US Shared Parenting Blog

Let’s face it, you have a right to be mad.  No longer are you hugging your children and putting them to bed.  Most likely, if you are like the majority of Fathers and some Mothers, who have been kicked out of the life of their children by a system of wanna be judges (commissioners) who don’t follow the rule of law and provide for the Best interest of the Child, but merely make ruling that favor their funded seat by the local division of Child Support via Federal Title IV Social Security funding.

It is infuriating.   It’s frustrating.  It’s maddening.

For 2011 it’s time to make it fun.  Let’s face it, you can change this by yourself!  You can’t, don’t be a fool thinking you can.   But, you can make this fun for yourself and make it frustrating for those that frustrate loving parents.

Start with agencies in your state.  Learn the Public Records Act for your State.  It’s a huge tool in your arsenal.  THink about this - send a letter to the head of your CHild Support Agency, ask for all of his email for the past 30 days.   Go ahead, read them, find out who else he is talking with on a regular basis, and what the subject it.  NExt, ask for their emails, and see who they are talking to, and what they are doing.   You will beging to see where the bodies are buried in their dispicable business.   NExt, start requesting documents from their organization.

Secondly, while you are busy getting into their emails, request a copy of their policy manual - the procedural book on how they do business.   Read it like you work there.  THen read those emails and find where they are violating their own policy manual.   Go after them when you find things they are violating.   Send emails directly to the person violating the policy manual, and copy the direct, along with members of the local media and the legislature.  Might as well make sure they get the notoriety they deserve.

Next, find a few similarly situated parents and start hanging out at the courthouse.  Sit in on some cases, watch how the commissioners violate the law and their canons.  Make Judicial Conduct Complaints when they abuse people - via the tone of their nasty voice, the things they call people, the biased actions they take.  It only takes a concerned citizen to make a complaint.  Make sure you are noticable in the courtroom, so they behave when you are there.  Were a bright shirt, a wild tie, or something professional and noticable.

In 2011, your cup is no longer half empty.  It is now Half Full!  It’s up to you to fill it the rest of the way in the name of our children.  Refuse to allow them to go through what you went through.  Don’t allow their children to be robbed.  This is your World War, as your children mean the World to you, and you need to protect their rights now, to ensure the next generation isn’t cheated by Courtroom cheats!

There is a great study conducted by Robert Bauserman that demonstrates how much better adjusted kids are when they come from a family that has utilized joint custody strategies versus single parenting.  The study can be read at http://www.apa.org/releases/custody2.html

Per the study, “Children in joint custody arrangements had less behavior and emotional problems, had higher self-esteem, better family relations and school performance than children in sole custody arrangements. And these children were as well-adjusted as intact family children on the same measures, said Bauserman, “probably because joint custody provides the child with an opportunity to have ongoing contact with both parents.”

It’s difficult to understand how most States only supports joint custody if both parents agree.  Obviously, in most cases, if one parent does not agree, they are not looking at the best interest of the child.  Yet, our courts consistently support this individual decision.  It would seem the courts have made a decision in the best interest of the person least likely to ensure the best interest of the child, rather than make a decision in the childs best interest.  Have I missed something here?

We launched Family Finder at USSharedParenting.com about 2 years ago.  It’s taken awhile to grow, but it is slowing coming of its own.  It’s a place for parents who have lost contact with their children can advertise for them.  Or for children that were alienated from their parent to search for them.  Of course grandma and grandpa are welcome too!

The service is free!  There is no obligation.  The site was created in case I lose contact with my children - I want a place to look for them.  And I want it to be popular and effective when I do.

So, it it effective?  you bet it is.  The search engines search our site regularly.  And every name in our Family Finder database gets indexed.  Once only has too Google a name in family finder to find it right away in Google. 

If you have lost access to a child, reach out to them via family finder.  If you want to hear your other parents side of the story, reach out for them with Family Finder.  If you think about them, you miss them.  Search for them, begin the healing process now, and begin to live life to the fullest again.

And a tiger doesn’t change its stripes either.  In the war of custody of children, it’s not uncommon for a mother or father to skip down with their children in order to avoid the possible loss of time with them.  Unless it is done to protect the children, and I mean really protect them, not just based on false accusations as many do, its a selfish act.  Its an act that damages children and demonstrates the wreckless behavior these self-centered people will go to in their own person battle of righteousness.

But, one day when these children grow up and are no longer the pawns that can be manipulated by these sick individuals, what will they do?  Abuse the neighbor kids?  Abuse their senior parents?  Abusers abuse, that’s just what they do.  When they can no longer abuse the former spouse or their own kids, they will turn to someone else.

Colorado Authorities have arrested Jason and Tonya Vercillo after Jason’s mother slipped a note to a bank teller to let them know she was being abused by her son.  Imagine, a senior citizen having to slip a note to bank teller because she is in such fear!

Seems that Tonya Vercillo is no stranger to abuse.  In 1997 she had shared custody of her children with her former husband, Denny Baumgardner, of Florida.  Tonya Vercillo removed the children from Florida in violation of a court order, and failed to appear at a court hearing to discuss parenting time arrangements with the children’s father. 

For 12 years, these children have been separated from their loving father. The children, now 15,17 and 19 years old, have missed a lifetime with their natural father, instead to be raised by a mother that had no regard for the laws, and married an abuser.  Is there any question these children were abused?

My question is this, how did this woman and her three children live for all these years without being found?  If a man had done this, like Mark Supanich of Washington State did, they would be hunted by the US Marshal’s service, and arrested.  Supanich was protecting his daughter from abuse, and a jury of his peers said he was innocent of kidnapping.  He had a legitimate reason for what he did - he was protecting his child after repeated attempts to get Washington State DSHS to do their job.

What was Tonya Baumgardner’s excuse for abusing her children, her ex-husband, and now her mother-in-law?  I guess rotten apples don’t fall far from the tree either.

Do you know a child that is being kept from a loving parent?  Do you know a loving parent being abused by their children?  Please do the right thing and report them to authorities - we need to stop all forms of abuse!

There is a great story to read out of the Toronto Star about a man who has finally gotten his children back after a mother spent her life trying to destroy his relationship with his kids.  The courts ruled that her abuse can not continue any longer, as it has a lasting effecton on the children.  I have to believe this mother is still dumbfounded trying to understand why the courts did this.

According to the Star’s story “The mother’s ‘consistent and overwhelming’ campaign to brainwash the children into thinking their father was a bad person was nothing short of emotional abuse”, Justice Faye McWatt of the Superior Court of Justice wrote in her decision. McWatt stipulated that K.D. is to have no access to the children except in conjunction with counselling, including a special intensive therapy program for children affected by “parental alienation syndrome.” The mother must bear the costs.

The three girls, ages 9 to 14, were brought to a downtown courthouse last Friday and turned over to their father, a vascular surgeon identified only as A.L.

Harold Niman, the father’s lawyer, said the decision serves as a wake-up call to parents who, “for bitterness, anger or whatever reason,” decide to use their children to punish their former partners.  “Maybe if they realize the courts will actually step in and do something and there is a risk of not only losing custody, but having no contact with their children, they’ll think twice about it,” Niman said in an interview.

The judge stated that the mother squandered every opportunity to change her behavior. 

Oh course, we hear this all the time in the US, but judges are usually unlikely to do much about it.  So much for the Great Lady Liberty of the United States, as she appears to have migrated north.  Let’s hope that our own courts begin to decide they have destroyed the lives of enough children and will begin to remedy our own social issues here in the United States.

Florida has had it’s shared of stories about employee’s bilking the system of money that belongs to needy families.  Of course, they are only doing what they have watched the States do for years, steal taxpayor money in whatever fashion they can.  One of Florida’s Department of Children and Families has been arrested - shock of shocks - for stealing from federal monies.  What do they say - an apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, a zebra doesn’t change its stripes, if it walks like a duck……  you get it.  To find a thief in the ranks of these agencies just isn’t a surprise anymore.

 What would be a bigger surprise is a bunch of whistleblowers coming out of their ranks, feeling shamed by the fact they work around the people they do, ashaed they go to church on Sunday knowing the sins they do.  It would be a shame if someone came forward and said enough is enough.  In the mean time, we can shake our heads, knowing that they are getting plucked out of their chairs one dirty employee at a time.  This was a nice haul for this thief, over $24,000 in just three short months.  I guess she wanted her share before it all went to the banks and automobile industry.

The agency was happy, claiming her arrest was proof that the system works.  It does ironically.  A state agency hire the theives, teaches them a few tricks of their own, and then arrests them when they get caught pulling the same thing on the agency.  My Oh My!

When she gets out, we need to sign her up for Family Court Judge, she will be perfect!

Someone sent a link to this song about Judges in Family Court.  It’s a serious song, but I got a good laugh at it.  when I look at the judges they use, I can actually see some of the judges I’ve been in front of.  There is the Zombie, who hears nothing, but bangs the gavel well, there is the animated one, that looks from party to party pretending to carew, with the same results, and the list goes on.

 The sad part is the words to this song are a harsh reality of what goes on in family court against non-custodial parents each day, and more importantly, the kids.

Listen to the song and please leave your comments for others. 

I watched Alec Baldwin on Larry King live, being interviewed by Joy Bahar.  It was a great clip, Alec did a great job representing Non-custodial parents and advocates for Shared parenting.

Watch the video - it’s important -http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2008/12/18/lkl.alec.baldwin.cnn

Interviews like this, with people like Baldwin can make a difference in the lives of children.  Thanks Alec, please continue helping children and non-custodial parents.  And thanks for introducing Michael McCormick, CEO for American Coalition for Fathers and Children

I found this story very odd.  Brian Erlacher, linebacker for the Chicago Bears is in a dispute again with the mother of his son.  Apparently, a trist after meeting in a nightclub had an outcome of a child.  After several meetings in court, a parenting plan was approved.  Now there is a dispute because apparently Tyna Robertson is not happy that Erlacher sends the boy home with Chicago Bears blue colored toenails, and pink diapers.

 Big deal is what I say to this.  But, what did catch my attention was here statement in court for a hearing on a motion, she said she would allow the visitation, as long as Urlacher puts away the Bears-blue nail polish and puts their son in gender appropriate pull-up diapers.  I have a real issue here, a mother under a court order for parenting time tells the court she will OBEY the court order if he agrees to do something that is not in the court order.  I think they call that Contempt of Court.  And why is she not held to contempt, and why is she told that he can do that when the child is in his custody?

This woman still cries out for attention, not getting enough from her other publicity heavy lawsuits of the past.  Is this just a way to get her name in the newpaper again to boost her dancer-turned-real estate agent career a boost?

Whatever it is, the courts need to grab this court action, and the rest of the flakes that waste their time and hold them accountable for their actions, their threats that are a detriment to the child, and for their brazen disobediance to the orders of the court.

 Get a life Tyna, move on, and quit putting your child where he should never be, between your issues and Bryan’s.

October 1st, 2008 began the era of fairness for Floriday State, where their Legislature has finally passed a law requiring parenting plans for children of divorce.  Parenting Plans are designed to ensure families know where a child resides each day of their life until 18 years of age, via a plan that specifies what days the children spend with each parent after divorce.  Parenting Plans are designed to protect the best interest of children.

What will be important to watch is how the Courts in Florida interpret the law.  Will the effectively enforce the parenting plan, or ignore it like many States do.  Will they actually protect the best interest of the child, or will they ignore it for expediency in their trials, using bias by the judges and commissioners, to circumvent the will of the legislature and the people of the State of Florida.

This article written by a Florida attorney discusses the specific details of the new law, and the issues that can come up with the courts.

If you live in Florida and have an experience with the Courts, please leave a comment for others that tells about your experience.

I guess it was over a year ago that Alec Baldwin hit the news after calling his dauther a “PIG”.  His website had a flurry of activity, he made it on the View, and just about every news channel in the US and many parts of the World.  Alec gain new stardom for not Thirty Rock, but for his actions with his minor child.

His actions were judged by many, either supportin him against Parental Alienation, or for being an abusive father.  I didn’t really have an opinion on it.  However, I was excited when he said that this event was going to change his life and he was going to do something about damages families were receiving after divorce, and the toll it was taking on families and children.  YEA!!  ALRIGHT, FINALLY A STAR WILL USE THEIR INFLUENCE TO CHANG THE POLITICS OF FAMILY DESTRUCTION!

Well, Alec, many organizations, good, well intentioned organizations, reached out to you and asked if you would get involved and help families that don’t enjoy your startdom, that lack your financial resources, that lack your ear from the media.  Alec, thanks for nothing!  Thanks for not even giving them the time of day!  Thanks for not doing the socially responsible thing and help bring this issue to the media, thanks for not even putting your face with a group anywhere n the US to help get them off the ground to changing the courts, the bias, and the laws that destroy families.  These very issues that threatened your relationship with young Ireland.

As I read an interview by the New Yorker, it seemed obvious, the news helped turn the corner to getting your relationship with your daughter whole again, and your fight was over.  The rest of the families will continue to struggle, wishing we had stardom to fix our families issues.  While Alex Baldwin basically tells us to go pound sand.  Baldwin speaks about little time lapses in his book “A promise to Ourselves”.  His time lapses are very small, very small indeed.

Thirty Rock does, you don’t.

We hear these stories all the time - mother or father falsely accused so the other parent can have the winner takes all spoils of divorce - the custody of the children.  Occassionally, we hear of it backfiring, but not near enough.  In Placentia, Ca the courts got it right this week.

Someone called Fullerton police and left an anonymous tip that Gregory Abbott, a high school teacher, was a drug dealer with a gun in the trunk of his car.  He was subsequently arrested and then released two days later.  Police discovered the gun was placed in his vehicle by his estranged wife, Devon Abbot and her boyfriend Solomon Silver.  Abbot claims it was a scheme to get custody of his children and then move them to Maine.

This again shows the length people will go to in order to get custody of children.  All too often, the courts accept these false allegations of abuse, drug usage, etc. in this winner take all game of custody.  What is left is destroyed lives of innocent members of the public, and children separated from their other parent for no reason other than illness on the part of one irresponsible parent.

This story turned out right for Abbott, lets hope the courts follow through and award custody to the responsible parent, rather than the irresponsible parent. 

Do you have a similar story - please share it with us.

http://www.barackobama.com/2008/06/15/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_78.php

I woke up this morning to CNN on the TV. In my half daze between sleep and wake I hear “Obama’s Father’s Day speech… he criticizes black fathers and tells them to stop acting like boys and act like men.” and I start to listen. Now I am a white woman. I know little about black fathers. I do know about fathers in general. I do understand that some men do walk away from their kids but my thoughts first thing this morning…what about the fathers who want the responsibility and are denied it? Does he miss that one? Okay so his dad walked away when he was 2 but why? Did he just chose to walk off or was he pushed out? What about the dad’s that are pushed out?

Yes, he had many good points in his speech, “We know the statistics – that children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of schools and twenty times more likely to end up in prison. They are more likely to have behavioral problems, or run away from home, or become teenage parents themselves.” Very true, we know the statistics. Then why are the family courts limiting father’s time with children to every other weekend …4 days a month? Even when father’s attempt to be active in their child’s life they are limited. Oh you need to be responsible pay supportand do your 4 days?

Then he goes on to say, “But we also need families to raise our children. We need fathers to realize that responsibility does not end at conception. We need them to realize that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child – it’s the courage to raise one. ” Yes, Mr. Obama but we need the courts to realize that too. Maybe he should address  that one to the family court system? It seems to me that many me believe that and are denied the right to follow through with it.

I really loved this part, “It’s up to us – as fathers and parents – to instill this ethic of excellence in our children. It’s up to us to say to our daughters, don’t ever let images on TV tell you what you are worth, because I expect you to dream without limit and reach for those goals. It’s up to us to tell our sons, those songs on the radio may glorify violence, but in my house we live glory to achievement, self respect, and hard work. It’s up to us to set these high expectations. And that means meeting those expectations ourselves. That means setting examples of excellence in our own lives.” No kidding, but you have 4 days a week to do this ..that is it!  Make sure you pay that support though!

Much of his speech focused on the role of father’s and how important it is. That I think we can all agree on. However, when the government…the family court system breaks down and limits that role we have the problems we have with our countries children. We have the violence, the lack of respect, poor self-esteem, and the utter mess we have.

So Obama, what are you going to do to ensure every ready, willing, and able father has a chance to do what you ask? How are you going to ensure they can be involved in their child’s life? What are you going to do about mother’s pushing father’s out of their children’s life with the help of the Family Court system?

Obama ends his speech, “That is our ultimate responsibility as fathers and parents. We try. We hope. We do what we can to build our house upon the sturdiest rock. And when the winds come, and the rains fall, and they beat upon that house, we keep faith that our Father will be there to guide us, and watch over us, and protect us, and lead His children through the darkest of storms into light of a better day. That is my prayer for all of us on this Father’s Day, and that is my hope for this country in the years ahead. May God Bless you and your children. Thank you. ”

Yep, that is all father’s have hope..hope that one day our legal system will allow father’s to be father’s. Hope that this dark storm on Fatherhood will eventually bring a bright sunny day where father’s can enjoy their children with out the legal mess, the conflict, the alienation, and the bitterness.

The words have such meaning today, even more than they did when the song was released by Cher.  Gypsys, tramps, and thieves.  We’d hear it from the people of the town They’d call us Gypsys, tramps, and thieves!  And that is exactly what the good citizens of California think, so much that a Task force is being put together to try and change the perception, and try to make the courts more effective.  Effective at what is the question - at hiding their dirty deeds better?  Or hiding the money they get from the State for their shared of Title IV-D funding to pay for judges and prosecutors under contract to help increase child support amounts?  Or ensuring better compliance from the member of the Bar that need to follow their rules to ensure due process is denied to All family court visitors, and not just the majority?

Aren’t you lucky to be a Californian.  Your Government is so concerned about what goes on it Family Court that they are going to pull together a task force made up of Lawyers, Judges and Commissioners to fix it.

Hello!!!……….They are the problem!  Judges legislating over families is a problem.  Commissioners under contract to the Child Support Collection agency, and getting re-imbursed for setting child support amounts is a problem.  Members of the Bar association that represent the interest of their profession rather than their client is a problem.

If only 10% of women were graduating from High School, would that be a problem.  Yet, 10 percent of marriages ending with the non-custodial parent only seeing their kids 4 days or less a month is not.  If only 15% of girls were graduating from High School it would be a problem, yet, 15% of men getting custody of their children in divorce is not a problem.  I thought double standards and bias was thrown out many decades ago.  Yet, it is rampant in California’s courts.

Is Judicial Bias okay, or just a one way street?  Is the fact a State Agency has contracts with the courts for their own prosecutors and for their own Commissioners not a big RED flag to be raised in California that something is wrong?  DO they thing people are so stupid they dont’ see this?  They would be right - it goes no under our nose for years, and we don’t even realize it.

So the question is this - This task for is there to fix what?  Fix the fact that people are starting to see how corrupt they are and serious action is required NOW so they can limit the damage?  I can’t see any other reason for it, since their is nobody on the Task force to represent families that have gone through the issues of the court, nobody to represent the custodial and non-custodial parents, the children who’s lives are destroyed by a Court System that is bent on destroying families to ensure their own funding from the State of California and Title IV-D.

If you live in California, you need to yell, and yell loud.  You need to write a letter to your legislature.  You need to pick up the phone and make some calls.  You need to be a part of the solution, not running behind the next steam roller that is headed for your family.

Stopping the Family Courts of California from ruining the lives of your children and grandchildren is up to you.  Or, sit there and hope for the best, I hear it works well in California.

Imagine this, tens of thousands of troops in Iraq, equipped with the best that our taxes can buy, tanks, jets, helicopters, and all the support that goes with it - and for good reason - to protect our country.  For or against the war, we all understand the financial burden it takes on our country, and we all want to ensure the safety of our Soldiers, and ensure they come home safe.  Yet many of them come hope to an empty house, or a restraining order issued while overseas to keep them from their children, like many other parents - victims of the nuclear option - False allegations of Domestic Violence, or other issues related to the quick grab for custody of children - the real prisoners of war.

However, here is the question.  Come home to what?  Another war?  The war in family courts costs the United States the same amount as the War in Iraq - $112 Billion a year.  Unbelievably, we are spending as much on divorce in the United States as we are on the War in Iraq. The difference - in Iraq we have Generals leading the war - at home we have Judges.  In Iraq we have Soldiers fighting for peace, at home we have Non-custodial parents.  In Iraq, we have special forces - at home we have members of the special Bar Association.  In Iraq we have insurgents - at home we have custodial parents.  In Iraq - the soldiers try to protect the citizenry, at home the NCP’s try to protect their children.

In Iraq they have Jets and Helicopters that drop large bombs.  At home they have VAWA and false allegations to drop large bombs.  At home they have restraining orders and no-contact orders to keep the NCP from the children, in Iraq they use barbed wire and fortified military camps.

Congress approves the spending in Iraq, from the general fund.  The US Department of Health and Human Services approves the spending at home from the Social Security Fund.

The people of Iraq long for freedom, for democracy.  The children of the United States long for two loving parents.

They say we will never get out of Iraq, it will drag on for years to come.  I’m afraid it is the same for our children.

In Iraq, we have a new generation of citizens that have seen nothing but war in their country - it’s not much different at home. 

The question for NCP’s at home is this - will you remain a reserve, or will you return to active duty to fight for your rights to have a meaningful relationship with your children.  Will you children be a prisoner of war, or will you fight to gain their release?

Will you be a revolutionary soldier in this war to free your children, or a toy soldier in this game called family law?  Your choice - the outcomes are very different.

I found this puzzling, and interesting at the same time.  We hear of couples slitting up during marital issues all the time.  Sometimes, you just need a breat from each other to find the important points that brought you together.  But, when the Governor Jim Gibbons leaves the Governor’s Mansion to return to his home during a break-up, it makes you wonder who is really running the State.  It is the Governor’s Mansion right?  Or is it the First Ladies mansion?

Now some would argue that it is always the First Ladies everything in divorce and separation - and more than one Police Officer has told a man that when he has been served notice to get out of his own house due to a restraining order.  This sure makes one wonder what went on in the Nevada Governor’s office.

And the logistics don’t make sense.  The Governor, who is responsible for all States business in Nevada, has moved back to his family home in Reno, leaving a 27 mile commute to Carson City each day.  Rather than the 2 minute drive from the Governor’s Mansion?  Is the role of Governatrix in Nevada really that important that she needs to remain in the home that is designated for the Governor?  Does she even have the authority to occupy it when he is not living there?

And - doesn’t it just show what happens in divorce or separation.  One party gives in to everything, while the other throws their weight around and strip the other party of their dignity.  I guess being Governor has it’s drawbacks like every other family.

This is certainly good news for Shared Parenting advocates everywhere, that believe custodial parents should be help accountable when they keep a parent from having a relationship with their child.  Maryland’s Court of Appeals upheld a $3 million dollar judgement against a women who took her three children from the United State and fled to her home country of Egypt.  The parents shared custody, with the mother having custody of one child, and the father having custody of the other.  During one of her visits with both children, she bolted to Eqypt and the kids have not been seen by the father for 7 years.

A court awarded damages to the father, and the court of appeals has upheld that decision, demonstrating their lack of support for what this woman has done.  These courts are to be congratulations, for taking this position and imposing fines on the woman for what she has done.

Now, how do we get her to educate the rest of the Judiciary in the United States that parental alienation should not be tolerated, that keeping a parent from their child is domestic violence, just like the Department of Justice has stated on their web site.  How do we remove bias from the courts, who make incredibly biased decision that effect the lives of children each day?

There is one big difference with this Judge.  She did not grow up in Family Court like many of the judges and commissioners that hear family law do.  They grow their teeth in a corrupt system, and hand down the same corrupt decisions they are used to seeing during their career.  This judge has a much more diverse background, including spending time in the Federal Court System.  Her credentials make her well qualified to hear cases like this, as opposed to the Quasi Judges that hear typical family law issues.

Judge Battaglia - Thank you!  You are to be celebrated for this decision, and please help educate others to start doing the same thing.

Like we haven’t seen this before.  Another State Employee is steeling child support.  It’s happened in Washington, Oregon, Florida, and who knows where else.

Think about it.  An agency that uses its employees in any way they possibly can to collect child support, receive the federal dole for it, and violate any law or policy that stands in it’s way is not going to be hiring fine, upstanding citizens.  I suspect the honest to god “I’m interested in providing Social Services” employees don’t last long.  Leaving these common thieves to man the fort.

We keep asking why children are being killed by their parents.  Take a look at it - you have common thieves chasing loving parents who only want to love their children.  Harrassing them in any fashion they can, yet refusing to enforce the very parenting plan that keeps them from their children.  Pay up, but you don’t get to be a part of their lives. 

So, this $10,000 in stolen child support money - what poor non-custodial parent has lost a license, a vehicle, a lien on their home, or been fired from their job for being picked up on contempt of court when their payment didn’t post?

How will they ever prove they paid?  How much more has been stolen by other employees of these agencies doing the same thing?

I see it now, these child support agency meetings, discussing how to collect more money, instead of discussion how they can reduce theft of funds.  After all, it is only $10k. 

We need to fix these agencies - they can start with background checks on their employees, and get rid of the felons that have access to social security numbers.  Then enforce their laws and policies with their staff.  And, finally, start advocating as a social services organization, not a collection agency.

You see and hear the injustices in Family Court each and every day, yet you wonder when the ridiculous charade will end.  It appears a jury has seen through the mess and Steve Barreras was awarded $1.2 million dollars - $575 in Punitive Damage, and $625,000 in Compensatory damage for his ordeal.  Use this link to see the detail on the Barreras myspace site.

It was incredible what happened to Barreras, who divorced his former wife and was later ordered to pay child support for a child that did not exist.  She is now in federal prison!  This is a great victory for Barreras, and demonstrates yet again that a jury of ones peers sees the harm that goes on in family courts, even when the family court judges can’t.  Of course, they don’t select blind jurors for these cases, and we all know family court judges are blinded with bias.

Now the question is if Barreras will go after and hold Judges Deborah Davis Walker and Angela Jewell accountable for their abuse of the family court system.  Lets hope he does to send another strong message to the courts.

With $1.2 million in his pocket, I’m sure his choices and his decisions will be considerably different moving forward!

Another bonehead Judge or Commissioner making a decision in “The best interest of the child” has kept three young children with a mother who has killed them.  Nassau County Courts in New York need to investigate this issue with independent investigators to see if their contracts with the State for collection of child support put another family in harms way. 

All this while the fathers of the children are fighting the courts for custody to protect these very children.  This reminds me of our previous story where Mark Supanich actually took his daughter because he felt she was not safe.  It resulted in his arrest by US Marshals for kidnapping - which he was eventually aquitted of.  Yet, the family courts still restrict him rom seeing his daughter.

Thankfully, Mark’s daughter is still alive! His taking her from the harm he thought she was being exposed to may have saved her tender life. 

 These two fathers, Ricky Ward and Innocent Demesyeux were both fighting to get custody of the three children from the mother.  Leatrice Brewer called 911 to report she had killed her three children.  Cause of death is still under investigation.  Foaming around the mouths of the childen may indicate they were drowned or poisoned.

Tragedy - Yes.  Expected - of course.  Our courts, driven by payments from child support agencies that pay for courts to hear their cases, incented under US Title IV-D will continue to make decision that keep custodial parents off of welfare, and loving parents out of the life of their children.  It’s a sad reality of our government today.

The answer to many of these issues is simple - shared parenting.  Allow both parents into the lives of the children equally, providing the oversight of another parent who can identify when harm may be coming to their child.  Conviction of DIVORCE is not a reason to remove a child from the life of their children.  How can it be justified?