http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_672488.html
Former Pittsburgh school psychologist cleared of child sex charges
By Bobby Kerlik
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, March 19, 2010
An Allegheny County jury Friday acquitted a former Pittsburgh Public Schools child psychologist of all charges related to raping a boy.
Donald Stettner, 53, was accused of assaulting the boy, now in his late 20s, weekly from the time he was 9 until he was 17.
The jury deliberated three days before finding Stettner not guilty.
"(Stettner) is certainly pleased and relieved," said Tim Lucas, one of Stettner's attorneys. "This has been a long haul. This case has been kicking around for seven years."
Lucas said witness credibility was a factor in the trial.
Prosecutors declined comment after the verdict.
The victim went to police in 2003, and Stettner was ordered to stand trial later that year. The Tribune-Review does not identify accusers in sex assault cases.
Stettner's ex-wife, Rosalia Montes, 54, testified against him, saying she walked in on Stettner and the boy during sex acts on several occasions. In March 2009, she pleaded guilty to corruption of minors, indecent assault and endangering the welfare of children.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/cries-of-child-abuse-bounce-back-on-mums-20100327-r49d.html
Cries of child abuse bounce back on mums
ALICIA WOOD
March 28, 2010
CHILD protection campaigners say women who accuse their former partners of sexually abusing their children are being unfairly labelled as mentally ill in the Family Court. Child sex abuse researcher Freda Briggs and child protection advocate Charles Pragnell say recent cases show the emphasis on shared parenting responsibilities is putting children in danger.
Professor Briggs and Mr Pragnell are part of the Safer Family Law campaign and argue that amendments to the Family Law Act in 2006 were geared towards the rights of parents rather than those of children.
Professor Briggs, from the University of South Australia, specialises in research into child sex abuse. Mr Pragnell is from the National Council for Children Post-Separation, which is part of the Safer Family Law campaign. He has been called as an expert witness in child sex abuse cases in Australia, Britain and New Zealand.
They cite a Sydney case of a child who was allegedly put at risk of danger by being forced to live with her father. An interim decision was made to order the six-year-old to live with her father, at whose house she was photographed in pornographic poses by one of his friends. A court counsellor alleged the girl's mother was manipulative and might suffer from a mental illness.
"The courts should focus on the needs and wants of the child, and the rights of a child to be protected from abuse," Mr Pragnell said. "Too often we see that a parent's right to contact is given at all costs." Amendments to the Family Law Act in 2006 emphasised "co-operative" parenting and shared responsibilities.
In January, Attorney-General Robert McClelland released three reviews into these amendments. A review by the Australian Institute of Family Studies accepts that some of the consequences of a focus on shared parenting responsibilities have been "less than favourable".
Child Abuse Prevention Service manager Karen Craigie said women and men contacted the service regularly after raising concerns of sexual abuse and being labelled mentally ill. "We get lots of calls about this. It is common. Women involved are often subjected to domestic violence and are very traumatised," Ms Craigie said.
"I have heard of cases where women are so afraid of losing their children and solicitors will advise them that raising concerns of sexual abuse will make them look like they are being obstructive." Angela Lynch, a solicitor for the Women's Legal Service in Queensland who has advised women in these situations, said the family court system was too "pro-father involvement".
"In a nice family, that is a great thing. When there are issues of abuse and domestic violence, it is a huge problem," Ms Lynch said. "If you raise sexual abuse in court, you are seen as an unfriendly parent, which is the worst thing you can be in family court."
The Federal Magistrates Court and the Family Court of Australia would not comment.
Technorati Tags: ALICIA,WOOD,March,CHILD,protection,partners,children,Court,researcher,Freda,Briggs,Charles,Pragnell,cases,emphasis,responsibilities,danger,Professor,Safer,rights,South,Australia,National,Council,Post,Separation,Britain,Zealand,Sydney,father,decision,friends,girl,courts,needs,parent,January,Attorney,General,Robert,McClelland,Australian,Institute,consequences,Abuse,Prevention,Service,manager,Karen,Craigie,Women,violence,Angela,Lynch,Legal,Queensland,system,involvement,Federal,Magistrates,campaigners,amendments,situations,mums,sexual
http://www.kctv5.com/news/23022075/detail.html
11:20am | April 1, 2010
Related To Story
Video
Husband, Wife Dead In Possible Murder-Suicide
Father-In-Law Also Found Shot Twice
POSTED: 5:58 am CDT April 1,2010
UPDATED: 9:36 am CDT April 1,2010
LAWSON, Mo. -- A husband and wife in their 20s were found shot dead inside a Lawson house Wednesday night and the woman's father was found shot twice outside the house.
Police discovered the man and woman dead around 10 p.m. Wednesday. Police discovered the woman's father suffering from two gunshot wounds in the front yard. He was taken to Truman Hospital in Kansas City, Mo. Police said a total of five gunshots were filed in the shooting of the three victims.
A young child was home during the incident, police said, but was uninjured. Police have not officially called the incident a murder-suicide, but are investigating that as a possible cause.
The Lawson police chief described what officers found when they arrived.
"The first officer that responded did locate an individual in front of 509 Country Drive that we believe suffered from two gunshot wounds," Lawson police Chief Brian LaFavor said. "That individual was life-flighted. The officer did enter the residence finding two other subjects that had received fatal gunshot wounds."
Police said the husband and wife were found shot dead in a front room, while the child was located in a back bedroom.
Police said they received a domestic call earlier Wednesday evening from the house.
Neighbors said the couple had been separated the last couple of months and that the woman was living at her parent's house. Neighbors said the man was in the U.S. Army and had returned from Iraq within in the last year.
Copyright 2010 by KCTV5.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
News headlines on KCTV sponsored by:
An abuser- even a CONVICTED Abusers-CRIMES-Parental Alienation is used in Family Court to Give the children to the Abusers.
I was ‘alienating” because HE beat the hell out of me- convicted in criminal court 8 times!! …and the Courts actually set it up in CO-PARENTING for him to CONTINUE for years to Assault.
PAS is a Defense to Batterers. It is ONLY used with abusers and ONLY in CASES of Abuse to SILENCE the victims.
It calls all allegations of abuse as false- Even when proven Abuse- and Convictions-
It is used Against the victim and every Battered Mothers WILL and DO loose their Children because of the Parental Alienation Theories-
I urge all who are middle line on this to please use common sense before more are killed and suffer irreparable harm as a result of the use of PAS.
I am a PAS casualty - even with Criminal Convictions of Violence the response was- "we don't want the daughter to KNOW what the Father did to the mother"
Parental Alienation- and my daughter went to the abuser I have barely seen her in over a decade.
This is what Parental Alienation does.. the truth- is to protect from allegations of ALL Abuse- and Defends the Abusers. period.
Claudine Dombrowski Photos of Abuse | Stop Family Violence
www.stopfamilyviolence.org
There is a crisis in our nation's family courts. Judges are awarding child custody to abusers and pedophiles and punishing the safe parent who tries to protect the children from harm. In this section you ...
http://www.stopfamilyviolence.org/pages/308
Claudine Dombrowski Photos of Abuse
As you view these photos keep in mind that the court awarded FULL CUSTODY of their daughter to the "man" who did this to Claudine.
To read Claudine's history that was submitted to the IACHR, click here
If you want to know some of the many reasons women stay in abusive relationships, click here
AFTER THE BIRTH OF HER DAUGHTER, 1994
AFTER EX-HUSBAND BEAT HER WITH A CROW BAR, 1996
AFTER EX-HUSBAND RAPED AND BATTERED HER, 2000
AFTER EX-HUSBAND HIRED SOMEONE TO ASSAULT HER, 2003
THE "COFFEE TABLE" IN THE FATHER'S HOME IS A CHILD'S COFFIN. MOUNTED ON THE WALL ABOVE THE SOFA IS A GUN.
- Permalink:
- http://www.stopfamilyviolence.org/pages/308
http://www.cincinnatipas.com/dr-richardgardnerautopsy.html
Dr. Richard Gardner, M.D.
born April 28, 1931
Committed Suicide
May 25, 2003
"CAUSE OF DEATH:
Incised wounds of chest and neck."
Allow us to disabuse the pro-abusers. Dr. Richard Gardner's son told the New York Times that his father committed suicide. Contrary to false assertions made by the father's rights movement, Richard Gardner most certainly did not die peacefully in his sleep.
It was far uglier than that.
The Bergen County (New Jersey) Medical Examiner reported that Dr. Richard Gardner died a gory, bloody and violent death - from his own hand. Gardner took an overdose of prescription medication while stabbing himself several times in the neck and chest. Gardner plunged a butcher knife deep into his heart.
The medical examiner removed the knife from Gardner's chest and listed the stabbing wounds as the cause of death.
(Here is Gardner's autopsy report and the NY Times obituary.)
County Of Bergen
Department of Public Safety
Medical Examiner Autopsy Report
May 27, 2003
02030860.aut
GARDNER, Richard A.
¬Ý
New York Times
June 9, 2003, Monday
METROPOLITAN DESK
Richard Gardner, 72, Dies;
Cast Doubt on Abuse Claims
By STUART LAVIETES
"Dr. Richard A. Gardner, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who developed a theory about parental alienation syndrome, which he said could lead children in high-conflict custody cases to falsely accuse a parent of abuse, died on May 25 at his home in Tenafly, N.J. He was 72.
The cause was suicide, said Dr. Gardner's son, Andrew, who said his father had been distraught over the advancing symptoms of reflex sympathetic dystrophy, a painful neurological syndrome.
Dr. Gardner, who testified in more than 400 child custody cases, maintained that children who suffered from parental alienation syndrome had been indoctrinated by a vindictive parent and obsessively denigrated the other parent without cause.
In severe cases, he recommended that courts remove children from the homes of the alienating parents and place them in the custody of the parents accused of abuse.
His theory has provoked vehement opposition from some mental health professionals, child abuse experts and lawyers. Critics argue that it lacks a scientific basis, noting that the American Psychiatric Association and the American Medical Association have not recognized it as a syndrome.
They also say that the theory is biased against women, as allegations of abuse are usually directed at fathers, and that it is used as a weapon by lawyers seeking to undermine a mother's credibility in court." ...
... "His marriage to Lee Gardner ended in divorce. In addition to his son, of Cherry Hill, N.J., he is survived by two daughters, Nancy Gardner Rubin of Potomac, Md., and Julie Gardner Mandelcorn, of Newton, Mass.; his mother, Amelia Gardner of Manhattan; eight grandchildren; and his partner, Natalie Weiss.
Correction: June 14, 2003, Saturday An obituary on Monday about Dr. Richard A. Gardner, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, misstated his position at Columbia University. He was a clinical professor of psychiatry in the division of child and adolescent psychiatry -- an unpaid volunteer -- not a professor of child psychiatry."
End of Obituary Excerpt
¬Ý
A comment about Dr. Richard Gardner's suicide released by the last man to cross examine him, attorney Richard Ducote:
¬Ý¬ÝJune 1, 2003
"Parental Alienation Syndrome is a bogus, pro-pedophillic fraud concocted by Richard Gardner. I was the last attorney to cross examine Gardner. In Paterson, NJ, he admitted that he has not spoken to the Dean of Columbia's medical school for over 15 years, and has not had hospital admitting privileges for over 25 years.
He has not been court appointed to do anything for decades.
The only two appellate courts in the country who have considered the question of whether PAS meets the Frye test, i.e., whether it is generally accepted in the scientific community, said it does not. As Dr. Paul Fink, former president of the American Psychiatric Association has stated, Dr. Gardner and PAS should be only a "pathetic footnote" in psychiatric history. Gardner and his bogus theory have done untold damage to sexually and physically abused children and their protective parents. PAS has been rejected by every reputable organization considering it.
In a Florida case in which I was recently involved, when the judge insisted on a Frye hearing, Gardner simply did not show up. Perhaps because he finally realized that the entire nation was on to his scam, he committed suicide on May 25. Let's pray that his ridiculous, dangerous PAS foolishness died with him."
Richard Ducote
attorney at law
New Orleans, LA
Dr. Richard Gardner, seen here at age 67 in February 1999, authored the money making PAS theory that made him a very rich man. Gardner committed suicide on May 25, 2003, plunging a seven inch butcher knife into his neck and heart. Gardner testified mostly for men, charging $500 per hour, routinely recommending custody to abusers, deprogramming children and threat therapy for mothers. Gardner was against society's overly moralistic and punitive reaction to pedophiles.
To get a better understanding of the damage Dr. Richard Gardner did in his lifetime, go to this link:
Technorati Tags: Richard,Gardner,Complete,Autopsy,Report,April,Suicide,CAUSE,DEATH,chest,neck,York,Times,father,Contrary,rights,movement,Bergen,Jersey,Medical,Examiner,prescription,medication,heart,Here,Department,Public,June,METROPOLITAN,DESK,Cast,Doubt,Abuse,STUART,LAVIETES,psychiatrist,psychoanalyst,theory,alienation,syndrome,children,custody,cases,parent,Andrew,reflex,courts,opposition,health,basis,American,Psychiatric,Association,weapon,marriage,addition,Cherry,Hill,Nancy,Rubin,Potomac,Julie,Mandelcorn,Newton,Mass,Amelia,Manhattan,Natalie,Weiss,Correction,Columbia,professor,psychiatry,volunteer,Obituary,Excerpt,attorney,Ducote,ÝJune,Parental,fraud,Paterson,Dean,hospital,privileges,Frye,Paul,Fink,president,footnote,history,organization,Florida,nation,scam,Orleans,February,money,threat,therapy,reaction,lifetime,assertions,symptoms,lawyers,Critics,allegations,fathers,abusers,parents,whether
[vodpodid=Video.2216124&w=425&h=350&fv=docId%3D-7876692673728025307%26playerMode%3Dsimple%26hl%3Den]
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7876692673728025307]
http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/pas/DVP.html
September 16, 2009
As more and more abused women lose custody to batterers in family courts, they are wrongly embracing the very ideas that enabled their abusers to gain custody in the first place. False accusations of “parental alienation" are often used by batterers to gain custody and to defend against accusations of abuse.
Some unfortunate women after years of enduring domestic violence have lost custody to the batterers who abused them. In these cases, batterers have made good on their threat to attack their ex-partner in the place she is the most vulnerable—by taking her children away from her. After separation, these batterers continue to wage their campaign of manipulation and abuse by attempting to convince involved children that their mothers never loved them. Looking for a way to describe their batterers' behavior, some mothers have called what their batterer is doing "parental alienation syndrome."
In reality, what these women are describing from their ex-partners is better termed Domestic Violence by Proxy (DV by Proxy), a term first used by Alina Patterson, author of Health and Healing. DV by Proxy refers to a pattern of behavior which is a parent with a history of using domestic violence or intimidation, uses a child as a substitute when he no longer has access to his former partner. Calling this behavior “parental alienation” is not strong enough to convey the criminal pattern of terroristic behaviors employed by batterers.
When his victim leaves him, batterers often recognize that the most expedient way to continue to hurt his partner is to assert his legal rights to control her access to their children. By gaining control of the children, an abusive male now has a powerful tool which allows him to continue to stalk, harass and batter an ex-partner even when he has no direct access to her. Moreover, by emotionally torturing the child and severing the bond between children and their mother, he is able to hurt his intended victim -- the mother -- in a way she cannot resist.
DV by Proxy includes tactics such as: threats of harm to children if they display a positive bond to the mother, destroying favored possessions given by the mother, and emotional torture (for example, telling the child the mother hates them, wanted an abortion, and is not coming to get them because they are unloved).
DV by Proxy may also include coaching the child to make false allegations regarding their mother's behavior and harming or punishing the child for not complying. DV by Proxy perpetrators may also create fraudulent documents to defraud the court in order to prevent the mother from gaining custody. Whether or not the child is biologically related to them is irrelevant to perpetrators of DV by Proxy. The perpetrator's main motivation is to hurt his ex; whether or not his own child is harmed in the process is irrelevant to him.
This is very different from "parental alienation syndrome" as described by the late Richard A. Gardner. Dr. Gardner described PAS as an internal process by which a child aligns themselves with a preferred parent to protect themselves from the divorce conflict. “PAS” is conceptualized as a psychological process of identification with a parent who, according to the theory, encourages this identification at the expense of the other parent.
PAS inducing parents, according to Gardner, are often unconscious of what they are doing to encourage the identification. In contrast, perpetrators of DV by Proxy are very conscious of what they are doing. Controlling, coercive, illegal acts often done by abusive and controlling people, usually men, are not subtle, and do not encourage an identification with a parent. Criminal, fraudulent, coercive acts are visible and obvious. These behaviors encourage compliance by threats and fear. Behaviors involved in DV by Proxy are deliberate and often illegal. These behaviors include: battery, destruction of property, locking children in rooms to prevent them from calling parents, falsifying documents, along with other similar overt behaviors.
The most dangerous aspect of Gardner's PAS theory is that that the alienating parent's behavior is theorized to be so subtle as to be unobservable. In other words, the behaviors that are supposed to cause the alienation are assumed to be happening without any proof that they have actually occured. As many women have discovered this makes a charge of "alienation" almost impossible to defend against.
While Gardner's theories regarding PAS have been shown to be overly general and have not been supported by careful research, behaviors seen in DV by Proxy can be readily observed. Behaviors involved in DV by Proxy are deliberate and planned; many are illegal, and if the child is given the freedom to talk, will be described in great detail by the child.
If the child's formerly favorable view of the victimized parent changes when exposed to tactics like this over time then it is more likely a form of "Stockholm Syndrome" or traumatic attachment to the abuser, rather than the alignment with one parent and negative reaction to the other that Gardner described as "alienation".
A recent and comprehensive article on PAS and its use in the court system, by Jennifer Hoult can be downloaded here.
For further information:
- Are Protective Parents Losing Custody to Alleged Abusers?Evidence shows that women who raise concerns about family violence during custody litigation run the risk of losing their children.
- Stopfamilyviolence.org: The people's voice for family peace. Stop Family Violence is a national grassroots organization with a mission to organize and amplify our nation's collective voice against family violence.
- CA3 -Children Against Court Appointed Child Abuse
- High-conflict divorce or stalking by way of family court?Massachusetts Family Law Journal, 2004.http://www.mincava.umn.edu/reports/linda.asp
- Hoult, Jennifer. (Spring 2006). The Evidentiary Admissibility of Parental Alienation Syndrome: Science, Law, and Policy,Children's Legal Rights Journal, 26(1) pp. 1-61. (download PDF)
Time's Up!
Time's Up is a Guide on How to Leave and Survive Abusive and Stalking Relationships written by Susan Murphy-Milano
Contributors
1.4.10
Psychologist cleared of sex abuse – Another Court Whore who gets away with abuse
Parental Alienation (PAS)
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_672488.html
Former Pittsburgh school psychologist cleared of child sex charges
By Bobby Kerlik
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, March 19, 2010
An Allegheny County jury Friday acquitted a former Pittsburgh Public Schools child psychologist of all charges related to raping a boy.
Donald Stettner, 53, was accused of assaulting the boy, now in his late 20s, weekly from the time he was 9 until he was 17.
The jury deliberated three days before finding Stettner not guilty.
"(Stettner) is certainly pleased and relieved," said Tim Lucas, one of Stettner's attorneys. "This has been a long haul. This case has been kicking around for seven years."
Lucas said witness credibility was a factor in the trial.
Prosecutors declined comment after the verdict.
The victim went to police in 2003, and Stettner was ordered to stand trial later that year. The Tribune-Review does not identify accusers in sex assault cases.
Stettner's ex-wife, Rosalia Montes, 54, testified against him, saying she walked in on Stettner and the boy during sex acts on several occasions. In March 2009, she pleaded guilty to corruption of minors, indecent assault and endangering the welfare of children.
Cries of child abuse bounce back on mums
http://www.smh.com.au/national/cries-of-child-abuse-bounce-back-on-mums-20100327-r49d.html
Cries of child abuse bounce back on mums
ALICIA WOOD
March 28, 2010
CHILD protection campaigners say women who accuse their former partners of sexually abusing their children are being unfairly labelled as mentally ill in the Family Court. Child sex abuse researcher Freda Briggs and child protection advocate Charles Pragnell say recent cases show the emphasis on shared parenting responsibilities is putting children in danger.
Professor Briggs and Mr Pragnell are part of the Safer Family Law campaign and argue that amendments to the Family Law Act in 2006 were geared towards the rights of parents rather than those of children.
Professor Briggs, from the University of South Australia, specialises in research into child sex abuse. Mr Pragnell is from the National Council for Children Post-Separation, which is part of the Safer Family Law campaign. He has been called as an expert witness in child sex abuse cases in Australia, Britain and New Zealand.
They cite a Sydney case of a child who was allegedly put at risk of danger by being forced to live with her father. An interim decision was made to order the six-year-old to live with her father, at whose house she was photographed in pornographic poses by one of his friends. A court counsellor alleged the girl's mother was manipulative and might suffer from a mental illness.
"The courts should focus on the needs and wants of the child, and the rights of a child to be protected from abuse," Mr Pragnell said. "Too often we see that a parent's right to contact is given at all costs." Amendments to the Family Law Act in 2006 emphasised "co-operative" parenting and shared responsibilities.
In January, Attorney-General Robert McClelland released three reviews into these amendments. A review by the Australian Institute of Family Studies accepts that some of the consequences of a focus on shared parenting responsibilities have been "less than favourable".
Child Abuse Prevention Service manager Karen Craigie said women and men contacted the service regularly after raising concerns of sexual abuse and being labelled mentally ill. "We get lots of calls about this. It is common. Women involved are often subjected to domestic violence and are very traumatised," Ms Craigie said.
"I have heard of cases where women are so afraid of losing their children and solicitors will advise them that raising concerns of sexual abuse will make them look like they are being obstructive." Angela Lynch, a solicitor for the Women's Legal Service in Queensland who has advised women in these situations, said the family court system was too "pro-father involvement".
"In a nice family, that is a great thing. When there are issues of abuse and domestic violence, it is a huge problem," Ms Lynch said. "If you raise sexual abuse in court, you are seen as an unfriendly parent, which is the worst thing you can be in family court."
The Federal Magistrates Court and the Family Court of Australia would not comment.
Technorati Tags: ALICIA,WOOD,March,CHILD,protection,partners,children,Court,researcher,Freda,Briggs,Charles,Pragnell,cases,emphasis,responsibilities,danger,Professor,Safer,rights,South,Australia,National,Council,Post,Separation,Britain,Zealand,Sydney,father,decision,friends,girl,courts,needs,parent,January,Attorney,General,Robert,McClelland,Australian,Institute,consequences,Abuse,Prevention,Service,manager,Karen,Craigie,Women,violence,Angela,Lynch,Legal,Queensland,system,involvement,Federal,Magistrates,campaigners,amendments,situations,mums,sexual
Husband, Wife Dead In Possible Murder-Suicide, Father-In-Law Also Found Shot Twice
http://www.kctv5.com/news/23022075/detail.html
11:20am | April 1, 2010
Related To Story
Video
Husband, Wife Dead In Possible Murder-Suicide
Father-In-Law Also Found Shot Twice
POSTED: 5:58 am CDT April 1,2010
UPDATED: 9:36 am CDT April 1,2010
LAWSON, Mo. -- A husband and wife in their 20s were found shot dead inside a Lawson house Wednesday night and the woman's father was found shot twice outside the house.
Police discovered the man and woman dead around 10 p.m. Wednesday. Police discovered the woman's father suffering from two gunshot wounds in the front yard. He was taken to Truman Hospital in Kansas City, Mo. Police said a total of five gunshots were filed in the shooting of the three victims.
A young child was home during the incident, police said, but was uninjured. Police have not officially called the incident a murder-suicide, but are investigating that as a possible cause.
The Lawson police chief described what officers found when they arrived.
"The first officer that responded did locate an individual in front of 509 Country Drive that we believe suffered from two gunshot wounds," Lawson police Chief Brian LaFavor said. "That individual was life-flighted. The officer did enter the residence finding two other subjects that had received fatal gunshot wounds."
Police said the husband and wife were found shot dead in a front room, while the child was located in a back bedroom.
Police said they received a domestic call earlier Wednesday evening from the house.
Neighbors said the couple had been separated the last couple of months and that the woman was living at her parent's house. Neighbors said the man was in the U.S. Army and had returned from Iraq within in the last year.
Copyright 2010 by KCTV5.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
News headlines on KCTV sponsored by:
Who does Parental Alienation (PAS) Protect?
An abuser- even a CONVICTED Abusers-CRIMES-Parental Alienation is used in Family Court to Give the children to the Abusers.
I was ‘alienating” because HE beat the hell out of me- convicted in criminal court 8 times!! …and the Courts actually set it up in CO-PARENTING for him to CONTINUE for years to Assault.
PAS is a Defense to Batterers. It is ONLY used with abusers and ONLY in CASES of Abuse to SILENCE the victims.
It calls all allegations of abuse as false- Even when proven Abuse- and Convictions-
It is used Against the victim and every Battered Mothers WILL and DO loose their Children because of the Parental Alienation Theories-
I urge all who are middle line on this to please use common sense before more are killed and suffer irreparable harm as a result of the use of PAS.
I am a PAS casualty - even with Criminal Convictions of Violence the response was- "we don't want the daughter to KNOW what the Father did to the mother"
Parental Alienation- and my daughter went to the abuser I have barely seen her in over a decade.
This is what Parental Alienation does.. the truth- is to protect from allegations of ALL Abuse- and Defends the Abusers. period.
Claudine Dombrowski Photos of Abuse | Stop Family Violence
www.stopfamilyviolence.org
There is a crisis in our nation's family courts. Judges are awarding child custody to abusers and pedophiles and punishing the safe parent who tries to protect the children from harm. In this section you ...
http://www.stopfamilyviolence.org/pages/308
Claudine Dombrowski Photos of Abuse
As you view these photos keep in mind that the court awarded FULL CUSTODY of their daughter to the "man" who did this to Claudine.
To read Claudine's history that was submitted to the IACHR, click here
If you want to know some of the many reasons women stay in abusive relationships, click here
AFTER THE BIRTH OF HER DAUGHTER, 1994
AFTER EX-HUSBAND BEAT HER WITH A CROW BAR, 1996
AFTER EX-HUSBAND RAPED AND BATTERED HER, 2000
AFTER EX-HUSBAND HIRED SOMEONE TO ASSAULT HER, 2003
THE "COFFEE TABLE" IN THE FATHER'S HOME IS A CHILD'S COFFIN. MOUNTED ON THE WALL ABOVE THE SOFA IS A GUN.
- Permalink:
- http://www.stopfamilyviolence.org/pages/308
Dr. Richard Gardner's Complete Autopsy Report
http://www.cincinnatipas.com/dr-richardgardnerautopsy.html
Dr. Richard Gardner, M.D.
born April 28, 1931
Committed Suicide
May 25, 2003
"CAUSE OF DEATH:
Incised wounds of chest and neck."
Allow us to disabuse the pro-abusers. Dr. Richard Gardner's son told the New York Times that his father committed suicide. Contrary to false assertions made by the father's rights movement, Richard Gardner most certainly did not die peacefully in his sleep.
It was far uglier than that.
The Bergen County (New Jersey) Medical Examiner reported that Dr. Richard Gardner died a gory, bloody and violent death - from his own hand. Gardner took an overdose of prescription medication while stabbing himself several times in the neck and chest. Gardner plunged a butcher knife deep into his heart.
The medical examiner removed the knife from Gardner's chest and listed the stabbing wounds as the cause of death.
(Here is Gardner's autopsy report and the NY Times obituary.)
County Of Bergen
Department of Public Safety
Medical Examiner Autopsy Report
May 27, 2003
02030860.aut
GARDNER, Richard A.
¬Ý
New York Times
June 9, 2003, Monday
METROPOLITAN DESK
Richard Gardner, 72, Dies;
Cast Doubt on Abuse Claims
By STUART LAVIETES
"Dr. Richard A. Gardner, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who developed a theory about parental alienation syndrome, which he said could lead children in high-conflict custody cases to falsely accuse a parent of abuse, died on May 25 at his home in Tenafly, N.J. He was 72.
The cause was suicide, said Dr. Gardner's son, Andrew, who said his father had been distraught over the advancing symptoms of reflex sympathetic dystrophy, a painful neurological syndrome.
Dr. Gardner, who testified in more than 400 child custody cases, maintained that children who suffered from parental alienation syndrome had been indoctrinated by a vindictive parent and obsessively denigrated the other parent without cause.
In severe cases, he recommended that courts remove children from the homes of the alienating parents and place them in the custody of the parents accused of abuse.
His theory has provoked vehement opposition from some mental health professionals, child abuse experts and lawyers. Critics argue that it lacks a scientific basis, noting that the American Psychiatric Association and the American Medical Association have not recognized it as a syndrome.
They also say that the theory is biased against women, as allegations of abuse are usually directed at fathers, and that it is used as a weapon by lawyers seeking to undermine a mother's credibility in court." ...
... "His marriage to Lee Gardner ended in divorce. In addition to his son, of Cherry Hill, N.J., he is survived by two daughters, Nancy Gardner Rubin of Potomac, Md., and Julie Gardner Mandelcorn, of Newton, Mass.; his mother, Amelia Gardner of Manhattan; eight grandchildren; and his partner, Natalie Weiss.
Correction: June 14, 2003, Saturday An obituary on Monday about Dr. Richard A. Gardner, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, misstated his position at Columbia University. He was a clinical professor of psychiatry in the division of child and adolescent psychiatry -- an unpaid volunteer -- not a professor of child psychiatry."
End of Obituary Excerpt
¬Ý
A comment about Dr. Richard Gardner's suicide released by the last man to cross examine him, attorney Richard Ducote:
¬Ý¬ÝJune 1, 2003
"Parental Alienation Syndrome is a bogus, pro-pedophillic fraud concocted by Richard Gardner. I was the last attorney to cross examine Gardner. In Paterson, NJ, he admitted that he has not spoken to the Dean of Columbia's medical school for over 15 years, and has not had hospital admitting privileges for over 25 years.
He has not been court appointed to do anything for decades.
The only two appellate courts in the country who have considered the question of whether PAS meets the Frye test, i.e., whether it is generally accepted in the scientific community, said it does not. As Dr. Paul Fink, former president of the American Psychiatric Association has stated, Dr. Gardner and PAS should be only a "pathetic footnote" in psychiatric history. Gardner and his bogus theory have done untold damage to sexually and physically abused children and their protective parents. PAS has been rejected by every reputable organization considering it.
In a Florida case in which I was recently involved, when the judge insisted on a Frye hearing, Gardner simply did not show up. Perhaps because he finally realized that the entire nation was on to his scam, he committed suicide on May 25. Let's pray that his ridiculous, dangerous PAS foolishness died with him."
Richard Ducote
attorney at law
New Orleans, LA
Dr. Richard Gardner, seen here at age 67 in February 1999, authored the money making PAS theory that made him a very rich man. Gardner committed suicide on May 25, 2003, plunging a seven inch butcher knife into his neck and heart. Gardner testified mostly for men, charging $500 per hour, routinely recommending custody to abusers, deprogramming children and threat therapy for mothers. Gardner was against society's overly moralistic and punitive reaction to pedophiles.
To get a better understanding of the damage Dr. Richard Gardner did in his lifetime, go to this link:
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PBS Documentary: Breaking the Silence; Children's Stories
[vodpodid=Video.2216124&w=425&h=350&fv=docId%3D-7876692673728025307%26playerMode%3Dsimple%26hl%3Den]
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7876692673728025307]
Domestic Violence (DV) by Proxy: Why Terrorist Tactics Employed by Batterers Are Not "PAS"
http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/pas/DVP.html
September 16, 2009
As more and more abused women lose custody to batterers in family courts, they are wrongly embracing the very ideas that enabled their abusers to gain custody in the first place. False accusations of “parental alienation" are often used by batterers to gain custody and to defend against accusations of abuse.
Some unfortunate women after years of enduring domestic violence have lost custody to the batterers who abused them. In these cases, batterers have made good on their threat to attack their ex-partner in the place she is the most vulnerable—by taking her children away from her. After separation, these batterers continue to wage their campaign of manipulation and abuse by attempting to convince involved children that their mothers never loved them. Looking for a way to describe their batterers' behavior, some mothers have called what their batterer is doing "parental alienation syndrome."
In reality, what these women are describing from their ex-partners is better termed Domestic Violence by Proxy (DV by Proxy), a term first used by Alina Patterson, author of Health and Healing. DV by Proxy refers to a pattern of behavior which is a parent with a history of using domestic violence or intimidation, uses a child as a substitute when he no longer has access to his former partner. Calling this behavior “parental alienation” is not strong enough to convey the criminal pattern of terroristic behaviors employed by batterers.
When his victim leaves him, batterers often recognize that the most expedient way to continue to hurt his partner is to assert his legal rights to control her access to their children. By gaining control of the children, an abusive male now has a powerful tool which allows him to continue to stalk, harass and batter an ex-partner even when he has no direct access to her. Moreover, by emotionally torturing the child and severing the bond between children and their mother, he is able to hurt his intended victim -- the mother -- in a way she cannot resist.
DV by Proxy includes tactics such as: threats of harm to children if they display a positive bond to the mother, destroying favored possessions given by the mother, and emotional torture (for example, telling the child the mother hates them, wanted an abortion, and is not coming to get them because they are unloved).
DV by Proxy may also include coaching the child to make false allegations regarding their mother's behavior and harming or punishing the child for not complying. DV by Proxy perpetrators may also create fraudulent documents to defraud the court in order to prevent the mother from gaining custody. Whether or not the child is biologically related to them is irrelevant to perpetrators of DV by Proxy. The perpetrator's main motivation is to hurt his ex; whether or not his own child is harmed in the process is irrelevant to him.
This is very different from "parental alienation syndrome" as described by the late Richard A. Gardner. Dr. Gardner described PAS as an internal process by which a child aligns themselves with a preferred parent to protect themselves from the divorce conflict. “PAS” is conceptualized as a psychological process of identification with a parent who, according to the theory, encourages this identification at the expense of the other parent.
PAS inducing parents, according to Gardner, are often unconscious of what they are doing to encourage the identification. In contrast, perpetrators of DV by Proxy are very conscious of what they are doing. Controlling, coercive, illegal acts often done by abusive and controlling people, usually men, are not subtle, and do not encourage an identification with a parent. Criminal, fraudulent, coercive acts are visible and obvious. These behaviors encourage compliance by threats and fear. Behaviors involved in DV by Proxy are deliberate and often illegal. These behaviors include: battery, destruction of property, locking children in rooms to prevent them from calling parents, falsifying documents, along with other similar overt behaviors.
The most dangerous aspect of Gardner's PAS theory is that that the alienating parent's behavior is theorized to be so subtle as to be unobservable. In other words, the behaviors that are supposed to cause the alienation are assumed to be happening without any proof that they have actually occured. As many women have discovered this makes a charge of "alienation" almost impossible to defend against.
While Gardner's theories regarding PAS have been shown to be overly general and have not been supported by careful research, behaviors seen in DV by Proxy can be readily observed. Behaviors involved in DV by Proxy are deliberate and planned; many are illegal, and if the child is given the freedom to talk, will be described in great detail by the child.
If the child's formerly favorable view of the victimized parent changes when exposed to tactics like this over time then it is more likely a form of "Stockholm Syndrome" or traumatic attachment to the abuser, rather than the alignment with one parent and negative reaction to the other that Gardner described as "alienation".
A recent and comprehensive article on PAS and its use in the court system, by Jennifer Hoult can be downloaded here.
For further information:
- Are Protective Parents Losing Custody to Alleged Abusers?Evidence shows that women who raise concerns about family violence during custody litigation run the risk of losing their children.
- Stopfamilyviolence.org: The people's voice for family peace. Stop Family Violence is a national grassroots organization with a mission to organize and amplify our nation's collective voice against family violence.
- CA3 -Children Against Court Appointed Child Abuse
- High-conflict divorce or stalking by way of family court?Massachusetts Family Law Journal, 2004.http://www.mincava.umn.edu/reports/linda.asp
- Hoult, Jennifer. (Spring 2006). The Evidentiary Admissibility of Parental Alienation Syndrome: Science, Law, and Policy,Children's Legal Rights Journal, 26(1) pp. 1-61. (download PDF)
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BADASS
I am a BADASS: Bloggers Against Deprivation,
Alienation Syndromes, & junk Science
