Attorney Richard Ducote commenting, after the news, on a 2003 yahoo group email:

Father” of P.A.S., Richard Gardner commits suicide

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Subject:  DR. RICHARD GARDNER’S SUICIDE Date: Sun, 1 Jun 2003 08:33:44 EDT From: Richard Ducote, Attorney at Law, New Orleans, LAParental Alienation Syndrome is a bogus, pro-pedophillic fraud concocted by Richard Gardner.  I was the last attorney to cross examine Gardner.  In Paterson, NJ, He admitted that he has not spoken to the Dean of Columbia’s med school  for over 15 years, and has not had hospital admitting privileges for over 25  years.  He has not been court appointed to do anything for decades.  The only  two appellate courts in the country who have considered  the question of  whether PAS meets the Frye test, i.e., whether it is generally accepted in the scientific community, said it does not.  As Dr. Paul Fink, former president of the  American Psychiatric Association has stated, Dr. Gardner and PAS should be  only a  “pathetic footnote” in psychiatric history.  Gardner and his bogus  theory have done untold damage to sexually and physically abused children and their protective parents.  PAS has been rejected by every reputable organization  considering it.  In a Florida case in which I was recently involved, when the  judge insisted on a Frye hearing, Gardner simply did not show up.Perhaps  because he finally realized that the entire nation was on to his scam, he committed  suicide on May 25.  Let’s pray that his ridiculous, dangerous PAS foolishness died with him.Richard Ducote, attorney at law, New Orleans, LA

We should be so lucky….The idea didn’t die …nd here’s why, and where it’s been preserved and disseminated:

Association of Family and Conciliation Courts

8th International Congress on Parent Education and Access Programs

September 26 – 27, 2008/Albuquerque, New Mexico

The Ka-CHING! Factor, right in your back yard:

Separating (with a conflict about custody) parents ARE going to have to deal with many of these people, including a lot of judges on the membership.   Isn’t it about time to underestand the playbook, by a sneak peek at them preparing the next set of game plans?

Boycott your next rally or protest (Million Dads, Million Moms, DC protests, begging the President, or anyone else who looks like (note;  “Looks like”) they give a damn and hold political office, to fix the courts — when they are like as not among those who ‘fixed’ (as in, rigged) them to start with!

Do your internet time and start reading the behind-the-scenes dialogue of the scriptwriters.  Although I’m sure there are also the closed-door meetings, the off-the-record conversations — one can still learn a lot by simply looking somewhere else.  THEY take advantage of the internet, but too many mothers (and fathers) get on-line to gripe and complain, and too few do their homework and figure out a thing or two about HOW IT WORKS.

Which only results in higher emotions and more clients for court-referred anger therapy (or — see below).

There are reasons why you may be broke, and the professionals are not.  This is among them!

INDIVIDUAL SESSIONS ON CD

	AFCC 8002	Ultimate CD ROM (Eighth International Congress on Parent Education and Access Programs) CD ROM?s are the complete conference package including each session?s audio (recorded live!) in MP3 format.	$ 99.00	$
	AFCC 8111	Opening Session: Domestic Violence and Differentiation: The Impact on Parent Education Programs	$ 15.00	$
	AFCC 8112	Parent Education as Part of a Thriving Practice	$ 15.00	$
	AFCC 8113	FromLecture to Life	$ 15.00	$
	AFCC 8114	Teaching Parents to Parent: A Solution-Focused Approach	$ 15.00	$
	AFCC 8115	Workingwith Latino Parents	$ 15.00	$
	AFCC 8116	Cooperative Co-parenting vs. Parallel Parenting	$ 15.00	$
	AFCC 8117	Creatively Advancing Parent Education with Federal Access & Visitation Grant Funds: The Colorado Experience	$ 15.00	$
	AFCC 8118	Research for Rookies	$ 15.00	$
	AFCC 8119	Integrating the Internet into On-site Divorce Education	$ 15.00	$
	AFCC 8120	Stripped Down or Fully Loaded: Can Courts Deliver Parenting Programs that Change the Impact of Divorce on Children?	$ 15.00	$

Mastercard   Visa   AMEX Card Number Expiration 01          02          03          04          05          06          07          08          09          10          11          12           /            201120172011201220132014201520162017          CCV#Whats This?	SubTotals	Non-Taxable	$
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OK, that rant being done, let’s move on:

The items I checked (XXX) above are, some of them, below.

I’ve pasted the email I sent to a few friends, expressing my feelings about finding “Chet Muklewicz, Ed.D.,” whose PA based nonprofit (I googled it.  It’s a residential area outside Scranton) is operating through the Kentucky (not California) courts and leads to promotions of books by Philip Stahl, Ph.D. and you name it — mostly about not alienating one’s kids of course.

1. Kids First – Helping Children Cope with Divorce and Family Conflict

   Kids First Parenting Plan · Divorce is Not the End of the World … Click Here to Order by Mail.KIDS FIRST. 1527 Adams Avenue Dunmore, PA …
   www.kidsfirst.cc/ – Cached – Similar

   ►

http://www.dcprovidersonline.com/afcc/?event_id=AFCC7

Session : AFCC8113 From Lecture to Life Conference : 8th International Congress on Parent Education and Access Programs Speaker(s) :

Download Format(s) : MP3 $15.00

Empowerment, self-awareness, resilience, optimism and hope are not words usually associatedwith Divorce Education. Kids’Turn nowteaches life skills that participants can take with theminto their reorganized families and lives. Kids’Turn, together with consultants 6 Seconds Emotional Intelligence International Trainers, have created a curriculum that focuses on families undergoing reorganization, for a better future. From didactic to interactive teaching, they have added humor based on current educational research on how participants learn and retain information.

Steve Kinney, M.A., President, Kids’ Turn, San Jose, CA

Elyse Jacobs, MFA, Program Director, Kids’ Turn, San Francisco, CA PUSHING PARENT EDUCATION — BECAUSE IT PAYS — THE THERAPISTS & PROVIDERS…

Session : AFCC8112 Parent Education as Part of a Thriving Practice Conference : 8th International Congress on Parent Education and Access Programs Speaker(s) :

Download Format(s) : MP3 $15.00

Jurisdictions vary in their requirements for co-parenting education and in how they make classes available. Some districts fund their own services, but others rely on local professionals to develop effective programs. This workshop will illustrate how a creative individual trained first in psychotherapy can build a gratifying practice by adding divorce education as one specialty service. Even when a court selects or certifies multiple providers, a diligent professional can achieve a successful practice by offering parent education aswell as psychotherapy, evaluation,mediation and other services.

Shirley Thomas, Ph.D., Longmont, CO Session : AFCC8117 Creatively Advancing Parent Education with Federal Access & Visitation Grant Funds: The Colorado Experience Conference : 8th International Congress on Parent Education and Access Programs Speaker(s) : Download Format(s) : MP3 $15.00 Panelists will describe the U.S. Federal Access &Visitation (AV) Grant program, aswell as provide pertinent research on the effectiveness of Parent Education programs funded by the AV grant. This workshop will include representatives from Colorado who will discuss the use of AV grant funds in Colorado with a particular emphasis on introducing parent education into rural and/or underserved districts.Theworkshopwill focus on one rural community’s experience in implementing their parenting education program, including its formation; parent education volunteer training; and the development of parenting education curriculum developed with the AV grant funds. Tracie L. Pogue, MDiv., MSW, Access & Visitation Grant Manager, HHS/ACF – Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement, Washington, DC Sharon Daly, J.D., Projects Manager, Office of Dispute Resolution, State Court Administrator’s Office, Colorado Judicial Branch, Denver, CO Cindie Farmer, B.A., Family Court Facilitator-Domestic/Juvenile, 15th Judicial District, Prowers District Court, Lamar, CO Robert M. Smith, J.D., Windsor, CO Session : AFCC8118 Research for Rookies Conference : 8th International Congress on Parent Education and Access Programs Speaker(s) : Download Format(s) : MP3 $15.00 Thisworkshop is for thosewho have been a little too busy, ambivalent, or avoidant to conduct research on their program. It will be a report on one divorce educator’s journey into theworld of empirical evidence. Participants can expect a wealth of information on past research models, outcomes measures, instrumentation, statistical designs, funding resources, discovering local academic resources and much more. Chet Muklewicz, Ed.D., Kids First, Dunmore, PA

Kids First: Children Coping with Divorce and Family Conflict

Kids First program is designed for parents to help their children cope with separation, divorce, and family conflict.

Parents are presented with information about how parental relationships have a direct effect on the children and how children might respond at different ages. Parents learn that parental conflict hurts children and, more importantly, learn what they can do to help their children to adjust to the changes in their family.

For additional information, contact Kids First, 1527 Adams Avenue, Dunmore, PA 18509 or 570-341-2007

Session : AFCC8116 Cooperative Co-parenting vs. Parallel Parenting Conference : 8th International Congress on Parent Education and Access Programs Speaker(s) :

Download Format(s) : MP3 $15.00

While cooperative co-parenting is often held up as the ideal, itmay not be effective for parents in high conflict, those with personality disorders or when domestic violence has occurred. Parallel parenting is often effective for thosewhowant do the best job of parenting their childrenwhileminimizing communication and conflict. This workshop will examine the key distinctions between co-parenting and parallel parenting andwill help participants understand how to help parents understand their conflict and utilize the post-divorce parenting strategiesmost suited to their family.

Philip M. Stahl, Ph.D., Author, Parenting After Divorce, Queen Creek, AZ

“CHILDREN IN THE MIDDLE”:

I am beginning to think that Wisconsin (Northern US border) and Texas (Southern US border) are sister-states, based on some of their family-issues connection plus the jet-setting, access-visitation-sponsored conference connections. . . . . This is one.

[@ “Children in the Middle” is one of the approved, mandatory, Milwaukee County parenting programs found at Ms. Diel’s “Parent Education” site.  Justifying my concept of “who would take these classes (if not forced to by law in the process of getting divorced”) I found that searching WSPP and this title, only 2 occurrences showed up.   One of them was a Jewish Family Services, and apparently a variant, “Kids in the Middle [r]” in this paragraph:

What kinds of counseling services are offered by Jewish Family Services?

Jewish Family Services (JFS) offers a wide range of counseling and therapy options, from individual and group therapy, marriage and family therapy, grief counseling and assistance toindividuals who are struggling with mental and physical illness or disability. JFS offers programs in anger management, Co-Parenting Children of Divorce, Kids in the Middle® program, Collaborative Divorce Mediation and Parent Communication Coaching. For older adults, JFS offers Late Life Counseling.

….Obviously divorce appears to (as far as professionals are concerned) put one in the category of an individuals struggling with mental and physical illness or disability.  Whether this is a casual or causal relationship, may be a moot point.  You wanna divorce in Wisconsin?  You must do it the right way — and there is a toll booth. Only approved classes. …..

ANYHOW — “Children in the Middle” is mos definitely a going concern –and a business concept that seems to originate with another (AFCC, etc., yada yada yada) professional out of — get this — Tarrant County, Texas.  Which I was looking at recently, in light of how ‘Fatherhood, fatherhood, fatherhood” (and AFCC_connected) it’s Access Visitation Funding was.  Having a Texas Supreme Court Judge who is an AFCC member probably helps keep it going, not to mention Texas OAG personnel such as Michael Hayes and his evolutionary concept  of how to expand the access visitation funding and make child support enforcement include “emotional support” funding……, etc.)

BRADLEY CRAIG, received his Master’s Degree in Social Work at UTA and is a Licensed Social Worker and Certified Family Life Educator. He is a noted co-parent educator in the North Texas area, and has developed a number of parent education programs for families raising children in two homes. He began specializing in working with families raising children between two homes in 1992 when he was hired by Tarrant County to conduct social study investigations and provide mediation sessions. He helped them design an orientation for litigating families offered by the county.

{{WELFARE REFORM< ADDING “ACCESS VISITATION” LEGISLATION & APPROPRIATIONS — $10/mil/year nationwide– 1996 – purpose, to ‘facilitate” some of the services, such as parenting education…. to increase [primarily male] noncustodial parenting time…}}

In 1998, he developed the Children in the Middle Co-parenting Education class. Brad left the County in 1999 to open up a program called Children in the Middle Co-parenting Services, Inc., a comprehensive agency designed to help adults raise children between two homes.In addition, he began offering consultation sessions where he would meet with couples and their significant others to develop a shared parenting plan. Children in the Middle Co-parenting Services, Inc. was closed in December of 2003 when Brad was hired to develop and maintain a co-parenting program with a social service organization. He is currently in private practice and contracts with organizations to provide services to families.   {{translation — probably gets court- and child support, and what not referrals….}}

As a social worker and family life educator, Brad is a trained family law mediator and provides family law mediation training currently with other organizations. In addition, he offers training for other professionals to structure approaches to help these children being raised between two homes. He works with divorcing families and those with continuing custody/parenting time issue as a Family Mediator, Collaborative Law Allied Professional, Co-parenting Case Manager, Co-parenting Coach, Educator, Parenting Facilitator, and Parenting Coordinator. {{SOMEONE has to keep all those functions straight; who better than a parenting “coordinator”?}}

Brad has written curriculum for co-parent education programs and has developed educational videos. He has been a guest speaker on many television and radio programs and is often asked to speak at local, state and national conferences on co-parenting issues. He hosted an ongoing cable television series “The Children in the Middle Show,” aimed at educating viewers about both the effects of parental conflict after a separation on children and the services available to help families through co-parenting issues.

Brad continues his education through the following organizations, alphabetical and probably in order of influence, too.

Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC)

Texas AFCC 
National Association of Social Workers
National Council on Family Relations
International Academy of Collaborative Professionals
Collaborative Lawyers of Arlington and Mansfield
Phi Kappa Phi
Tarrant and Dallas County Family Law Bar Associations

Children in the middle co-parenting class (notice titles to the parts, from Part 1, for adults, “Topics covered include:

• You
• The Victim Mindset
• Domestic Violence”

(Subliminal, much?  You, Victim Mindset — you weren’t thinking of reporting domestic violence, were you???)

…..to the part, addressed to the adults, about the children…..

• Co-parenting Vocabulary
• Benefits of Co-parenting
• Alienating Behaviors  [such as reporting child abuse, etc….]

See, “AFCC” truly IS, literally  a professional development association, as in, they DEVELOP Professions and then refer each other to these developed professions.  As this gentleman’s case illustrates, it helps greatly to have social service connections (and funding).  AND, through the miracle of the World Wide Web, one’s classes can be marketed on the opposite end of the country (Wisconsin, obviously, in this case), or globally, like Kids’ Turn.  The business model does not, I repeat, does NOT entail the practitioners putting their own money into, unless after otherwise allocating their government, nonprofit and federal program fund administrator paychecks, they might want to share a bit with a local nonprofit, and get their name on there as donors…..

LINKS page to “Community Resources” (are you in the IN crowd as a practioner, or not? such as….)

Legal Services

Dallas Bar Association- Attorney and Mediator Referrals, 214-220-7400,LEGALINE – Dallas Bar Association, 2nd and 3rd Wednesday of each month 5-9 p m, 214 969-7066
Legal Services of North Texas– Legal services for low-income families in Dallas county, 214 7481234
Tarrant Bar Association- Attorney and Mediator Referrals, 817-338-4092,
West Texas Legal Services, Legal services for low -income families in Tarrant county, 817-336-9343

> > > > > >  TEXAS based….
Texas Father’s for Equal Rights– Tarrant County assistance for members in resolution of their pre and post divorce problems.

> > > > > Same Idea, on NATIONAL . . . .
Father’s for Equal Rights– Dallas County assistance providing very specific hands-on services to fathers, grandparents, and others who have a current or future case in the Dallas or surrounding areas, or who have children in this geographic area.  < < < < < < < <
Texas Law Help– 1-800-252-9690
Texas Legal Services Center

Are there ANY more questions, class, that AFCC is in the business of marketing (see books, above) and that what it is in the business of marketing includes parental alienation (and they don’t care whether it’s junk science or not, nor should you — you should care more about the marketing behaviors, which make whether it’s good policy or not a moot point.  You are not dealing with people who give a crap!  There is an agenda, GET IT?

THere should also be zero question that the public is picking up some – if not most — of the tab for this, in the forms of paying the IRS, which then pays Access Visitation grants funding, the courts themselves, the child support incentives to the states to connect Dads with their kids and (allegedly!) reduce TANF loads (IS it?).

(for more on that, look up ‘COMPROMISE OF ARREARS __ FAMILY REUNIFICATION” (or wait til I post on that).

By the time I finish publicizing all this, people may be less included to put their name all over the place as nonprofit donors.  …. Of course, I”m no Erin Brockovich (yet)….

…