCJ, quotes AFCC, ignores PRWORA!) [Conclusion]~~Viewed 2018Apr26

From GWU “Fact Sheet” viewed May 10, 2018 (and for post of that date).

For the record George Washington University is in D.C., “four blocks from the White House” (2121 Eye Street), was chartered in 1821 (law school started 1865), and has an easy-to-read Fact Sheet (Partial image shown) and Mission Statement.  See also its listing of “schools” including the Law School.   DVLEAP, a nonprofit closely associated with Ms. Meier, is housed at GW Law School.

This fragment from her page under the “Domestic Violence Project” under “clinical law” (i.e., students work helping with real cases in the community, and as described on law.GWU.edu under this topic) shows that the DOJ/OVW funded DVLEAP with $450,000 in partnership with the “58,000 children a year” group, “Leadership Council on Interpersonal Violence and Child Abuse” (Joy Silberg et al.):

From: https://www.law.gwu.edu/joan-s-meier

…In 2011, DV LEAP received a two-year $450,000 grant award from the Dept of Justice Office on Violence Against Women to provide trainings on the misuses of science in custody and abuse litigation,** in partnership with the Leadership Council on Interpersonal Violence and Child Abuse.

Professor Meier is regularly interviewed in the media on domestic violence issues and was one of the featured commentators in the groundbreaking PBS documentary, “Breaking the Silence: Children’s Voices.” She previously practiced in two national law firms and in two public interest organizations providing legal services and freedom of information litigation. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1980, cum laude from the University of Chicago Law School in 1983, and clerked on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.                   {{She’s been at GWU, it says, for 20 years}}

 

**Another way for saying, “psychological science” without directly saying “parental alienation.”  Note, there is also a “Family Litigation Clinic” at the university, run by others.

MOVING ON…

Like it or hate it (or him), the current U.S. President, Donald Trump, talks plenty about a border wall and maintaining the integrity of the United States as nation, i.e., “boundaries” (even as, I’m hearing on TV, several states have signed into law allowing illegal-status students to apply alongside citizens, legal residents for scholarships/financial aid to public universities — like Rutgers.  (From NJ.com, March 27, 2018, Kelly Heyboer; of in the CT Mirror, April 25, 2018))…

(To access “Financial aid for ‘dreamers becomes a reality in [CT]” 4/25/2018 in CT Mirror, or click image to enlarge (caption not shown here, though), in 5/10/2018 LGH post on relevance of AFCC (context: Trump’s concern for borders, family courts ldrship focused on internationally aligning court practices

Financial Aid for ‘dreamers’ becomes a reality in Connecticut

By: JACQUELINE RABE THOMAS AND CLARICE SILBER | April 25, 2018 View as “Clean Read”

…With the governor’s promised signature of the bill into law, Connecticut’s public colleges will join seven other states in opening access to financial aid for some undocumented students.

Presently, California, Hawaii, Minnesota, New Mexico, Texas and Washington offer undocumented students tuition support, reports the Education Commission of the States, a non-partisan think tank that tracks education policies. New Jersey is also slated to soon begin providing aid to these students.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy applauded passage of the bill, calling dreamers “part of the fabric of this state.”||  “They have been educated in our public schools, worked in our small businesses – and started small businesses of their own, paid taxes, and served in our military,” Malloy said. “Yet until now, they have not had access to the very financial aid that they pay into at our colleges and universities.”

I even saw a (frightening) statement of intent to “close it (the US?) down for a while” (meaning, immigration — at what point might this also mean LEAVING the country?)  CNN, 5/5/2018

CNN, “Trump floats ‘closing up the country for a while’ over border security.” (5/5/2018 w/ Youtube)
Caption: “Trump: If you don’t have borders, you don’t have a country”

Trump floats ‘closing up the country for a while’ over border security..

(CNN)President Donald Trump seemed to float a new idea about border control during a tax reform roundtable in Ohio.

The President was in the midst of criticizing Democrats during a riff about border security when he slipped in the idea that people might “have to think about closing up the country.”

“They don’t want the wall, but we’re going to get the wall, even if we have to think about closing up the country for a while,” Trump said. “We’re going to get the wall. We have no choice. We have absolutely no choice. And we’re going to get tremendous security in our country.”

Trump then mentioned the notion a second time, saying, “And we may have to close up our country to get this straight, because we either have a country or we don’t. And you can’t allow people to pour into our country the way they’re doing.”

Click to enlarge, or here to read (image is close of the article): Independent.UK, Trump re: would love to see a (US) government shutdown if he doesn’t get his immigration reforms.

Click image to enlarge, or here to read(Feb. 6, 2018 in Independent.UK)

And, in the Independent.UK Feb. 6, 2018, “Trump says he would ‘love to see a shutdown’ if Democrats refuse to back immigration proposals.”[context — debate to avoid government shutdown over budget):

..but I hear very little about how national borders are consistently undermined through imported (?) ideas foreign to the basic concepts of our public institutions — state vs. federal, criminal vs. civil, restrictions on attempts to “de facto” establish a national religion (patriarchal, and valuing “family” above civil or legal rights) here.

Or how this takes place in the family law venues and through multiple nonprofit associations, but one of them which has at times been accused of starting as a slush fund in the Los Angeles County Courthouse decades ago, which has clear evidence (on state database records, as far as those may be trusted) of non-compliance with basic state laws over incorporation as a condition of doing commerce in a state and with a habit of inventing jargon, practices, and naming professions after the jargon and practices, then soliciting public money to fund the same…

How relevant is AFCC — and who else does acknowledge its existence?

Well, take a look at a 1997 (Winter, Vol. 16 #1) newsletter: <> at the categories of professionals mentioned in the banner, (marked in pink) and images showing two other items from it: a <>”Third International Parent Education Conference” upcoming in Denver,” and <>an interview with James Garbarino, Ph.D., specialist in “Child Violence” associated with Cornell University and Father Flanagan’s Boys’ Town in Nebraska now at Loyola University of Chicago and it’s “Center for Human Rights of Children” closely (as “interdisciplinarily” related) with the same Loyola’s Civitas ChildLaw Center I ran across previously, for similar reasons I’m following up here — it came up in AFCC circles.  The Center for Human Rights of Children started 2006; the image indicates an “inaugural” advisory board seems to have started more recently, 2015. 

Developed well-after this post was conceived and written up — except my plan to include the points of reference to illustrate the point, this section, “How Relevant IS AFCC — and who (else) DOES acknowledge its existence?” (a few images), should be another post under that name.  But I’ll leave some of it here, including the few images. Food for thought while considering how its possible by reform advocates operating in the same and overlapping fields and at times, organizations, could have in a coordinated, almost universal manner, simply NOT talked about this organization (AND, as I’m saying, also typically  not talking about the funding streams…).  Unless that habit simply defines those professions (law, psychology + education[related], and sociology) in general?

Garbarino’s background is relevant:  he’s now a Professor (of a named chair in Humanistic Psychology at) Loyola University of Chicago (per this link) with a 1973 PhD from Cornell and research interests in:

My research focuses on issues inthe social ecology of child and adolescent development. I have a long standing interest in a wide range of violence-related issues – war, child maltreatment, childhood aggression, and juvenile delinquency. In 1991 I undertook missions for UNICEF to assess the impact of the Gulf War upon children in Kuwait and Iraq, and have served as a consultant for programs serving Vietnamese, Bosnian and Croatian children. I also serve as a scientific expert witness in criminal and civil cases involving issues of trauma, violence, and children. In all these issues I am concerned with how developmental processes are shaped by the human ecology in which they occur, and have a particular interest in matters of spirituality and identity in this process. After completing a project on physical aggression in girls (resulting in a book entitled See Jane Hit: Why Girls Are Growing More Violent and What We Can Do About It), I am currently working on a project dealing with childhood in the face of the terrorist threat.

==>Notice (pg1 of the newsletter) a foundation (“William and Flora Hewlett” — related to the “Hewlett-Packard” (printer) wealth) sponsored expansion of AFCC infrastructure and activities.

==> Significance of presenter Garbarino’s Cornell background  — search this blog for posts on “Yurie Bronfenbrenner Translational Center“).

==> Notice (first image, right) newsletter also (1997!) advertising a separate “World Congress” featuring Hillary Rodham Clinton.

At the bottom of this post, I continue some of the commentary on this newsletter and Professor Garbarino (incl. an update on his current position at a Center for Human Rights of the Child (CHRC) started in 2006 at Loyola, and, it says, based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

I continue this so readers may stretch their imagine to “go, figure” how leadership in the Crisis in the Courts groups, leading-edge promotion being interest in protective parents — protecting children against violence (in the context of family), and featuring concerns about “violence, abuse and trauma” — wouldn’t know (as a possible positive explanation for why they do not openly talk) about some of these people, groups! Or is it just a silent professional agreement not to out each other particularly AFCC with its judicial connections, and risk discredit to the whole field and court-connected revenues, salaries, contracts, to go with it? (If so, is that a positive reason for the decades-long “silence by omission” a.k.a. censorship, while domestic violence and child abuse issues involve family members and intersect with marriage, divorce, and custody issues?)

“The Leadership Council on Child Abuse & Interpersonal Violence”. Click image to enlarge or here for ~> that page (viewed May, 2018) with “Members” bios. Note link to “Child Custody & Abuse/PAS” on the left. HOW could (or, more appropriately, WHY did?) these individuals, when speaking as associated with this (nonprofit) possibly discuss this year after year without reference to the organization historically most adamant about promoting the term, AFCC?.

(see nearby image from The Leadership Council (its full name incorporates similar terms); also be aware that frequent references to Alliant University’s (Robert Geffner-run) “Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma” (“IVAT”) in San Diego appear in group’s news; I’m thinking particularly over time of California Protective Parents Association (a “pint-sized” nonprofit, address, the State’s capital, Sacramento).

Journal of Child Custody|Editorial Board (Taylor&Francis) Geffner Editor, staff heavily IVAT, (Alliant Univ etc) (<==5pp, I annotated; shows membership in common w/ both AFCC and “The Crisis in the Courts Crowd, and heavy participation of IVAT (at Alliant) and Alliant University “associate editors” — only one main editor, Geffner). Meanwhile several listed “Members” of “The Leadership Council..” (including Dr. Geffner, Seth Goldstein, Richard Ducote – perhaps the longest bio; he’s from Louisiana -Nancy Erickson, Esq., Joy Silberg, Geraldine Stahly, Toby Kleinman,and others (listed alpha)) overlap with who’s editing the Taylor&Francis-published, available on-line Journal of Child Custody.

https://www.luc.edu/chrc/directorwelcome.shtml

Welcome to the Center for the Human Rights of Children (CHRC)! The CHRC represents Loyola University’s efforts to protect and advance the human rights of children by engaging students, faculty, and the community at large through research, scholarship, advocacy, and programs. The CHRC was founded in 2006 with the belief that children’s rights are human rights and mobilized by the work and leadership of Diane Geraghty, Director of Loyola’s Child Law Center, and James Garbarino, Professor (Maude C. Clarke Chair in Humanistic Psychology and former CHRC Director).

The CHRC is unique in that, while other institutions may focus expertise on one area of human rights (e.g., Law, Education, Health), the CHRC’s work consists of collaborative, multidisciplinary efforts to improve the lives of children, and is guided by principles derived from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The concept of “protecting the human rights of children” can enlarge and enrich the scholarly work of faculty from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, {{i.e., help Loyola’s PhDs publish and build careers}}  and sits squarely within the Jesuit commitment to social justice.

My own experience working with survivors of human trafficking and exploitation has demonstrated to me the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to address critical issues affecting the lives of children. Successful interventions and outcomes in these cases depend on sound research and efforts from community-based organizations, social workers, medical professionals, attorneys, advocates and government agencies working collaboratively to provide children protection, services, and access to justice. A child’s survival and healthy future is dependent on family, community, civil society and government working with a shared goal to advance the fundamental rights and needs of a child.

==> Loyola University orientation is Jesuit, also a common theme in collaborating AFCC partners (several — not all — formerly listed on its “About Page”). The universities tend to be in urban centers, highly respected intellectually and as scholarly institutions — but it should not be forgotten that the orientation is from the largest male-only order of the Catholic Church, historically, and focused, and effective, on personal and social transformations (of students, communities, and society as a whole) according to those ideals — and we are in this field dealing with matters of family, child-rearing, relationships between men and women as parents, and the matter of divorce … This mission may or may not comply with existing national laws regarding the relationships of human beings (male or female) to their courts of justice, legal or governmental systems. The focus is global mission, overall.

Previously posted image from more current AFCC website of “Stanley Cohen awardees” over the years shows what should be familiar names in the field, some in “responsible fatherhood” field too. {{original caption: “Wiki definition of “Behavioral Epigenetics” referenced Erik Erikson, which brought to mind the Wallerstein/Psychoanalysis/ Family Court connex.”}} ||2003 Paul Amato -(not annotated on the image) involved in Oklahoma Marriage Initiative..2005 Janet Walker (Newcastle-on Tyne, England).

The full caption reads: “Professor James Garbarino, Child Violence Expert,” for an interview in AFCC Winter 1997 newsletter

(AFCC 1997 Winter Newsletter)

A “continuation grant” obviously means something preceded it (size and years, not shown here).

The Wm. and Flora Hewlett Foundation’s Form 990PF in FY2016 and nearby is showing >$9Billion total gross assets, EIN# 941655673

It’s good to remind yourself (or understand, if this is news) through taking a look, how private operating foundations this large can operate, where money is made, to/among whom redistributed, and stored.  This is a progressive one (judging by the $417M grants).  I’m sure $150K was a large amount to AFCC in the late 1990s, but it’s less than “eye candy” now (and probably then also) to this foundation.

FOOTNOTE, LOYOLA’s CHRC and Prof James Garbarino

(PhD 1973 Cornell, Bachelors 1968, “St. Lawrence University”) cont’d.

I’d never heard of St. Lawrence University, but found while there he was President of the “Thelomathesian Society” Kirk Douglas was one its famous (and the only “hyperlinked”) presidents.

The list goes back to 1863, and a tiny “*” mentions the first woman (“female”) President of this (Student government) society was not until 1976 (!). A few more in only 1983, 1987-88, 1991 (and depending on who is “Kim” or “Kelly” maybe a few more).

The colorful, promotional university website unfortunately has not history or “About” link easily found (I did look), so I resorted to “Wikipedia” which is flagged and says “this reads like an advertisement” but did, at least reveal its Unitarian (liberal Protestant, eventually merging with Universalists) start.  Princeton Review mentions it’s “…closer to Canada than Manhattan” and proud of its small size and academics (about half 2012 applicants got in, ca. 1900 students, of those 1 in 3 chose to attend — Wiki, and half of those who did attend were in the top 10% of their high school classes). Student Faculty ratio (Princeton Review) high: 12:1. Obviously a beautiful campus…

(The Princeton Review) …St. Lawrence prides itself on small classes and a tight knit environment where students and professors know their fellow Laurentians by name. With interdisciplinary studies encouraged, the most popular majors at St. Lawrence include economics, biology, government, psychology, and mathematics. Even though its location might be considered remote, the school’s proximity to the Adirondacks is a huge draw and, as one anthropology major jokes, “St. Lawrence manages to be a place with countless opportunities and things going on despite being in the middle of nowhere.”