Judges are getting pleas from both mothers and fathers, and there are other reasons for their decisions than someone’s pleas, this lesson we should have learned ages ago.  And it’s not just about this judge, not that I agree with the decision, obviously:

Just like Jessica Gonzales had done in Colorado, years earlier, and countless other mothers in various states.  One thing that seems a little different in this case:  the mother.   As I have discussed before (and personally know), law enforcement has no real duty to enforce, and cannot be really held responsible if they don’t.  Family law judges are allowed discretion, and typically exercise it.

We need some procedure for NOT announcing custody awards while the child is with the parent challenging custody. . . .

First of all (Mr. Hecht/Sacramento Bee), with all due respect, you need to take that phrase “bitter custody fight” and put it where the sun don’t shine.   Show a little creativity in headlines, this one is faded beyond belief.   Two years is not long for a custody fight, although for a short marriage it sure seems so.    It would seem a much more appropriate headline in this case (particularly with the brother of the father involved) to a family court-enabled honor killing, as we read on, and I stand by that even though no indication the family is Muslim (Grandfather, below, is from Egypt, Coptic Christian).  Caucasian religious Christian men have done the same thing, including one I can think of off-hand that involved a gun — and a machete, in Tennessee.  At its root, it’s an honor killing.  If I can’t have my kid, she sure won’t, or anyone else.

Wait a minute — they were married long enough to conceive a baby, about 3 months of one, before breaking up?   Am I allowed how did a deputy assistant attorney (that’s the mother) not have a better choice of spouse — was she charmed, did she not know?  How come he did not make a better choice of wife; if a traditional one was wanted — but both seem middle-class, well-educated, employed, etc.   How much court and police time has been involved to date, not to mention two deaths?

So far at least one court-connected group got its take — anger management.  I see they’ve been shortened from the 52-week that (last I checked) batterers were to get.

I’d like to see with whom.  The assumption that anger counseling will solve the problem sufficient for a grown man  who can’t respect hospital rules to handle an overnight with his daughter is interesting, to say the least, plus narcissistic.  It’s also part of the culture of therapy instead of accountability.

What was he angry about? Possibly about being used to create a baby then ousted from its birth?  Possibly about a female (his wife) saying No?    Here’s what a related link say the paternal grandfather, has to say;  note, he is a marriage counselor/psychologist mediator!

(photo):JOSÉ LUIS VILLEGAS / JVILLEGAS@SACBEE.COM

“Makram Samaan, a psychologist who counsels married couples, laments that he wasn’t able to help his late son Mourad.”

…

Makram Samaan – a psychologist who helps couples mediate disputes and divorces – held his hands to the heavens and cried: “I’ve helped thousands of people and saved a lot of families, but I failed my son – I did not see it. I did not see it! Why should it not be me?”

Can I have their phone numbers?  Because if they were court-connected, I’d debate that saving and helping …

Samaan, who wrote his master’s thesis on suicide, said he knew his son Moni was in distress, but had no inkling how much.

He blamed the courts for driving his son over the edge.

(cause of death not determined at publication, innocent til proven guilty) . . . .    There are many mothers the courts is driving “over the edge” but they are not killing their children on weekend visits after being denied custody which, believe me, does happen.

“We need to take marriage and divorce out of the courts,” said a sobbing Samaan at his Fair Oaks home overlooking Lake Natoma.

Well, see “Collaborative Law.”  But I’m suspecting perhaps he’s thinking they belong back in the churches, mosques, synagogues, temples?

The courts turn love into hate, Samaan said. “One has to win and one has to be defeated. That isn’t marriage, that isn’t family – it doesn’t matter what the dispute is.”

I believe the capacity to love, or to hate, is a spiritual and innate quality and part of the mark of a human being is which one he or she chooses, regardless of circumstances.  To think too far otherwise (such as “anger management courses” will produce an attitude change that will stick) is to believe and accept human beings as basically “animals” (no offense meant to animals….)

Samaan – a Coptic Christian from Egypt – described his son Moni, a 49-year-old engineer for Hewlett-Packard, as a devoted, loving father. “He potty-trained his daughter,” he said. “He taught her how to swim and kayak and bought her a small guitar and they’d play and sing together.”

Notice in the interview, the mother taught the child nothing, did nothing for her…..(did she nurse her?  Did she give birth?)

Perhaps if and when the distraught mother decides to speak, we might hear another opinion on that.  What mother wouldn’t help teach a child to use the potty?  And it does appear they had joint custody part of this time, so he’d either have to, get another person to help this at his home, or be changing a lot of diapers.

“He taught her how to speak three languages,” Samaan said, gazing tearfully at a photo of his joyful, curly-haired granddaughter riding her magenta bicycle. “Only in America can a little girl say, ‘I love you, Grandpa’ in English, Arabic and Spanish.”

What a loss!

On Saturday, Aug. 6, Moni Samaan was spending the day with his daughter when he learned that a Sacramento County judge had awarded her mother full custody. He and Madeleine had been visiting friends on a court-approved visit in Oregon.
Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/08/16/3840481/grandfather-of-slain-girl-blames.html#ixzz1XBdPVRJ9

What’s really interesting to me about this case, apart from its tragedy, is the mother’s work:

Most mothers figure this out very quickly in the court process when dealing with people who do not respect the court order.  I would think someone also in her job description might be even more aware of this.  Still, it could not help her child, and she could not demand enforcement.

That is a horrible thing, to realize that there is no law enforcement going to intercede in a custody matter.  Yet increasing violation of them is indeed a risk.

How long were these trips lasting (see visitation schedule)?   Why not an arrest with the FIRST one?

Why did this not AUTOMATICALLY obtain a supervised visitation situation?  After all, this is what the state wants, and is being paid to endorse.  Because he hadn’t actually assaulted the mother and there was no DV order in place to prompt one? (note, I don’t know the case).

Perhaps they were busy figuring out if they, too, could get in on the Family Justice Center ONE-STOP Get your Grants theme park set-up, already in place in 5 other California Counties and pending to become law as we speak, unless someone else starts speaking about this.  After all Sacramento County is right near Alameda County, where it was a District Attorney that got it started.

What an unbelievably chopped up schedule for a young child!  And for the mother.  Where did the exchanges take place?

(Looking for more articles):   I said, this was an honor killing.  Here’s comment from the father’s brother, also an attorney:

This is, currently, a California Attorney stating openly that a little girl’s murder (and the father’s) is going to teach the court a lesson — about giving custody of young children to mothers?     From the same site “http://www.abovethelaw.com“

 

Geez.  Even Fathers and Families was quick to distance themselves from this statement (and take opportunity to further the cause, and diss CJE in the process:

F & F Condemns Despicable Comments Defending Father Who Killed Child in Family Court Dispute

Thursday, August 18th, 2011 by Glenn Sacks, MA, Executive Director

At the risk of free FAF publicity (the last thing it needs), here’s the article, and apparently a video of Nabil Samaan on the site as well.   Again, they seem to think CJE a worthy opponent; the fact is, both groups profit when the go toe to toe in public (as the long series of SFWeekly articles, early 2011, on California Courts granting custody to pedophiles.  As with this case, the article shone practically zero light (see CJE motto on its site, they “shine the light”) on how or why this happens.  The Glenn Sacks told his followers to show up and protest any anti-PAS talk, the article series was apparently fed (in good part) to the author, and neither of them reallya ddressed the money trail in the court, and dropped several balls in handling the topics.  The uncritical character of the cult-followers of both groups became clear in the 1700+ comments on one article and over 800 on the other. )

Fathers and Families condemns both Moni Samaan’s horrendous murder of his child and also Nabil Samaan’s despicable defense of his brother’s actions.

Nabil Samaan says his brother was mistreated in family court and child custody matters. However:

1) Nothing ever could come close to justifying what Moni Samaan did to his daughter.

2) It is questionable whether Moni Samaan was, in fact, mistreated in family court.

It is absolutely true that many California fathers are manhandled in family court, often cut off from their children, punished without evidence on spurious abuse claims, and bankrupted by confiscatory financial orders and demands. However, Moni Samaan had a decent child custody arrangement, apparently over 30% physical time.

In the end he was stripped of all parenting time with his child for a perfectly good reason–he repeatedly disappeared with the girl when it was time to bring her back, violating the court order and causing the girl’s mother much stress and worry. Tragically, the mother had every reason to worry.

The Center for Judicial Excellence is now involved in the case–see the Capitol Weekly piecehere. The CJE works to drive recognition of Parental Alienation out of the family court system and encourage courts to uncritically accept mothers’ abuse allegations. We laid out the problems with the CJE and its allies position in our Capitol Weekly column Preventing courts from considering parental alienation will harm kids (2/25/10). The CJE is one of our main political opponents, and we were instrumental in blocking two of their bills last year–to learn more, click here.

The CJE also stereotypes fathers as abusers and killers, ignoring the well-documented fact that the vast majority of parental murders of children and child abuse are committed by mothers, not fathers. However, in this case it must be said that the CJE is correct in condemning and making an issue of Nabil Samaan’s despicable comments.

The case is also being discussed in the American Bar Association Journal here.

[Late Note: Nabil Samaan has now issued a statement retracting his previous comments.]

 

 I’d like to say, may Mr. Samaan bereft of customers, but I have a feeling more will flock to him because of the statement.

After blogging a bit about CJE I will have more to say on an example of just how many may feel the same way as Mr. Samaan– the US has asked for this because the family law courts are too feminist-favorable

 

(CJE & I go back a ways (although my function is closer to that of a critical gnat than actual obstacle to business as usall with this nonprofit), and have seldom agreed on many matters, particularly their singular DIS-interest, til belatedly, in the blood-soaked money trail of grants to the courts which affect custody outcomes….   Or matters such as using networks of distressed noncustodial (or barely custodial) mothers to send out press releases and sell products for related groups (i.e., NCADV, or the Mo Hannah/Barry Goldstein basic book tour), while some of those mothers were poverty-stricken from the role of the child support services (also under-reported if at all by CJE) in the custody battles they were in.  Rather than getting up to speed on this (the nonprofit was formed 10 years after welfare reform of 1996), CJE has chosen a different route, which is to sell its film Breaking the Silence, personally endorse certain legislation (the “Mark Leno” connection) and go for more grants.

Moreover, CJE is structurally it seems (in origin) not much different than Kathleen Russell COnsulting.  Each one claims the other as a client; and the main consulting expense to CJE is KRC.  Go figure…..  If you detect a personal note, it is personal.  The actions and direction of this group has affected close friends of mine, at least one of whose devout followers was homeless through garnished wages, while CJE did not cover the child support /OCSE angle, at all.

 

 

However, earlier (looking up parent coordination matters) I ran across a SF Bay ARea attorney, which reminds me of this one’s comment.  The attorney at this SF firm. apparently a socially progressive, but fathers rights, equal parenting with the best of them.

Of MOST interest to me was an article on his blog characterizing the Constitution as “Antiquated” and in need of being re-written.  This is a practicing attorney and member of the California State Bar, I’m sure.  Does that membership require any oath?  (anyhow, several paragraphs below, I will quote):

 

Ah yes, Center for Judicial Excellence, our SHINING LIGHT in the area, particularly when its name can be attached to something high-profile:

 

Excerpt from Transcript:

I want to thank Judge Susan Carbon, the Director of the Office on Violence Against Women at the Department of Justice.  (Applause.)  We’re proud of what we’re doing here.

I want to thank my Secretary for Health and Human Services, Secretary Sebelius, who is helping to coordinate our efforts.

And finally, I want to thank everybody who is here today for the work that you’re doing to stop domestic violence and to help its survivors.  You’ve got champions like Senator Frank Lautenberg and Congresswoman Donna Edwards who have done extraordinary work in Congress.  You’ve got leaders like Mayor Mitch Landrieu . . .. (etc., etc.)

(Fatherhood Policymaker — link below leads to it — includes in LA, Senator Mary Landrieu.  Related?)

 

While I’m here, Mayor Mitch Landrieu, from Wikipedia (may not be most current, but for what it’s worth):

Mitchell Joseph “Mitch” Landrieu^[1] (pronounced /ˈlændruː/lan-drew;^[2] born August 16, 1960) is the Mayor of New Orleans, former Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana, and a member of theLandrieu family. Landrieu is a member of the Democratic Party and a Roman Catholic. He is the son of former New Orleans mayor and Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, Moon Landrieu and the brother of the senior U.S. Senator from Louisiana, Mary Landrieu. In 2007 he won a second term as lieutenant governor in the October 20, 2007 jungle primaryby defeating two Republicans: State RepresentativeGary J. Beardand Sammy Kershaw. He was elected Mayor of New Orleans on February 6, 2010, garnering 66 per cent of the city-wide vote and claiming victory in 365 of the city’s 366 voting precincts.

Landrieu was born the fifth of nine children to Moon and Verna Landrieu. He grew up in the Broadmoor neighborhood of New Orleans. After graduating from Jesuit High School in 1978, he enrolled at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.where he majored in political science and theatre. In 1985 he earned a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Loyola University Law School in New Orleans.

Landrieu is married to Cheryl P. Landrieu, also an attorney, and resides in New Orleans. They have five children: Grace, Emily, Matthew, Benjamin, and William.

Landrieu has been a practicing attorney for fifteen years and is president of International Mediation & Arbitration, Ltd. He is a member of the Supreme Court Task Force on Alternative Dispute Resolution which was responsible for developing the pilot mediation program in Orleans Parish. Landrieu is trained in mediation and negotiation by the Harvard Law School Negotiation Project, the American Arbitration Association, and the Attorney Mediator’s Institute. Landrieu has also taught alternative dispute resolution as an adjunct professor at Loyola University Law School.

WOW. He has “everything” in his profile to indicate he’d understand the need for some father-absence and some strict criminal accountability when it comes to domestic violence right?  Not to mention the religious background straight through (obviously great academics) — his sister is on the Fatherhood Legislative Task Force.  But I guess it wouldn’t be polite for CJE or anyone else to ask an impertinent question about this hypocrisy — “we care about DV but we really believe in fatherhood as program solution to social ills — while being honored by the OVW.”

 

Far be it from Ms. Russell, CJE, or anyone else getting OVW kudos to mention — and certainly not critically — how President Obama, as with many politicians — speaks with forked tongue when addressing domestic violence advocates.  This is acceptable, because they know the grants will still come, even if social services are cut for aging or other individuals who need them, to support some theory about stopping violence.

For example, the REAL way to stop violence is to stop father absence, right?   According to NFI, it’s right:

Highly educated, highly competent.  And he has quite a bit to say about custody, father’s rights, Japan (for not signing the Hague treaty), the US, shared parenting, child abductions and mediation as practiced in the courts.  A lot of what he says I can definitely agree with — such as that the mediation as practiced around the divorce courts consists of kangaroo courts.  And he wants more evidence.

Here’s the “the Family Law Court is biased against (men)” theme:

Child Abductions, California Child Custody Law, and International Human Rights

February 28, 2011 By Mr. Aly Ebrahimzadeh, Esq.

Child abductions are clearly a very serious problem, locally and globally. Anybody driving up and down any of California’s major highways has likely seen the digital signs hanging over the road announcing specific child abductions in progress and providing identifying information about the car the alleged kidnapper is likely driving. Yet the number of such announcements is miniscule compared to how many child abductions the California Family Law Court system sees every day in child custody cases, where custodial or non-custodial parents run away with the children out of vengeance or fear of the other parent. Where the kidnapping parent provides allegations, be they evidenced or not, of domestic violence by the other parent, the child custody court will often allow the abducting parent to preserve the majority or the entirety of custody over the children. Allegations go a long way in Family Court, and any seasoned California Divorce Attorney knows that one parent will often make unevidenced allegations of abuse to justify taking the children away from the other parent, like so much property

I guess truly seasoned California Divorce Attorneys have come to understand that abuse just doesn’t happen, really, although there are still people getting killed after years of it.

(I’ve actually had posts on this, but for reference:  when there is a decision to prosecute kidnapping, this is one definition from the California Penal Code.  Actually, this one is for child-stealing, as opposed to abduction/kidnapping which seems to have a slightly different flavor:

Interference with custody is indeed serious, and is a crime.  The question is, what is this crime doing being handled in family courts?

The other reality which sinks in — California prisons are already overcrowded.  The chances of this law being consistently enforced as a

deterrent to parental abduction is just about nil.

278.6 then reads:

(a) At the sentencing hearing following a conviction for a
violation of Section 278 or 278.5, or both, the court shall consider
any relevant factors and circumstances in aggravation, including, but
not limited to, all of the following: . . . .

   (1) The child was exposed to a substantial risk of physical injury
or illness.
   (2) The defendant inflicted or threatened to inflict physical harm
on a parent or lawful custodian of the child or on the child at the time of or during the abduction.
   (3) The defendant harmed or abandoned the child during the
abduction.
   (4) The child was taken, enticed away, kept, withheld, or
concealed outside the United States.
   (5) The child has not been returned to the lawful custodian.
   (6) The defendant previously abducted or threatened to abduct the
child.
   (7) The defendant substantially altered the appearance or the name
of the child.
   (8) The defendant denied the child appropriate education during
the abduction.
   (9) The length of the abduction.
   (10) The age of the child.
(c) In addition to any other penalties provided for a violation of Section 278 or 278.5, a court 
shall order the defendant to pay restitution to the district attorney for any costs incurred in
locating and returning the child as provided in Section 3134 of the
Family Code, and to the victim for those expenses and costs reasonably incurred by, or on behalf of, 
the victim in locating and recovering the child. An award made pursuant to this section 
shall constitute a final judgment and shall be enforceable as such.

279.1

The offenses enumerated in Sections 278 and 278.5 are
continuous in nature, and continue for as long as the minor child is
concealed or detained.

(I never noticed the part in green before particularly).  It says, at the SENTENCING hearing.  This is not family court;  Sentences come from criminal sector!  But they will not be handled in that sector unless and until police get involved, and a D.A. decides to prosecute.  As we see in Marcia Fay’s plea, they have the right not to, and exercise that right.  For more on that see http://www.Justicewomen.org, talking about the importance of the D.A. to women’s safety.  This law tells me that the intention of the legislature in passing it was to acknowledge child-napping as CRIMINAL — not just a family matter.

I was however, much misled (as were others) in who was going to take this seriously, and underestimated the progress of AFCC and family law in undermining the purpose and intent of criminal law and its language.  In fact at that time, I didn’t know about AFCC at all — because people were not talking about it, by and large.

278.5 then talks about the domestic violence aspect, and says that in certain situations (i.e., domestic violence has been perpetrated on the abducting parent, or the child was in imminent danger) — then this criminal law does NOT apply to them (as to the punishments), but in either case the person shall take certain actions (showing good faith, and involving the district attorney):

Marcia Fay would've had such good faith and reasonable belief, but probably was smart enough 
to know this wouldn't be taken into consideration in her case, and/or she was not willing or able -- or didn't wish
to relocate, which is a huge, traumatic, and risky step for any parent to take.

   (b) Section 278.5 does not apply to a person with a right to custody of a child who has been a victim of domestic violence who, with a good faith and reasonable belief that the child, if left with the other person, will suffer immediate bodily injury or emotional harm, takes, entices away, keeps, withholds, or conceals that child. "Emotional harm" includes having a parent who has committed domestic violence against the parent who is taking, enticing away, keeping, withholding, or concealing the child.
   (c) The person who takes, entices away, keeps, withholds, or
conceals a child shall do all of the following:
   (1) Within a reasonable time from the taking, enticing away,
keeping, withholding, or concealing, make a report to the office of
the district attorney of the county where the child resided before
the action. The report shall include the name of the person, the
current address and telephone number of the child and the person, and
the reasons the child was taken, enticed away, kept, withheld, or
concealed.
   (2) Within a reasonable time from the taking, enticing away,
keeping, withholding, or concealing, commence a custody proceeding in
a court of competent jurisdiction consistent with the federal
Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act

This law specifically enables parents that really have a good faith and reasonable belief that failure to remove the child will result in serious

injury (this could include death) or harm to do what parents are charged with doing to kids they bring into this world — keep the children ALIVE, not kill them,

as the father in the Sacramento news article did.

The law distinguishes abducting parents on the point of whether one has committed violence against the other.  This is how it should be.

This attorney here, in saying, as above:

He knows as well as I do exactly what court form “provides allegations, be they evidenced or not” these are filed under, and chose not to dignify it with the name of that form, i.e., for “provides allegations” (minimizing language, making it sound informal, conversational almost),  – a partial list from SF Superior Court.  Note these are also available in Korean, Vietnamese and Spanish.   Any form filed out has to be served upon the other party and there is a hearing usually before a temporary order is made permanent, perhaps unless there is a criminal order also resulting in arrest for more major assault & battery/injury, etc. situations.

It’s probable that this attorney or someone at his firm has at least heard of the husband and wife, both Juilliard graduates, then living in NJ, where they’d moved to Korea, the father came back (while child abuse allegations were under way in S. Korea, as I recall) and the Dad simply went to a family law court in NJ, who awarded him full custody because she kidnapped.  On the way back to NJ (obediently) for the hearing, the wife was arrested and thrown in jail.  Parents indeed do jail time for custody interference and kidnapping in the context of family law.

If he is up on his family law (among all the other practices) he is also probably aware that later on, there are custody-switches back to the custodial. This is simply not the angle of approach in discussing the matter, though.

 Nor do all filings of domestic violence (not simply spoken allegations but going through the process) result in no contact with the other parent, nor “kidnapping.”  This is a partial list of forms under “prevention of Domestic Violence.”

It seems to me that this attorney has a problem with the existence of these options for mothers (although the word “parent” is used at places in the dialogue).  As such, he has a problem with existing law, not just practice.

That’s a lot of forms.  Too bad that it’s considered, dismissed, as “provides allegations,”  when reality says, there is domestic violence, people are killed by their partners, and sometimes others, bystanders — that speaks loudly to me.

Here is a 2009 discussion / memo to the California Judicial COuncil from the Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Court members, the Hons. Jerilyn L. Borack and Susan D. Hugenor (co-chairs) and Tamara Abrams, Senior Attorney — and what they are discussing is the need to require a judge to state his/her reasons for DENYING a restraining order.  In other words, there have been problems (most likely deaths) involved with denial of the restraining orders (text in maroon font):

This tells us already that there has been an issue of denying requests for restraining orders, and these entitites hope they will not be denied without explanation.

I do believe it’s fulfilling its general assigned functions:  Absorb criminal activity and reframe it as family disputes ,then farm out business to those who are dispute-settlers, including “Alternative Dispute Resolutions” goups.  However, I do agree it is in need of some serious positive changes — like being boycotted.  Almost any process however strident, would be  an improvement upon this system and its years-long torture of families (both sides), sometimes involving what basically amounts to extortion — and affects the growing kids exposed to their parents being extorted, tortured and having their due process eliminated in the courtrooms. ( In case I didn’t say that straight enough….)

It defies the nature of abuse, which is secretive, to demand that proof, but the fact is there are times where there has been proof (including of child abuse — which he’s not highlighting here so much as DV) and the courts ignore it anyhow.

Is it possible, at any point, to admit (as an attorney) that  the U.S. Congress passed an Act called the Violence Against Women Act, and acknowledged that violence against women is a problem in society and does indeed occur?  Logically speaking some of these women are also parents and hence custody courts.

Which gender is not mentioned, but I’m going to hazard a guess he means feminism.  However, I am still going to assert, that fathers uniformly and culturally are not always the fit caretakers, nor have they in many marriages historically BEEN the caretaker.  How much money should be poured into fixing them til they are (this is allegedly what the fatherhood movement is about, in part)?  Should all citizens pay for that war on father absence, and re-establishing classes on how to be a father, in addition to the public education system (which apparently doesn’t promote good fathering behaviors) which they are already paying for?

More language, and some of it common sense, some, I am going to agree with.  However, until we see that fathers STOP KILLING THEIR KIDS as an imminent, and pervasive threat to anyone who does NOT award them equal (or full) custody, I am going to have to oppose equal parenting time as the standard on the basis that it’s not fair to experiment in raising nurturing fathers with little children, and particularly unfair given the track record.  It is STILL more men killing than women (go to the DOJ stats page if you’re in question on this), and as such, one contraindicator to little kids getting killed around custody disputes is understanding that Moms can handle custody, and stop setting the culture to FIGHT us of this.  We have also been betrayed in court, on many fronts, and frequently.

Jury trials over WHAT?  Domestic violence and child abuse?  Those belong in criminal courts as they are crimes.  Family Court is defined (am I right? ) a court of equity; it’s not even a civil court involving torts.  It took me years to figure out what most attorneys already know.  So why is this progressive attorney seeking to try to force the square peg into the round hole, and have “FAMILY” courts — which deal in psychology more than (as an alternative to) fact, currently — and dress them up with a jury trial?

San Francisco, by now, is closing courtrooms.  Who would be on this independent review?  Like the Elkins Family Law Task Force, very few actual parents? However, to weed out the bias & unprofessional behavior, I assert that one great way would be an accounting audit.  period.  Because that’s usually the critical area of unprofessional behavior motivating the warping of professional ethics which shows up in other areas.  (i.e., eliminate kickbacks FIRST).

3. Make a concerted effort to educate lawyers, judges, and divorce professionals about the science that supports the essential albeit practically marginalized role of fathers in children’s lives, so that we can start to see divorced fathers being given back their natural human right to spend equal time with their children; and

I get it:  the Science of fatherhood (research paid for by your local fathers’ rights groups, and a foundation or two) justifying equal parenting time for fathers, which is their “natural human right.”

How is this to be separated from who is earning the income in the family?  Does he really expect the child support system to just evaporate because equal parenting time is scientifically proven to be better (if it is)?   This would essentially eliminate child support, almost (not that I’m opposed), however, then we have another problem called, women typically earn less for doing the same jobs men do.  And we have the matter of relocation — and the impossibility of couples ever, really, separating (and/or marrying someone geographically distant).

This is true, although if I were a father-friendly litigator, I”d thank my lucky stars for the therapists and mediators, who have financial incentives to favor Dads, and do so.   This, however, is an accurate description:  knee-jerk evaluations that hold sway for years, after which trial, and more years.

 

Our California Family Law Courts need to set up more stringent deadlines for this presently unending mediation process, bolster the goal of giving every child his equal time with both parents, and uphold and fortify evidentiary requirements upon both parents who are often found slinging whatever mud they can grab during this current mediation-based process.

Which brings up another point in his phrasing:  false allegations indeed go two ways more easily in family court; and each mud-slinging session means more money FOR the courts, given that mediators are paid by the county; child support professionals (which will be affected by alterations in custody) are also paid for by the county, as are GALs and others — in fact almost everyone but the judge, and evaluators which parents are forced to pay, plus providers of classes they are forced to take, when that occurs.  Did I mention “supervised visitation providers” yet?  So he has his point.

That said, if it’s mediation-based process he’s protesting, then why is he promoting mediation outside the courts?

    

Parenting Coordinator

Mr. Aly Ebrahimzadeh, Esq. is certified as a Parenting Coordinator and Special Master by the Northern California Mediation Center in San Rafael, California. Mr. Ebrahimzadeh has extensive professional training in mediation for high conflict parents and aggressive opposing parties, and he brings this expertise to work with Prometheus: A Social Justice Law Firm.

 (I haven’t got time today to figure out which one).  This is a HIGHLY educated professional — I also note who does criminal defense — Brandeis grad.  The Oakland address is a virtual office address  

Customize Location

Product	Type	Setup	Monthly
Oakland Business Center 1300 Clay Street Suite 600, Oakland, CA	Office Location	$125.00	$95.00

Complaint filed with State Bar against lawyer in AMBER Alert case By Malcolm Maclachlan | 08/17/11 12:00 AM PST Can an attorney be disbarred for saying reprehensible things to a television reporter? Probably not, according to attorneys who defend other attorneys. But that’s not stopping a group seeking to take a local lawyer’s license following a shocking murder-suicide. The Marin-based Center for Judicial Excellence (CJE) has announced it will file a complaint with the State Bar of California demanding the disbarment of Sacramento attorney Nabil Samaan. The group says Samaan’s license should be taken away because of comments Samaan made to a reporter that, according to CJE, appear to support his brother’s decision to allegedly murder his own two-year-old daughter. The case has roiled the Sacramento area for days. The victim’s mother is Marcia Fay, a prominent deputy to state Attorney General Kamala Harris. Fay’s ex-husband, Mourad “Moni” Samaan, 49, disappeared with Madeline Layla Samaan-Fay on Aug. 7 after a scheduled visit. This led to a statewide AMBER alert, which was called off on Sunday when both their bodies were found inside an SUV on land Samaan’s father owns in El Dorado County, about 50 miles from Sacramento. The pair died of carbon monoxide poisoning, and police are investigating the matter as a murder-suicide. By Monday, members of the Samaan family were speaking to the press. Nabil Samaan told Fox 40’s Chris Biele: “You can justify and try to say that Moni wasn’t a good father, and that’s just ignoring the facts. The fact is that he was an extraordinary father. Better than I’ll ever be.” Nabil Samaan added, “I think he did the right thing. I’m proud of him.” This caused Biele to do a journalistic double-take, asking Nabil Samaan if that’s really what he meant. “I think justice was done,” Samaan replied. As of press time, Nabil Samaan has not replied to a reporter’s phone call and email seeking comment. Harris’ office declined to comment on the case. A spokeswoman with the Bar said she was not allowed to comment on pending disciplinary matters. The motion rests on what the group says are two violations of the Bar’s standards of ethics, which require that “an applicant for admission to the practice of law in California possesses good moral character.” The  CJE’s Kathleen Russell said Samaan’s comments go far beyond what should be necessary to demonstrate a violation. “It clearly does not reflect well on the legal profession in California to be saying what he said on television,” Russell said. The second complaint cites a section on ethical requirement that requires attorneys “to support the Constitution and the laws of the United States and California.” Referring to a brutal murder of a toddler as “justice” fails to meet this standard, Russell says. (Is there an AFFIRMATIVE duty to meet the standard applicable at attorneys?  Did Ms. Russell consult with an attorney at the firm CJE refers distressed parents to for pro bono custody help, (out of state) Justice for Children before taking this route  (see the site)?  Or take some of their own budget to seek counsel first?) The vast majority of complaints that result in disbarment fall into a few basic categories: A felony conviction, embezzlement of client funds, failure to disclose a suspended law license to clients, or gross incompetence or negligence, particularly following an earlier suspension. None of these would appear to directly apply in this case. Nabil Samaan did not represent his brother as an attorney, at least in any official capacity. Nor did he appear to commit a crime. The Bar Association website shows no complaints against him. “It’s incredibly bad taste, but probably protected by free speech rights,” said Walnut Creek attorney Jerome Fiskin. His firm, Fiskin Slater LLP, specializes in defending other lawyers in ethics and state bar cases. {{Which is reasonable known.  This is a PR stunt, not that it’s bad to call attention to the bad comment…}}   In general, Fiskin said disbarment comes in response to conduct that affects an ongoing case, or which harms the attorney’s own client. But he added that Samaan’s comments are still likely to be highly detrimental to his law practice, particularly given the media and blog attention given to his comments in recent days. “What kind of people search out an attorney who, um … yeah,” Fishkin said, not quite able to complete his sentence.

  

 

Odd reference — while no one is required to hold the Bible sacred in the US as a function of citizenship or to hold office (yet!), as I have pointed out before, we probably wouldn’t have the U.S. or the Constitution had not certain very brave men risked — and lost — their lives translating it into English (and other languages) at least two very literate men (Wyckliffe late 1300s, Tyndale 1500s) of who were burned at the stake for doing so.  The transformation of England at this time by the literacy it promoted alone was a major event, as well as helping propound the Reformation and some significant challenge to the Catholic Church.

Influential writers who fled England to the US, or at least ended up here, having rejected the standard theology of the time (Trinitarian) altogether based on their reading of the Bible, influenced those who later wrote the Declaration of Independence.  I am speaking generally (again) of Locke,  Priestley (and his influence on Locke), and so forth.  Within their lifetimes one could be executed still (in the Colonies) for not towing the line up til at least 1689.

I think that those who wrote the Constitution had every cause to expect it to be held as sacred as the Bible, lest the country be as war-torn over how to interpret it as England had been.  However many of these were Deists –and they had enough humility to recognize they were not “gods” and there might just be one.

“I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth — that God Governs the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?” – —  Benjamin Franklin

Again, re:

 Basically, the American Tea Party takes the entire retinue of ultra-conservative Republican Party values . . .focuses on that original document much like a text as sacred as the Bible is to Christians.

Presenting the American Tea Party (whose positions could be logically debated elsewhere as not exactly in alignment with the Constitution OR those who wrote it) as springboard to saying the Constitution shouldn’t REALLY be our focus is pretty lame logic.

Logically, from that position (let’s not take that Constitution so seriously!) perhaps then both Democrat and Republican Presidents will have to change their oath of allegiance in public when they are being sworn in and privileged to lead the country, subjecting their personal egos and program agenda to this document.  For a brief review:

he information below is courtesy of the Architect of the Capitol. It has been compiled by the Office of the Curator from contemporary accounts and other sources in the files of the Architect of the Capitol.

Each president recites the following oath, in accordance with Article II, Section I of the U.S. Constitution:

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Does that say “and rewrite“?  . . .

Why is this ceremony comprised of only 2 human beings, while there are 3 branches of government:  Executive Office (represented here by President), Judicial (represented by Chief Justice) and Legal (with NO single person representing the law — significant)?  While I’m here, a youtube of  Chief Justice John Roberts flubbing the words of that short oath…

**would that be like the evolution of child support system?  Or the devolution of the “old” language of criminal law? I am only half tongue in cheek, this is a criminal defense attorney also here.  ANd no, I am not entirely unaware of “legal evolution” there’s been plenty written on this, particularly by conservatives!

Not exactly the place for a full discussion, but perhaps if there hadn’t been the “interpreting out of its skin” legal precedents to start with, no one would have the chutzpah to say, aw, let’s just scrap it and start over!  (for more on judicial precedent, societal custom, and faint-hearted originalist Scalia, a short read)

Again, they are now (8/15) interviewing Samaan’s neighbor?

I’d just like to clarify one thing.  They were husband and wife for a VERY brief period.

     

SACRAMENTO SUPERIOR COURT

ANGER MANAGEMENT SERVICES

July 1, 2011

Please Note: Batterer’s Treatment Programs (BTP) are certified by the

County Probation Department and are not included on this list. Please contact

Probation directly to obtain a current list of certified BTP providers.

(includes” Center for Fathers & Families” and “Fathers’ Resource Center.”)

Ah, well, here’s core criteria that anger management is to teach (found under a search for supervised visitation providers):

Any provider offering anger management for clients referred from Family Court must address at least 15 of the following core topics during the anger management program:

 Gaining personal control  Stress Management  Emotional Intelligence  Fundamental Child Development, ages birth through adolescence  Basic Communication Skills

 Positive Communication  Role Modeling and Positive Parenting Reinforcement  Characteristics of Healthy Families  Personal Anger Management  Child Abuse and Corporal Punishment  Responding to Child Tantrums  Coping with Stress  Child Discipline Alternatives and Behavior Plans  Family Conflict, Anxiety, and Resolution  Family Violence, Domestic Violence, and Prevention  Provocation and Alternative Response  Identifying Distorted Thinking  Irrational Beliefs  Active Listening  Developing Empathy  Identifying and Expressing Needs  Assertiveness vs. Bullying  Coping with Angry People  Conducting Successful Family Meetings

 

I have to make another point:    Marcia Fay is 46 years old.  Assuming this is her first child, she had this child at age 44 (or so), the father was 49 (child at 47) per this article:

49-year-old Mourad Samaan and his daughter Madeline were found Saturday night in his car near Placerville.

 

Were there previous children, were there previous marriages.  Is this a woman attempting to get a child, but marrying to do so?  WHat is the background? (I hope it’s not heretical to ask that question, but someone should.  And while the press is going to report, and understandably this mother is not ready to comment yet (would YOU be?) then it’s the father’s family that is making their “blame the courts” “blame her” case / excuses.

 

And in the usual knee-jerk response to another death someone is going to interview the local DV agency.  Was this a DV case, and was this the cause of separation?  I don’t know.   But it’s the first phrase here we should note.

sheriff’s deputies were called in July when he was reluctant to turn Madeline over during a visit.

But Women Escaping A Violent Environment sees things differently. “It’s about power over their victim,” said WEAVE Executive Director Beth Hassett in describing classic domestic abusers.

 

Did Ms. Hasset use the phrase  “domestic abusers?

I knew that if I looked, eventually it’s turn up which court the grandfather is taking court business from.  Suprise, it’s Sacramento (says this commentor, “Espeth.”)  note:  I don’t approve of the tone of the comment, but I am going to follow up on the reference.  Is it possible that the grandfather’s relationship to the SAME family law court may have affected how the father was treated in this situation by Judge McBrien?

 

In family courts, one tactic is to slam the judicial employees

This article begins again as calling CJE a watchdog agency.  Maybe they are — except for complete and utter failure to report on the systems that set up the court-referral processes, from what I can tell.  Why bite the hand that is currently feeding one leadership grants, and white house invitations, etc., i.e., the Federal “Designer Family but we also protest violence against women” apparatus (add to which, local judiciary favorite professionals).

 

It’s certainly part of our work and our efforts to encourage people to make complaints when they’ve seen something untoward,” said Carolyn Placente, program director with the Marin-based Center for Judicial Excellence, a family court watchdog group that has been widely criticized by attorneys and others working in the family courts over the years.

“Many people are totally unaware that there is even a process for filing a complaint against some of these folks,” said Placente who, along with colleagues, has been a regular visitor to Courtroom 43.

Still, she acknowledged, most complaints don’t get anywhere.

 

Which is exactly why a different approach would work.  But rather than working on systemic changes, the CJE tactic is to pick a high-profile (and sometimes losing, sometimes losing) case, and get publicity.  I parted paths with the “get Burrille” people, who have been informed already that it’s probably a better choice to get whoever/whatever is paying Burrille — or at least get the local court’s vendor payments and contracts — and make a habit of it!

But the state attorney general’s office appears to think they have a point, at least in Courtroom 43.

The woman on the stand is Janelle Burrill. The attorney general’s office has certified two complaints against her filed with the Board of Behavioral Sciences, filing official accusations in March and April.

 

A reader put in this comment:

 

Ha!  She
ain’t the only bad apple in the greater Sacramento region. Dr. Makram Samaan,
grandfather of Madeline Layla Samaan-Fay, who was murdered by her father, Dr. Samaan’s
son, is a psychologist employed by the Sacramento Family Court as a
mediator.  He along with his son, Nabil, the attorney, praised the murder
and blamed the mother.  Dr. Samaan also espouses the belief that people
like him, and not the courts, should be in charge of marriage and divorce. At the same time as praising the death, Dr. Samaan swears that he couldn’t have seen how distressed his son was and that he couldn’t help him.  This despite the fact that his son, on no less than SEVEN occasions violated court orders.  Yeah, Dr. Samaan should be in charge of marriage and divorce, sure, maybe in Iran…he probably just wants to impose Sharia Law, which is why he and his living son are praising the murdering son as a hero for rescuing baby Madeline from her mother’s evil influences.  You should check out the good doctor on the Sacramento Superior Court website, it appears that he has been sued by numerous clients for professional malpractice…another bad apple?

I did just look this up, and it’s going in a second post: but see “http://www.lawlink.com/research/caselevel3/60418 –

appealing his dismissal as tenured professor at Cal State (CSUS), 150 cal.app.3d.646.  YEAR:  1983.

In which we learn that the paternal grandMOTHER (Dr. Samaan’s wife) is a marriage and family therapist, but the issue here is dishonesty in billing practices.

 

Funny how Center for Judicial Excellence missed this one, while trying to get the son disbarred.  Must be where they are (and are not) looking.  I’ve only been on this less than a full day.

 

The grandfather, per article, is a Coptic Christian from Egypt, not a Muslim from Iran!  Look it up, read a few sides: (“weekly.ahram.org”)

Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

30 March – 5 April 2006
Issue No. 788

(This is the entire article, showing we have to stop ignoring religion if we are going to deal with family law matters!  The religious impulse if often why someone will kill before go against it, and bottom line, those are historically against divorce and pro-father, generally speaking.  But it can get complicated when the authority is split between church and state) (not paraphrased too well– here’s the entire article):

The monogamous twitch

Nader Habib weighs in the recent administrative court ruling giving Copts the right to divorce and re-marry

---

Copts are widely opposed to the notion of legalising divorce and remarriage. Not so paradoxical a stance, considering the circumstances in which the question was raised: the administrative court ruling that brings about the change is seen as an intervention in the application of the Coptic Orthodox Church principles on the part of a Muslim-majority judiciary. And it comes in a country where secular marriage is not a legal option.

Still, those Copts who have been awaiting a clerical marriage license for years have welcomed the developments. And there are those who endorse them: Milad Hanna, a high- profile intellectual, conceded that divorce in Christianity is only possible in the case of adultery. But, he expressed the view that, in light of current social realities, those Copts separated from their spouses should be able to divorce them and marry others — a privilege the Coptic Church tends to withhold from them, keeping them waiting. Hanna’s point is that, in effect, the Church is merely complicating matrimonial procedures.

Though not a supporter of the ruling, housewife Heba Shoukry too believes the clerical laws relating to matrimony are in need of revision. “It ends up merely forcing Copts to change their sect.”

An authoritative work, The Law of Monogamy in Christianity, written by Pope Shenouda III in 1958, stresses that monogamy is the essence of Christian marriage — a canon law derived from the Holy Bible and upheld within church law, whether received from the Apostles or from ecumenical and regional synods. According to Mathew, “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be lost in heaven.”

Marriage in Egypt is legally registered, Anba Bessanty, Bishop of Maasara and Helwan, explained; this makes divorce through a court of law standard procedure. So far, so good. But when it comes to remarriage, the Bishop goes on, “it is the church’s business, for we follow the words of Jesus Christ when He was asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for [just] any reason?’ He answered, ‘whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery’ (Mathew 5:22).”

Thus, the Church allows “civic” divorce, but “when it comes to remarriage, it’s a different story,” the Bishop said. “A license to remarry is granted in only one of three cases,” the Bishop adds for good measure, “adultery (a license for remarriage is given to the innocent party); forsaking the creed (a license is given to the party who maintains the creed); and when it is proven that the marriage was invalid in the first place. The Bishop adds that the ruling will be appealed on the grounds that it contradicts Christianity.

Anba Bola, Bishop of Gharbiya and the papal deputy of the clerical council responsible for personal affairs in the Orthodox Church since 1989, on the other hand, referred to Law 19 for 1927, which states that no body other than the clerical council, built by state decree in 1882, has the authority to license marriage; will the Egyptian judiciary, he asked, question the authority of a body established by the government to manage Copts’ affairs? Clerical deacon Fadel Tawfik likewise wonders: “By which law — Islamic or Christian — was the ruling issued? For it is also true that Islam gives people of the Book, including Christians, the right to live by their own personal status code. So long as you are a member of a church, which has the constitutional right to operate freely among its constituency, you must abide by that church’s rules.”

The ruling, Tawfik added, seems to uphold the individual’s right to remarry while dispossessing the Church of its own right to practice its own version of traditional Christianity. For priest Basilious Guirgis, Father of the St Mary Church in Moqattam, the issue is that the rulings of personal status courts, whether in the case of Muslims or Christians, follow rather than precede the rulings of the religious authority in question. A Muslim cannot legally marry or divorce without first obtaining the relevant papers from the religious authority; so, too, with Christians, except that there is no such thing as divorce in the Coptic Church.

Pharmacist Talaat Nessim stressed that a long period of engagement is critically important. The couple might decide to separate during the engagement period before marriage. Moreover, the engagement period allows couples time to undergo medical check-ups.

For his part, human rights activist George Isaac blamed parliament for not fine-tuning non-Muslim personal status laws. He believes it is government incompetence that is to blame. The non-Muslim Personal Affairs Law that was being drafted 25 years ago while Sufi Abu Taleb headed parliament, he explained, is still pending review, with some 90,000 cases of divorce awaiting the rule of law — in vain; the same goes for the law governing the building of non-Muslim houses of worship, he added. It is the government’s policy, according to Isaac, to complicate the simple details of life, whether for Muslims or Copts, with the object of diverting attention away from the real issues. On the other hand, most will agree, Pope Shenouda III remains the sole authority on the issue. “No power on earth can force the Orthodox Church to do anything against the words of the Holy Bible, or against its own conscience. Whoever marries a divorced Copt without license from the clerical council … I will defrock him whatever his rank might be,” the Coptic Pope warned.

 
AND ANOTHER ONE:

(August 22, 2011, to a blog started in 2006) which I’ll share, to show the issues we are GOING to have in the US as a multicultural country as are other countries which have religion (one or another brand) in control:

(this might be an Irish blog, I’m not sure; seems Catholic):

 

MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2011

Egyptian Copts demand right to divorce

Egypt’s Coptic Church, one of the oldest Christian denominations, is being threatened with a major schism within its ranks over demands by congregants to be allowed to divorce.

Dozens of Christian protesters demonstrated across from St. Mark’s Church in Cairo Monday, clashing with police, as they petitioned their church’s clerical council to grant them second marriage permits.

The Coptic Church, an orthodox denomination led by Pope Shenouda III, restricts divorce to cases of adultery or the religious conversion of one of the spouses.

On Saturday, the Right of Life Movement, a Coptic group, threatened that a large number of its members would collectively leave the ranks of the church if they were not granted the right to divorce.

The Egyptian daily Al-Wafd reported that some 150,000 members could potentially break away from the church, joining the evangelical or protestant denominations instead, which comprise just some 5% of Egypt’s Christians.

“It is my civil right to get a divorce, how dare they prevent that from me?” Rafik Farouk, an Egyptian Copt who wants to divorce his wife, told The Media Line. “The church and the court make it almost impossible to prove adultery. They leave us hanging.”

Farouk said the Coptic Church was attempting to maintain the integrity of the family at all costs, fiercely guarding the monopoly given to it by the state in matters of marriage and divorce.

Family law is exclusively governed in Egypt by the religious denominations. A Christian may, however, leave his denomination and be judged by default under Islamic law, which is more lenient in allowing divorce.

“We are portrayed as fornicators who only follow our lust. Pope Shenouda keeps saying that we are acting against the New Testament,” Farouk said.

Up until 2008, Egyptian Christians divorced according to a 1938 bylaw which allowed them to separate under nine conditions including impotence, abandonment, abuse and mental disability. But local Christians accuse Pope Shenouda of recently limiting the permissible reasons to infidelity and conversion only.

“We could have left the church and accepted Islam, but we want to remain in the church,” Farouk said, adding that the clerical council must become more cooperative and transparent. “We will continue to engage the Church until the last moment.”

He added, however, that many of his friends would consider converting in order to attain a divorce and then rejoin the Church in order to remarry. “It’s a trick,” he said.

Ishaq Ibrahim, an expert on religious freedom at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, a Cairo-based human rights watchdog, said that the exact number of Copts prevented from obtaining a divorce is unknown, but estimated it at a few thousand cases. It was pointless trying to convince the Church to change its policy, he believed, saying the only viable solution being the creation of a parallel track for civil marriage.

“We have no civil marriage in Egypt,” he told The Media Line. “But marriage is the responsibility of the State, not the church. The state cannot force the church to change its doctrine, but it can create an alternative which will allow Christians to divorce without converting their religion.”

 

Standard material from Sacramento Superior Court on Family Court Services Mediation

Notice that if there is a critical emergency, the response is STILL to send someone to mediation! or FCS!

Immediate Referrals from the Court

The court may refer parties to FCS to provide expedited services. Generally, this occurs in cases where either parent presents an immediate danger or risk of harm to the child(ren). Parties are usually seen in FCS within a few days of the referral being made. A date to return to court is usually set to occur within 1 to 3 days following the referral. Immediate referrals may involve, but are not limited to, the following situations:

• Physical abuse
• Sexual abuse
• Emotional abuse or neglect
• Domestic violence
• Alcohol or substance abuse
• Allegations of flight risk or abduction

Other Important Information

Mediator conflict of interest

Mediation of cases that involve family law attorneys or their spouses, relatives, friends, or co-workers of the mediator may present a conflict of interest. A mediator will not handle a case in which they perceive that a serious conflict of interest exists. Therefore, in these cases, parties may be referred to private mediators.

Reports to Child Protective Services

Family Court Counselors are mandated reporters. This means they are legally obligated to report to Child Protective Services (CPS) any situation that may pose an imminent danger or risk to the child(ren). Parties will be informed when referrals are made to CPS for risk assessment.

Complaints about FCS services

Family Court Services is committed to the delivery of quality mediation services. If you should have a complaint regarding services received, you may register your complaint orally or in writing to the FCS Manager.

FCS fees

A deposit of $150.00 is required any time a FCS mediator is subpoenaed to attend a court hearing or proceeding as a witness. The party issuing the subpoena will be charged, at the rate of $78.00 per hour, for the actual time spent preparing for court testimony and/or deposition and the actual time spent testifying.

 

So — you are in pro per and broke, possibly from years of litigation and prior poor decisions by a mediator, the present one or a prior one.  YOu want to do something about it — go ahead, and for $150/hour plus $78 for any time spent preparing for the testimony / subpoena (probably more time than was spent preparing for your mediation that caused the problem, i.e., reading the case file!) — you can do it.  If you can afford to!

 

 

Entity Number	Date Filed	Status	Entity Name	Agent for Service of Process
C2233795	04/24/2000	ACTIVE	COLLABORATIVE FAMILY LAWYERS	MARK A. NELSON
C2897092	06/14/2006	DISSOLVED	COLLABORATIVE WELLNESS MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPY INC	GEORGE FREDERICK CENKNER
C2126626	11/20/1998	ACTIVE	FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER COLLABORATIVE OF THE EAST SAN GABRIEL VALLEY	BRUCE W WADDELL
C3241857	02/01/2010	ACTIVE	KERN COLLABORATIVE FAMILY LAW SOLUTIONS	STEPHEN C KLINK
C2507710	03/21/2003	ACTIVE	LOS ANGELES COLLABORATIVE FAMILY LAW ASSOCIATION (LACFLA)	FREDERICK J. GLASSMAN

United States Regional Offices

California Regional Office
Bright Horizons Family Solutions 
880 Apollo Street, Suite 315
El Segundo, CA 90245
phone: (310) 640 2400

fax: (310) 640 0900

(or, maybe not….)

Burud & Associates, Inc.
880 Apollo Street  Suite 315 
El Segundo, CA 90245
Phone: 310-796-8258
Map: Google  Yahoo
SIC: 8742
Sales: $10-25 Million
Employees: 100 – 249
Industry:
Services
Engineering and Management Services
Management consulting services.

So, I gather that we are to leave it to the professionals (?) to find out whether the sites receiving grants and contracts from our local counties, or court-referred business, or simply child care business, etc. — are indeed properly registered, and if nonprofits, they are acting like nonprofits ought to, i.e., in an upright manner, giving the tax perks they are getting.   Employed individuals that acted like some of the nonprofits did, for too long, would probably be fired, and if caught embezzling or in tax fraud, do some jail time or lose their homes.  Maybe…

Now about my main topic — it’s LABOR DAY — and I’m not going to labor too hard on this one today (every blogger deserves a break, right?)

Modify Search New Search 

By year of incorporation we can see that this got set up around the time California and the rest of the country was switching to, or should have by then switched to, “SDU” model (Statewide Distribution Unite) of child support enforcement, a.k.a., how to promote marriage, parenting, and fatherhood — including “abstinence” (programs, that is) after threatening the noncustodial parent with jail if they didn’t produce.    In fact, how to set up an ever-evolving system.  And if you don’t understand that “ever-evolving/expanding” thing yet, you haven’t read the materials.  Unlike many of the groups above, it has not gone belly-up.

Possibly because the fees for the organization come primarily (right?) from local counties, who pay the membership, pay the salaries of the people who get to be members (i.e., child support directors), and also apparently pay training fees/travel expenses to get to the trainings…  Judging from SF.

Entity Name:	CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION
Entity Number:	C2211149
Date Filed:	02/01/2000
Status:	ACTIVE
Jurisdiction:	CALIFORNIA
Entity Address:	925 L STREET, SUITE 1402
Entity City, State, Zip:	SACRAMENTO CA 95814
Agent for Service of Process:	DAVID G OPPENHEIM
Agent Address:	925 L STREET SUITE 1402
Agent City, State, Zip:	SACRAMENTO CA 95814

This group in turn belongs to another membership organization, the California State Association of Counties, to help keep everything organized:

{“Results of search for ” CALIFORNIA STATE ASSOCIATION OF COUNTIES ” returned no entity records.”}

Affiliates

CSAC Affiliate Members – 2011

CSAC currently has nearly 40 diverse Affiliate Members that have a common goal: working on behalf of California’s 58 counties to improve the quality of life for all our residents.

Affiliate Members represent a host of elected and appointed county staff leaders, who – through independent associations or organizations – represent the needs of various county service-delivery personnel, as well as the valuable public services they provide.

Affiliate members can play a significant role in statewide policy development and implementation through their voting membership on CSAC policy committees. Affiliate members are encouraged to provide advice to the CSAC Board of Directors through active participation on policy committees, as well as to be involved in other CSAC activities and programs.

(Affiliates are listed by general policy area, but many have relationships and interactions with multiple policy committees.)

California Judges Association

Keith D. Davis, President
San Bernardino County
Stanley Bissey, Executive Director
88 Kearny Street, Suite 1850
San Francisco, CA 94108-5523
(415) 263-4600, (415) 263-4605 Fax
Email: kddavis@sb-court.org
Web site:  www.caljudges.org

Anyone who types “Association of Counties” into a 990 finder will realize that California has fallen behind:  because these states DO have 990-registered associations of counties:

Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, New Jersey, New Mexico (not NY, not Ohio),Texas, and Washington, plus there is a National organization also with $32 million in assets (or is it, revenues?), not including a National Research Foundation one (separate EIN#)

National Association of Counties	DC	2009	$32,578,273	990O	40	53-0190321
National Association of Counties	DC	2008	$28,042,648	990O	42	53-0190321
National Association of Counties	DC	2007	$29,920,791	990O	43	53-0190321
National Association of Counties	DC	2006	$25,181,530	990O	51	53-0190321
National Association of Counties Research Foundation	DC	2009	$1,080,951	990	43	53-0241255

 So I guess the California one is a figment of my imagination, website notwithstanding…  In large part, the national one is to help county employees augment their

retirements with deferred compensation programs, and claims to have assets of $9 billion for over 360,000 employees in 1,700 counties.  (you can read the 990).

Although NACO says they exist, on its website, under “State Associations” as do associations from several other states that the 990 finder didn’t find (Indiana, Illinois, Georgia, Maryland, etc.),  Oh well.

This charity actually does exist (per California) AS a charity, and runs lots of raffles, I believe at its conferences, and gives the proceeds to one organization or another it chooses.   This is the first of four pages of raffle results, and (if you started the search from scratch) which records how much was collected per raffle:

Organization Name	Registration Number	Record Type	Registration Status	City	State	Registration Type	Record Type
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-2006	Raffle	Expired	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Registration	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-2006-1	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340	Raffle	Registered	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Registration	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	EX552080	Charity	Exempt – Active	SACRAMENTO	CA	Charity Registration	Charity
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-09-1	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-1	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-2	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-6	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-3	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-4	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-5	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-7	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-8	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-9	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-10	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-11	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-12	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-13	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-14	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-15	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-16	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-17	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-18	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-19	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-20	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-21	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-22	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-23	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-24	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-25	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-26	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-27	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-28	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-29	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-30	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-31	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-32	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-33	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-34	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILD SUPPORT DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION	4340-10-35	Raffle	Complete	SACRAMENTO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
1 2 3 4

Sometimes the money is raised for itself, sometimes for another group  For example (from the year 2010 series, top row):

\

Raffle Event Data Raffle Report Year: 2009 Raffle Start Date: 09-JUL-09 Raffle Location City: SACRAMENTO Raffle Location County: SACRAMENTO Total Funds Received from Sale of Raffle Tickets: $3,661.00 Were some or all of the Funds used for the Benefit of another Eligible Organization? Y Name of Recipient Organization: CHILDREN’S FUND- HUMAN SERV. AGENCY, COUNTY OF SAN MATEO Recipient Org. Street Address: 400 HARBOR BLVD. Recipient Org. City: BELMONT Recipient Org. State: CA Recipient Org. Zip: 94002 Amount of Proceeds to Recipient Organization: $3,661.00 Contact Person for Recipient Organization: Recipient Org. Phone Number: Total Expenses for Conducting the Raffle: $150.00

Children’s Fund

(not quite sure why the address also lists a “Family Law Svc“) a Youth & Family Svc (suite B), Child Welfare Services (county list), etc.  So who is The Children’s Fund of this just-south of San Francisco county?

In 2008 they raised money for ”

CHILDREN’S FUND IN THE INLAND EMPIRE

 825 EAST HOSPITALITY LANE, 2ND FLOOR

San Bernadino

The Children’s Funds are at least one, also a nonprofit running raffles:

Registration Number	Record Type	Registration Status	City	State	Registration Type	Record Type
CHILDREN’S FUND – ARTISTS’ AGAINST APARTHEID, INC.	071807	Charity	Delinquent	LOS ANGELES	CA	Charity Registration	Charity
CHILDREN’S FUND (9767548)	111107	Charity	Current	BELL	CA	Charity Registration	Charity
CHILDREN’S FUND OF THE BAY AREA	087852	Charity	Dissolution Pending	FREMONT	CA	Charity Registration	Charity
CHILDREN’S FUND, INCORPORATED	421-2007	Raffle	Expired	SAN BERNERDINO	CA	Raffle Registration	Raffle
CHILDREN’S FUND, INCORPORATED	421-2006	Raffle	Expired	SAN BERNERDINO	CA	Raffle Registration	Raffle
CHILDREN’S FUND, INCORPORATED	421-2002	Raffle	Expired	SAN BERNERDINO	CA	Raffle Registration	Raffle
CHILDREN’S FUND, INCORPORATED	421-2003	Raffle	Expired	SAN BERNERDINO	CA	Raffle Registration	Raffle
CHILDREN’S FUND, INCORPORATED	421-2004	Raffle	Expired	SAN BERNERDINO	CA	Raffle Registration	Raffle
CHILDREN’S FUND, INCORPORATED	421-2005	Raffle	Expired	SAN BERNERDINO	CA	Raffle Registration	Raffle
CHILDREN’S FUND, INCORPORATED	421-2002-1	Raffle	Complete	SAN BERNERDINO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILDREN’S FUND, INCORPORATED	421-2005-10	Raffle	Complete	SAN BERNERDINO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILDREN’S FUND, INCORPORATED	421-2005-11	Raffle	Complete	SAN BERNERDINO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILDREN’S FUND, INCORPORATED	421-2006-12	Raffle	Complete	SAN BERNERDINO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILDREN’S FUND, INCORPORATED	421-2002-2	Raffle	Complete	SAN BERNERDINO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILDREN’S FUND, INCORPORATED	421-2004-13	Raffle	Complete	SAN BERNERDINO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILDREN’S FUND, INCORPORATED	421-2002-3	Raffle	Complete	SAN BERNERDINO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILDREN’S FUND, INCORPORATED	421-2004-14	Raffle	Complete	SAN BERNERDINO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILDREN’S FUND, INCORPORATED	421-2003-4	Raffle	Complete	SAN BERNERDINO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILDREN’S FUND, INCORPORATED	421-2003-5	Raffle	Complete	SAN BERNERDINO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILDREN’S FUND, INCORPORATED	421-2003-6	Raffle	Complete	SAN BERNERDINO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILDREN’S FUND, INCORPORATED	421-2004-7	Raffle	Complete	SAN BERNERDINO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILDREN’S FUND, INCORPORATED	421-2005-8	Raffle	Complete	SAN BERNERDINO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILDREN’S FUND, INCORPORATED	421-2004-9	Raffle	Complete	SAN BERNERDINO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILDREN’S FUND, INCORPORATED	421	Raffle	Registered	SAN BERNERDINO	CA	Raffle Registration	Raffle
CHILDREN’S FUND, INCORPORATED	421-08-15	Raffle	Complete	SAN BERNERDINO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILDREN’S FUND, INCORPORATED	421-07-16	Raffle	Complete	SAN BERNERDINO	CA	Raffle Report	Raffle
CHILDREN’S FUND, INCORPORATED	062080	Charity	Current	SAN BERNERDINO	CA	Charity Registration	Charity
1

This one (not that someone can spell “San BernArdino” right) incorporated in 2006, same address as CSDA was raising money for, above:

Below is the detailed data for the registrant you selected. You may CLOSE this window to return to the Search Results and choose another registrant.Registrant Information

Full Name: CHILDREN’S FUND, INCORPORATED FEIN: 330193286 Type: Public Benefit Corporate or Organization Number: 1383946

Registration Number: 062080 Record Type: Charity Registration Type: Charity Registration Issue Date: 6/30/2006 Renewal Due Date: 11/15/2011 Registration Status: Current Date This Status: 11/13/2007 Date of Last Renewal: 1/14/2011

Address Information

Address Line 1: 825 E HOSPITALITY LN 2ND FL Phone: Address Line 2: Address Line 3: Address Line 4: SAN BERNERDINO CA 92415

Annual Renewal Information

Fiscal Begin: 01-JUL-01 Fiscal End: 30-JUN-02 Total Assets: $2,210,576.00 Gross Annual Revenue: $2,572,683.00 RRF Received: 18-FEB-03 Returned Date: 990 Attached: Y Status: Accepted

The founding documents of this group go back a ways (1991) and show an incorporator (I think the first?) was a Juvenile Court employee, and that 70% of the funding came from the County; it was a contract between the county and this organization . . ..

III. INITIAL AGENT FOR SERVICE OF PROCESS

The name of the Corporation’s initial agent for service of process is Patrick J. Morris, whose address is San Bernardino

County Juvenile Court, Dept. 1, 900 East Gilbert Street, San Bernardino, California 92415

It originally had a different name, “First Fund of Children’s Resources” and the application for exemption shows 1986….

Description of finances (on the 1986 form on-line here):

If you want to read a clearer copy, can do so on-line.   Sounds to me that, like ACJFCJ, it is a nonprofit for purposes of fundraising, but in effect supported by a contract with the county.  The CSDA — also itself supported by counties across California, for membership, is then also supporting this group.

e

I think it’s important to help children, but I can’t help wondering how come abuse AND poverty hasn’t been eradicated by now with all these powerful helpers, both government, corporate, and associates that run raffles to raise money for them.  Look at the URL for the Inland Empire Children’s Fund — amazing clout and support.

I also would like to know why the 990 finder isn’t picking up on the California State Association of Counties, and just a few more things.  You should too.

That’s all for now, just suggesting a look.  Again, CSDA in EVERY county has a child support director who most likely pays dues to partake.  Then someone will be flown to the east coast USA for the “NCSEA” and there they will hear from fatherhood proponents, probably Ron Haskins and others, who will again push THEIR nonprofit programs to fix the world.  It would be a good exercise to find ONE individual (or a few) from EVERY United STates County (or, I’ll take one state — mine) and have them look up the finances of ONE association at a time.  As the CSDA here controls a lot of money, representing child support enforcement — and Richard Fine was finding that $14 million sitting in the Los Angeles District Attorney’s control that should’ve gone to kids — and I don’t know it’s much better after the statewide distribution units (supported by what kind of local salaries also) and so forth

I recommend you/we — take a little time to investigate.

I didn’t mention the regional conferences either.  Also check where your groups are led, staffed, or consulting with the Children’s Rights Council affiliates, including the one in California who isn’t registered (?) we saw yesterday (Patricia Gehlen, formerly of Arizona).

Aren’t you glad I made it almost all the way through a post without bringing up AFCC?

I thought so. Happy  Labor Day.

 a

From local news on the same topic, for example, at baycitizen.org, “Pulse of the Bay”:

Emergency Cash Will Avert Some SF Court Closures, Layoffs

The attorneys have been discussing it too (I don’t have premium access to read this particular article from “The Recorder” on-line:

Lawyers See Crisis in S.F. Civil Court Closures

Petra PasternakContactAll Articles

The Recorder

July 19, 2011

BASF’s Kelly Dermody is pulling together a group to study ways to reverse the budget-driven decision that took many by surprise.

I can’t quite believe that the super-lawyers and certified specialists in the family law field didn’t see which way the wind was blowing.  In fact, it appears to me that the various associations and conferences have been a good part of the air (I won’t say “hot air”) behind the sails that set the course of the courts into inane court hearings dependent upon input from mental health professionals and/or mediator-types from outside the courtroom.   The two-track tier is, BOTH parents are low-income, meaning that there are program funds from Title IV-D/IV-A favorable to prolonging the litigation (while blaming the parents, both of them, for this).  Or, one or both parties are, at least at the outset, NOT poor, in which case custody evaluations can be repeatedly ordered, until someone is.

Let’s run that by again.   If welfare is involved, it’s an opportunity for access/visitation grants to the California Judicial Council AOC (who administers them) to be involved.  If child support, particularly a case already IV-D is involved (name me a custody dispute where this is not a factor . . . . . ) that opens up more realms of involvement, i.e., fatherhood & marriage promotion granting.

This article (just found) shows how it’s OK, supposedly, for the wind to be blowing this way, because family lawyers and friends (including retired judges most likely) have already prepared a safe harbor, for their business interests, in Collaborative Law, Private Judging, Mediation (of course) and such:

From “VivianHolleyLaw.com“

SAN FRANCISCO COURT CLOSINGS AND ITS RECOMMENDATION FOR ALTERNATIVES TO DIVORCE LITIGATION

Of the two formed in 2010 (notice how far back the formations go), I looked up the top row, Mark Fotohabadi, who turns out to be a Pepperdine  / Straus Institute graduate; I believe I blogged this already — but a search shows that the ADR community is organized and ready to refer each other’s business just fine:

New members of ADR hub.com are asked, and Mr. Fotohabadi answered:

What is your profession and title?    Principal

What is your ADR experience? (trainings and education

MDR Graduate of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University School of Law.

What are you hoping to get from ADRhub.com

Collaborate with other like minded professionals and practitioners.

Another logo (on the site) ADR hub.com is “Created and supported by the Werner Institute” it says…

The “Werner Institute” is, predictably, also based at a university, this time “Creighton University School of Law”:

Taking the field of conflict resolution to a higher level

The Werner Institute was established in 2005 thanks to a generous gift from the C.L. Werner family, creating the most richly endowed program of its kind in the country. The mission of the Werner Institute is to be a leader in advancing the field of conflict resolution to a new quantum level with a focus on developing the next generation of practitioners and scholars who are responsive to the real, and often unacknowledged, needs of those in conflict. With an interdisciplinary foundation and a focus on collaboration and open inquiry, the Institute supports the mission of Creighton University and builds a bridge between the field of conflict resolution and the issues faced by people in an increasingly complex world.

I’d be interested to see how the “real and often unacknowledged needs” that these graduates will be able to identify will, in practice, trump identified criminal activity by one or more of the partners in “conflict” with each other primarily because of that criminal activity.

Like Pepperdine, Creighton (in Omaha, NE)  has a religious origin:     Catholic/Jesuit.  This can get interesting when the topic is divorce…..

The Mission and Identity of Creighton University

Creighton is a Jesuit university, rooted in the Catholic tradition. At Creighton we live this mission and are guided by our identity. Because we are Catholic, we approach education with a passion for learning and a zeal for making a difference in our world. In the Catholic intellectual tradition, we celebrate our diversity, we learn through dialogue, and we pursue the truth in all its forms. As a Jesuit university we are continually bringing the richness of a 450 year old educational tradition to bear on the most contemporary issues of our world. Our Jesuit vision commits us to form women and men of competence, conscience and compassion who have learned from reflecting upon their experiences of being for and with others. We do this in service of a faith that does justice.

ANYHOW, good luck, Mark Fotohabadi….currently of Beverly Hills, with your practice and business incorporation.  It should do OK, looks like there are some entertainment lawyers and one of the board of directors of Beverly Hills CHamber of Commerce with the same street address, or at least on the same floor (a.k.a. I tend to look up street addresses):
Allan Alexander, Esq.
9595 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 900
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
Phone: (310) 273-8400

The 4th row of “Alternate Dispute Resolution” companies, also Active, and formed October 2010 (red font), when I looked up the address, turns out to have been a 2011 Executive Committee of the Monterey County Bar Association in Salinas, Mr. John L. Bailey, Esq.

(FROM THE SECTION ON COllaborative Practice / Registered Agent David A. Fink of Nachlis & Fink, and “recorded documents” Criis.com site:)

I pointed out that the parent education nonprofit Kids’ Turn (SF), which has been found with a lien involving the San Francisco Courts, and a history from articles of incorporation of place of business, 1242 Market Street (Schapiro Thorn) San Francisco — and noticed a different “Thorn” also granting the SFTC (the SF Trial Court system) liens as well:

Record

Date

Document

Doc Type

E/R

Name

Show Detail

01/26/2010

I917579-00

NOTICE LIEN

R

THORN AMERICAS INC

Show Detail

01/26/2010

I917578-00

NOTICE LIEN

R

THORN AMERICAS INC

Show Detail

01/26/2010

I917577-00

NOTICE LIEN

R

THORN AMERICAS INC

Show Detail

01/26/2010

I917575-00

NOTICE LIEN

R

THORN AMERICAS INC

Show Detail

01/28/2000

G728049-00

NOTICE LIEN

R

THORN AMERICAS INC

Show Detail

01/28/2000

G728048-00

NOTICE LIEN

R

THORN AMERICAS INC

Show Detail

01/28/2000

G728047-00

NOTICE LIEN

R

THORN AMERICAS INC

Show Detail

01/28/2000

G728045-00

NOTICE LIEN

R

THORN AMERICAS INC

Thorn Americas, Inc.  — formerly American arm of a British Firm — was bought out by someone else, and is not incorporated to do business in California.  Go check yourself — but every one of these liens (2000 & 2010) has SFTC involved in the “Show Detail” segment.

Record

GrantoR

Year

Document

Date

Reel

Image

Document Type

APN

GranteE

Name

2010

I917579-00

01/26/2010

K066

1671

NOTICE LIEN

–

R

THORN AMERICAS INC

–

E

SFTC

Record

GrantoR

Year

Document

Date

Reel

Image

Document Type

APN

GranteE

Name

2000

G728045-00

01/28/2000

H562

1074

NOTICE LIEN

–

R

THORN AMERICAS INC

–

E

SFTC

It may be totally unrelated to the attorney family, but apart from being the subject of some civil rights lawsuits, and apparently from Wichita, this group isn’t operating in California under its own name, legally, that I can see:Notice the year:

BUSINESS

Renters Choice to Buy Thorn’s U.S. Unit for $900 Million

June 18, 1998 | From Bloomberg News

Renters Choice Inc. said Wednesday that it will buy British company Thorn’s U.S. rent-to-own business for $900 million in cash, combining the two largest chains of appliance and furniture rental centers that give customers an option to buy. Thorn Americas Inc., the leading U.S. rent-to-own company, with about 1,400 stores under the Rent-A-Center, {{see below}} Remco and U-Can Rent names, had revenue of about $890 million last year.

Earlier article I presume here:

THORN AMERICAS, INC.
CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS

The nation’s largest rent-to-own company, Rent-A-Center, conducts its corporate operations in a new 120,000-square-foot facility in northeast Wichita. The company’s sale in 1987 to Thorn EMI, a British company, propelled Rent-A-Center to the number one slot in furniture, electronics and appliance rentals.

Established in 1973 when the first Sight and Sound rental store opened in Kansas City, Missouri, the Rent-A-Center name was adopted in 1980, the same year the company opened their 25th store. At the present time over 300 facilities are in operation.

Flexibility and expansion were the primary goals in designing the new $8 million headquarters, which allows for the expansion to 400 employees at this site.

Conference and training rooms on the first floor include one room with full multi-media capabilities for training and seminars. A large exercise area for employees is located in the partial basement with locker rooms, a padded floor for aerobics and a basketball court that can accommodate three racquetball courts….

Entity Number	Date Filed	Status	Entity Name	Agent for Service of Process
C1282901	08/05/1985	FORFEITED	C & H INVESTMENTS, INC., WHICH WILL DO BUSINESS IN CALIFORNIA AS RENT-A-CENTER OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA	** RESIGNED ON 10/30/1992
C1705691	04/16/1992	SURRENDER	RAC USA, INC. WHICH WILL DO BUSINESS IN CALIFORNIA AS RENT-A-CENTER OFSOUTHERN CALIFORNIA	THE PRENTICE-HALL CORPORATION SYSTEM, INC.
C1270453	03/05/1985	FORFEITED	RENT-A-CENTER OF AMERICA, INC.	** RESIGNED ON 10/16/1991
C2491181	12/23/2002	ACTIVE	RENT-A-CENTER WEST, INC.	C T CORPORATION SYSTEM
C1637191	03/16/1989	SURRENDER	RENT-A-CENTER, INC.	THE PRENTICE-HALL CORPORATION SYSTEM, INC.
C1969694	05/23/1996	ACTIVE	RENT-A-CENTER, INC.	C T CORPORATION SYSTEM

RENT-A-CENTER, Inc. shows as”  Incorporated in Delaware (i.e., hard to track), place of business, Plano, Texas, and Registered agent, C T Corporation System is in Los Angeles.

The top 3 (forfeited/surrender/forfeited) all show Kansas in their information; the 3/16/89 “Surrender” shows PLano Texas and Sacramento.  Corporation mill, much?

.

The “Family Connections” in this business appear to me to be the collegial collaborations with the family of the family law attorneys and affiliates, overall.

I do not have a “family” of data researchers (and certainly no copyeditors!) at this point, so am going to call it a day on calling out a few different places to look for information.  Added to the technology restraints is the fact that the best databases are not free to the public, usually.  one thing has become clear — neither CRIIS.com (as informative as it seems) nor the secretary of state’s business database, were really meant for the public to conduct any serious research on them.  Other states have better ones — but to be unable to tell at a glance WHEN a corporation was suspended, dissolved (or etc.) — and not being able to sort on any field — for example, for-profit/ not for profit is not showing on the incorporations, is troubling.   I realize one comes before the other (theoretically), but wouldn’t it be great if the OAG would actually talk to the SOS and share information – and a common identity number?

COLLABORATIVE LAW — Wikipedia article — shows the organization, and if one scrolls straight down to the bottom, it’s clear that this is an AFCC phenomenon and northern california originated (says the article):

History

This approach to conflict resolution was created in 1990 by a Minnesota family lawyer Stuart Webb,^[2] who saw that traditional litigation was not always helpful to parties and their families, and often was damaging.

I love reading group’s own histories of themselves.  A single attorney realized that divorce proceedings were a mess and “not always helpful.”

Since 1990, the Collaborative Law movement has spread rapidly to most of the United States, Europe, Canada and Australia. Per the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (“IACP”),^[3] more than 22,000 lawyers have been trained in Collaborative Law worldwide, with collaborative practitioners in at least 46 states. In some localities, Collaborative Law has become the predominant method for resolving divorce, co-habitation and other family disputes. More than 1,250 lawyers have completed their training in England where collaborative law was launched in 2003.

The growth of the collaborative process in England and Wales has been encouraged by both the judiciary and the family lawyers organisation, Resolution.^[4] In an address to London family lawyers in October 2009, the newly appointed Supreme Court Justice, Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore became the first member of the Supreme Court to publicly endorse Collaborative Law and called for its extension to other areas.^[5][6] Previously, in October 2008 the Hon. Mr Justice Coleridge, a High Court Judge of the Family Division, had promised that collaborative agreements would be fast tracked in the High Court of England and Wales.^[7]

[edit]Organizations

The primary global collaborative organisation is the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (IACP), which was founded in the late 1990’s by a group of northern California lawyers, psychotherapists, and financial planners. *  There are numerous practice groups (or PODS) of collaborative practitioners worldwide. An updated list of worldwide practice groups and their individual members can be located on the IACP website, http://www.collaborativepractice.com.

(if this were a cult, or insurgent political group, the word “cells” would apply  However, not to be so obvious, it’s “PODS”  Remind anyone of science fiction, yet?)

The American Bar Association (“ABA”), the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, and the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (“IAML”)^[8] all have Collaborative Law committees.

IACP is an interdisciplinary organisation whose members include lawyers, mental health professionals and financial specialists*

(*Hard to practice law outside the courts if you don’t know where the money is hidden in a situation, right?)

Did this group of northern California lawyers going international incorporate in northern california?

“ABOUT US” shows its origins in Minnesota:  allegedly with one person.

In the beginning, there was Stu…

The story of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals begins with the founder of the Collaborative movement: Stu Webb, of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Stu practiced traditional family law for more than twenty years when, during the late 1980s, he became interested in mediation and alternate dispute resolution.

No doubt this just rained down from the sky or sprung up from his clientele; I’m sure it didn’t have anything to do with who he was associating with, or any professional organization he might have been a member of (I won’t name names here…)

Stu’s challenge was to craft a way to bring the particular talent of lawyers as problem-solvers into a “settlement only” process for family law representation. What Stu envisioned was a model where lawyers could not, under any circumstances, go to court over any issue. Lacking court as a dispute-resolution option, lawyers would have no alternative but to rise to the challenge of solving the problem.

How is the problem of criminal activity by a partner handled?  Continuing to solve the problem, and do not report any child abuse?  If child abuse is found and reported, continue to “settle” while one parent goes somewhere else in an attempt to actually protect a child, and him/herself?

From this insight, Collaborative Law was born. In 1990, Stu announced to his clients and colleagues that he would no longer go to court;

Yes, it was conceived in his mind, in the form of insight, and gave birth, like many of his clients did, physically.  . . .

Collaborative Law catches on…

The Collaborative Law concept quickly spread beyond Minneapolis and arrived in California in 1993, when lawyers from San Mateo County learned of this new process from Minneapolis lawyers presenting the idea for the first time at a national conference. By early 1994, family lawyers in northern California had begun practicing Collaborative Law.

and . . .

…and then there was the American Institute of Collaborative Professionals

As Collaborative Practice in its many forms began to develop in several areas of the San Francisco Bay Area, it became clear that collaborative practitioners should work together in order to promote and improve the process. The concept was to share what they were learning, to explore the processes that worked and those that didn’t, and to share resources.

Pauline Tesler, Peggy Thompson, Nancy Ross, David Green and Karen Russell began to meet monthly in 1997. They were soon joined in 1998 by Gene Seltzer, Jennifer Jackson, Catherine Conner, Linda Seinturier and James Sheehy. Their vision was to form an umbrella networking organization to serve Collaborative Practice in its many forms.

(JENNIFER JACKSON had about a decade earlier started Kid’s Turn.  Now, she is a collaborative & mediation lawyer:

Under Divorce/Marriage Resources are some interesting ones:

centers, and, for a fee, child support calculations for your state.

KIDS TURN Kids’ Turn is renowned throughout the United States as a leader in divorce education for children and parents. The goal of Kids’ Turn programs is to help minimize the negative effects of divorce on children. The programs are educational (not therapy) focusing on skill building and positively affecting each family’s ability to manage the changes created by divorce or separation.

Children’s Rights Council The Children’s Rights Council is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting children of separation and divorce through advocacy and parenting education. Their site offers excellent, up-to-date research: legislative information, links to other sites and resources and a good book catalog. There is a California chapter.

{{YEP, there sure is — right here!

Organization Name	Registration Number	Record Type	Registration Status	City	State	Registration Type	Record Type
CHILDREN’S RIGHTS COUNCIL OF CALIFORNIA (THE CALIFORNIA CHAPTER OF CHILDREN’S RIGHTS COUNCIL OF WASHINGTON, D.C.)		Charity	Not Registered	SACRAMENTO	CA	Charity Registration	Charity
1

wonder how long it’s been operating in California . . . .let me look:

Entity Number	Date Filed	Status	Entity Name	Agent for Service of Process
C1862355	06/29/1993	DISSOLVED	CHILDREN’S RIGHTS COUNCIL OF CALIFORNIA (THE CALIFORNIA CHAPTER OF CHILDREN’S RIGHTS COUNCIL OF WASHINGTON, D.C.)	PATRICIA GEHLEN

WOW — since 1993, and NEVER REGISTERED YET!  Ms. Jackson, please update your website as to both KT and the CRC, please!

1. LaDads Forum – LaDads

   ladads.info/modules/newbb/report.php?forum=2… – Cached

   Patricia Gehlen, Coordinator CRCCalif@aol.com. Phone: 916-635-2590 voice and fax 5.8CRC of California Sacramento Chapter Paul Stroub, President …

1. Resources Around the Country

   http://www.fathersrightsne.org/ResourceList.htm – Cached

   Children’s Rights Council Patricia Gehlen, Coordinator P. O. Box 163801. Sacramento, CA 95816-9081 916-635-2590 voice and fax CRCCalif@aol.com …

UCDavis INTERNSHIP AND CAREER CENTER lists possibility of interning with this group, alphabetical opportunities

16. Catholic Social Service of Sacramento – Immigration Program
17. Children’s Rights Council of California
18. Citizens Commission on Human Rights
19. Coalition of Concerned Legal Professinals

When I click on #17, here, it reads:

Address: 915 L Street, Suite C-282
City: Sacramento State: CA Zip: 958143700

Contact Person: Patricia Gehlen
Contact’s Position: Calif State Coordinator
Phone: 9166352590
Email: crccalif@aol.com
Hours: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

Descriptions: Promotes healthy development of children of separated parents. Encourages joint custody, shared financial responsibility, liberalized visitation, access to school and medical records, and making the present mediation/counseling system accountable. Discourages the use of the legal system as a tool of revenge. Legislative advocacy, community awareness, newsletter, and discount on resource materials. Monthly information and support meetings, and legal clinics. Keywords: youth

(Address shows up   at a Police Chief’s Association 2011 conference roo?)

California College & University Police Chiefs Association   {{anyone can find this one registered as a nonprofit, comment-me….}}

Attn: CCUPCA Conference 915 L Street C#282 Sacramento, CA 95814

 

Clearly it’s a going concern, and I’d say a valuable one:

The California College and University Police Chiefs Association (CCUPCA), was founded in 1982 to represent and promote the interests of safety and security in the public and private institutions of higher education throughout California.

The non-profit Association is dedicated to promoting and advancing the professional development of higher educational campus safety by acting as a focal point for the exchange of professional ideas and information, and by hosting conferences and training classes.

CCUPCA is committed to strengthening the political voice of higher educational campus safety by working with legislators on issues which affect the safety of the students, faculty, and staff of California’s colleges and universities.

CCUPCA Members

CCUPCA consists of police chiefs from over 75 colleges and universities in California. Our current members are listed below.

Membership Fees for each level of membership:

• Institutional Membership $100.00
• Associate Membership $50.00
• Corporate Membership $200.00

 

Apparently this vibrant organization does not exist as a corporation or a nonprofit in California.  I also looked (checking spelling, using partial words, etc.) in NCCSDataweb and 990 finder.  There are Police associations, but not that I can see with the words “College” or “Universities” in them.  Perhaps someone can illuminate me.

 

ORGANIZATION NAME	STATE	YEAR	TOTAL ASSETS	FORM	PAGES	EIN
California Police Chiefs Association	CA	2010	$633,314	990O	23	23-707255

Fresno Police Chiefs Foundation

CA

2009

$45,726

990EZ

16

41-2029665

L A County Police Chiefs Assc

CA

2005

$24,638

990O

11

81-0555130

San Diego Police Chiefs and Sheriffs Association

CA

2010

$14,452

990EO

5

33-0680289

(990 finder, searching the words “police chiefs” in California comes up with four different organizations / EINs.  The same search on the attorney general’s site shows nothing (results, zero), at the Secretary of STate site seems to show these four, (statewide + 3 cities’ worth) plus some predecessors:

Entity Number	Date Filed	Status	Entity Name	Agent for Service of Process
C0132395	02/02/1929	SUSPENDED	CALIFORNIA POLICE CHIEFS AND SHERRIFFS ASS’N
C0511549	07/01/1966	ACTIVE	CALIFORNIA POLICE CHIEFS ASSOCIATION, INC.	LESLIE JOHNSON MCGILL
C2675740	09/08/2004	SUSPENDED	CALIFORNIA TRIBAL POLICE CHIEFS ASSOCIATION, INC.	MICHAEL B MEESE
C2166436	06/14/1999	ACTIVE	LOS ANGELES COUNTY POLICE CHIEF’S ASSOCIATION	ELIZABETH HERNANDEZ
C3166969	10/24/2008	ACTIVE	MANTECA POLICE CHIEF’S FOUNDATION	DAVID BRICKER
C3279969	02/18/2010	ACTIVE	MARIN COUNTY POLICE CHIEFS ASSOCIATION	ERIC STERNBERGER, ESQ.
C1671103	08/20/1990	ACTIVE	NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CHIEFS OF POLICE, INC.	CORPORATE CREATIONS NETWORK INC.
C1923985	09/01/1995	ACTIVE	SAN DIEGO POLICE CHIEF’S AND SHERIFF’S ASSOCIATION	PAT SPRECCO
C2404755	02/27/2002	ACTIVE	THE FRESNO POLICE CHIEF’S FOUNDATION	DONALD HENRY GROSS

 

 

 

 

 

Back to the attorney Ms. Jackson’s website:

Plus Smart Marriages, obviously something related to CFDA 93.086 (fatherhood/marriage grantee type projects):

Smart Marriages “… all couples disagree about all the same basic issues – money, kids, sex, housework, in-laws and leisure time.The difference between successful and unsuccessful couples is how they handle their differences. Successful couples disagree in a way that makes their relationship stronger. They also have other skills and attitudes which help them build long-term happiness and satisfaction. The good news is that anyone can learn to do it better and smarter. . .”

There is no question that the founders of Kids’ Turn know how to propagate their nonprofits.  FUNNY, HOW WHEN THEY GET TOGETHER, LATER, THERE IS ALWAYS ANOTHER NONPROFIT, MOVEMENT, OR CONCEPT BEING “BORN.”  This would be something like, when couples repeatedly have sex together, showing up surprised that one day, about 9 months later, a baby will be born.  I mean, what that’s what the associations enable — more nonprofit births.  So let’s get honest and say it was intentional — and not some sort of awesome wonderful miraculous (virgin) birth of the latest nonprofit network whose incorporators were lawyers and/or judges with a few social workers in there as well, OK?

While Collaborative Law, here, began with a MN family lawyer, in his mind — it says that “kids’ Turn began in court” (i.e., in the mind of a family law judge, and helped by Jennifer Jackson, here….)  From the KT site:

The idea for Kids’ Turn began in court. While presiding over the family law department of the domestic relations court in the late 80’s, Judge Ina Levin Gyemant noted that while lawyers filed motions and parents sought orders regarding custody, visitation and other disputes, children and their needs were almost completely ignored. Mediation services were mandated for parents in California at the time, but no educational program was available for children, who are often the people most vulnerable and confused during parental separation.

In 1988, Kids’ Turn was created. With the foresight and vision of renowned San Francisco mediator, Jeanne Ames, Family Law Judge, The Hon. Ina Gyemant, psychiatrist, John Sikorski, and attorneys Ann Van Balen and Jennifer Jackson, Kids’ Turn started as a nonprofit agency in order to offer direct educational services to children and their parents who are undergoing separation or divorce. Located in San Francisco, Kids’ Turn now serves six Bay Area counties: Marin, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, San Francisco and Santa Clara.

In the early 90′s, the Kids’ Turn board developed a framework for sharing the curriculum and for licensing affiliates.

Initially called the American Institute of Collaborative Professionals (AICP), the group’s activities included local networking meetings, a newsletter meant to be a voice for the collaborative movement (now known as The Collaborative Review) and an annual networking forum. AICP was incorporated in 1999 as a 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation.

… and now we are International

In May of 1999, the first annual AICP networking forum was held in Oakland, California. The following year, a meeting was held in Chicago to discuss the state of Collaborative legal practice across the country. The nearly 50 practitioners who attended this meeting agreed that AICP should serve as the umbrella organization for our rapidly-growing movement. At the same time, they recognized that since Collaborative Practice was also developing exponentially across Canada, the organization needed a broader, more inclusive name and mission. Thus the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals was born in late 2000, officially changing its name in 2001.

{{Note:  It’s so disconcerting to continually hear about corporations, which are made by people by deliberately filing with their secretaries of state — as things which are passively “born.”  I guess it’s just that “detachment” thing — we are to believe these things had a life of their own, and were not pushed, really, by profesisonals.  Yes, they’re narrating who did what, but always this “was born” or “founded” or “launched” [i.e. the feminine or the masculine attributions] keep showing up when the announcement is about each bouncing new baby nonprofit or for-profit that shows up — as though this were something new in the world, when in fact that’s primarily what Family Lawyers seem to be in the business of doing — collaborating, associating, publishing, and incorporating.}} ANyhow, here it is, in California showing a Phoenix, Arizona address also:

Entity Name:	THE INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY OF COLLABORATIVE PROFESSIONALS
Entity Number:	C2133860
Date Filed:	02/05/1999
Status:	ACTIVE
Jurisdiction:	CALIFORNIA
Entity Address:	11811 N TATUM BLVD STE 1000
Entity City, State, Zip:	PHOENIX AZ 85028
Agent for Service of Process:	DONNA BECK WEAVER
Agent Address:	520 BROADWAY STE 350
Agent City, State, Zip:	SANTA MONICA CA 90401

The Collaborative Review has been published continuously since May, 1999. The work begun by initial editors Jennifer Jackson and Pauline Tesler has grown into an in-depth, scholarly publication with contributors from around the world. The 2nd annual IACP Networking Forum took place in October 2001, again in Oakland, California with over 100 practitioners gathering from across the United States, Canada and Switzerland. The scope of the annual forum has gradually expanded to include education, inspiration, dialogue, and opportunities for member feedback on important IACP initiatives. In 2009, IACP celebrated its 10th Anniversary Networking and Educational Forum in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with nearly 600 attendees from across the globe.

I think it funny, the fascination with hooking up with the UK and other countries.  Somewhere in our distant United States history, declaration was made of independence from the same country, and institution of a different form of government which would disable tyranny, particularly of religion.  It also resisted the idea of colonizing others through taxes, and (well, etc.).   Here, all these tax-exempt professional organizations — run by people whose professionas are often quite profitable to start with — are readying themselves to catch the fallout from the family courts ,which have been apparently bankrupted by budget cuts – and not years of management by rapidly expanding administrative offices of the courts, changing the cultures of custody, and throwing family divorce business to the local nonprofit, whichever one is closest crony to who assigns the county contracts. .  . .

Each new nonprofit formed is added to the professional’s website as a gold star indicating their vast experience and competence.  While I’m not questioning Ms. Jackson’s, here’s hers:

Jennifer believes that a lawyer must be actively involved in her professional community, and that life is about making a difference. Jennifer is one of the founders of Kids’ Turn, a program for separating families begun in San Francisco which has expanded exponentially in size and in quality of service to children and families. She is one of the founders of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals and served for eight years as co-editor of its journal, The Collaborative Review. She has had leadership roles in her professional organizations at local, state national and international levels, and is a past president of the Northern California chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.

I imagine having millionaire donors, grants, court-connections, and founders with international connections would probably help anything expand exponentially.  But of course it did so mostly because it was just such a great idea . . . . . Ask the parents in Lackawanna County, PA (who are being subjected to a Kids Turn lookalike, Kids’ First — through their courts — how they feel about where their money is going, and the coursework.

I know it must be a little over-stimulating to be birthing and conceiving (well, in reverse order) and associating to propagate some more great ideas, primarily along the lines of AFCC & CRC (no parental alienation!) – – but I think it’s time to ask our professionals to take some trips back to the home area and incorporate properly, report their charitable organization with the OAG — not just press releases and such — and file tax returns promptly and properly with the first attempt, too!  I mean, if ALameda County Family Justice Center can’t get it straight, how much really can the lawbreaking individuals that created the clientele they serve (i.e. victims) to?