by Julia Fletcher
A few mothers, each with an armful of clear evidence of crimes and corruption in Connecticut family courts, visited the Bridgeport, Connecticut office of the FBI yesterday.
One FBI agent told one of the mothers that what she was saying didn’t make sense to him. He said he’s sure that family court judges don’t take abused children from protective mothers to give full custody of the abused children to the fathers who abused them. The FBI agents then turned away the mothers and their evidence.
At least FOX News is investigating the family court crisis. Let’s hope FOX News will knock on the FBI office doors in Bridgeport, Connecticut to ask why that office turned away those mothers and their evidence.
While we wait for someone to investigate why that FBI office won’t investigate, maybe other FBI agents – except for the FBI in Michigan – will want to watch this video about one family court case. It’s a fine example of what happens.
Now we need the FBI to figure out how it happens in family courts all over the country.
Family Court in America 
RE the top comment, above:, BillD:
“I believe there should be a overall restructure of how courts operate by consolidating Domestic Violence cases with Family Law and Criminal cases by adding an oversight Committee to keep watch of how Courts handle cases. Many don’t know how often Domestic Violence victims are treated unfairly and further multiple abuse continues to sky rocket. I also believe officers of court should have additional mandatory Domestic Violence education and training so that it properly streamlines with fairness which is the main problem with all courts.”
Bill, are you affiliated with any particular nonprofit? Because this kind of consolidation is already happening (I actually call family court the “off-ramp” for batterers). It is THE agenda for the UFC (unified family courts) movement. I find it stranger than strange that people still believe that training, and oversight committees, are going to make the difference!!!
DV Training is where a lot of money is diverted from, for example, shelters. Then DV Experts collaborate with FR experts on the TANF (welfare) circuit. Looking at their backgrounds, some of these are a little hostile to single mother — which is what women become when they leave abuse.
Several of the groups listed on the blogroll are recommending fatherhood promotion AS reducing child abuse. I am working on two blogs right now addressing the money trail and hope people get a look at some of this as it develops. My comments above (I think) link to each of them. My voice is going to sound different than the ones to the right because I am not a nonprofit, not on the grants system, and so far, not selling anything. FYI, I’m currently looking t one of the grantees who represents an organization on the USDOJ “Defending Childhood Initiative” Children Exposed to Violence. It’s a very prominent person, probably worthy project — but they are not filing their state tax returns Something’s up with that, and shouldn’t be ignored (Homeboy Industries from Los Angeles, FYI).
I hate to break this news, but “someone else” is not going to handle these issues. WE have to — and “WE” don’t have the power or resources to at this point. But we can follow this money trail, or at least parts of it, and possibly talk about what we find. Believe me, it’s an eyeopener!!
The link here were tax dollars used to “flip” custody in your child’s case (NAFCJ) makes a lot of sense to me– it takes nerves of steel and also listening to one’s gut (safety issues, in other words). The other option I am exploring is exposing the special funds — involved in these cases — but they have to be looked up on financial statements (governmental) called CAFRs, which takes a little learning curve to understand (not major, but some time). Kind of learning to drive while driving down the road (of life).
I believe there should be a overall restructure of how courts operate by consolidating Domestic Violence cases with Family Law and Criminal cases by adding an oversight Committee to keep watch of how Courts handle cases. Many don’t know how often Domestic Violence victims are treated unfairly and further multiple abuse continues to sky rocket. I also believe officers of court should have additional mandatory Domestic Violence education and training so that it properly streamlines with fairness which is the main problem with all courts.
Dear Honest,
It’s my understanding that the FBI agents in that FBI office wanted the moms to talk ONLY about their custody cases and refused to hear or receive any information like that which you’ve clearly already investigated.
You could save the taxpayers in Connecticut billions of dollars if you’d take a job in that FBI office. Any chance of you moving to Connecticut any time soon?
How many people here are aware that the AFCC and the BWJP (a project of Duluth Abuse Intervention Programs up in Minnesota) actually collaborated to kinda sorta think about domestic violence in custody matters? How many people ever bother to read a conference agenda for one of these groups, or go to TAGGS hhs gov and look up their funding? It’s not rocket science to do that — and I was extremely traumatized myself (had ZERO contact with my kids and was brought to 100% unemployment as a result of the custody battle, as it played out) . . . but I didn’t use that for an excuse, once I got some valid leads, which people like Cindy Ross, NAFCJ (Liz richard’s website), Marv Byer (los angeles) Richard Fine (who literally was disbarred and spent 18 months in solitary confinement for exposing this type of corruption) — had already provided.
AFCC runs the family courts and groups like BWJP (battered women’s justice programs) make sure – professional courtesy, I guess — that what each of them is doing doesn’t really get examined. AFCC tries to diminish the language of criminal law and change it into a matter of behavioral science. WHY? their membership is in the business of dispensing treatment to as many people as possible, and as much as possible at public expense. The DV industry has been centralized into a training (technical resources) dispensation center, and are in the business of sales. They do not focus on dispensing REAL help, more than short-term, to battered mothers. BWJP, corporately speaking, is a “project” of DAIP — but its website is alongside “Praxis” which has a link on here, I see.
I looked at one software industry taking the money from this, and it’s produced a multimillionaire (not even from the US originally) who owns most of a soccer team, and a mansion or two in South Carolina (“Blackbaud”). Groups trademark their product, and sell it through the child support and welfare systems.
it is a business model. The set of links to the right shows me that someone has not really looked at this business model yet, or they might see how much the family violence prevention fund is taking in — and what it’s doing with that money (it now has a new name, Futures without Violence, etc.).
I believe mothers have a responsibility to quit signing on for any nonprofit or advocacy professional that shows up offering help (seeking followers), and to screen professionals they refer to each other a lot better as well. We probably wouldn’t be in this spot had we ALL made that a practice from the start, or at least immediately on discovering a situation. As I’ve said, my children are now adults, and I’m continuing to write for a better future for them. The ECONOMIC factor is often where we’re defeated, and until we start prioritizing looking at where this money is going, as far as I’m concerned, we deserve what we get when signing on to become some other group’s “warm body” justifying the latest federally-funded or privately-funded program. Or simply part of an individual practitioner’s resume….
Three years after custody switch, I started a blog reporting on the grants which were the financial incentives to switch custody away from non-abuse parents, often mothers, and on the organizational and system set up. I blogged there, and was active on forums, etc., for three more years now — and am still astounded that advocacy groups are choosing the same “please help us stop corruption” pleas backed by advocacy groups (for protective parents) which specifically chose NOt to report on these matters. This includes CPPA, BMCC, etc.
Women and mothers need to get at least as good a grip as fathers have on how the child support system works, and what programs it’s funding. But they won’t so long as there are rallies to attend, and someone can call attention to MY judge or HER problem or anecdotal case information.
This is from a blog I just set up to talk about the Comprehensive Annual Financial Statements — so that we can start looking at the special funds, including children’s trust, child support (collected), abuse prevention, etc. — and asking our politicians why they are holding this money.
From http (slash) economicbrain(dot)wordpress(dot) com post:
“Apparently this is what our society (government) does, and has been conditioned to do, when a problem is identified and labeled:
“It sets up a nonprofit, a website, seeks funders, develops experts (if there are none), or quotes them (if there are) and throws money at it. Then those who receive the money travel around talking about it and seeking more money (recruiting membership dues, running seminars, or selling books).
“This apparently is JUST FINE with the Federal Government. Those causes which it adopts then get their crusaders, and more money is thrown that way to calm the masses. A great example of this is the recent administration’s “Defending Childhood Initiative” or “Taskforce for Children Exposed to Violence.” Many children are exposed to violence surrounding divorce or custody matters — this is by now known, yet there isn’t a single person on the taskforce who is addressing or represents the issue of the family court system’s distortion of criminal law into behavioral science.
“In another season, the problem might be “divorce.” So, what is the solution? An “emergency” is announced, and to address it — each time — it’s necessary to restructure government to get a faster response time and free up more funds to solve the problem. This is how the Governor of Oklahoma decided to handle that issue — by seizing a pool of money that had been set aside from TANF and “divert” it to programming supporting not the first, but the fourth purpose of welfare — encourage the formation of two-parent families. the rest is history — part of US history. As a result of this, that drain is still open, and money being poured down it — I mean “grants.”
FYI, behind this whole setup was “smartmarriage(dot) com” which is a trademarked conference run by a WDC “LLC” owned by Diane Sollee. it’s been going on for at least ten years, and is where people get into the franchise system (this includes for fatherhood programming, not just marriage), and FYI Mo Hannah, PhD of the well-known battered mothers’ custody conference knows about this — but for some reason did not choose to talk about it AT the BMCC
“Building Intimate Relationships: Bridging Treatment, Education, and
Enrichment through the PAIRS Program (2003/Brunner-Routledge).
* * * Edited by Rita DeMaria and Mo Therese Hannah. * * * * An illuminating overview
of the PAIRS program written by Gordon and PAIRS Master Teachers
that includes practical info about PAIRS exercises and techniques, discussions of theory,
intimacy, communication, conflict resolution, ‘emotional literacy’, contracting,
sensuality and sexuality, spirituality, stepfamilies, programs for youth,
gender issues, ethics, and program implementation and research.
“It’s instructive for anyone who wants to understand the development
of marriage education – the evolution from marital therapy to marriage
education – and a must read for anyone who plans to attend the PAIRS training.”
Our own government (HHS) is paying for this programming and helping set up corporations to market it. VAWA and the FR groups are actually in the same business, flip sides of the same coin (media campaigns and setting up distribution & training centers for the subject matter, and developing a leadership network that draws federal funding down, year after year). while they are entrenched already AND expanding, for some reasons, mothers are encouraged to attend rallies, refer professionals who are playing both sides of the fence, and ask to be rescued, etc.
I say this as a mother concerned for my kids’ futures. They are now “aged out” and I sure wish someone had had the heart to get this information out to me — before they aged out!! The same groups promoting these videos were around while I was looking for help in a custody battle. They talked PAS and barely mentioned AFCC. When a few people did (Helen Grieco, Rachel Allen, etc of CANOW at the time), a group that chose to ignore this information became a nonprofit and being already in the PR field, sought the microphone, and platforms, and derailed and diluted that conversation, which HAS to take place — accurately.
Please allow this comment and at least let women looking for help have a range of choices in what they pursue. I focus on the financial trail, and also speak as a domestic violence survivor, single custodial then (overnight) noncustodial mother and watched this happen. I also have been a Christian, but this doesn’t mean being silent on the religious intent to cover up all kinds of abuse, and participation in grabbing funds that would otherwise help women leave it.
These are simply systems, and they CAN be understood, starting with who is and who is not our friend when it comes to preventing crime. Government, specifically, now functions like a corporation. It is not our protector; there are things to understand before showing up and demanding something from it (like the eleventh amendment, immunity, etc.).
I spent the last ten (at least) years locally in an area where many of the leading advocacy groups came from and have watched them in action, closely, as well as the courts (i.e. Northern California). It’s time to understand nonprofit advocacy groups for what they are — corporations– and what the interests of any corporation is, regardless of its cause. Please (please, please, please!!!!!) quit focusing on publicity-grabbing anecdotal cases and simply do more homework. Showing up uninformed in who you’re protesting with and dealing with doesn’t impress anyone. It just gets some press. Then what? (the public has a real short attention span).
Connect the grants and diversions to the public’s bottom line and see what happens then!
Available for communication through comments on any of the blogs. See also Anne Stevenson’s Huffington Post blog on the 5 most HHS dangerous programs for women and children, and how this works ,and follow up on the money as much as you follow up on ‘problems.” If this has been going on for over a decade, i believe it’s fair to say, some people in authority simply don’t give a damn. But they might if it’s shown where the funds are coming from and going to.
That sounds like a great idea Rebecca.
Maybe those who know about that area of the law could put together a booklet of some kind and make it available for the various agencies serving the public – like legal aid offices and domestic violence shelters.
One huge mountain standing in front of victims of family court fraud is the absolute exhaustion we feel after endless years of litigation – just to protect our children.
Many have been so devastated – emotionally, physically and/or financially – we can barely tie our shoes in the morning or make one more phone call to one more government office to ask someone to help. I am a firm believer in fully expecting the agencies already in place to do the work they’re supposed to do. It sounds like maybe a booklet of that kind might help them do their jobs.
Julia, I have found that the Family Court systems are not giving “full faith and credit to public acts” as per Article 4 of the Constitution. The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) contains the elements for protection from financial abuse and emotional abuse.
I would like to see lawsuits all over US challenging these courts for the violations.
I believe 56 states and territories split the 680 million dollars allocated for protection of women and children seeking to leave abuse. The states have only designated battery as abuse and are therefore discriminating against the women who try to leave abuse.
Could we develop a committee and training to begin to force the states to protect the women and children as per the VAWA and VACA?
Rebecca Potter