You are currently browsing the monthly archive for September 2009.
As October approaches I think about Halloween, the changing color of Autumn and most importantly Domestic Violence Awareness month. Since being a survivor since 2005 when I made a promise to myself to never allow any man to abuse me again.
In 2008 I began helping other women caught in abusive relationships, networking with other survivors and continuing my journey from victim to survivor. The attitude of “pay it forward” I’ve held has come to fruition with my blog and website, along side several other projects that I’m positive the “powers that be” will not be pleased with.
I have pledged my life to help women that need it
I will never shut up, give up or go away, not now, not ever
I AM A SURVIVOR, WARRIOR, MOTHER, WOMAN
I AM STRONGER NOW
MORE THAN EVER
THANK YOU
I was 18 when I was first hit by the man that would someday become my first husband. I will never forget that first time nor any other subsequent abuse, but they say, the first cut is the deepest, but they probably never have been abused, because women can and will take abuse for years for various reasons. Learning that you deserve love and safety is hard to recognize.
It took me three daughters and almost ten years of marriage and one baby bottle thrown “tossed” at my face while holding my 14 month old baby girl in my arms that made me realize my dreams and hopes for happiness were waning. My ex-husband to this day maintains that he has never abused me and merely “tossed” the bottle at me….who tosses anything to anyone while holding a baby…especially a bottle filled with milk?
My abuser knew my weakness… my daughters, and taking them from me.
But he’s never expected the strength I’ve gained by his rigorous training of making his “perfect family”….but he doesn’t know that….
Children and mothers never truly part -
Bound in the beating of each other’s heart.
- Charlotte Gray
But this is not the moral of the story, it is empowerment, growth, loving and respecting yourself, but most of all forgiving yourself for not recognizing the signs of an abuser. Once you are a full fledged survivor you will recollect what your training has taught you, he had tried to break you but you are NOT broken. I found my love, best friend and soul mate. I have forever broken the circle of abuse and I can now say that I love myself first, I didn’t settle, I fought and I never gave up. I hope that my daughters and their daughters someday will never have to experience the abuse that I have endured.
But IF I had to do it all again, knowing NOW what I didn’t know then…I would never change what brought me here to this day….for anything.
- TRUE LOVE FOREVER
Do you spend time with your family? Good. Because a man that doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man. Don Corleone
Family Court a.k.a. Organized Crime is one of the most dangerous organizations in the world.
Children and Mothers are victimized everyday by the “Goodfellas” that run it.
Let’s break down all the criminals that believe that the best interests for children is taking them away from the primary caregiver, usually the mother, and placing them in that hands of abusers, usually fathers.
The flawed Family Court system starts out with a Judge or “Godfather” who takes his cues from his Consigliere or Guardian Ad Litem. Even though the Godfather ultimately makes the decisions he relies heavily on what he says.
The Underboss or Family Court Commissioner is usually the one who carries out the actions of the Godfather and Consigliere, although he’s not a real “judge” he’s appointed by his Godfather.
Now in order to support the “crime family” they need the help of the “Capos” who are Lawyers, Psychologists, Mediators and any other court whore who takes money in exchange for looking out for the “best interests” of your child(ren), the ones that make you an offer you can’t refuse.
These Capos are in charge of the “Soldiers” who carry out orders that come down directly or indirectly from “The Godfather”.
In a small county in Wisconsin there is such a set up of Mafiosos that pilfer and pillage good parents by taking their money, but more importantly their children.
This Organization is known as Oconto County Family Court which is aided and abetted by another crime family, Marinette County Family Court.
The Godfathers, either Judge Richard Delforge or Judge David Miron and their Underbosses, FCC Frank M. Calvert and Francis Boyle do everything and anything to make certain that the protective parent (mother) pays dearly, mostly in money but especially in fear.
They intimidate, threaten and even go as far as ripping loving parents away from children who beg not to have to live with the abuser (the father).
This crime family has ONE objective and that is to make more money for ALL of their friends. The popular Consigliere and “Golden Boy” of Guardian Ad Litems, Aaron Krzewinski, is almost always handpicked by his Underboss and/or Godfather. He’s the one that smiles to your face, acts indifferent and NEVER does his job. Even when his job details that he must make sure there is no history of Domestic Violence and with a law enacted entailing,
“a rebuttable presumption against awarding a parent joint or sole legal custody if the court finds that the parent has engaged in a pattern or serious incident of abuse.”
click here for a .pdf file of Act 130
he apparently doesn’t make use of the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access as a tool to actually DO his job, which would provide him with details of patterns of abuse, but that matters not to the Consigliere, he wants to keep the Godfather and Underboss happy because those are the men that send business his way.
But at the end of the day when all the Mafiosos gather to play poker, drink beer above lawyer/ wannabe Godfather, Ed Burkes’ law office and think of new ways to keep them all rich and in jobs, including his child protection worker wife, they don’t realize the ramifications of all of their actions collectively as a organized crime organization.
What all the crime families/Family Courts don’t know or realize is that a lot of intelligent, strong and persistent Mothers are not going to let them get away with their crimes any longer. The truth is out and the line in the sand is drawn…because I’m not going to shut up, give up or go away!
Word to the wiseguys….the RICO Act isn’t just for La Cosa Nostra anymore!
“Hey! My name’s Tony and I wanted to to let you in on a how you can make your child a mess and get back at the kids mother, all you got to do is accuse them of PAS…that’s right Parental Alienation Syndrome, a.k.a. “brainwashing”.
Don’t worry that it was invented by a total loon and pro-pedophile, Dr. Richard Gardner, who wound up offing himself by stabbing himself…a lot.
Don’t even fuss about the fact that PAS is not even accepted by any mental health care provider worth their salt anyways….hehehe If you think you might be a victim of PAS or your kids were or are a victim of PAS, or wait a minute, you’re the victim, but then the kids are the victim too, no, okay, you’re the victim but the child is the TRUE victim…yeah…that’s the ticket….fool me twice, shame on you…ah, you get it.
Please take the below quiz to find out if one of yous guys is a victim.
Question 1 Are you an Asshole?
Question 2 Does or did more than one person have a restraining order against you?
Question 3 Do/did you hit your wife/girlfriend?
Question 4 Do/did you hit your wife/girlfriend?
If you answered yes to any of these questions…then congratulations!
You have PAS or your kid does…doesn’t matter….somebody has it and your lawyer, the judge, the guardian ad litem and other court whores are going to profit from it and your kids are seriously going to hate you for accusing their mother of it, but they already do anyways don’t they?
BTW….if you can’t spell “brainwashing” or use the word “brainsmashing” instead of using the correct word…you probably shouldn’t use it at all.
On November 12, 2009 in Marinette County Courthouse, I have to answer to a contempt hearing regarding why my 11 yr old refuses visitation with her father. I am being held accountable and the “Honorable” Judge David Miron has already sentenced me to 30 days, if my daughter would have returned to her father then I would have purged that contempt. He also threatened to place my child in foster care…her father told her she’s going…she says she’d rather go there then be with him.
But she hasn’t gone and he hasn’t come to pick her up…but he insists that I am withholding her. If I am jailed I WILL HUNGER STRIKE….make no mistake……I do this for my daughter and every other child that is made to live with their abuser, their mothers former abuser…we will never give up, shut up or go away!!!!!!
I played pretend between the trees, and fed my houseguests bark and leaves, and laughed in my pretty bed of green.
I had a dream
That I could fly from the highest swing.
I had a dream.
Long walks in the dark through woods grown behind the park, I asked God who I’m supposed to be.
The stars smiled down on me, God answered in silent reverie. I said a prayer and fell asleep.
I had a dream
That I could fly from the highest tree.
I had a dream.
Now I’m old and feeling grey. I don’t know what’s left to say about this life I’m willing to leave.
I lived it full and I lived it well, there’s many tales I’ve lived to tell. I’m ready now, I’m ready now, I’m ready now to fly from the highest wing.
I had a dream
That I could fly from the highest swing.
I had a dream.
The stars smiled down on me, God answered in silent reverie. I said a prayer and fell asleep.
That I could fly from the highest tree.
I had a dream.
I lived it full and I lived it well, there’s many tales I’ve lived to tell. I’m ready now, I’m ready now, I’m ready now to fly from the highest wing.
“Children say that people are hung sometimes for speaking the truth.” St. Joan of Arc
“I AM NOT AFRAID, I WAS BORN TO DO THIS”
St. Joan of Arc & Mama Liberty
“My child and I have been threatened and intimidated by the possibility that I may go to jail and be held in contempt due to my child refusing to have visitation with her abusive father and she may go to foster care.” Her father has told her this over and over again, as well as Judge David Miron.
This is not the first time that this mother has had to protect her child from the father. Oconto County CPS did substantiate sexual abuse allegations against the the father, he found a loop hole and had the recused Family Court Commissioner, Frank M. Calvert unsubstantiated the sexual abuse allegations.
The system has failed my child, from Oconto County and its CPS worker, Carrie Silbernagel-Burke to Marinette County Circuit Court Judge, David Miron.
This father does not have the means to care for her. She has no bed or a bedroom due to the fact he lives with his mother who only has two bedrooms.
The 11 yr old child is given the choice to sleep either on the floor in the living room or down in the basement. She has no privacy or space to call her own while she is in her fathers care. She is continually tormented and tortured by both her paternal grandmother and father, this is nothing new.
This child has been exposed to domestic violence by her father towards her mother several times. She was also a passenger in his car when he was arrested for driving drunk in the middle of the day. The CPS worker, Carrie Silbernagel-Burke told the mother:
“drinking and driving with his daughter did not make him a bad father, he made a bad choice.”
This was nothing compared to the sexual abuse my child endured and other court ordered abuse.
My child has taken her stand against her abuser, the court ordered abuse and threats of foster care by Judge David Miron.
My child is not an empty vessel, she KNOWS where she is safe. She has not lied to social workers, even with her father prodding her to.
All her needs are provided by her loving Mother and she knows that
“I am not going to shut up, give up or go away!”
“My only wish is for my daughter to be safe and sane.”
If this mother is jailed for doing what any mother would do for her child
the consequences to my accusers and judges will be as follows.
There will be a hunger strike (Troscadh), and all the battles up until now were training for we intend to win the war and expose the dirty little secrets of family court and the criminals that run it.
Change
Everything you are
And everything you were
Your number has been called
Fights, battles have begun
Revenge will surely come
Your hard times are ahead
Best
You’ve got to be the best
You’ve got to change the world
And use this chance to be heard
Your time is nowChange
Everything you are
And everything you were
Your number has been called
Fights and battles ‘ve begun
Revenge will surely come
Your hard times are ahead
Best
You’ve got to be the best
You’ve got to change the world
And use this chance to be heard
Your time is now
Don’t
Let yourself down
Don’t let yourself go
Your last chance has arrived
Best
You’ve got to be the best
You’ve got to change the world
And use this chance to be heard
Your time is now
What the “Father Rights” Joke about? Below is a joke found on FR group…..how appropos….since they’re always complaining about how much child support they have to pay.
Tired of constantly being broke & stuck in an unhappy marriage, a young husband decided to solve both problems by taking out a large insurance policy on his wife with himself as the beneficiary, and then arranging to have her killed.
A ‘friend of a friend’ put him in touch with a nefarious dark-side underworld figure who went by the name of ‘Artie.’ Artie then explained to the husband that his going price for snuffing out a spouse was $5,000. The husband said he was willing to pay that amount, but that he wouldn’t have any cash on hand until he could collect his wife’s insurance money.
Artie insisted on being paid at least something up front, so the man opened his wallet, displaying the single dollar bill that rested inside. Artie sighed, rolled his eyes, & reluctantly agreed to accept the dollar as down payment for the dirty deed.
A few days later, Artie followed the man’s wife to the local Super Wal-Mart store. There, he surprised her in the produce department & proceeded to strangle her with his gloved hands. As the poor unsuspecting woman drew her last breath & slumped to
the floor ……. The manager of the produce department stumbled unexpectedly onto the murder scene Unwilling to leave any living witnesses behind, ol’ Artie had no choice but to strangle the produce manager as well.
However, unknown to Artie, the entire proceedings were captured by the hidden security cameras & observed by the store’s security guard, who immediately called the police. Artie was caught and arrested before he could even leave the store.
Under intense questioning at the police station, Artie revealed the whole sordid plan, including his unusual financial arrangements with the hapless husband who was also quickly arrested.
The next day in the newspaper, the headline declared…
*’ARTIE CHOKES 2 for $1.00 @ WAL-MART!’*
Why doesn’t Family Court get “it” that there is no such thing as joint/shared parenting when mothers have to deal with this type of a man?
Then this today…
Northfield man gets 15 years for killing mother of his five children
MAYS LANDING – Friday used to be the day Louis Ceresa took his five children out for pizza.
But this Friday, instead of picking them up, the Northfield man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for killing their mother.
Ceresa admitted in July that he strangled Amanda Carmen, 34, while the two sat in her minivan outside his Revere Avenue home during a scheduled custody exchange Jan. 11.
Superior Court Judge Bernard DeLury called the plea agreement’s recommended 15-year sentence “lenient,” but said that Ceresa’s willingness to admit his guilt spared his children from a painful trial and his eldest from having to testify in court.
The couple’s 11-year-old son witnessed the killing.
“I can’t tell you what I did that night or why I did it,” Ceresa, 33, told the judge Friday. “I don’t know what happened.”
When he pleaded to aggravated manslaughter in July, Ceresa said “I exploded” after Carmen told him she was moving away with their children.
“I didn’t mean for this to happen,” he said at the time.
“To lose a child, at any age, from illness or accident is horrific,” Carmen’s mother, Margaret, said in a statement read in court by victim counselor Trisha Hayek. “But to lose her because someone was angry and just ‘didn’t mean to kill her’ is unbearable.”
Now, Carmen’s children will not have their mother with them for all the important things in life, she said: “What Louis did will have an effect on our family not just now, but also for generations to come.”
“I have no excuse for what I did,” Ceresa said.
He apologized to his children – who were not in court – as well as the dozen family members there to support him. He also apologized to the Carmens, explaining, “they were my family for many years.”
And once again, as he had when he pleaded, Ceresa professed his love for Carmen.
“Louis claims he loved Amanda,” Margaret Carmen wrote. “How do you put your hands around the throat of someone you love and watch them take their last breath of life? How is his defense, ‘I didn’t mean to’?”
But defense attorney Anthony Previti said the killing was an anomaly, and Ceresa is a good man who has shown consistent remorse since the killing.
Previti said Ceresa asked that nothing positive be said about him in court, “but I am compelled to say it.”
“I don’t feel like a good person,” Ceresa said. “I do feel rotten. I do feel like crap, and I should. I’ll make sure I come down on myself for the rest of my life.”
For at least the next 12 years, that life will be in prison. He must serve 85 percent of the imposed sentence before he is eligible for parole.
By that time, the victim’s mother said, the children “will have the time to grow up and understand the situation and how they feel about it.”
She said she would like to see Ceresa spend the rest of his life in jail, but the family accepted the plea deal to spare her 11-year-old grandson “the agony of having seen his mother strangled to death by his father and then have to testify and put his father in prison.”
It is more time than the nine years Millville police Sgt. Robert Vanaman received after admitting during jury selection for his murder trial in March that he killed his wife and tried to cover up the crime in 2006.
In August, DeLury sentenced Rosina McKinnie to nine years in prison under a plea agreement in which she admitted to fatally stabbing her live-in boyfriend Aramis Smith during a 2008 party at the couple’s Pleasantville home. There was a history of domestic violence against McKinnie in that case.
Previti told DeLury on Friday how the judge often said domestic violence cases are one step away from homicide. But in this case, “there was no warning,” Previti said.
Police had not broken up fights between the two. Ceresa had no criminal background.
“I don’t believe he’s even had a parking ticket,” Previti said.
But there was daily alcohol consumption and a history of cocaine use, DeLury pointed out.
“This defendant was not entirely a law-abiding person, as evidence by his frequent (drug) abuse.”
Ceresa relinquished his parental rights. The children, ages 5 to 11, now live with their maternal grandmother in Egg Harbor Township.
“I lost my children. I lost Amanda. I lost everything over something stupid,” Ceresa told the judge. “When I die, I’ll pay for this again. I’ll be judged again.”
Wisconsin, The “Dairy” State, The “Badger” State but most importantly a State of CONFUSION. Where child protection workers and/or “social” workers do not know how to draw the line in their “profession”. Where county employees are able to lie under oath, place children in abusers hands and play God.
Another shocking case of legal and ethical misconduct by a Milwaukee WI social worker, participating in the decision of whether a Black mother would retain custody of her two children. Instead of helping her to get her life together, he began a sexual relationship with her, impregnated her, and when she gave birth to their child, he took custody of the child, all while working for the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare.
Peter Nelson, a social worker with the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare, acknowledges that he had sex with a then current client, thirty-two year-old Theola Nealy, during a period in which Ms. Nealy was trying to demonstrate to this social worker and to his employer, the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare, that the client was capable of caring for two children who had been taken from her by the Bureau. Peter Nelson has acknowledged that he engaged in sexual intercourse and impregnated his client during the course of the social worker/client relationship.
There are at least two chargeable felony statutes
available under Wisconsin law, each with a maximum 15 year prison term per conviction:” – - Atty. Francis L. Holland
- “Sexual Exploitation by a Therapist,” (Wisconsin Statutes Section 940.22 (2)), (Class 3 Felony), and
- “Second Degree Sexual Assault” (Wisconsin Statutes Chapter 940, Section 940.225(c) (2), paragraphs (a), (b), and/or (c)). (Class 3 Felony)
Class 3 felonies are punishable by a maximum 15 year prison term for each count.
“If convicted and sentenced consecutively
for all potential Class 3 felonies
Peter Nelson could conceivably face life imprisonment.”- – Atty. Francis L. Holland
Legislative Reference Bureau, p. 12.
Peter Nelson, a social worker with the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare, acknowledges that he had sex with a then current client, thirty-two year-old Theola Nealy, during a period in which Ms. Nealy was trying to demonstrate to this social worker and to his employer, the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare, that the client was capable of caring for two children who had been taken from her by the Bureau. Peter Nelson has acknowledged that he engaged in sexual intercourse and impregnated his client during the course of the social worker/client relationship.
“If convicted Nelson would be required to register as a serious sex offender,
face lifetime court supervision.”
Wis. Stats. Section 301.45, LRB-01-1B-1, p 2. , Wis. Stats, Section 939.615.
Ms. Nealy reports that she engaged in sex with social worker Nealy because he represented to her that he would not authorize the return of her two children in Bureau custody otherwise. http://www.wisn.com/news/20606268/detail.html
The District Attorney’s Office told 12 News it will not file criminal charges against Nelson because the sex was consensual, and it’s not a crime for a social worker to have sex with a client. That news devastated Nealy.
“He should go to jail,” Nealy said. http://www.wisn.com/news/20606268/detail.html
The criminal law issue this case presents is whether, as per the Milwaukee District Attorney’s Office and as a matter of law, “it’s not a crime for a social worker to have sex with a client,” or whether Wisconsin state statutes specifically criminalize the sex acts to which the social worker has confessed.
WISCONSIN LAW SPECIFICALLY FORBIDS
“SEXUAL EXPLOITATION BY A THERAPIST”
It appears, based on the social worker’s statements to the ABC affiliate, that Peter Nelson may have committed the criminal acts of “Sexual Exploitation by a Therapist,” (Wisconsin Statutes Section 940.22 (2)) and “Second Degree Sexual Assault” (Wisconsin Statutes Chapter 940, Section 940.225(c)(2), paragraphs (a), (b), and/or (c)).
Wisconsin Statutes Section 940.22 (2), entitled “Sexual Exploitation by a Therapist” provides:
(2) SEXUAL CONTACT PROHIBITED. Any person who is or who holds himself or herself out to be a therapist and who intentionally has sexual contact with a patient or client during any ongoing therapist−patient or therapist−client relationship, regardless of whether it occurs during any treatment, consultation, interview or examination, is guilty of a Class F felony. Consent is not an issue in an action under this subsection. (Emphasis added.) http://www.legis.state.wi.us/statutes/Stat0940.pdf
Section 940.22 (1)(i) defines the term “therapist” broadly and specifically includes social workers among those who commit a criminal act when they engage in sexual intercourse or other sexual contact with clients. Section 940.22 (1) (i) states that:
“Therapist” means a physician, psychologist, social worker, marriage and family therapist, professional counselor, nurse, chemical dependency counselor, member of the clergy or other person, whether or not licensed or certified by the state, who performs or purports to perform psychotherapy. http://www.legis.state.wi.us/statutes/Stat0940.pdf
Explaining the application of Section 940.22 (1) (i), the State of Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, Informational Bulletin 01-1, January 2001, says that Wisconsin Statutes Section 940.22 (2), entitled, “Sexual Exploitation by a Therapist”:
Prohibits intentional sexual contact by any person who is or who holds himself or herself out to be a therapist with a patient or client during any ongoing therapist-patient or therapist-client relationship, regardless of whether it is or is not consensual and whether it occurs during any treatment, consultation, interview, or examination. “Therapist” is defined in Section 940.22 (1) (i) as “a physician, psychologist, SOCIAL WORKER, marriage and family therapist, professional counselor, nurse, chemical dependency counselor, member of the clergy or other person, whether or not licensed or certified by the state, who performs or purports to perform psychotherapy.” As provided by Section 940.22 (3), a therapist who suspects that a patient or client has been sexually exploited by another therapist may, with the patient’s or client’s consent, report the sexual contact to the appropriate regulating body or the district attorney (Class C felony). (Emphasis added.) Legislative Reference Bureau, Informational Bulletin 01-1, January 2001
Although the Milwaukee District Attorney’s Office has announced its decision not to prosecute the social worker, “because the sex was consensual”, Wisconsin Statutes Section 940.22 (2), entitled “Sexual Exploitation by a Therapist” clearly states, under the heading “SEXUAL CONTACT PROHIBITED”, that “Consent is not an issue in an action under this subsection.” Therefore, the defense that the District Attorney’s Office offers for the social worker’s behavior is quite specifically excluded as a potential defense by the statute itself therapist anti-sex abuse statute itself. Consent simply is not available as a defense when sexual contact occurs between a therapist and client or patient.
Legislative Reference Bureau, Informational Bulletin 01-1, January 2001 makes it clear that a social worker is a “therapist” for purpose of the statute, so Peter Nelson was statutorily prohibited from having sexual contact and sexual intercourse with his client, Theola Nealy.
This blog will not only continue to expose the dirty little secrets of Milwaukee and their corrupt officials….coming soon….the misdeeds of another Wisconsin County….OCONTO
We lost our green land, we lost our clean air ,
We lost our true wisdom and we live in despair.
O sisters, o sisters, lets stand up right now,
Its never too late to start from the start.
O wisdom, o wisdom, thats what we ask for,
And, yes, my dear sisters, we must learn to ask.
Wisdom, o wisdom, thats what we ask for,
Thats what we live for no-oo-ow.
Wisdom, o wisdom, thats what we ask for,
Thats what we live for no-oo-ow.
O sisters, o sisters, lets wake up right now,
Its never too late to shout from our hearts.
O freedom, o freedom, thats what we fight for,
And, yes, my dear sisters, we must learn to fight.
Freedom, o freedom, thats what we ask for,
Thats what we live for no-oo-ow.
O freedom, o freedom, thats what we ask for,
Thats what we live for no-oo-ow.
O sisters, o sisters, lets give up no more,
Its never too late to build a new world .
O new world, o new world, thats what we live for,
And, yes, my dear sisters, we must learn to live.
New world, O new world, thats what we live for,
Thats what we must now learn to build.
O new world , o new world, thats what we live for,
Thats what we must now learn to build.
New world, o new world, thats what we live for,
Thats what we must now learn to build.
O new world, o new world, thats what we live for,
Thats what we must now learn to build.
lyrics by Yoko Ono
Dedicated to my abusers…J— and C—-….you might have tried to break me but I’m not broken….my life is better than ever…..you never had me.
Dedicated to my loving husband, best friend, soul mate, Chad
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
___________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release September 14, 2009
FIFTEENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT
- – - – - – -
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
Today, we commemorate a milestone in our Nation’s struggle to end violence against women. Authored by then United States Senator Joe Biden and signed into law in September 1994, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was the first law to create a comprehensive response to this problem at the national level. This landmark achievement has helped our Nation make great strides towards addressing this global epidemic.
VAWA sought to improve our criminal justice system’s response to violence against women and to increase services available to victims. It directed all 50 States to recognize and enforce protection orders issued by other jurisdictions, and it created new Federal domestic violence crimes. The law also authorized hundreds of millions of dollars to communities and created a national domestic violence hotline.
This bipartisan accomplishment has ushered in a new era of responsibility in the fight to end violence against women. In the 15 years since VAWA became law, our Nation’s response to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking has strengthened. Communities recognize the special needs of victims and appreciate the benefits of collaboration among professionals in the civil and criminal justice system, victim advocates, and other service providers. With the support of VAWA funds, dedicated units of law enforcement officers and specialized prosecutors have grown more numerous than ever before. Most importantly, victims are more likely to have a place to turn for help — for emergency shelter and crisis services, and also for legal assistance, transitional housing, and services for their children.
Despite this great progress, our Nation’s work remains unfinished. More families and communities must recognize that the safety of our children relates directly to the safety of our mothers. Access to sexual assault services, especially in rural America, must be increased. American Indian and Alaska Native women experience the highest rates of violence, and we must make it a priority to address this urgent problem. We must also work with diverse communities to make sure the response to violence is relevant and culturally appropriate. We must prevent the homicide of women and girls who have suffered from domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
Far too many women in our communities and neighborhoods, and across the world, continue to suffer from violence. Inspired by the promise and achievement of the Violence Against Women Act, our Nation stands united in its determination to end these crimes and help those in need.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim the Fifteenth Anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act. I call upon men and women of all ages, communities, organizations, and all levels of government, to work in collaboration to end violence against women.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fourteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.
BARACK OBAMA
