Posts Tagged ‘Association of Family and Conciliation Courts’
Inside AFCC Stanley Cohen Distinguished Awardees’ Conference Circuits, or, “Good GRIEF, Marsha Kline Pruett!” [Written March 4, 2016, publ. about 2 yrs. later]
Post Title: Inside AFCC Stanley Cohen Distinguished Awardees’ Conference Circuits, or, “Good GRIEF, Marsha Kline Pruett!” [Written March 4, 2016, publ. about 2 yrs. later] case-sensitive short-link ends -37M, ca. 8,100 words.
Many years ago, among some mothers blogging their custody challenges and family court fiascoes, the phrase was being circulated “Do You Know Your AFCC?” or “How Well Do You Know Your AFCC?”
(Badass Mamas, some of us were called. Thank you “RandiJames.com”).
Well this post is “How Well Do You Know Your AFCC Stanley Cohen Distinguished Research Awardees?” …. a natural progression as I looked, incidentally to the “Dumpster-Diving in the Credibility Gap” of Batterer Typology verbiage among clinical forensic psychologists, some of who had clear connections also with each other and to AFCC.
Looking at the awardee list systematically and noting who has which associations to which universities, or corporations — and each other — will only educate you about the role of this organization, and about the power of networking. Some “lights should go on” as to WHO you are dealing with, and WHO is running key institutions affecting family law.
2015 – Barbara A. Babb
2014 – Rachel Birnbaum
2013 – Judy Cashmore and Patrick Parkinson
2012 – Amy Holtzworth-Munroe
2011 – Jennifer McIntosh
2010 – Constance R. Ahrons
2009 – Judith Wallerstein
2008 – Nicholas Bala (Professor of Law, Queens University, Ontario Canada. Degree also from Harvard) (see “Prevnet” and a bio at “AttorneyGeneral.Jus.gov.ON.CA“)##
2007 – Sanford Braver, Irwin Sandler, Sharlene Wolchik
2006 – J. Herbie DiFonzo, Mary E. O’Connell
2005 – Janet Walker (<==AFCC 2005 conference in Seattle shows Walker as past-AFCC President and from “Newcastle on Tyne, England”) (check out the brochure!)
2004 – Marsha Kline Pruett
2003 – Paul Amato
2002 – Robert Emery (Professor Psychology, UVirginia & Director “Center for Children Families & the Law) [BA, Brown University in 1974, PhD SUNY-Stonybrook, 1982, “father of five children” (no wife mentioned).
2001 – JoAnne Pedro-Carroll
2000 – Janet Johnston
1999 – Charlene Depner
1998 – Jessica Pearson and Nancy Thoennes
1997 – Joan B. Kelly
Nicholas Bala at PREVNET (imaged added May, 2018)
Click image to enlarge.
Click image to enlarge.
## (Fn from quote) Nicholas Bala bio blurb — just a fragment, you may recognize some familiar themes in this one — only for Canada:
Prof. Bala is a member of the National Judicial Institute Program Planning Committees for Child Witnesses and High Conflict Parental Separations and is editor of the N. J. I. Electronic Benchbook on Child Witness. He is the principal investigator of an interdisciplinary research project on child witnesses funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Prof. Bala’s research on legal issues related to child abuse, youth justice, family violence and family law is extensive and in those areas, he has served as a consultant for the governments of Canada, Ontario and the Yukon and for aboriginal organizations. He was the lead researcher in a report on the Ontario Child Abuse Register (1987-88) and was a member of a research team reviewing the Ontario Office of Child and Family Service Advocacy (2004). He was a consultant to the Special Advisor on Child Sexual Abuse to the Minister of Health and Welfare Canada (1989-90). He also provided advice to Justice Robbins (Ontario, 2000) for his report on child sexual abuse in schools
Nicholas Bala weighing in on “parental alienation” — 2011 article from the “Nuffield Foundation” (address London):
Parental Alienation and the voices of children in family proceedings
22 July 2011
In a relatively small portion of all separation and divorce cases, children reject a parent. How and why does this happen? How do the courts respond to these cases, which are characterised by high levels of conflict between parents, and what should they do? What can we learn from the experience of other jurisdictions such as Canada and the US?
These were some of the questions addressed in a seminar hosted by the Foundation on 13 July and led by Professor Nicholas Bala from Queen’s University in Canada.
- (lonesome- looking photo of child from behind , captioned: “How can courts better respond to high conflict cases and contact disputes?”)
The seminar started with a discussion of the controversial concept of ‘parental alienation.’ While rejecting the view that it is a ‘syndrome,’ Professor Bala recognizes the value of identifying cases where the hostile attitude of one parent results in a child having negative views of the other that are a reflection not of the child’s own experience, and resulting in unjustified rejection of that parent. This approach requires courts and professionals to distinguish cases where a child is justifiably rejecting a parent, for example due to abuse or neglect, from cases of alienation
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2016 More Business As Usual in MN? (Criminalizing, Terrorizing, Jailing Mothers)
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Post published Jan. 23, 2016; internal post title with active short-link added Feb. 12, 2019 (a practice I adopted later for easier cross-referencing either on the blog, or as applicable, on Twitter. The short-links as generated by WordPress, unlike some other platforms, or in general, web or email addresses, are case-sensitive).
This post broke a year-and-a-half hiatus in my blogging (not my research and writing on the topic, just publishing posts), necessary for personal (litigation/life transition) reasons. My previous post was in June, 2014.
While my main reason for overcoming the hiatus was the egregious situation in this high-profile case, attentive readers will notice that case was not the only, or primary, focus of this post (see tables, charts, domestic violence and other organizations profiled, post intro. and what I said (wrote) other than and between the quotes, tables, or organization profiles).
2016 More Business As Usual in MN? (Criminalizing, Terrorizing, Jailing Mothers) (Case-sensitive WordPress-generated shortlink ends “-2QS”; word count including this identification and short preview, about 9,300 words)
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I’ve been aware of an ongoing, escalating situation in Dakota County, Minnesota, involving a jailed mother facing multiple felony charges, a no doubt jubilant father undergoing reunification with his runaway teenaged daughters, three (male) journalists who helped keep the police on-target, and pending felony charges for three others (one-and-a-half married couples) who allegedly helped with parental interference resulting from a custody order issued in the family court.
This mother of five became a fugitive long before she was accused of felony parental interference. See news reports (some, below), and footnote, a 3/14/2013 post from the blog Carver County Corruption at the bottom of this post. The post dates to about a month before the girls ran away. It names involved professionals, but to those who pay attention, it also shows involved systems (such as child support) and the existence of family wealth as an incentive to “churn the case.”
Update to this post: The 3/14/2013 post remains as footnote at the bottom, but I have removed my extended “dissertation” section on both Paul Reitman (showing other publications, persuasions, affiliations) and on the “NCJFCJ” which the comment mentioned, along with the NCJFCJ [National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges — a private, nonstock, nonprofit organization based out of University of Nevada-Reno, and one which you should learn about, and about which I have learned (a lot) and have a lot to say….] “family-serving” agencies systems-change “Greenbook” (1999 publication) and “The Greenbook Initiative” (eight-year pilot-demo-evaluation project involving NCJFCJ and historic friends among the domestic violence “industry” (I call it “cartel” — and I’m a survivor too, but the term seems to apply). This planned removal shortens the post by about one-third. The removed material has already been published Feb. 25, 2016 under “What does Custody-Switching REALLY have to do with Unsound Psychological Theory? (Not much, actually)”
I want to call attention to what this, including this case, means for women (particularly mothers) and will continue to mean regardless of who (Democrat or Republican) is elected next President of the USA.
I want to talk about the off-stage actors, the executive producers, involved in any and all custody disputes in America. I want to talk about the behind-the-curtain scripts which are running along the same lines throughout the country.
A business model is a business model. Jailed mothers, righteously-indignant fathers supported by journalists, and runaway/reunified teenagers is not about law, justice, or representative government gone awry, gone “rogue.” It’s about the same government having been outsourced and outflanked by the for-profit/not-for-profit [tax-exempt, privately controlled] corporate wealth working through (and with) public institutions. It’s also about what happens when the population goes to sleep on the above; on public/private coordinated operations which cross multiple jurisdictions.
Did I mention, it’s about moving the money, local, intermediate, inter/national?
This case, and that it’s possible in this country, is a power play by those involved which always comes with a “spin” to justify the excess force inflicted. These outrageous custody cases, decade after decade, are therefore predictable outcomes of the larger business model in place, particularly but not only in the family court venues.
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Let's Get Honest! Absolutely Uncommon Analysis of Family & Conciliation Courts' Operations, Practices, & History 