Dear Julia Fletcher, and other viewers — there is a HUGE back-story behind this poster, including the role of the Cummings Foundation sponsoring this conference. Who Nicholas Cummings is, matters. I am blogging it now (3rd post of 3 so far) over at http://familycourtmatters.wordpress.com. You also have a presenter on there (at least one) who is AFCC leadership (Leslie Drozd).
Our family courts are not “broken” — I HATE that phrase, and I’m a DV survivor who suffered an overnight, illegal (criminal actual) custody-switch (a ploy to eliminate child support from the father — last child support my kids got til they aged out) and regain control of the children by (my) relatives when there was no legal or factual basis for this. I have lived the nightmare, but one thing I do differently is evaluate information i get — is it logical, is it relevant, and is it going to make a difference for others?
A decade or so of characterizing how charming batterers are, and believing that judges are too simple-minded to see through them, plus complaining about PAS, hasn’t even slowed down PAS as a legal ploy being promoted and used, to this day.
Instead, let’s take a better look at the operational systems of the court, i.e., where’s the profit, and WHO profits, in making really bad custody decisions resulting in poverty, trauma, and ongoing litigation? And can a crooked judge be made straight by better training from professionals who know the truth that PAS theory is fraudulent (or, at a minimum, a made-up term handy for fathers’ rights groups). How much money is really being directed to the family law system from welfare (believe me, it is) and so forth.
Anne Stevenson (I see to right there’s an RSS on the Huffington Post/Conference of Mayors article) also knows about this funding, and tracks it. I also have about 4 comments on that article explaining the setup in short form.
Unfortunately – -not having more accurate information available out on the net, and grabbing on to the only support groups I knew (and authors, such as Mr. Bancroft) which at least IDENTIFIED and VALIDATED that batterers are manipulative and are getting custody (like their target spouses don’t know this?) — has cost my own children, family, (me) and the colleagues very dearly. That’s why I continue to blog (pretty much, for free) these matters. Because I wish someone had told me in time.
There are lobbying groups (nonprofits) set up which consist of people who run the courts or take business from them; these include many times JUDGES. These judges then can refer business to their associates, and thus a case has a foregone conclusion. They also go from state to state, change practice and then push through legislative change to endorse their new professions, which are literally invented from year to year (cf. Parenting Coordination). This is more than just poor judicial decisions – it’s a serious drain on the economy and is (or has?) eliminated the Bill of Rights and Constitution as relevant, just about. All is “therapy” for anyone so psychologically disordered as to seek separation from an abuser, and be serious about protecting his/her kids from that abuse.
It is seriously high time to look up from your ex, or people who act like your ex, and understand the operations of the systems that seem to favor criminal behavior in family law arena. This takes some inner strength, because it may result in being excommunicated from support groups which are more into support and validation, than system change.
The phrase “our broken courts” should be offensive to anyone who understands that the purpose of the family law system was to get more mental health professionals into people’s lives, at county (state) expense, and (as per AFCC own history change) to soften the language defining crime and reframe it as a relationship problem. Hence all the “relationship” experts all over the place.
Contact Ms. Stevenson if you don’t believe me — or get through some of my posts. This is not breaking news — (NAFCJ.net has been reporting it since 1993. Note– Liz Richards (NAFCJ blog author, in WDC area) is not doing the conference circuit or moving product about, “the judges just need better training” about how tricky those batterers and child abusers are (typically promoted by the people wanting in on the training). She’s lobbying Congressional offices to stop the marriage/fatherhood funding (ain’t helping decent Dads, particularly either) which began in earnest (1996) with welfare reform. California NOQW (2002, 2005) reported it. Marv Byer (Los Angeles, 1990s) reported it at johnnypumphandle.com. Richard Fine went to jail for some of this in 2009, and was disbarred.
The background on this particular conference with the sad title “Our Broken Courts” (come here, and let me fix your boo-boo is implied, just consult us….) is important, because it deals with how one man (Nicholas Cummings) and his family (see the site) have begun to tie psychology-managed behavioral healthcare into primary care — meaning, accessing the money for more psychologists. He helped set up FOUR schools of psychology in California, and many of us have probably dealt with some of the graduates. This is about promoting the profession of psychology — not fixing the courts. The courts are important to this profession because they are gatekeepers to obtain a steady business stream from distressed (and probably, by the time it gets to their practitioners) very disturbed parents.
I am looking for individuals that are willing to continue looking these things up and blogging them, to counter some of the misinformation put out by better-funded coalitions and so-called advocacy groups who fail to take it into account when proposing solutions.
There is a HUGE amount of money coming from the federal government to the states in the form of Title IV-A, IV-D, & IV-E (Foster care, I think) etc. There are incentives to traffick children into foster care, and drug them, or adopt them out. This is not something to be ignored, and as I can show — and his site is clear about — the Cummings Foundation is very much aware of this.
I think psychologists and psychiatrists are fine — for people who CHOOSE to use their services, or are a serious danger to themselves. I do not think that the fact a person separates or divorces should precipitate a forced appearance in front of some, or forced enrollment in a series of “psychoeducational classes” (at your, or government) expense about it’s the KIds’ Turn, or you ought sit through a seminar on how to to put “Kids’ First.” in your life. Many parents already are, that’s why they separated. The people running that franchise are not putting kids first, they are putting profit first (theirs, not the children’s)….
We need to become very discriminating about who we hang out with and who are the helper organizations in life. Some are wonderful, but many are simply Trojan Horses.
Thanks to Julia if she publishes this long comment. PS. If I sound really opinionated, in part it may be from the School of Hard Knocks, and/or it may be that I’m pushing 60 (as of tomorrow), but was 40+ when began this process. Also — (see blogs) — I do my homework.
The family court system is broken deffidently when you have a hearing and the judge just listens to your spouses side and ignores your side of the story
I am so sorry for your loss.
You are not alone in not understanding how our family courts have come to be this way. I don’t think any of us understand. And if there is any comfort in knowing that you and your family are not alone, the title of this conference,”Our Broken Family Court System“, says it all.
The Court system has FAILED two of my grandchildren. One is DEAD and the other suffers from SEVERE PTSD for life. I don’t understand it but it needs serious REFORM. We can’t allow any more lives to be lost in the hands of these ABUSERS!
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Family Court in America 
Dear Julia Fletcher, and other viewers — there is a HUGE back-story behind this poster, including the role of the Cummings Foundation sponsoring this conference. Who Nicholas Cummings is, matters. I am blogging it now (3rd post of 3 so far) over at http://familycourtmatters.wordpress.com. You also have a presenter on there (at least one) who is AFCC leadership (Leslie Drozd).
Our family courts are not “broken” — I HATE that phrase, and I’m a DV survivor who suffered an overnight, illegal (criminal actual) custody-switch (a ploy to eliminate child support from the father — last child support my kids got til they aged out) and regain control of the children by (my) relatives when there was no legal or factual basis for this. I have lived the nightmare, but one thing I do differently is evaluate information i get — is it logical, is it relevant, and is it going to make a difference for others?
A decade or so of characterizing how charming batterers are, and believing that judges are too simple-minded to see through them, plus complaining about PAS, hasn’t even slowed down PAS as a legal ploy being promoted and used, to this day.
Instead, let’s take a better look at the operational systems of the court, i.e., where’s the profit, and WHO profits, in making really bad custody decisions resulting in poverty, trauma, and ongoing litigation? And can a crooked judge be made straight by better training from professionals who know the truth that PAS theory is fraudulent (or, at a minimum, a made-up term handy for fathers’ rights groups). How much money is really being directed to the family law system from welfare (believe me, it is) and so forth.
Anne Stevenson (I see to right there’s an RSS on the Huffington Post/Conference of Mayors article) also knows about this funding, and tracks it. I also have about 4 comments on that article explaining the setup in short form.
Unfortunately – -not having more accurate information available out on the net, and grabbing on to the only support groups I knew (and authors, such as Mr. Bancroft) which at least IDENTIFIED and VALIDATED that batterers are manipulative and are getting custody (like their target spouses don’t know this?) — has cost my own children, family, (me) and the colleagues very dearly. That’s why I continue to blog (pretty much, for free) these matters. Because I wish someone had told me in time.
There are lobbying groups (nonprofits) set up which consist of people who run the courts or take business from them; these include many times JUDGES. These judges then can refer business to their associates, and thus a case has a foregone conclusion. They also go from state to state, change practice and then push through legislative change to endorse their new professions, which are literally invented from year to year (cf. Parenting Coordination). This is more than just poor judicial decisions – it’s a serious drain on the economy and is (or has?) eliminated the Bill of Rights and Constitution as relevant, just about. All is “therapy” for anyone so psychologically disordered as to seek separation from an abuser, and be serious about protecting his/her kids from that abuse.
It is seriously high time to look up from your ex, or people who act like your ex, and understand the operations of the systems that seem to favor criminal behavior in family law arena. This takes some inner strength, because it may result in being excommunicated from support groups which are more into support and validation, than system change.
The phrase “our broken courts” should be offensive to anyone who understands that the purpose of the family law system was to get more mental health professionals into people’s lives, at county (state) expense, and (as per AFCC own history change) to soften the language defining crime and reframe it as a relationship problem. Hence all the “relationship” experts all over the place.
Contact Ms. Stevenson if you don’t believe me — or get through some of my posts. This is not breaking news — (NAFCJ.net has been reporting it since 1993. Note– Liz Richards (NAFCJ blog author, in WDC area) is not doing the conference circuit or moving product about, “the judges just need better training” about how tricky those batterers and child abusers are (typically promoted by the people wanting in on the training). She’s lobbying Congressional offices to stop the marriage/fatherhood funding (ain’t helping decent Dads, particularly either) which began in earnest (1996) with welfare reform. California NOQW (2002, 2005) reported it. Marv Byer (Los Angeles, 1990s) reported it at johnnypumphandle.com. Richard Fine went to jail for some of this in 2009, and was disbarred.
The background on this particular conference with the sad title “Our Broken Courts” (come here, and let me fix your boo-boo is implied, just consult us….) is important, because it deals with how one man (Nicholas Cummings) and his family (see the site) have begun to tie psychology-managed behavioral healthcare into primary care — meaning, accessing the money for more psychologists. He helped set up FOUR schools of psychology in California, and many of us have probably dealt with some of the graduates. This is about promoting the profession of psychology — not fixing the courts. The courts are important to this profession because they are gatekeepers to obtain a steady business stream from distressed (and probably, by the time it gets to their practitioners) very disturbed parents.
http://familycourtmatters.wordpress.com and if you’re from Pennsylvania (was asked to set up this one, it has good links), http://lackawannafamilycourtfederal.blogspot.com. See also several posts at http://randijames.com, as she also blogged the AFCC,HHS,OCSE (child support) etc. connections.
I am looking for individuals that are willing to continue looking these things up and blogging them, to counter some of the misinformation put out by better-funded coalitions and so-called advocacy groups who fail to take it into account when proposing solutions.
There is a HUGE amount of money coming from the federal government to the states in the form of Title IV-A, IV-D, & IV-E (Foster care, I think) etc. There are incentives to traffick children into foster care, and drug them, or adopt them out. This is not something to be ignored, and as I can show — and his site is clear about — the Cummings Foundation is very much aware of this.
I think psychologists and psychiatrists are fine — for people who CHOOSE to use their services, or are a serious danger to themselves. I do not think that the fact a person separates or divorces should precipitate a forced appearance in front of some, or forced enrollment in a series of “psychoeducational classes” (at your, or government) expense about it’s the KIds’ Turn, or you ought sit through a seminar on how to to put “Kids’ First.” in your life. Many parents already are, that’s why they separated. The people running that franchise are not putting kids first, they are putting profit first (theirs, not the children’s)….
We need to become very discriminating about who we hang out with and who are the helper organizations in life. Some are wonderful, but many are simply Trojan Horses.
Thanks to Julia if she publishes this long comment. PS. If I sound really opinionated, in part it may be from the School of Hard Knocks, and/or it may be that I’m pushing 60 (as of tomorrow), but was 40+ when began this process. Also — (see blogs) — I do my homework.
The family court system is broken deffidently when you have a hearing and the judge just listens to your spouses side and ignores your side of the story
I am so sorry for your loss.
You are not alone in not understanding how our family courts have come to be this way. I don’t think any of us understand. And if there is any comfort in knowing that you and your family are not alone, the title of this conference,”Our Broken Family Court System“, says it all.
The Court system has FAILED two of my grandchildren. One is DEAD and the other suffers from SEVERE PTSD for life. I don’t understand it but it needs serious REFORM. We can’t allow any more lives to be lost in the hands of these ABUSERS!