Monday, January 14, 2013

Connecting the Sniper case to family court corruption and federal fatherhood program fraud

John Muhammad, a Devoted Dad?
Connecting the Sniper case to family court corruption and federal fatherhood program fraud.  (Part 1)
by Cindy Ross © October 28, 2002

http://www.newsmakingnews.com/ross,cindy10,28,02.htm

For three weeks in October, the "Beltway Sniper" terrorized the Metropolitan Washington, DC area. Ten people were shot to death and three seriously wounded while they were doing routine activities like shopping, mowing grass, pumping gas, or going to school. The "Sniper" left cryptic and chilling messages referring to himself as "God" and threatening that children were not safe "anywhere, at any time."
After 22 days, following leads that took them from Maryland to Alabama and New Jersey to Tacoma, Washington, authorities arrested two suspects. John Allen Muhammad, 41, and John Lee Malvo, 17 were found at a rest stop sleeping in their car. Rifles confiscated from Muhammad's vehicle included an XM-15 and ballistic tests linked the rifle to the .223 caliber bullets used to shoot most of the victims.
Although John Muhammad has been described as a Muslim sympathetic to the September 11 attacks, a neighbor who knew him in Washington State described him as "... far less interested in talking religion than he was in complaining about his estranged second wife and the custody dispute over their three children". See NY Times, "Once Calmed by Faith, Suspect Turned Furious".
URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/27/national/nationalspecial/27RELI.html

The Washington Post described Mr. Muhammad as a twice divorced "frustrated  father...whose ex-wives didn't trust him with his children." See Washington Post, "John Allen Muhammad".
URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14152-2002Oct24.html

Mr. Muhammad's ex-wives had good reason not to trust him, as well as to be fearful for their safety.  In violation of court orders, he abducted his three children (with his second wife Mildred) and took them to Antigua.  He later enrolled them in school in Tacoma under false names.  According to Mildred Muhammad, John was "a handy gun enthusiast" who "can make a weapon out of anything" and who threatened to kill her.  After she finally regained custody in Washington State, Ms. Muhammad fled into hiding in Maryland.
According to the NY Times, authorities in Tacoma are reviewing unsolved murder cases that might be linked to John Muhammad. They are especially interested in the death of Keenya Cook, who was shot in the face on Feb. 16 when she opened her front door.  Ms. Cook was the niece of a woman (Isa Nichols) who had worked for Mr. Muhammad as a bookkeeper.  Ms. Nichols had previously had a falling out with Mr. Muhammad, because she had sided with his ex-wife Mildred in their divorce.  See NY Times, "Co-Owner of Car Linked to Sniper Attacks Is Seized in Michigan as a Material Witness".
URL:  http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/27/national/nationalspecial/27FRIE.html?p
Despite concerns regarding John Muhammad's potential for violence and his violation of court orders, attorney John S. Mills of Tacoma, tried to help him find the children and regain custody after Mildred was forced to go "underground". According to the Washington Post (see previous linked article), Mr. Mills said of Mr. Muhammad:  "He was angry at how he was treated over his kids...He was never able to locate her. That went on for two or three months. Then he vanished."
The Washington Post reported that Mr. Mills described Mr. Muhammad as "devastated" by the "loss" of his children. According to Mr. Mills, his client was frustrated when he couldn't find the children, but he did not seem irrational: "He was a very normal, thoughtful, reasonable guy," Mills said. "He tried diligently to work it out. I don't know what people are supposed to do when they run up against a system where they are banging their heads up against the wall and there is no remedy."
John Mills' attitude, i.e., that Mr. Muhammad is a "nice guy" justifiably angry at getting caught up in a family court "system" (in which men "lose" children because of anti-father bias), is typical of all so-called "Fathers' Rights" (FR) attorneys. FR lawyers routinely assist abusive men get custody by covering up evidence and dismissing women's reports of abuse and attempts to protect themselves and their children as "false allegations" fabricated to maliciously prevent the father's "access" to the children.
Abusive men gaining visitation and custody with the assistance of FR groups and lawyers, is a well documented occurrence in courts across the country, most recently described in this article: See: "Fit California Moms Losing Custody to Abusive Dads published in womensnews.com.

URL: http://womensenews.com/article.cfm/dyn/aid/1080  The connections between the Fathers' Rights agenda and the systematic bias against and victimization of mothers in courts, has been documented, including in the CA National Organization for Women "Family Court Report 2002", released in June 2002. See California NOW Family Court Report 2002, URL:http://www.canow.org/fam.html

The National Alliance for Family Court Justice, founded in 1993 by Elisabeth  (Liz) Richards of Virginia, is a group of volunteers dedicated to addressing system failure in the courts and social services resulting in retaliation against non-offending parents who complain of family abuse, especially mothers of children who disclose sexual abuse. NAFCJ activists have determined that the problem underlying family court corruption is federal program fraud connected to the Fathers' Rights agenda: URL: http://nafcj.org/

"Through the efforts of various highly financed Fathers Rights groups affiliated with secret judicial associations of family, conciliation, mediation and juvenile courts, who are united under the guise of promoting  non-litigious domestic dispute resolution along with other smokescreen covers such as responsible fatherhood, millions of middle and lower income citizens have been deliberately cheated of their legal right to due process. The efforts of "well-oiled" fathers rights activists who tap into "deep pockets (in their own words) of federal and private grants while traveling North America, Europe and Australia promoting pedophile friendly syndromes such as Parental Alienation Syndrome, have effectively silenced women and children's outcries of brutality, rape and incest to a vast array of professionals in the divorce industry."

For a summary of how FR groups and their court allies obtain -- and misuse -- federal program grant funds through DHHS (Access/Visitation programs, DOJ (Arbitration/Mediation) programs, Responsible Fatherhood Programs, Co-Parenting Programs, and other mislabeled court-based federally sponsored  “Family Services", please see my summary, originally posted at NewsMakingNews.com in July, 2002, "Family Court Corruption".
URL: http://newsmakingnews.com/ross7,8,02familycourtcorruption.htm

NAFCJ has obtained program documents regarding the Responsible Fatherhood programs, which show that Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)/Welfare programs are being used to recruit abusive men -- including incarcerated criminals -- into fathers' groups, where they are provided with "benefits" including free or low cost legal services to assist them with getting custody and getting child support obligations reduced or eliminated.
NAFCJ has been working with legislators across the country, requesting an investigation at the federal level into Fatherhood and related Child Support Enforcement Program, Access to Visitation Enforcement and Welfare Program fraud. One of the primary programs we have looked into, is the "Devoted Dads" program in Tacoma, Washington.
NAFCJ has determined that John Muhammad's former attorney, John Mills, is an attorney for -- and his legal assistant, Mario Young provided paralegal services to "indigent clients" at -- the Devoted Dads program: (See Footnote following this article which excerpts the relevant PDF FILE (Adobe Acrobat required).
URL: http://auditor.co.pierce.wa.us/Elections/Archives/September2001/VP_pdf/fire6pos1.pdf

Devoted Dads is funded by the Metropolitan Development Council. According to NAFCJ Washington State Director Martha Jacobson, Devoted Dads received at least 1.3 million dollars in federal grants between May 1998 and May 2000. On 8-5-02, in a tape recorded interview with Ms. Jacobson, Doug Swanberg of the Metropolitan Development Council confirmed that Mr. Mills was the "part time attorney" for Devoted Dads. This suggests that John Muhammad -- a "homeless" dad who abducted his kids and then applied for Welfare in Tacoma -- was not only a personal client of Mr. Mills, but was one of the "indigent clients" being provided services and "benefits" through the Devoted Dads program.
Ms. Jacobson has also obtained copies of correspondence between Doug Swanberg and David Arnaudo. Mr. Arnaudo is the administrator of the $10 million in federal access grants to the states, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, who gave a presentation entitled "How to Obtain Access/Visitation Grants" at the Children's Rights Council National Conference in 1999. URL: http://www.vix.com/crc/conf/
Children's Rights Council is the same organization identified by NAFCJ as the "umbrella" organization of the Fathers' Rights movement, which is cross affiliated with the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC). As described in my article "Family Court Corruption", CRC/AFCC crafted "Parental Alienation Syndrome" (PAS) methodology -- working with "experts" who advocate pedophilia and incest -- as the means to assist child molesters and other abusive men get out of both criminal prosecution and child support obligations, while punishing mothers in supervised visitation and jail for reporting abuse.
There are many disturbing questions about the case of John Muhammad:
What was the nature of the relationship with John Malvo, a teenaged boy, whose mother "told school officials that something strange and Svengali-like was occurring between Mr. Muhammad and her son John Lee Malvo", who "was said to be devoted to the man, slavishly referring to him as father"?  See NY Times, "A Teenager From Jamaica Is Seen as Devoted Stepson",
URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/26/national/nationalspecial/26MALV.html?p
Does the Tarot card left at the scene of one of the murders suggest connections to an occult group such as the Ordo Templi Orientis?  See "O.T.O. U.S. Grand Lodge: Welcome to Ordo Templi Orientis", URL: http://www.otohq.org/oto/

Did John Muhammad come to the East Coast because he was told he could receive "assistance" with his own "custody" case from a DC based "fatherhood" group?
While we may not have answers to all of our questions regarding the case of the "Sniper", we believe that John Muhammad is exactly the type of "Devoted Dad" that is being assisted by federal programs and funds in custody proceedings across the country, by contracted attorneys like John Mills. And the "terror" inflicted by the "Sniper" is the same type of  "terror" inflicted on women and children -- especially abuse victims -- seeking "justice" in family courts.
For more information, please visit the NAFCJ website, URL: http://nafcj.org/

Coming soon:
Part 2: More on federal program fraud, conflicts of interest, the National  Fatherhood Initiative and HHS Asst. Sec. Wade Horn
Part 3: How the California "Conciliation Court Law" is the basis of court corruption and fraud nationwide.
Cindy Ross
California Director
National Alliance for Family Court Justice
Email: nafcjcal@aol.com

http://newsmakingnews.com/ross7,8,02familycourtcorruption.htm

Please note references to NY Times and Washington Post articles contained in this article, may require "free" registration with these organizations in order to view the articles.


FOOTNOTE:

Source: http://auditor.co.pierce.wa.us/Elections/Archives/September2001/VP_pdf/fire6pos1.pdf

CENTRAL PIERCE FIRE & RESCUE, FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT NO. 6

COMMISSIONER POSITION 1     SHORT TERM - SIX YEAR TERM

Mario E. Young
10409 Canyon Rd E PMB 268
Puyallup, WA 98373 (253) 232-3200
mosaymo@qwest.net

Education: Clover Park HS, 1980's. 1990 Griffin College: AAS in Computers and Robotics. 2001 Tacoma Community College: AAS and Legal AssistantCert. Begin Poli-Sci / Philosophy BA at UPS in Fall of 2001. Occupation: Freelance paralegal; Legal Assistant to John Mills WSBA # 15842; Provide legal services to indigent clients at Metro DevelopmentCouncil Devoted Dads program. Professional Qualifications: Been working since I was 16. 8 years in labor- related fields. 4 years as Chimney Sweep: environmental and safety educa- tion surrounding solid fuel heating systems. 6 years in the copier industry: Technical and Management. 6 years as a Sole Proprietor. TCC Administra-tion: Tenure, ADJ Chair Hiring, and ADJ Steering committees. TCC Student Body: President Lambda Juris Club, Senator, and Bylaws Committee. Personal Information:Born and raised in the greater Puget Sound area. Lived in Pierce County since 1969. Divorced Father. Community Involvement: Tacoma Pierce County Bar Association # 407; Devoted Dads Fatherhood Support Group; Tacoma Sportsman Club. Personal Views: Balancing fire safety issues against tax burdens isn't easy.My combined experiences allow me to see all sides of the issues and pro- ceed in an organized fashion. I am committed to protecting our community whileadvocating for lower taxes and limited government.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

En Re: Bill Windsor - Endangering Domestic Violence Victims and Survivors

“Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the Oppressed. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere.” -Elie Wiesel, Holocaust Survivor

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” -Anne Frank

"It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry. "
-Thomas Paine

 

American Mothers

Political Party

Any cause, is good when always -- in all that you do, you maintain your honor, dignity and self respect. Life’s guiding tool. I learned this from my Romanian grandmother and Father who survived the death camps in Auschwitz and then Dachau – when finally they were liberated by the US - my grandfather - 2nd wave of Normandy. The reason I exist is because of the way humanity works when the heart is in the right place.

We can learn about ourselves all throughout history. I encourage this as it is besides being interesting, it is repeated. I have had to learn that by abiding to the simple human rights of humanity that we can, or will, ‘’Rise a Nation’’ in a good cause, or even at minimum, because this is the good battle, the high road, the ultimate justice.

I watched a very good miniseries today, World Without End. Throughout it, I kept thinking of ‘the very notable parallels’ of the sudden 180 turn by Bill on so many people, and in doing so, the use of my website to hide behind for ‘his own’ actions.

Throughout my almost two decades of being involved in a inhumane civil society that rewards for ‘criminal violence’ and continues to perpetrate atrocious human rights violations against any people, usually a ‘category’ of people -- in what I do and with the countless mothers I have personally worked with – is a ‘category’ of people, a holocaustic hatred towards mothers and their children when they try to regain their Human Rights to be free of torture -- only to be tortured further by their tormentor in yet One More Battleground of an already full arsenal. Family Court.

I do not usually ‘feed’ into those who are so driven with all their time, to try to hurt a ‘category’ of already oppressed people. Real humans know this, so no words are needed, those who do not, no words are adequate. Besides, quite simply, I don’t do drama.

In order to carry on -- although Bill has hurt so many through black mail, coercion and has threatened the safety of so many mothers and their children by sharing their intimate and confidential information on the non real world of face book – a dangerous place anyways, because ‘he thinks’ something - and his excuse for ‘his’ own actions and behavior is to ‘hide’ behind American Mothers Political Party website (AMPP). I would ask, “Why would someone do this?” However, I long ago stopped asking that and worrying about those types of people who feed on the frailty of vulnerable people.

So with that, I will simply state that American Mothers Political Party (AMPP) and I -- are one in the same. My 1st and last (and imo to much) but if it will cease your obsession of endangering mothers or any one for that matter, my statement (and I am being nice - most get a ‘two word’ statement from me when they act like you have)

I, Claudine Dombrowski or AMMPP (again only I am AMPP) state that everything you Bill have said about AMPP is and has been and likely to remain “intentionally distorted and inaccurate.” Let the record be clear, I, and I alone maintain the website www.AmericanMothers.PoliticalParty.org Bill, you know this – and always have.

Bill, I have not threatened you, I have not, nor do I have the power to stop your goal. No copy right violations (I do know them, just ask PBS). I had thought, the concept of LA was a good idea, is why it saddened me (when, although I have broad shoulders) that you systematically began removing mothers who have been ‘battered’ by the fathers of their children, in horrendous ways, because you- 'gave them' (bill almighty) a chance to disengage with American Mothers Political Party or to ‘tell’ their side of story, wow!! Talk about demanding and classic black mail - and you do, hold that power - 'control' of fear over them with their personal, sensitive and life threatening information, entrusted to you, a power which you have misused and freely wield.

You see, I need no public support, the truth is self-sustained. I will not hurt others to prop myself up. I will not alter, nor publish or intimidate others so basically I just ignore you. As I have with others like you throughout the last two decades, as I am sure will be others in the next two decades. I will not drop everything because you or any other ‘demands’ it. I will not defend myself against ignorance or ‘play’ into the need for self absorption.

I will not engage in your feeding frenzy obsession and with American Mothers Political Party as simply, I try to spend my energy doing what I always have, keeping my energy focused on the positive and future real change, for all - as well with a ‘special’ heart held dream of freedom for that 'category' of people - battered mothers and their children.

Anyone with any inclination, can research easily, any ones ignorance towards these mothers and the issues surrounding them. For those who do not, no amount of dialogue is possible to change their mind, nor their narcissistic - attention seeking behaviors.

So perhaps, maybe you can come back down to reality and realize that all the good you have done you are destroying – hiding behind the ‘hatred of myself and my website American Mothers Political Party’. I have always told mothers, fathers and grandparents and cps victims that there is no ‘messiah’ or any –one sure way to regain so many freedoms lost on top of the already human rights freedoms that Domestic Violence Victims have and continue to endure.

It’s just not important to society, dead women and children, terror and fear of those - perpetrated by their most intimate partner, lover and at one time friend. It is a terror a betrayal that is more than just a crime. Simple Human rights.

I have not looked today what fear and terror you have stricken in others in the name of yourself, behind the skirt of American Mothers Political Party, but from a email post that you say you received (although was meant for me/ AMPP) and the oddly twisted cognitive thought process to assume that out of that email, you deduce ‘your own’ mantras of what ‘you think’ I said, what you ASSume...

I alone, own, operate and maintain www.AmericanMothersPoliticalParty.org I alone, no one else. Simple enough?

Now, you know as do others. Come after me and leave everyone else alone. You can no longer hide behind the ‘skirts’ of amp as to why, with your twisted excuses, of why you are hurting these mothers.

Bill - you have already posted my address, email along with so many others. You know where to send your law suits.

Southern Poverty Law Center on the Fathers' Rights Movement

Listed as a HATE Group e.g. Skin heads, Westborough Baptist Church, Neo Nazi’s etc…

· AMPP Home

· AMPP Article Library

News and Events

§ American Mothers Political Party Denounces “Dominick’s Law” In Michigan

§ Monsters In the Closet - Domestic Violence From a Child's View

§ Parental Alienation: A 'Mythical Legal Argument'

§ PRESS RELEASE: HISTORIC US SUPREME COURT CASE

§ It’s Not Angst Over Custody: Fathers Kill Their Children to Punish Their Ex-Partners

§ “Hearts Across America” -- Million Mom March Mother's Day 2011, at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Washington, D.C.

§ Cut $500 Million from the Fatherhood Initiative and Hold Congressional Hearings

§ Family Courts Helping Pedophiles, Batterers Get Child Custody

§ UN Mothers UNiTE to End Violence Against Mothers And Their Children Campaign

§ Mothers Of Lost Children Rally In Washington, D.C. FEBRUARY 13th and 14th, 2011

§ Parental Alienation and Domestic Violence

§ Battered Women, Abused Children, Child Custody A National Crisis

§ Ms.Mag and Reality Check SLAMM HuffPo’s Censorship Protecting Abusers Tool by Dr. Warshak

§ Failures of U.S. Courts Forces Mothers to Turn to International Law

§ PRESS RELEASE: AMPP Stands Behind Christian Coffey HIS Mother and All Their Supporters

§ Melinda Stratton: Another Mother 'Hunted' Down

Multi Media

Documentaries Of Importance

§ Dr. Phil Exposes the Crisis in Family Court

§ INTERVIEW WITH DOMINIQUE LASSEUR, PRODUCER OF “BREAKING THE SILENCE: CHILDREN’S STORIES”

§ Family Court Related Research and Articles

§ MISTAKES MOTHERS MAKE in Child Custody Litigation

§ Top 5 HHS Programs Endangering Women and Children - Billions Of Your Tax Dollars Fuel The Genocide Against Mother's And Her Children

§ U.S. FAMILY COURTS SACRIFICING MOTHERS & CHILDREN all the usual suspects; Guardian ad Litem’s, Psychologists, Case Managers, Custody Evaluators, Access Visitation Supervisors, Parenting Coordinators, and *Therapeutic Jurisprudence

§ Endless $tupidity: Domestic Violence Victim Advocacy For Supervised Visitation Centers

§ U. S. Department of Justice v. Custody Court System

§ WHEN BATTERED WOMEN LOSE CUSTODY: Dangerous Parents or Systems Failure?

§ Dear Custody Court Judge: EXTREME CUSTODY DECISIONS THAT RISK LIVES

§ PAS as a Religion - Parental Alienation Syndrome

§ What is Fair for Children of Abusive Men?

§ Want To Be A Good Dad? Support Mom And Avoid Father’s Rights Groups

§ Insanity? Nope, it’s Family Court

§ 175 Killer Dads: Fathers who ended their children's lives in situations involving child custody, visitation, and/or child support (USA)

§ Batterer Manipulation and Retaliation; Denial and Complicity In the Family Courts

§ A Cancer Spreading in the Custody Court System

§ Some Concerns About False Allegations of Abuse Are Accurate

§ How Many Children Are Court -Ordered Into Unsupervised Contact With an Abusive Parent After Divorce?

§ Child Custody and Visitation Decisions in Domestic Violence Cases: Legal Trends, Risk Factors, and Safety Concerns

§ Family Court and Fathers’ Rights = A Deadly Combination

§ Mother’s Day Proclamation at the White House 1870 and 2010

§ NIMH - Monkey Brain Scans With and Without Mom

§ Confirmed: Protective Mothers Were Right

§ Justice is biased!! The laws play Russian Roulette with children’s lives

§ 138 Killer Dads: Fathers who ended their children's lives in situations involving child custody, visitation, and/or child support (USA)

§ High Conflict Cases Likely Have History of Domestic Violence

§ Family Law Act Aids Abusive Fathers, Imperils Children

§ Federal Fatherhood Initiatives

§ TANF Fraud Diverts Billions To Dangerous Unfit Fathers. Healthy Families Initiatives, Responsible Fatherhood Initiatives, Access and Visitation Initiatives

§ U. S. Fatherhood Initiatives - Control of Women and Children Under the Guise of "Responsible Married Fatherhood"

§ Attention Judges and Lawmakers: This is the REAL AGENDA of the Father’s Rights Movement

§ Maternal Deprivation Inflicted on Battered Women and Abused Children

§ Senate Judiciary Chairman - Response to Proposed Changes to Child Custody Law

§ Hearing to Review Responsible Fatherhood Programs

§ The National Fatherhood Initiative: Supporting a Misogynistic Agenda

§ Family / Criminal Law and Research

§ Southern Poverty Law Center on the Fathers' Rights Movement A Known HATE Gruop

§ "Just Say Good-Bye" New Study -- Fathers Kill Children For Revenge On Their Mothers When The Women Leave Them

§ One More Battleground: Domestic Violence, Child Custody, and the Batterers’ Relentless Pursuit of their Victims Through the Courts

§ Mothers On Trial: The Battle for Children and Custody. Motherhood Under Siege

§ ABUSIVE FATHERS ARE MORE LIKELY TO SEEK SOLE CUSTODY IN CHILD CUSTODY BATTLES

§ Coercive Control: How Men Entrap Women in Personal Life

§ Whores Of The Court and the Rape of American Justice

§ Domestic Violence, Abuse, and Child Custody

§ VAWA, Parental Alienation Syndrome, Fathers Rights

VAWA - Title II - The Entire MISSING Section of the VAWA Identifying Use of PAS Legal Strategies as Violence Against Women Which Endangers Children

Monday, September 24, 2012

My Friend, My Sweet Dear Susan Murphy–Milano

(((Susan))) holding you close in my heart baby.!!!!

 

Funding Challenge

 

               Susan with Dr. Akoury at first chemo treatment

As quoted in a Chicago Tribune article over the weekend, Susan Murphy Milano says she doesn't know if she'll make through the end of the year with her cancer battle. That could very well be true.

Susan has had a total of 4 chemo treatments, has done very well with them, made progress, but has to commit to 9 more chemo treatments, as well as strictly follow a regimen to build up her body in order to prepare it for surgery in several weeks. She has a great team, all working together with her to make this happen and to continue with ongoing treatment.

The challenge to make this happen is funding. Although many have stepped up and generously given from their hearts and pocketbooks, we must, once again, appeal to the public for help.

In order to fulfill the commitment to the treatments we need to raise at least $1000-$1500 per week for the next 9 weeks. Yes, do the math, it's quite a sum!

We know that there are many of you who have donated that can not afford to do any more, we thank you and understand, but, do you know people, perhaps in your circle of friends, who may wish to participate?

The outpouring has been great, and we really hate to keep asking, but don't know what else to do.

We are working diligently to follow up on all of the resources many of you have sent our way. Sometimes it seems like we're buried under mountains of papers to fill out, swimming upstream with so little time to devote to it.

As we once again appeal to you, we'd also like to thank each and every one on the supporter's list on this site, with special thanks to CUE Center for Missing Persons volunteers. What a family you all are! You do so much as it is, on your own time and your own dime, to help families of the missing, it just amazes us that you've taken Susan under your wing and called her your own.

To Denise Brown and Danielle Pierre for stepping up and featuring many colleagues of Susan's on their tribute radio show, we thank you for the donations your show was able to bring in and we hope they will continue.

Also, to all of you who have consistently shared articles about Susan, the EAA,Document the Abuse, and the work that will continue, no matter what, we offer our gratitude. Especially to Document the Abuse colleagues Sandra Brown of The Institute for Relational Harm Reduction, Pastor Neil Schori and all others connected who have given their time and dollars. It can't be done without you all.

And...every day we are thankful to Dr. Dalal Akoury, MD at AwareMed for being the compassionate, knowledgeable and caring physician that she is. She's been so generous with her time and resources and is determined to do all she can to help Susan get the cancer under control.

We are running out of options, as well as time. Susan has a terrific team of doctor, oncologist, surgeon, and caretakers who are all working very hard to keep her going, but, with no health insurance, and no income to help with expenses, there's only so much that can be done.

Delilah at 4:16 AM

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Leaving The War Zone: A Battered Mothers Memoirs For her Daughter

CHAPTER 7 – The Witch’s Hat

015_15

The Witch’s Hat

This past few weeks have been pretty good. I usually get very sad when summer ends. The pool, the heat. This has been one of the absolute hottest summers I can ever recall in my 46 years. Triple digits were the normal. On Labor Day, my window AC went out. So the following week I stayed in the pool. Stayed cool. I love the solitude of being out in the country. The quiet, the peace. My raw nerves – turned inside out this past two decades have taken such a toll on me. The stress, the emotional pain has shown its self through physical outlets.

During the summer, the memories of being in the pool with my daughter, growing up in a pool myself, and the memories’ of my mother. Memories suck. Their were so many bad ones. So much suffering. The torture camps not unlike those of the concentration camps, the fear, the 24-7 fear.

The beatings were almost like a release. A Release of that constant fear. As then for a a day, maybe two. All was quiet. Constant chaos soon followed.

Present day, in healing from trauma, sometimes one simply cannot recall all the ‘things’ that happened. The mind works like that. It takes care of us. So when trauma is enduring to survive within the mind, you block that ‘trauma’ out. This is a normal thing, a healthy thing and one that is built in to our human composition, of coping adapting and evolving.

The thing is, with the blocking of all that bad – went the few precious moments we had, Rikki and I. With even thinking about her, the pain of her loss the pain of the past ‘constant’ 14 years of court litigation (Continued abuse, torment) I have had to put her few pictures away. This past year I have slowly began to convert the old VHS tapes into digital and DVD. I have for all these years been unable to look at them. The pain immense. Even in her photographs, complete strangers could even see in her once very happy , dancing sparkling eyes disappear. Each years school photo they diminished until finally the light was gone altogether.

The only photos I was allowed to have, from kindergarten through 6th grade. In them alone shows the years of agony she suffered. SCAN PHOTOS HERE Each year, her eyes were darker, until finally the light in them was completely gone. So in order to survive, I have had to put those photos away, in a scrap book. Again, at the loss the helplessness and agony of my baby girl who was robbed of everything, especially her mother. A childhood of fear, loss and torment. Destined to follow her through adulthood.

The good memories are precious few, those years were as well stolen, tainted with the ever ending struggle of court abuse, but we were together and we made those few times good. It is no wonder that when the bad is blocked the good as well because they are all attached to the torment our human rights, we had none. We still do not.

But this year, as I was packing up my summer clothes, preparing for winter, thankful in fact as the summer damn near killed me. To hot even for hell. I was going through what few things remain from my life. Not much. A few old boxes. It was sorta like a treasure hunt, I saw of course things that reminded me of all the bad, things of my baby girl that I have promised to preserve for her. A gentle smile crossed my face.

Then just out of nowhere a Witch’s hat. My hat. Then I recalled the most wonderful of all memories. Halloween. Fall, the entire month was always ours. That was the only one thing that was consistent, one thing that did not come with pain inflicted by the abuser himself or his court whore proxy’s.

No one wanted that day, Halloween, not like every other holiday, even mother’s day we were robbed of all. Dad always got her every single holiday. As he was the non custodial parent, I just the evil bitch mom who wanted to set herself and her daughter free of torture. But, Halloween….. became ours. We celebrated the fall the holiday throughout the month. We decorated beginning with fall and working into the Halloween spirit. On this day, we could be anything we wanted. This day was always a ‘safe’ day for us. Nothing bad ever happened. It was ours, it was special and we had so much fun.

Every year we would add more to our ‘holiday’ boxes - cool Halloween decorations themes. We had an entire 12 x 15 ft. room filled with storage boxes of nothing but fall and Halloween decorations. Throughout these last 13 true hell years, those were all but lost a little at a time, then a lot. Until about 3 years ago, when I stopped seeing anything. As I did not put them up. Eventually, it left my mind as well. Once again, Those precious few good memories attached to the bad.

But this witch’s hat, out of nowhere - in what few things are left at all, (not even enough to fill a 10 x 10 ft room) this hat was ‘just’ there. Instantly I had a very comforting feeling, placed it on my head and continued to go through seeking winter clothing, packing summer clothing. Not really thinking about it nor the significance of the hat - just that all was well, like it had always been there. Just a nice feeling, a feeling odd to me, comfortable somehow ‘connected’ in a life long ago forgotten. The hat has been with me every day since, not consciously aware that, I kept it nor that it is always close to me.

But as the days began to pass I realized that it was in my car, on the couch,- kinda like with your keys and billfold. The peacefulness of fall all around, the critters all doing their scurrying around, the trees with the ever so slight sound of the old tired leaves scorched from the summer also awaiting the first freeze, before they turn the most vibrant of all colors - fall colors. The winds slightly beginning to shift. Yes the world, the seasons, Mother Nature. So very beautiful. So with all this and preparing my little house for winter, cleaning rearranging, feeling alive, being creative, thinking about absolutely nothing. There sits this witch’s hat.

About a week later, actually just a few days ago - the movie ‘twister’ came on TV late I just happened to be up the with the rain storms this week, they have gone from muggy hot to the classic fall cool. Rikki’s absolute number one favorite movie back then in the late 90’s was “Twister”. As I watched it I was thinking about how granny had dubbed her soaps over Rikki’s twister tape, and Rikki in tears said “granny, you taped your soaps on my twister tape’ – she was heartbroken. Lmao  - So was Granny, bless her heart, she was able to get not one but several more tapes of “Twister”. Yes that was a good memory. J

Still the witch’s hat, sits near. I see it has a purple feather and purple stone. Then, I recall why I bought that particular witch’s hat, its purple for the color of anti domestic violence. Even way back then as new a survivor, that purple was sacred. So now I have not only the memory of the Halloween but the subtle deeper meanings coming through as well. I survived, my daughter was safe. (back then – late 90’s) But, Still all is well. These memories are without any fear or pain. They just feel good. Atop my aching heart as I grieve the loss of my child. And at this point all resources long ago depleted to keep that special connection with her. It died when my mother died. The courts and daddy made sure that we never spoke again, nothing. Just gone. Like my mom. But in a more brutal way. You see I know my mom is with Jesus, Rikki however is with pure evil. Brutal does not come close.

Then the following day, the movie ‘Hocus Pocus’ came on…. Then it was more freeking awesomeness…!! To go along with the rest our ‘safe’ zone of Halloween of course our favorite Halloween movies!! All Disney of course, Rikki was not in school yet and she was legally kidnapped by the age of 7.She began kindergarten in the house of hell, and without her mother. He killed her soul then, a thousand deaths she went through. I was not allowed to be anywhere near her, not allowed to comfort her, to just hold her. L It was several year before I was even allowed to see her ‘supervised’ and then we could not hug we could not talk about what happened, we could not talk about hope, the future, we could not talk about our past out home our life, only what Rikki was currently doing with daddy dearest. Her sadness poured out of every pore her entire body eminated a pain that would knock the wind out of any ‘real’ human.

015_15

With “Hocus Pocus”, I watched it, loved it, and with warm memories of Rikki (before dad stole her). Then came the movie ‘Halloweentown’ omg. This was absolutely number one favorite for our ‘safe zone’ time. There were two. HalloweenTown and HalloweenTown 2. As I watched them, a flood of so many wonderful memories opened up.

Like I had opened up the door and let the fresh air in, these movies, inspired by the witch’s hat were the answer. If I can get to Rikki these movies especially HalloweenTown, deep inside her blocked off heart - a door will open for her too. I somehow know this with every fiber of my being.

I have time. My main goal is for her to just ‘watch’ them. I have began to rip and burn them for myself, but I want Rikki to ‘watch’ them. So I will buy them and have them sent to her. Not from me of course and hope they still make it into her DVD player- just movies packaged and sealed, nothing mom could have ‘sneaked’ in. Nothing from ‘mom’ so perhaps she will one day watch it. Directly to her from Amazon maybe.

My hopes are that now – perhaps I can begin to write to you. As I said before, it just hurts to bad to the point of panic, anxiety, chest pains and inability to breath. Avoid pain. That’s what we do naturally. And although it pains my heart now as I write this, it is not debilitating, it is welcome, and it just feels right. Like everything else around me - and busy it is – fall. The power of higher than anything else - that special power of Mother Nature. God’s creations and the ‘ultimate justice’. Just wait - the leaves have not even begun to change yet and I plan on doing every fall Halloween activity I can, the healing has finally begun. I guess, it is just time.

The witch’s hat made me feel good. LoL as I look at it now. It sits kinda like the witch hat in harry potter, bent over at middle, old and knowing just comfortable. I smile. I love you my daughter my dearest sweet Rikki.

Just believe what the heck - you ain’t got nothing to loose, I sure do not, plus - it just feels good. I do not know where I will be from one day to the next or even if I will be. Weather this will be the first day of the rest of my life or the last day - it will be the best day I can make it.

Of all that I have done, wished to have done – MOTHER was and is the BEST Blessing, the truest love, the Laws of Nature and everything that I had never dreamed of- but what I wanted more than anything.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) is a Scam Crackpot Logic

PSYCHIATRY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL!

Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) is a Scam

Crackpot Logic

"Here is how crackpottery works in real life: let's say I am a crackpot and I have invented a miracle cure for the common cold. My magic cure is to shake a dried gourd over the cold victim until he is all better.

If I shake the dried gourd long enough, the victim's cold will get better. My miracle cure always works, it is 100% effective, it is extremely reliable. I deserve recognition for my medical breakthrough. Anyone who wants to dispute myclaim prove that it doesn't work — that all those people who got better, didn't get better.

"The crackpot's logic is perfect, and perfectly loony. "Crackpots come in many varieties, but they all have one trait in common -- they don't understand how science works." -- Paul Lutus

Parental Alienation Syndrome/Disorder, Shared Parenting, Co-parenting, Fathers Rights, Fatherhood exaltation, Children need both parents, DSM-5, False Abuse Allegations, women lie, children lie, daddy is always perfect no matter what.

Therapeutic Jurisprudence, Guardian Ad Litems, Custody Evaluators, Parenting Coordinators, Mental Health Experts, Sexual Abuse Prevention (SAPA) Reintegration therapy, shock therapy, false memory syndrome, Draptomania, Family Court Judges, Best Interest Child, Co-parenting therapy, Borderline, mommy caused daddy’s bad behavior, that lying bitch should never have left she and her children are owned.

Psychiatry is a theory, not fact not science. Just a court appointed pocket money lining industry.

Amy J. Baker and Parental Alienation: Behind the Veil of Ignorance

The Ever Expanding Parental Alienation Theory: Amy J. Baker's Research Revisited

 

A Collaboration Of disease mongering

“Disease mongering” is the effort to enlarge the market for a treatment by convincing people that they are sick and need medical intervention [2]. Typically, the disease is vague, with nonspecific symptoms spanning a broad spectrum of severity—from everyday experiences many people would not even call “symptoms,” to profound suffering. The market for treatment gets enlarged in two ways: by narrowing the definition of health so normal experiences get labeled as pathologic, and by expanding the definition of disease to include earlier, milder, and pre-symptomatic forms (e.g., regarding a risk factor such as high cholesterol as a disease in itself).

 

 

The Manufacture of Madness: Psychiatry Is Social Control Used Against Non Conformists.

http://po.st/4tdPWW

PSYCHIATRY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL!

  • Dr Thomas Szasz died aged 92, an indefatigable critic of conventional psychiatry, that it offended human dignity infringed rights of the individual.
    http://po.st/fDst89

“A damning indictment of the psychologizing – and undermining – of the American legal system. With righteous wrath and devastating wit, this sweeping critique should stir national debate.”

Whores Of The Court

Margaret Hagen, Ph.D, reveals how expert psychological testimony is a total fraud, showing how the courts have increasingly embraced not a cutting-edge science but, instead, a discipline that represents a terrifying retreat into fantasy and hearsay; a discipline propelled by powerful propaganda, arrogance, and greed.

Dr. Hagen sounds a clarion wake-up call, offering some startling – and much-needed – recommendations about how we can reclaim our own ability to judge and supplying vital advice on how we can protect ourselves from the ravages of psychological testimony in our own lives.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

SOLE CUSTODY TO A SEXUAL PREDATOR The Hague Act was originally intended for battered mothers and their children - designed for their safety. Only the Abusers have been successfully able to use the Hague, and used to further abuse the very victims it was intended to protect.

With that why is the Hague not being used in this case?

Simple. Mothers have no rights. Abusers have Fathers Rights.Which seems to be always more important than what is right for the children.

HELP BRING TINA'S CHILDREN HOME- PLEASE CONTACT THE UNITED STATES EMBASSY REGARDING THIS CASE- KIDS WERE PLACED IN DANGER

The stories we all share are so similar, but each horrifying in it's own right.  This story is about a Mom who has been denied all contact with her children since 2007.  Today is her Son's birthday.  Her children were given to a Father who is a sexual predator, and who filed for custody using fraud.  This is an international matter, and we are asking all American Citizens to call the United States Embassy and help this Mom bring her kids home.  The mom in this case has been denied all contact with her children since the fraudulent order in 2007- this mom has not heard her children's voices in years, and has no way of knowing if they are alright.  Please take a moment to contact the US embassy in Berlin and ask them to assist this mom.

The facts:

On January 31, 2007 United States District Court Judge William Smith takes an application pursuant to the Hague Act from a German Father, which is based on fraud.  The mother's legal address is not even on the petition.  It is believed the Judge knew it to be inaccurate, but had his eye on a higher office with the First Circuit Appeals Court.  For political reasons alone, the Judge entertained the German father's application with no proofs.  Judge Smith thereby denied due process, denied justice, and committed multiple color of law violations.  Judge Smith even stayed a Rhode Island family court's custody order for the mother, and an order of protection.  The mother's custody orders were granted by a Rhode Island Family Court on January 30, 2007 after child porn was found in the father's hard drive.  The children had communicated they feared that the father would publish these images via Internet depicting horrific sexual abuse of the children.  The mother had no lawyer at the time, and was visiting family while having surgery.  The case was pending in Germany at the time.   Rhode Island Family Court had done the right thing for the Mom and the kids, it was the higher court that interceded in the mater and endangered the children.

The United States District Court of Rhode Island expedited a fraudulent petition for international child abduction for a man who HAD NO VISITATION BECAUSE OF CHILD PORN.  The United States District Court of Rhode Island handed the abusive father the children, and their passports in 2007, and mom has never seen, or heard from them again.  Despite the fact the child was in need of an operation at the time he was handed over to the father, and despite law enforcement reports, and doctor statements, the children were sent to Germany with the father.    Article 13 (b) of the Hague Act was ignored in this case.  "Grave risk of danger" did in fact exist in this case, and it was ignored as the kids were sent with their abuser.   One of the children was even removed before having his medically necessary operation, further endangering his life.  The children should never have been removed from Rhode Island without further investigation.

In 2008 the Father evicted mom from the home in Germany, and gained sole custody.  (Even after more child porn is discovered on his hard drive- even after Mom wins her appeal)   The father then did what all abusers do...... he filed endless papers in court knowing mom had no lawyer.  Mom cannot find a United States lawyer, or a German lawyer to help her with her case.  As is the fact in many of our cases, mom is run penniless.  Lawyers do not come cheap, and will not help pro bono.  The children were left in the sole care of their sex predator father, and denied all contact with mom, or their grandparents.

We are asking all United States citizens to contact the US Embassy and ask them to assist Ms. Tina Melo-Kufner with the return of her children under the Hague Act.

 

US Embassy- Berlin

Clayallee 170

14195 Berlin

Routine calls- (030) 8305-1200  2- 4 p.m. M-F

Fax- (030) 8305-1215

ACSBerlin@state.gov

The father's name is Dominik Kufner- The fathers info...and address has been found on line

Dominik Kufner tel 011 49 1797005042

fax 011 49 81712384145

email dkufner@web.de

19 Rings Strasse

82538 Geretsried

Germany

Monday, August 27, 2012

Congressional Report On Fatherhood Funding Used in Family Courts, Child Support Agencies Engaged In Financial Fraud, Senate Finance Committee Hearing, June 2012

Note:
"Showing definitively that the child support agencies are engaged in financial fraud when they meddle in custody cases, kids are getting sold out and killed to the abusers the agency promotes and covers for." - AMPP

Combating Poverty: Understanding New Challenges for Families

Congressional Report on Fatherhood Funding Used in Family Courts and Testimony Submitted to Senate Committee hearing on “Combating Poverty: Understanding New Challenges for Families” that took place on June 5, 2012.

http://www.finance.senate.gov/hearings/hearing/?id=0a85a99b-5056-a032-52f7-b827ad9732ba

##

Dear Senate Finance Committee,

Please accept this testimony with regards to the Senate Finance Committee hearing on Combating Poverty: Understanding New Challenges for Families” that took place on June 5, 2012.

Attached is a copy of the July 2011 letter from Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) Commissioner Vicky Turetsky to Senator John Kerry which declined to provide Senator Kerry with the information he requested, or follow up on his concerns regarding misappropriated funds. Turetsky essentially states that OCSE does not have any obligation to oversee OCSE program funding once the checks are cut from the Federal office to the State programs. Instead, Turetsky referred Senator Kerry’s concerns over OCSE fraud to the HHS OIG, who months before took the position that they lack jurisdiction to investigate a State child support program. So who is watching the hen house?

Our main concern is that Congress should distinguish between and place paramount the TANF programs which are means tested and provided to needy women and children below the poverty line, as opposed to the predatory TANF programs bankrupting the country by placing any unfit or unwilling father--even millionaires who abandon their kids--onto the welfare roles. Attached is a copy of an article this issue for the Huffington Post entitled “Top 5 HHS Programs Endangering Women And Children” that can also be found on line at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anne-stevenson/top-5-hhs-programs-endang_b_1511613.html

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 and the Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) program it created transformed welfare policy by drastically reducing and shifting federal assistance away from the homes of mothers and children and into the homes of violent male offenders. The original intent of welfare reform was to require States to function as collection agencies, recovering financial support from parents who had willfully abandoned their parental responsibilities to their children. These policies have drastically backfired because:

  1. it dedicated billions in TANF to programs for childless fathers that are not needs based,
  2. created redundant “to work” programs via HHS which were already funded via the Department of Labor and the Department of Education, but then excluded women and children from participation by labeling them Responsible Fatherhood programs,
  3. the HHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG)[1]and the Government Accountability Office[2]determined that the programs lacked oversight and are riddled with fraud, and
  4. State welfare programs adjusted their environment to have a greater need by casting a wider, less transparent net.

90% of those receiving TANF benefits are single mothers,[3]so does it make sense to exclude them from the “to work” employment assistance component of welfare reform? Instead of helping children, welfare reform created a new breed of dangerous Kings through HHS Office of Child Support Enforcement when it began using non-needs based TANF programs to subsidize the homes and legal battles of the unfit, unwilling, and violent fathers (like mass murderer John Muhammad, the Beltway Sniper.[4])

OCSE is a federal agency which is supposed to be gender neutral and pro child, but is it? Note that Commissioner Turetsky was previously employed by HHS contractor Manpower Demonstration and Research Corporation (MDRC,[5]) and that Ron Haskins is on the board of directors at MDRC.[6]Haskins is co-director of the Brookings Institute’s Center on Children and Families, a senior consultant at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, former Senior Advisor to the President for Welfare Policy at the White House, who spent 14 years on the staff of the House Ways and Means Human Resources Subcommittee.[7]Haskins is also on the board of the National Fatherhood Leadership Group with several other former HHS affiliated officials,[8]yet together, Haskins and Turetsky promoted/solicited federal funding for MDRC policies and programs[9]that diverted TANF assistance to childless, wealthy offender fathers while targeting and excluding abused children and mothers. Is this a conflict of interest?

We can identify no legitimate purpose for these programs and request that Congress take the following actions:

  1. Revoke or reduce funding to Administration for Children and Families (ACF) child support incentives, Access and Visitation (AV) programs, and gender based funding to child support agencies.
  2. End collateral child support/custody funding mandates.
  3. Overhaul Office on Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) on the federal level to remove staff with conflicts of interest and bias.
  4. Audit OCSE to find out where our tax dollars are actually going, and then implement rigorous transparency, oversight, and accountability measures on programs.

I. OIG DETERMINED THAT OCSE PROGRAMS ARE RIDDLED WITH FRAUD.

In 2011, the Office of the Inspector General released a report[10]called “Rollup Review on States' Reporting of Undistributable Child Support Collections as Program Income” that concluded 21 of the 23 States audited failed to properly report program income, and were hoarding tens of millions in child support collections by [intentionally or unintentionally] failing to make sufficient efforts to locate the children the resources are intended to benefit. Only a hand full of counties out of the several hundred contained in the relevant States were audited, and a review of the initial reports shows discrepancies that indicate the problem may be much larger than what the Administration is willing to admit.

The State agency classifies child support as “undistributable arrears” when it collects a child support payment but cannot identify or locate the custodial parent or return the funds to the noncustodial parent. Federal mandate requires that at the time when State law deems the funds “abandoned,” States must recognize and report the unallocated funds as program income in order to offset program costs. The Federal policy is that abandoned collections are then split 66% Federal share, 34% are retained by the State. However the OIG determined that all of the States had [intentionally or unintentionally] devised various “set up to fail” support distribution systems that allow the Agency to improperly hoard the child’s money in State coffers by mislabeling it “abandoned property.”

Examples of “set up to fail” policies the OIG listed include:

  • send checks to the wrong address,
  • illegal liens on accounts
  • create massive arrears, give dad the tax benefit, then garnish the tax benefit,
  • put child support it in trust accounts during litigation-that lasts more than 3 years,
  • retroactively abate arrears, then keep it for themselves without telling either parent.

The OIG determined that while some States claimed to be unaware of Federal reporting requirements, “These deficiencies occurred because States did not have adequate controls to ensure that undistributable child support collections were recognized and reported as program income in accordance with Federal requirements.”

In each instance, the OIG recommended solutions that failed to require State agencies to improve disbursement methods to ensure delivery of the funds to the child’s home. Instead, the OIG’s focus was to ensure the increased the State’s accuracy and compliance with Federal reporting requirements to ensure that the Federal HHS office received its’ 66% share of program income. The audits were done for support collected between 1999-2007, 23 states audited, but only a couple counties within each state were audited---NOT the entire state's child support system. So the fact that like Michigan may have audited 18 counties out of a total of 85 counties, and that those 18 counties stole $8 million from Michigan families is significant. What would the number be if they did audit the whole state?

But the 2011 roll up report is also incorrect for another reason---it appears to have under estimated the original auditor's findings. The 2011 "roll up" report is a collection of the findings in the original 23 states, most of which were complete by 2009. So I obtained copies of the original audit reports for every state, and found that many states were caught with their hands in the cookie jar for millions and millions of dollars, but the 2011 has them down as owing $0 sometimes.

1. Cook County, Illinois: (102 Counties in IL, not sure why it appears only 1 is audited)
http://oig.hhs.gov/oas/reports/region5/50400039.pdf
2011 Roll Up Total: $1.8 million, 2005 report: $3.4 Million

2. Michigan: (85 counties, only 18 audited?)
2011 Roll Up Total: $5.3 million

2006 report: $8 Million

http://oig.hhs.gov/oas/reports/region5/50500033.pdf

3. Georgia: (159 counties, none audited, just the state program---so my impression was that the county courts contracted by the State who collected support independently but not through state coffers were never reviewed)

2011 Roll Up Total: $238,000

2007 report: $1.2 million

http://oig.hhs.gov/oas/reports/region4/40603506.pdf

4. California: (58 Counties, only 3 audited)

2011 Roll Up Total: $1.45m

2007 report: $3.3 Million

o Orange county: $2.2 million
http://oig.hhs.gov/oas/reports/region9/90600040.htm
o Riverside County: $245,000
http://oig.hhs.gov/oas/reports/region9/90700049.htm
o Los Angeles county: $878,000
http://oig.hhs.gov/oas/reports/region9/90800024.asp

But the LA county report is perhaps inaccurate for another reason, because at the same time the OIG conducted the audit, Attorney Richard Fine sued LA County for holding $14 million in child support collections from LA county children.[11]He won the case, and the county had to disburse the $14 million to the families. But this total is not included in the OIG's report.

II. TANF CHILD SUPPORT PROGRAMS ADAPT TO ARTIFICIALLY INCREASE NEED FOR THEIR OWN SERVICES

These reports and others reflect the fact that TANF’s generous collection incentive policies may have in effect created a child support vacuum as States to adapt their practices to reflect a greater demand and need for resources that are ultimately withheld from needy families.

  1. Recovery Act: Thousands of Recovery Act Contract and Grant Recipients Owe Hundreds of Millions in Federal Taxes
  2. Government Accountability Office report recently came out which shows that these HHS grant recipients owe us struggling taxpaying families hundreds of BILLIONS in taxes. http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-686T
  3. GAO REPORT: Child Support Enforcement: Better Data and More Information on Undistributed Collections Are Needed http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-04-377
  4. Medicare and Medicaid Fraud, Waste, and Abuse: Effective Implementation of Recent Laws and Agency Actions Could Help Reduce Improper Payments http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-409T
  5. Child Support Enforcement: Departures from Long-term Trends in Sources of Collections and Caseloads Reflect Recent Economic Conditions http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-196

In fiscal year 2009, the child support enforcement (CSE) program collected about $26 billion in child support payments from noncustodial parents on behalf of more than 17 million children. The CSE program is run by states and overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). States receive federal performance incentive payments and a federal match on both state CSE funds…The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) eliminated this incentive match beginning in 2008, but the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 temporarily reinstated it for 2 years. This 2011 report[12]found that although the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provided generous matching funds on State support collections:

“In fiscal year 2009, the CSE program experienced several departures from past trends. For one, child support collections failed to increase nationwide for the first time in the history of the program in fiscal year 2009… Also in fiscal year 2009, the number of CSE cases currently receiving public assistance increased…Preliminary HHS data show that total CSE expenditures grew by 2.6 percent in fiscal year 2008 as many states increased their own funding to maintain CSE operations when the federal incentive match was eliminated…In contrast to fiscal year 2008, a different picture emerged in fiscal year 2009, when the incentive match was temporarily restored but total CSE expenditures fell slightly by 1.8 percent, which HHS officials told GAO was due to state budget constraints. Most states nationwide have not implemented "family first" policy options…because giving more child support collections to families means states retain less as reimbursement for public assistance costs.

  1. Administrative Expenditures and Federal Matching Rates of Selected Support Programshttp://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-05-839R

III. TANF PROGRAMS FOR CHILDLESS FATHERS ARE NOT NEEDS BASED.

If the goal of some Fatherhood programs is so child support benefits “trickle down” to the child during tough economic times, why does Commissioner Turesky’s department make TANF available to the 1% of child support debtors making more than $50,000-who are unfit or unwilling to have kids live in their homes?[13] Unlike the welfare programs for women and children which had restrictive income eligibility requirements, TANF diverts billions of dollars through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) to non-needs based programs exclusively available to unfit and unwilling fathers, such as Healthy Families Initiatives, Responsible Fatherhood Initiatives, and Access and Visitation Initiatives.

Benefits from Responsible Fatherhood programs to childless abusers include:[14][15]

  • Child support obligations are suspended
  • Free attorney representation in the family courts to fight for custody
  • Free housing
  • Direct cash incentives
  • Free groceries
  • Free car maintenance, gas, and other transportation costs
  • Free healthcare and dental care

These TANF benefits are not intended to directly reach children, their purpose is to reward the unfit and unwilling childless fathers who lost custody of them. The incentives are structured so that the State will only benefit if children are removed from loving homes, then arbitrarily placed with male offenders who previously lost custody. If the programs do not successfully increase in the percentage of noncustodial fathers who file for and win custody, they will not get paid.

HHS reports show that 80% of Fatherhood program participants are court ordered to attend, [16]and many are recruited directly from prison.[17]In 2000, Commissioner Turesky authored a paper for the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) that concluded:[18]

"Many women trying to leave an abusive home rely on the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, financial assistance to women in poverty may lessen their risk of violence… about 20 percent of women receiving cash assistance are current victims of domestic violence, while about 50 to 60 percent have experienced domestic violence during their adulthood."

Considering that Commissioner Turesky also claimed in a 2006 CLASP policy brief that 70% of all child support arrears are owed to the government to pay back TANF costs,[19]doesn’t this mean that the overwhelming majority of fathers enrolled in compromise of arrears programs are violent, unfit fathers? This may explain why recent studies found children fare far worse when support is court ordered.[20]

The programs also punish the majority of responsible fathers who willingly provide love and support to their children. Using the virtually unregulated child support system as a vehicle and the father's will to evade prison time as collateral,[21]the fathers are told they can risk their liberty and property attempting to pay down arrears, or alternatively, sue the mother for custody using a variety of federally funded "supports." Children in safe homes do not need rehabilitation, so often times a “need” is created by the State by placing children deliberately in an unsafe home.

The effect of these Fatherhood and welfare reform policies is to place the middle class on welfare by “leaving no family member undiagnosed” when they come into contact with the family courts.[22] At the beginning of a custody case, only the offender is sick, but if one violent offender gets custody, the whole family needs treatment. Consequently for courts and social services agencies to appoint dozens of federally funded family court mental health and legal professionals onto the case to sustain the deadly custody rights of a single violent father.[23]

IV. THE GAO DETERMINED THAT OCSE FATHERHOOD PROGRAMS ARE RIDDLED WITH FRAUD.

HHS fraud costs tax payers $60 billion per year, and it is not improving.[24]When you start to look at how many contracts are going to the same network of providers like Manpower, Maximus, Goodwill Industries, etc. with inside connections to HHS Administration, it is also worth asking yourselves if and when Congress will investigate these conflicts of interest?

In 2008, the GAO released a report entitled “HEALTHY MARRIAGE AND RESPONSIBLE FATHERHOOD INITIATIVE: Further Progress Is Needed in Developing a Risk-Based Monitoring Approach to Help HHS Improve Program Oversight”[25] that concluded that these programs were riddled with fraud and not performing.The GAO concluded that HHS failed to create oversight mechanisms or standard performance goals prior to disbursing $500 million in grants to hastily chosen programs meant to serve children living in high-risk families:

“HHS…lacks mechanisms to identify and target grantees that are not in compliance with grant requirements or are not meeting performance goals… Our review of grantee case files found documentation of grantees that were not meeting performance targets…or not in compliance with grant requirements, such as providing only those services allowed under the grant.”

Report Highlights:

$500 Million Unconditionally Given To Activists:

Operating under a deadline that allowed HHS 7 months to award grants, HHS shortened its existing process to award Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood grants to public and private organizations. During this process, HHS did not fully examine grantees’ programs as described in their applications, including the activities they planned to offer, and this created challenges and setbacks for grantees later as they implemented their programs. –P. 2

Failure to Implement Uniform Standards, Policies, and Procedures:

HHS uses methods that include site visits and progress reports to monitor grantees, but it lacks mechanisms to identify and target grantees that are not in compliance with grant requirements or are not meeting performance goals, and it also lacks clear and consistent guidance for performing site monitoring visits. –P.2

Embezzlement and Fraud Was Likely Vastly Under Estimated:

Moreover, we did not survey organizations that received money from grant recipients to provide direct services, subawardees. Since making the initial awards, 4 organizations have relinquished their grants, 1 organization had its grant terminated, and 1 new grant was awarded. There are 6 organizations currently pending non-continuation of award funds.

Please recall that the irresponsible programs are recruiting violent offenders directly from prisons[26]to help them obtain legal and physical custody of the child victim witnesses they hurt, yet the GAO cannot directly account for the activities or the funding going into the programs.

Although groups cannot use TANF money for attorneys, the literature shows that some groups like Illinois Council on Fatherhood[27]provides fathers with legal advice and exceptional access to judges, Michigan is providing dads with legal assistance,[28]and the Montrose County, Colorado Fatherhood program[29]match up fathers with “Fatherhood Coaches” who also just happen to be attorneys who want to help them with their child support and custody problems.

You should ask yourselves who represents the victim child’s interests while their violent noncustodial fathers use concealed child support and federal assistance to build up legal arsenals to take custody and silence them? HHS programs are actually a deadly investment given that (a) abusive men win custody of their victims 70% of the time[30]when they ask for it, and (b) regardless of the gender of the victim, it is a public safety issue when DOJ studies[31]show men perpetrate more than 95% of violent assaults against women. The Center for Disease Control’s 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey[32]also concluded that men are raped by other men more than 93% of the time, and women are raped by men more than 98% of the time.

Programs like the Massachusetts Department of Probation’s[33]provide “treatment” to thousands of untreatable, incurable violent offenders and sociopaths targeting their victims through the courts Although violence is a voluntary act, HHS now invested our tax dollars into rehabilitating the incurable who choose to assault the most vulnerable members of society. Some Studies[34]of male DV perpetrators show that 50% of them are sociopaths and another 25% have sociopathic tendancies. Psychopaths are people who feel no emotional connections to others and have zero regard for the rules and regulations of society, they do not respond to therapy, and cannot be rehabilitated. Dr. Robert Hare reports that psychopaths make up 1% of the general population, but 25% of the prison population:

"Violence is not uncommon among offender populations, but psychopaths still manage to stand out," he says. "They commit more than twice as many violent and aggressive acts, both in and out of prison, as do other criminals ... The recidivism rate of psychopaths is about double that of other offenders ... The violent recidivism rate of psychopaths is about triple that of other offenders."

Respectfully, would you as a member of Congress, allow your children to be cared for by convicted murderers and felons? If you believe these “fathers” are harmless, why do you pass budgets that provide for armed guards to protect Congressional hearings and family courts? These programs have no legitimate purpose because here is no epidemic of “fatherlessness” that in itself harms children. There is no “fatherlessness crisis” that would justify such ruthless and irresponsible pork barrel spending on discrimination based TANF programs that exclude 90% of the TANF roles, the women and children they purport to want to get off welfare and “go to work”-but place wealthy single men on the TANF roles instead.

We believe the majority of men are genetically programmed to be good fathers, and we do not agree with HHS’s assessment that all men are incompetent and need federally funded parenting lessons. Dangerous offenders have no business raising children. We are a nation of strong single mothers who raised Presidents like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, both of whom were rescued from the clutches of fathers who were irresponsible, violent addicts. These Fatherhood programs now undermine and punish mothers who try and rescue their children and stay off public assistance, while punishing good fathers and abetting the irresponsible, no matter how rich or poor.

V. CONCLUSION

The more federal dollars were receive the less States collected in support. States refuse to distribute child support to "families first," and are instead keeping the money for themselves-without accounting for it. When the OIG identified the embezzled funds, they did not help “struggling agencies” find the children it was intended to benefit, the OIG instructed States to properly report…So the feds could have their 66%. This policy entirely lacks accountability or consequences for this fraud. Subsequent reports demonstrated that the problem has continued to worsen, and there are [still] no protocols and procedures in place to define, identify, and track these monies.

The [unlawful] programs are supposed to be ADMINISTRATIVE, but they used quasi judicial power to create, amend, and enforce court orders without judicial authorization. The agency does not provide due process, nor do they have to show you their files. Judges have to look the other way because if they object, they will lose their HHS funding, and at the same time the judge has to accept responsibility for the agency’s badly managed and even crooked interference when litigants are hurt.

Instead of fixing these programs, Obama's proposed budget includes billions more in incentives to disburse and collect support to the programs with no oversight. If the core mission of the child support program is to collect and disburse support to needy children, this is an administrative function which in 2012 should be handled electronically through the treasury. There is no need to create billion in incentives to involve the support agency in taking over the judicial branch’s functions in custody cases.

Fred Sottile, the Founder and President of the LA chapter of Fathers 4 Justice says in his view:

“The President should spend his efforts creating laws and policies that actually encourage father/child relationships, instead of just pretending to promote father/child relationships in extortion based OCSE programs that deprive children and blame dads for being absent.”

Linda Marie Sacks, Co-Chair of the Family Court Committee of the Florida chapter of the National Organization for Women:

“The vast majority of fathers do not abuse children, and there are many instances where courts have unjustly deprived children of good fathers. The problem is that the programs punish children living with healthy strong mothers by incentivizing courts to cash in by arbitrarily minimizing and even eliminating moms from the picture.

Since there is virtually no oversight of OCSE funding, we have often found that this funding used to help pedophile rapists and violent predators get custody of child victim witnesses through the family courts. Studies showabusers are winning custody 70% of the time, and we think the programs will have catastrophic results on the next generation if this unsafe trend of maternal deprivation continues. ”

Liz Richards, Director for the National Alliance for Family Court Justice and a certified witness for the Department of Justice agrees.

“HHS is the source of the funding which is fueling the court corruption problems. Judge are making their rulings according to the program grant requirements and not by the case evidence. Past ACF officials like Wade Horn, Ron Haskins, and others were closely associated with the fathers rights groups and leaders, and essentially turned the dept into a pro-father, abuse cover-up agency.”

In 2012, we ask why the Obama Administration inexcusably ignored the pleas of desperate hard working parents and doubled the budget for these pork barrel projects, starving them out of their home. It’s time to get serious about deficit reduction, and require the president to exercise fiscal restraint on programs which would target and extort families under the most trying circumstances.


[1] “Rollup Review on States' Reporting of Undistributable Child Support Collections as Program Income ” HHS OIG report A-05-11-00025, September 30, 2011 (http://oig.hhs.gov/oas/reports/region5/51100025.asp)
[2] “HEALTHY MARRIAGE AND RESPONSIBLE FATHERHOOD INITIATIVE:
Further Progress Is Needed in Developing a Risk-Based Monitoring Approach to Help HHS Improve Program Oversight “Government Accountability Office Report to the Chairman, Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, September 2008. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d081002.pdf
[3]http://womenslawproject.wordpress.com/2010/11/02/debunking-the-myth-of-the-“welfare-queen”-who-actually-receives-tanf-benefits/
[4] “Parental Rights And Wrongs” By Liz Richards, Washington Times,
http://pmashilohlopez.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/from-the-washington-times-parental-rights-and-wrongs-by-liz-richards/
[5]http://www.acf.hhs.gov/orgs/bios/vturetsky.htm
[6]http://www.mdrc.org/about_board.htm
[7]http://www.politico.com/arena/bio/ron_haskins.html
[8] http://www.nflgonline.org/Board%20Members.aspx
[9]http://www.mdrc.org/publications/144/full.pdf
[10] “Rollup Review on States' Reporting of Undistributable Child Support Collections as Program Income” HHS OIG report A-05-11-00025, September 30, 2011 (http://oig.hhs.gov/oas/reports/region5/51100025.asp)
[11] www.articles.latimes.com/1999/feb/20/local/me-9885
[12] http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-196
[13] Id. At FN [12]
[14] “OCSE Responsible Fatherhood Programs Early Implementation Lessons” Jessica Pearson, Center for Policy Research, Inc. David Price, Policy Studies, Inc. June 2000
With comments: http://www.nafcj.net/ocsefr.htm
Original Text: http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED463839.pdf
[15]“HHS Around the Regions 2005 Activities” http://fatherhood.hhs.gov/Partners/regions/regions06.shtml
[16] Id. At FN [8] “OCSE Responsible Fatherhood Programs Early Implementation Lessons”
[17]http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/0349.pdf
[18] “Safety in the Safety Net: TANF Reauthorization Provisions Relevant to Domestic Violence”
http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications_archive/files/0167.pdf
[19] “Staying in Jobs and Out of the Underground: Child Support Policies that Encourage Legitimate Work” Vicki Turetsky, CLASP 2006 http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/0349.pdf
[20] “Young children of unmarried parents fare worse when a father's support is court-ordered”
http://www.sciencecodex.com/young_children_of_unmarried_parents_fare_worse_when_a_fathers_support_is_courtordered-91437
[21] “Giving Noncustodial Parents Options: Employment and Child Support Outcomes of the SHARE Program” Irma Perez-Johnson, Jacqueline Kauff, and Alan Hershey, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., October 2003
[22] “Unified Family Courts: Treating the Whole Family, Not Just the Young Drug Offender” American Bar Association/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, November 2000
http://www.rwjf.org/reports/grr/029319s.htm
[23]Pedophilia in the Justice System” By Kieth Harmon Snow, Conscious Being Alliance, May 1, 2012
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245202-Pedophilia-in-the-Justice-System
[24]http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/medicare-fraud-costs-taxpayers-60-billion-year/story?id=10126555&page=3#.T-zL5-33C9Z
[25] “HEALTHY MARRIAGE AND RESPONSIBLE FATHERHOOD INITIATIVE:
Further Progress Is Needed in Developing a Risk-Based Monitoring Approach to Help HHS Improve Program Oversight”Government Accountability Office Report to the Chairman, Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, September 2008. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d081002.pdf
[26] National Fatherhood Initiative: http://www.fatherhood.org/page.aspx?pid=375
[27]http://www2.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/02-15-2008/0004756780&EDATE
[28] http://www.michigan.gov/dhs/0,1607,7-124--187565--,00.html
[29] Montrose County, Colorado http://www.montrosecounty.net/DocumentCenter/Home/View/1721
[30]http://www.stopfamilyviolence.org/info/custody-abuse/overview/batterer-manipulation-and-retaliation-denial-and-complicity-in-the-family-courts
[31] http://www.umbrellanek.org/documents/DV%20General%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf
[32] http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/NISVS/index.html
[33] http://www.mass.gov/courts/probation/pr062707.html
[34] http://www.lovefraud.com/blog/2010/03/01/staggering-statistics-about-domestic-violence/