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REVISIONS:
BILL NUMBER: AB 612 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 28, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 5, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 22, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Beall
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Ma, Smyth, and Torrico)
(Coauthor: Senator Yee)
FEBRUARY 25, 2009
An act to add Section 3027.3 to the Family Code, relating to
custody and visitation.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 612, as amended, Beall. Custody and visitation: nonscientific
theories.
Existing law governs the determination of child custody and
visitation with a child in contested proceedings. Existing law
provides for the use of court-appointed investigators, as defined,
including court-appointed evaluators directed by the court to conduct
a child custody investigation in those proceedings. Existing law
authorizes the court to appoint a child custody evaluator if the
court determines it is in the best interest of the child. If directed
by the court, the evaluator is required to file a written
confidential report on his or her evaluation. The report may be
received in evidence on stipulation of all interested parties and is
competent evidence as to all matters contained in the report.
Existing law requires all child custody evaluators to have completed
specified training relating to domestic violence and child abuse.
Existing law requires the Judicial Council to adopt standards for
court-connected evaluations, investigations, and assessments related
to child custody. Existing law also requires the Judicial Council to
formulate rules of court that establish education, experience, and
training requirements for child custody evaluators and to establish
related forms, as specified.
This bill would provide that a child's expression of
significant hostility toward a parent may be admitted as possible
corroborating evidence that the parent has abused the child. The bill
would prohibit a court from concluding that an accusation of child
physical or sexual abuse against a parent is false based solely on
the child's expression of significant hostility toward the parent.
The bill would also require that, on and after January 1, 2010, these
provisions be included in all training required of child custody
evaluators, and would, consequently, require the Judicial Council to
revise training standards for child custody evaluators
allegations of physical or sexual abuse against a child are to be
investigated using specified methods of data collection and analysis.
The bill would provide that the rules of evidence applicable in
criminal proceedings shall apply whenever the court considers an
allegation of physical or sexual abuse against a child in a custody
proceeding. The bill would also provide that unproven, nonscientific
theories, including, but not limited to, alienation theories, as
specified, are not consistent with generally accepted clinical,
forensic, scientific, diagnostic, or medical standards. The bill
would prohibit a court from relying upon an unproven, unscientific
theory and from accepting into evidence any finding provided by an
expert witness or court appointed professional who has relied on
an unproven, nonscientific theory that is a basis for that
finding. The bill would require the Judicial Council to provide
training consistent with these provisions . The bill would
include a statement of legislative intent.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. It is the intent of the Legislature
that courts strive to protect the safety of children by ensuring that
abuse allegations are investigated appropriately and that protecting
children from physical and sexual abuse is the highest priority in
custody and visitation decisions.
SEC. 2. Section 3027.3 is added to the
Family Code , to read:
3027.3. (a) Allegations of physical or sexual abuse against a
child are to be investigated using methods of data collection and
analysis consistent with the requirements of Section 3118, as further
clarified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (e) of Rule of Court
5.220, as it read on January 1, 2009.
(b) The rules of evidence applicable in criminal proceedings shall
apply whenever the court considers an allegation of physical or
sexual abuse against a child in a proceeding pursuant to this
division.
(c) Unproven, nonscientific theories, including, but not limited
to, alienation theories that assume that a child's report of physical
or sexual abuse by one parent is influenced or fabricated by the
other parent, are not consistent with generally accepted clinical,
forensic, scientific, diagnostic, or medical standards. The court may
not rely upon an unproven, unscientific theory and the court may not
accept into evidence any finding provided by an expert witness or
court appointed professional who has relied on an unproven,
nonscientific theory that is a basis for that finding.
(d) Nothing in this section shall limit the consideration of
actual evidence, behaviors, statements, or conduct by either parent
or by the child.
(e) The Judicial Council shall provide training consistent with
this section.
SECTION 1. It is the intent of the Legislature
that courts strive to protect the safety and best interest of
children in custody matters by ensuring that allegations of physical
and sexual abuse are investigated appropriately or referrals are made
to the child welfare services agency.
SEC. 2. Section 3027.3 is added to the Family
Code, to read:
3027.3. (a) A child's expression of significant hostility toward
a parent may, in the discretion of the court, be admitted as possible
corroborating evidence that the parent has abused the child. The
court may not conclude that an accusation of child physical or sexual
abuse against a parent is false based solely on the child's
expression of significant hostility toward the parent.
(b) On and after January 1, 2010, the provisions of this section
shall be included in all training required pursuant to Section
3110.5.
Assemblymember Beall: Junk Science Should Be Thrown Out of Court
AB 612 Requires Family Courts to Restrict Use of Pseudo Syndromes in Custody Cases
(Sacramento) – Assembly Bill 612, legislation from Assemblymember Jim Beall, Jr. (D-San Jose), outlawing unscientific “alienation’’ theories that have fueled bitter and expensive child custody battles, cleared its first hurdle on Tuesday when it was approved by the Assembly Committee on Judiciary. Supporting the measure at the hearing was award winning television star Nancy Lee Grahn (General Hospital’s Alexis Davis) and others. 
The bill seeks to prohibit courts from considering nonscientific theories when making decisions on child custody or visitation. The American Psychological Association Presidential Task Force on Violence and the Family “noted the lack of data to support so-called ‘parental alienation syndrome,’ ’’ according to an association statement.
AB 612 would also eliminate training in non-scientific theories, such as parental alienation theories, from Judicial Council-approved education for family court professionals.
“We want to change a harmful family court practice that apparently has gone unchecked for some time, resulting in innocent children being improperly placed,’’ Beall said. “This legislation requires family courts to follow the legal principals of accepted evidence. Pseudo ’syndromes’ should not be allowed as evidence in life-altering custody determinations.
The Parental Alienation Syndrome presupposes that the custodial parent brainwashes the child to make false statements against the other parent. The theory or syndrome has been employed by some abusive parents to regain custody of the victimized child, experts say.
“Too many times, court evaluators are sidetracked by this pseudo syndrome into presuming the child’s hostility toward the non-custodial parent resulted from ‘programming’ by the custodial parent while completely ignoring symptoms of abuse or domestic violence by the non-custodial parent,’’ Beall said.
By prohibiting non-scientific theories, the bill makes evidentiary standards in family court more consistent with other courts.
For additional details on each of the measures please visit the website of Assemblymember Beall: www.asm.ca.gov/beall
Here are links to audio of Assemblymember Beall and Nancy Lee Grahn:
Assemblymember Beall says its time for California to ban the use of the so-called parental alienation syndrome argument.
Assemblymember Beall says use of the parental alienation syndrome argument has resulted in children being abused.
Nancy Lee Grahn, television actress (General Hospital’s Alexis Davis), says AB 612 is desperately needed.
Nancy Lee Grahn says parental alienation syndrome is bogus science.
Not too Responsible Fatherhood: Blaming, Shaming, and Gaming
This is in direct response to When Divorce Kills: How Gender Bias Pushes Some Men Over the Edge. You must [find it and] read it first.
In the past two weeks…? Why limit the time period. There have been more than a dozen murders since the new year began.
Ending in the deaths of “innocent children”?…There goes that catch phrase that I spoke about yesterday. Also, see how framing the “innocent children” conveniently leaves out any other victims who are adults…and also dead. I wonder how their families feel about that.
A father in distress? Many Americans are in distress right now, and always and are not killing; but notice how the author frames it as “losing all that he held dear.”..as if loss=the right to murder.
There is nothing “high profile” about these cases. There is an epidemic of men committing familicides and only SOME happened to make it to the main news section. Some. Within days, all is forgotten and the next murder occurs with the same sensationalism and shock. It has become a perfunctory reaction.
This doesn’t stereotype fathers. What it does it make us cautious of divorcing men, men who cannot take control of their emotions so they seek control by violent means. A “malicious stereotype” would be one that specifically intends to do harm. These men are intending to do harm. These murders are premeditated. Stop playing the stereotype card and call it what it is, reality.
Good fathers are good fathers. We can recognize them. Or, hell, maybe we can’t…because it seems like every time a White man commits a murder, the community wants to talk about what an upstanding, church-going, philanthropist, volunteer-coach, music-instructor, role-model he was.
We are not talking about “most fathers” when these stories hit the media. We are talking about men who use violence as a solutions to their problems and a society that is content with accept it as is. But we must point out the common denominator in these murders: the men are killing women and children who were often times family members or [former] lovers.
Domestic violence doesn’t have to be “gender specific” in order for us to notice that FACT that men are committing these types of murders. Don’t try to rule out gender when it is convenient. No one doubts that women commit violence however forcing it as an issue is an attempt to neutralize the problem. Shifting the focus.
Divorce is stressful for men because they lose the control that they “held dear.” The gender bias affects women because of the patriarchal structure of our society that puts women at the bottom of the totem pole with structures in place that benefit men.
Most men do not lose of their children, they give it up freely to the one who has been doing the primary caretaking–mom. A loss of custody would mean that custody was taken from someone who originally had it. A father that was a primary caretaker, that had his child “taken” away from him, would be a father who lost custody. Therefore 85% of mothers do not “win” custody, they get it. Stop framing this as a game.
Myth — Family courts are biased against fathers in custody disputes.
Myth — Family courts are biased against fathers in custody disputes.
Fact: “Despite the powerful stereotypes working against fathers, they are significantly more successful than is commonly believed. The Massachusetts [gender bias] task force, for example, reported that fathers receive primary or joint custody in more than 70 percent of contested cases.”
Fact: “Despite the powerful stereotypes working against fathers, they are significantly more successful than is commonly believed. The Massachusetts [gender bias] task force, for example, reported that fathers receive primary or joint custody in more than 70 percent of contested cases.”
Schafran, Lynn Hecht, “Gender Bias in Family Courts,” American Bar Association Family Advocate, Vol. 17, No. 1, p. 26
Schafran, Lynn Hecht, “Gender Bias in Family Courts,” American Bar Association Family Advocate, Vol. 17, No. 1, p. 26
Ruth I. Abrams & John M. Greaney, Report of the Gender Bias Study of the Supreme Judicial Court [of Massachusetts] 62-63 (1983), also citing similar finding from California and other parts of the nation.
Ruth I. Abrams & John M. Greaney, Report of the Gender Bias Study of the Supreme Judicial Court [of Massachusetts] 62-63 (1983), also citing similar finding from California and other parts of the nation.
Fact: “The various gender bias commissions found that at the trial court level in contested custody cases, fathers won more than half the time. This is especially significant in light of the fact that not only do fathers win more often in court when they take these cases to trial, but also that an overwhelmingly higher percentage of fathers gain primary custody — by any means — than were ever the primary caregiver of their children during marriage. Statistically, this dashes the argument that ‘only the strongest cases are taken to trial,’ and in fact indicates an extraordinary bias against mothers and the value of mothering and mothers’ work.”
Fact: “The various gender bias commissions found that at the trial court level in contested custody cases, fathers won more than half the time. This is especially significant in light of the fact that not only do fathers win more often in court when they take these cases to trial, but also that an overwhelmingly higher percentage of fathers gain primary custody — by any means — than were ever the primary caregiver of their children during marriage. Statistically, this dashes the argument that ‘only the strongest cases are taken to trial,’ and in fact indicates an extraordinary bias against mothers and the value of mothering and mothers’ work.”
liznote re the more than 40 state gender bias task force reports. Available from the National Judicial Education Program, 9 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10013.
liznote re the more than 40 state gender bias task force reports. Available from the National Judicial Education Program, 9 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10013.
And why add the piece about “divorced and separated men are 2 1/2 times more likely to commit suicide than married men”? Oh, because the part that would typically follow a statement like that is, “So let’s support the natural/biological family,” or “You see, the court system is killing fathers.”
And why add the piece about “divorced and separated men are 2 1/2 times more likely to commit suicide than married men”? Oh, because the part that would typically follow a statement like that is, “So let’s support the natural/biological family,” or “You see, the court system is killing fathers.”Yeah, whatever. How about this one?
Men with a [perceived] loss of control are 2 1/2 times more likely to commit suicide, murder-suicide, and familicide than men who feel that they are in control.
There is no “notion” that divorced/estranged fathers don’t want/need continuing contact with their children. The notion is that if you renege on your familial responsibilities (to be with your friends, or new girlfriend, leaving your children behind) you have shown that your children are not a priority. This is not meant to imply that in order to have a relationship with your children, you must be exclusive with the mother. What it means is that you establish your priorities by your actions.
Men with a [perceived] loss of control are 2 1/2 times more likely to commit suicide, murder-suicide, and familicide than men who feel that they are in control.
A father is “estranged” because of his own behavior. A father decides when being a father is important to him and he decides this on his own time. Mothers are generally [considered] mothers 24/7. If the loss of the children is so painful, it is the father’s responsibility to compensate for this–killing the children does not do so. (Also, asking the mother to patch your relationship with your children by speaking well of you, or telling lies in your favor, is not you taking responsibility.)
Good book plug.
If all these fathers need is “someone who understand,” why don’t father’s groups promote counseling for them? Why force litigation? Who wins?
What many a father’s groups provide for these men, is a pep rally to talk about what a bitch his ex was and how unfair the family court system is (often time, before he even gets into the court to know for himself). Perhaps they actually rev these men up…
And now let’s get to the heavy political controversy that is being swept under the rug:
Illinois, like the rest of the states, receives grants from the U.S. government, via the Administration of Children and Families (ACF), under the name of Responsible Fatherhood. This money is supposed to be used to help low-income fathers break economic barriers so that they can make financial contributions to their children’s upbringing via a relationship with the child. The grant money is also used for incarcerated fathers for re-entry into the workforce for the same reasons.
Myth — Increasing fathers’ visitation time and custody rights makes them more amenable to paying child support.
Myth — Increasing fathers’ visitation time and custody rights makes them more amenable to paying child support.
Fact: “As researchers began to stop collecting their data mainly from fathers and began to explore the relationship between visiting and paying child support in longitudinal studies, the theory that increased visitation would result in increased child support compliance began to wane. In 1993, the Office of Economic Research, U.S. Bureau of Labor undertook a study based on the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). The NLSY is a survey of more than 12,000 men and women who are interviewed annually since 1979. The authors of this study found contrary to previous studies, increases in visitation have no effect on changes in child support.”
Fact: “As researchers began to stop collecting their data mainly from fathers and began to explore the relationship between visiting and paying child support in longitudinal studies, the theory that increased visitation would result in increased child support compliance began to wane. In 1993, the Office of Economic Research, U.S. Bureau of Labor undertook a study based on the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). The NLSY is a survey of more than 12,000 men and women who are interviewed annually since 1979. The authors of this study found contrary to previous studies, increases in visitation have no effect on changes in child support.”
THE LINK BETWEEN VISITATION AND SUPPORT COMPLIANCE, Laura Wish Morgan with Chuck Shively of the Department of Social & Health Services, Washington State. http://childsupportguidelines.com/articles/art200012.html
In reality, some of this Responsible Fatherhood money is being used to target fathers for a custody changing scheme under the guise of access and visitation. Attorneys are provided to fathers so that they can seek custody of their children. The division of Child Support states that MORE money has been collected under this system when in fact child support arrears are being waived, and child support awards are being reduced, or eliminated.
THE LINK BETWEEN VISITATION AND SUPPORT COMPLIANCE, Laura Wish Morgan with Chuck Shively of the Department of Social & Health Services, Washington State. http://childsupportguidelines.com/articles/art200012.html
You don’t have to do a lot of digging, as the article I am calling into question, gives enough information for you to get started. Remember Blagoveich. Think about the President’s agenda:
Strengthen Fatherhood and Families: Barack Obama has re-introduced the Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families Act to remove some of the government penalties on married families, crack down on men avoiding child support payments, ensure that support payments go to families instead of state bureaucracies, fund support services for fathers and their families, and support domestic violence prevention efforts. President Obama will sign this bill into law and continue to implement innovative measures to strengthen families.
Yeah right.
Strengthen Fatherhood and Families: Barack Obama has re-introduced the Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families Act to remove some of the government penalties on married families, crack down on men avoiding child support payments, ensure that support payments go to families instead of state bureaucracies, fund support services for fathers and their families, and support domestic violence prevention efforts. President Obama will sign this bill into law and continue to implement innovative measures to strengthen families.
Illinois.
Is the answer to hold women hostage in marriage out of fear that their husbands may kill them and their children? Is the answer to give mentally unstable men custody of their children and access to their former spouses.
Maybe the answer is NOT restraining orders and GPS. Maybe we should create a Father’s Act, to determine the psychological stability of men at the time of conception, and at divorce, as society seems exclusively and disproportionately fixated on mother-pathologies.
MARIE BRUCE
It’s Saturday afternoon in Georgia at a Theater company. A man, George Zinkhan III has his 8 and 10 year old in his car and drives to where his wife is at the theater company which was hosting a homecoming lunch for current and former members at the time.
At 12:25 police were dispatched to the theater, Town and Gown, with three victims lying dead, one was Marie Bruce, wife to the “alleged” killer.
Marie Bruce was president of the board of the theater, an actress, lawyer and mother.
According to her friends”Marie would just love life. Everything was enhanced by marie. She was drama from the get-go,” said Sheryl Wendzik, who went to Westside High with Bruce.
The Georgia shooting was the latest in a spate of high-profile mass killings in the United States in recent months — including half a dozen rampages since March. The latest, on April 18 in Maryland, saw a man kill his wife and three small children before committing suicide.
Zinkhan’s motives were unclear, but witnesses stated he argued with an unidentified man at the Athens Community Theater before he left and returned minutes later brandishing two handguns.
The people killed were identified by a theater company official as Marie Bruce, 47 — Zinkhan’s wife — Ben Teague, 63, and Tom Tanner 40. Bruce and Tanner were officials in the theater company.
“We watched it happen,” witness Beth Kozinsky stated. “We were all in shock.”
Zinkhan and Bruce were married with two children, aged eight and ten, a neighbor of the couple told the daily. After the shooting Zinkhan took the kids to another neighbor’s home, the neighbor said.
Zinkhan’s daughter, who is about 10 years old, stated about the emergency to police that “all she would relate to me was there was something about a firecracker.”
Zinkhan is a professor of marketing and distribution at the University of Georgia, one of the oldest public universities in the United States.
Friends shared that she was “very lively and charming and was an integral part of that theater community”
This reporter is sad to report once again a woman’s life has been taken by the man that she most trusted in the world.
Geortge Zinkhan III is still on the run and his children no longer have their mother.
Professor Zinkhan, YOU need to do the right thing and turn yourself in. You will be caught eventually be a MAN.
WHEN WILL THIS STOP?!
ATLANTA — Three people were killed and at least one was injured in Athens, Ga., on Saturday when a University of Georgia professor opened fire at a community theater, police officials said.
The police identified the gunman as George M. Zinkhan III, a professor of marketing at the university’s business school. He was at large early Saturday evening.
The coroner for Athens-Clarke County, Sonny Wilson, said the shootings occurred around 12:30 p.m. Police officers responding to a call at the Athens Community Theatre, near downtown, said they had found three adults killed by gunfire. News reports said that one to three other people had been injured.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitutio n identified one victim as Marie E. Bruce, 57, the wife of Mr. Zinkhan and the president of the theater’s board of directors. Beth Kozinsky, the membership director for the theater, told the newspaper that the other victims were Ben Teague, 63, and Tom Tanner, 40, also theater officers.
Athens is 70 miles east of Atlanta.
An alert on the university’s Web site identified Mr. Zinkhan as “a suspect in a shooting off campus” and warned, “Use extreme caution if contact is made.”
Students were informed by a text alert.
“Some people are kind of freaking out,” said Carolyn Crist, a junior and the editor of the campus newspaper. “Some people are honestly nonchalant.”
A biography of Mr. Zinkhan, 47, on the university Web site said he was the co-author of two books, on consumption and electronic commerce, and had served as editor of The Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science and of The Journal of Advertising. He received a doctorate from the University of Michigan in 1981 and a bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College in 1974. He joined the faculty at the University of Georgia in 1994.
Either immediately before or after the shooting, Mr. Zinkhan dropped off his two children at the home of a neighbor. “He indicated that he needed someone to watch his kids for an hour,” the neighbor, Robert Covington, said in a telephone interview. “He said there had been an emergency.”
Mr. Zinkhan’s children are now in the custody of the police, Mr. Covington said.
Another neighbor, Dana Adams, described Mr. Zinkhan as disarmingly quiet. “He was the kind of strange character that did not talk,” she said. “But I never thought he’d do something like this.”
Josh Gurley, 21, a university junior who was in Mr. Zinkhan’s course on consumer buying behavior, said the professor unexpectedly canceled class last week and said students did not need to take the final exam.
UPDATE!
GEORGE ZINKHAN BODY FOUND
Fugitive muder suspect George Martin Zinkhan III dug his own grave and covered himself with debris before firing a single bullet into his head, investigators told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
His well-hidden body was discovered Saturday by cadaver dogs in thick woods about 1,000 yards from an elementary school.
His body was removed a few hours later and sent to the State Crime Lab. Athens-Clarke County police are holding a news conference at this hour.
The dogs found the body about a mile from where Zinkhan’s red Jeep Liberty was recovered more than a week ago in some woods not far from his home in Bogart, in Clarke County.
The body has tentatively been identified as Zinkhan’s until the state medical examiner can make a final identification using dental records.
When Zinkhan’s jeep was found on April 30, police swarmed over the area looking for traces of the fugitive. The body was found outside the original search area, sources said Saturday. According to WAGA-TV, searchers returned to the area with dogs on Friday with no results. They resumed the search Saturday morning.
U.S. Marshals, Athens-Clarke County police and officials from the coroner’s office were on the scene when an AJC reporter arrived at 1:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon. Officials took the body away at 1:45 p.m.
Georgia Bureau of Investigations spokesman John Bankhead said the body had been taken to the crime lab and an autopsy and identification would be completed by the end of the day Saturday.
The playground at Cleveland Road Elementary School was cordoned off as a crime scene. A short distance away, toddlers and their parents were attending a birthday party in the school’s gym.
Aaron Clanton, a teacher at the school, arrived Saturday morning around 10:40 a.m. for his son’s party that was supposed to take place at the school playground. Clanton said police were already on the scene. They told him Zinkhan’s body was found about 1,000 yards behind the playground, in the woods.
Zinkhan, 57,was the subject of a nationwide manhunt since April 25 when three people were shot dead at Athens Community Theatre near the university campus — Zinkhan’s estranged wife, Marie Bruce, and Ben Teague and Tom Tanner.
All three were members of the Town & Gown Players. They were attending a luncheon with a few dozen current and former members that afternoon.
Witnesses said an argument ensued between Bruce and Zinkhan, who left the party. He returned with two handguns and started shooting, hitting Bruce, Tanner and Teague multiple times.
Zinkhan then went back to his car, in which his daughter, 10, and son, 8, were waiting. He drove the children to a neighbor’s house and asked Covington to watch the kids because there was an emergency.
A respected professor of marketing at UGA’s Terry School of Business, Zinkhan eluded authorities for nearly two weeks.
Police believed they caught a break April 30 when they found the Jeep Liberty. But a search by dozens of heavily armed law enforcement officers over more than 300 acres of Clarke and Jackson counties failed to locate Zirkhan.
Last Saturday, authorities staked out Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta. Zirkhan had purchased an airline ticket for a May 2 flight to the Netherlands, where he taught part time at an Amsterdam university and owned a home there. But again, there was no sign of him.
Police later said his passport had been recovered in the Jeep.
Law enforcement authorities intensified their search for leads in the case in recent days, distributing a GBI sketch of Zirkhan clean shaven and without a beard. The Athens-Clarke County Police Department on Thursday offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to his arrest
ROSIE THE RIVETER 2009
ROSIE THE RIVETER 2009
When I am asked where I get my determination, strength and guts. I tell them I was doomed from the start. I was a child of an unwed mother in 1968 and a had Grandmother who could get the attention of President Kennedy and fought for my Grandfather’s disability and got it.
Just as our President, growing up with thoughts of heroes and dreams and having no “biological” father’s influence, I had dreams too. In my childhood I watched women burning their bras on TV, women picketing for abortion rights and all the others that they would make a difference.
Here I am almost 41 years old and the ERA is still not passed.
Mr. President women are dying in increasing amounts due to lack of protection by police, courts, social services and various other government agencies and shelters.
Mr. President literally thousands of mothers are losing custody to abusers in Family Court. We are being stalked by the abuser we finally got the courage to leave and we pay dearly. We lose our most precious gifts, our children. Our children are suffering at the hands of abusive men who physically, emotionally and even sexually abuse their children. Family Courts are giving our abusers access to us by way of “Shared Parenting” or “Equal Parenting”, it doesn’t work. Then when abusive men lose control, just as we’ve seen recently with killings of women and children, abusive men lash out. I ask you to please look at VAWA, Responsible Fatherhood Intiatives and other programs that punish women for being “maternal” and protecting their children. We are not necessarily “Feminists” we are “Maternalists” and we want our children safe and happy, as any Mother would.
This may be just the first warning call to our President but it should be well understood that this call to action to my President is truth, faithful, honest and humbly requested…….NOW.
more about “Motherhood: Don’t Replace Her Video“, posted with vodpod
PREVALENCE OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
♦ A woman is beaten every 15 seconds.
(Uniform Crime Reports, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1991)
♦ By the most conservative estimate, each year 1 million women suffer nonfatal violence by an intimate. (Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report: Violence Against Women: Estimates from the Redesigned Survey (NCJ-154348), August 1995, p. 3)
♦ Estimates range from 960,000 incidents of violence against a current of former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend per year to 3.9 million women who are physically abused by their husbands or live-in partners per year. (“First Comprehensive National Health Survey of American Women,” Commonwealth Fund, July 1993)
♦ Approximately 1.5 million women are physically assaulted by an intimate partner annually in the U.S. Since many women experience multiple victimization’s every year, an estimated 5.9 million physical assaults are perpetrated against U.S women annually.(National Institute of Justice and Centers for Disease Control, National Violence AgainstWomen Survey, 1998)
♦ The American Medical Association now estimates that almost 4 million women are victims of severe assaults by boyfriends and husbands each year and about one in four women is likely to be abused by a partner in her lifetime. (Sarah Glazer, “Violence Against Women”, CQ Researcher, Congressional Quarterly,Inc., Vol. 3 No.8, February 1993, p. 171)
♦ Victims of family violence are overwhelmingly female- 71% for family violence versus 58% for all other types of violence. (Federal Bureau of Investigation. 17 October 1999. Crime in the United States, Uniform Crime Reports, 1998. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice)
♦ Each day, more than three women in the United States are murdered by a male intimate partner. (United States Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Violence by Intimates, 2000)
♦ Intimate partners murdered 1,218 women during 1999. From 1993 to 1999intimates killed 45% of all female murder victims age 20-24. (Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Reports: Intimate Partner Violence and Age of Victim, 1993-1999 (NCJ-187635), October 2001)
♦ Women are more often victims of domestic violence than victims of burglary,mugging, or other physical crimes combined. (“First Comprehensive National Health Survey of American Women,” Commonwealth Fund, July 1993)
♦ In 1992, a congressional report indicated that the most dangerous place in theUnited States for a woman to be is in her home. Former Surgeon General Antonia Novello has labeled domestic violence an epidemic. (Linda Ammons, Discretionary Justice: A Legal and Policy Analysis of a Governor’s Use of Clemency Power in the Cases of Incarcerated Battered Women, Journal of Law and Policy, vol. III., 1994, pp.5-6)
♦ In 1996, approximately, 1,800 murders were attributed to intimates; nearly three out of four of these had a female victim. (U.S Department of Justice, Violence by Intimates: Analysis of Data on Crimes by Current or Former Spouses, Boyfriends, and Girlfriends, March 1998)
♦ Intimate violence is primarily a crime against women. In 1998, females accounted for seventy-five percent of the victims of intimate murders and about eighty-five percent of the victims of non-lethal intimate violence. (Henneberg, M. (August, 2000. Bureau of justice statistics 2000: At a glance.[Publication #NCJ183014]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics)
♦ Women age 35-49 were the most vulnerable to intimate murder, while females age16 to 24 were the most vulnerable to nonfatal violence. (Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Reports: Intimate Partner Violence and Age of Victim, 1993-1999 (NCJ-187635), October 2001)
♦ Nearly twenty-five percent of surveyed women and 7.5 percent surveyed men said they were raped and/or physically assaulted by a current spouse, cohabiting partner, or date in their lifetime. (Tjaden, P. & Thoennes, N. (July 2000). Extent, nature, and consequences of intimate partner violence findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey.(Publication #NCJ181867). National Institute of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Washington, DC:Office of Justice Programs)
♦ 28% of all annual violence against women is perpetuated by intimates. 5% of all annual violence against men is perpetuated by intimates. (Tjaden, P. & Thoennes, N. (July 2000). Extent, nature, and consequences of intimate partner violence findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey. (Publication #NCJ181867). National Institute of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Washington, DC:Office of Justice Programs)
It is Springtime on April 17, 2009 in Grand Chute Wisconsin.
10:44am and police are dispatched to 909 E. Edgewood Drive.
When they arrive they find two women lying in the driveway and Scott E. Schmidt standing above them with a handgun still filled with ammunition.
The abuser walked from his place of employment, Appleton Fire Department where he was a Lieutenant. Schmidt had problems, in fact, Appleton Mayor Tim Hanna says city leaders knew that Scott Schmidt was unstable before Friday’s shooting. The mayor says that Schmidt was referred to counseling.
All the signs were there but it was too late, Kelly and her mother, Barbara Wing, were both shot with a handgun in her driveway in Grand Chute, across the road from Fox Valley Lutheran High School. Kelly died several hours from a head wound. Her mother was treated at a local hospital and released the same day. Although this Spring day could have turned into a double homicide it didn’t. It is the opinion of this author that if the abuser was a real man he should have done the right thing and used the gun on himself and no one else.
This is the beginning of the reform that Wisconsin needs for abused women and their abusers. I have taken the responsibility to make sure that nobody forgets this crime and that the abuser is held accountable for his actions.
I will make this my mission, this is why I fight.
My heart pours out to Barbara Wing and I hope that she will find the strength, courage and love to join our cause and make our legislators aware of the epidemic of murders by estranged partners.
NEVER GIVE UP, SHUT UP OR GO AWAY!
Enough is Enough!
We have an epidemic in this nation with women and children dying violently at the hands of men. When is our government going to do something about it?
With our government ignoring the pleas for help then mothers will have to do what we have always done and that to get it done ourselves!
“How many more children and their mothers will have to die in 2009?
MIDDLETOWN, Md. – A Maryland man who killed his wife and three children before fatally shooting himself left behind five notes, including an apology to family members and hints that he suffered from psychiatric problems, authorities said.
The local sheriff said there were also signs that the family had financial problems.
For residents of the small town of Middletown and members of Holy Family Catholic Community Church, where the slain mother taught catechism, reports of the brutal killings were upsetting and baffling.
“We’re all in shock and trying to come to terms,” said Kevin Farmer, the pastor of Holy Family.
Christopher Alan Wood killed his wife and children, then himself, in their northwest Maryland home, leaving a gruesome scene that authorities said was found Saturday by the children’s grandfather.
The 33-year-old mother and three children suffered “traumatic cuts” and each also had at least one gunshot wound from a .25-caliber handgun, Frederick County Sheriff Charles Jenkins said. Their precise cause of death wasn’t immediately known, and Jenkins declined to say what was used to slash them.
Jenkins said Wood, an accountant at railroad operator CSX Corp., apologized to family members in one of the notes he left at the scene. The sheriff wouldn’t elaborate on what else was written in the notes.
The sheriff also said there was evidence that Wood faced financial problems and may have been in debt.
CSX did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Saturday.
The family had moved months ago to the home in Middletown, a community of fewer than 3,000 people west of Frederick, friends said.
Jane Durant, the director of Middletown United Methodist Church Preschool, said she last saw the slain mother, Francis Billotti Wood, on Thursday morning, when she picked up her 4-year-old son at the school.
The boy didn’t come to school the next day. Durant, the school’s director, thought it was unusual. Now, she wonders if something horrible happened Thursday night.
The dead woman’s father found the slain family around 9 a.m. local time Saturday. He had grown concerned after not hearing from them for several days, Frederick County sheriff’s office spokeswoman Jennifer Bailey said.
When investigators arrived at the two-story home, the couple’s two sons, ages 5 and 4, lay dead in their beds, while the bodies of a 2-year-old daughter and the mother were in the master bedroom, Bailey said. On the master bedroom floor by the foot of the bed was the 34-year-old father, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, she said.
‘You never know …’
Francis Wood — known by some as “Francie” — returned to her native Middletown from Texas last year to be closer to her family, said Durant, the preschool director. She described Francis Wood as a vibrant, bubbly and loving person.
“I just talked to her every day and she’s just one of those people you fell in love with right away,” Durant said.
Neighbor Peggy Lawrence described Francis Wood as a good homemaker.
“It wouldn’t lead you to believe anything was wrong,” Lawrence said. “I’m still sick to my stomach. Just to see it end so quickly is so devastating and makes you realize you never know what’s going on in people’s lives.”
The following was posted on “Ballsacks” website……
Cell Phone Saves Man From Rape Charge
April 15th, 2009 by Robert Franklin, Esq.
This is not the first time surreptitious (definition: 1. Obtained, done, or made by clandestine or stealthy means. 2. Acting with or marked by stealth. See Synonyms at secret.) photographing of his own sexual intercourse has saved a man from prison (Daily Mail, 4/2/09).
As with the UK man who was accused by the “BBC personality” of having raped her 40 times, this man was accused of rape and saved himself with his cell phone. The false accuser can’t be named, but it seems the two had intercourse and she called the police and had him arrested that same night. Unknown to her, he had photographed the encounter with his cell phone. It was shown to her for the first time in court and the jury acquitted him of all counts.
The man is 41 and the woman is 27. She’s a student and he “owns a multimedia company.” Could she have had a hefty civil suit in mind? As we’ve learned before, civil compensation for a false rape claim is not available at British law.
These MRA (Mens Rights Activists…yes, there is such a thing!) are so GRATEFUL the scumbag used his cell phone to record the “encounter”. Not to mention that the ‘alleged’ victim didn’t even get to SEE the recording until that day in court.
Too bad it’s not illegal in this country to be a fucking moron because I got a few nominations after reading the drivel from the MRA’s.
WORDPRESS SUCKS!!!
BLOGGER DOESN’T
http://mamaliberty.blogspot.com
Hey MATT from WP….YOU SUCK!
and probably SWALLOW too!
