Of course Ohel can make this statement now. Ohel has firmly rooted itself in the business of sex abuse on the community. By now, they safely straddle the entire legal system, from domestic violence (VAWA money), to child neglect (CPS-ACS), they’ve got it all under their control. This means that if you are a mandated reporter and call it in, it will dissolve! Ohel will make sure the case vanishes, and is closed as unfounded. Therefore, they are comfortable telling people to make the report.

Go ahead, I dare you. Call it in. Suddenly, you will be referred to Henna White at the DA’s office, who will refer you to court, who will order an ACS investigation, who will then refer you to Ohel.

Note, they never mention anything about what happens AFTER the report. Go ahead, tell us what to expect. We want to know.

OHEL, HENNA, WE KNOW YOUR GAME! AND WE ARE WATCHING YOU!

“Lessons from Tragedy” reviews 75 child fatality reports issued by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services in 2011 with the goal of identifying continuing risk factors and areas of focus to better protect children. As was the case leading up to Nixzmary’s death, the report found that multiple prior reports of abuse and neglect were common in these families, with more than 15 prior reports received by the Administration for Children’s Services in some cases.

De Blasio, a Park Slope resident, is recommending new measures to reassess families with a significant number of such reports so that authorities can intervene earlier to prevent tragedy.

“Six years ago, we said to ourselves, ‘Never again.’ There has been tremendous progress since we came together as a city in the wake of Nixzmary’s tragic death, but children continue to fall through the cracks. Few of these cases ever made the headlines, but every one of them must be a call to arms for our city. We must close the gaps in our system that cost children their lives,” said de Blasio.

The review encompasses 75 child fatality reports released between January and December 2011. The review found:

• Fatalities often occur following multiple reports of abuse or neglect. Deaths occurred in families with, on average, more than five reports; four families had over 15 accounts.

• Many mothers had a history of engagement with the child welfare system themselves as children. Forty-four percent had contact as a child, and nine mothers had themselves spent time in the foster care system.

• Despite sustained education efforts, unsafe sleeping arrangements continue to lead to premature deaths. Practices such as co-sleeping with an adult were involved in 29 percent of fatalities for children under the age of one.

• Lack of stable housing is common among these families. Twenty-eight percent of child fatalities occurred in families with a history of homelessness or poor housing conditions. The record number of families living in shelters, including nearly 17,000 children as of December 2011, must be addressed.

De Blasio urged the Administration for Children’s Service (ACS) and other city agencies to take the following steps:

• Implement a system at ACS that triggers comprehensive assessment of cases involving multiple reports of abuse or neglect by an internal review team. De Blasio is pursuing City Council legislation to establish a “High-Risk Review Panel” composed of outside experts to study a portion of these cases with the goal of developing recommendations for the rest of ACS’s high-risk caseload.

• Broaden outreach on safe infant sleeping arrangements by enlisting pediatricians, community health providers and other community leaders to convince parents to adopt sleeping practices that reduce the risk of injury and death.

• ACS and the Department of Homeless Services should jointly review the demographic profiles of families in shelters to identify those facing multiple risks — in particular families with a history of multiple prior contacts with the child welfare system.

Source: Brooklyn Eagle

Now, NYC court corruption strikes again, as the case was assigned to Chief Corruption Officer, Judge Jeffrey S. Sunshine, head of Brooklyn’s Matrimonial division, Kings county. Only two weeks in His Honor’s charming chambers, we now learn how the mother is now being tormented some more in this horrendous custody battle. The mother, Annemarie McAvoy, who is a law professor at Fordham University, was ordered to refrain from video-chatting with her son, because it was “intruding into the father’s home”. Will the boy get to talk to Judge Sunshine now? Because if and when he does, then we hope he says it like it is.  Nice work on the parentectomy, Jeffrey.

BrooklynEagle.com – Judge Sunshine Orders Law Prof. to Stop iPhoning Son - ADAMS STREET (AP) — Kings County Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Sunshine ordered a Fordham law professor involved in a custody dispute to stop communicating with her son via a smartphone’s video-chat feature.

Last week, Hon. Sunshine told Annemaire McVoy to take away her son’s iPhone because she was intruding into the father’s home by spending hours talking to her son via the FaceTime feature. He told her to replace the iPhone with a simple cell phone. The New York Post reports that McVoy plans to pursue a federal civil-rights case to get custody of her son. She said she used FaceTime to help her son with homework. The boy lives with his father, John Hannigan, in Sparta, N.J.

Both of these judges earned an honorary mention on the NY Wall of Shame.

David Zimmer, Arrested Again

CALA EXCLUSIVE REPORT: David Zimmer, who was barely arrested last week for endangering the welfare of a child and Harassment charges, was arrested again today, for criminal trespassing. Zimmer, who is a level two sex offender, was found carrying boxes into a Boro Park apartment on 13th Avenue and 41st Street, in broad daylight, along with three other people. WHO IS SUPPORTING DAVID ZIMMER?  He claimed that he got the key from a friend of a friend. The superintendant, of this Brooklyn apartment complex immediately identified him from the media coverage and called 911. Police arrested Zimmer at approximately 12:00 pm today. Neighbors in this building are outraged that Zimmer was free to roam the streets of Boro Park following his arrest last week. One can only wonder what kind of funny business will happen now, after this arrest. How long until Zimmer is released again? We must support our community residents and encourage them to press charges, and not fear retaliation of the players in the underground.

Police say David Zimmer was arrested for snapping pictures of a 9-year-old girl. (credit: NYPD)

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Police arrested a sex offender for allegedly taking pictures of a 9-year-old girl in his hallway last week, and now they are searching for other children David Zimmer may have come in contact with.

Police say Zimmer, 40, was picked up at around 9:15 p.m. after allegedly snapping shots of the girl in the hallway of Borough Park building. He faces Endangering the Welfare of a Child and Harassment charges.

Sources tell CBS 2 Zimmer is a Level 2 sex offender. He was arrested in 1998 for rape and took a plea down to sexual assault.

Police want anyone who knows of children that have come into contact with Zimmer are asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). All calls are kept confidential. You can also submit your tip via their website, or by texting a tip to 274637 (CRIMES) and then entering TIP577.

CALA TIP: David Zimmer resides at 51st Street between 13th and 14th Avenue, in Boro Park.  He lives with his father and brother.

Source: CBS News

Though neither side asked for it, the long drawn-out case before Supreme Court Justice Sidney Strauss was ordered to an emergency trial that began in Brooklyn last week.

“The transcripts are scary,” said a source familiar with the reasoning behind the highly unusual change of venue.

In a September hearing, the boy’s mother and his lawyer told Strauss that the 10-year-old — who was ordered to live with his father in 2007 — was distraught after the judge told him he would not change that order.

The boy’s mental state has “gotten progressively worse” since the sitdown with Strauss, said his mom, Annemarie McAvoy, a Fordham University professor and frequent TV commentator.

“He talked about how he’d kill himself or his father,” she said.

The judge was unmoved by stories of the boy’s distress.

“I guess I’m the one that created the suicidal ideation, then,” Strauss said, according to court records. “I didn’t tell him what he wanted to hear.”

The same judge made another controversial custody switch in 2007, placing a toddler with her dad against the recommendations of all involved.

The girl’s distraught mother, Mazoltuv Borukhova, then had the father killed. The custody change was presented as her motive at her murder trial.

The judge called the custody arrangement in the McAvoy case temporary, but the case has been stalled ever since.

Strauss recently indicated that a final ruling won’t come before 2014, records show.

McAvoy separated from John Hannigan in 2002 and signed an agreement making her the main caretaker of their son.

But the couple sparred over the boy’s diagnosis of mild autism, with the mother insisting he needs special care and the father contending he’s normal.

The judge changed custody from mother to father without a hearing in 2007, based on one opinion disputing autism and a doctor’s report saying the boy is “slightly underweight” and “his teeth appeared to be discolored.”

The state’s deputy chief administrative judge ordered the case transferred after “serious questions about the child’s welfare were brought to [her] attention,” said David Bookstaver, spokesman for the court system.

Following an evaluation whether there’s an imminent risk to the boy, he added, the case will return to Queens.

Even then, sources said, Strauss, who’s no longer assigned to matrimonial cases, is not likely to get it back.

Audrey Sager, lawyer for the boy’s father, blasted the decision to move the trial to Brooklyn as unnecessary interference.

“No one asked, no one filed a motion,” she said.

Source: NY Daily News

At a conference for battered women on Saturday, hands went up throughout a large room when the question was asked about how many had heard that phrase used in cases against them in court. The controversial term describes when a child has been manipulated to side with one parent in a custody battle and denigrates the other parent. Women’s rights advocates say attorneys for fathers regularly cite the syndrome when arguing their clients have been falsely accused of abusing their children.

A number of the women had traveled to the Holiday Inn on Wolf Road from other states for the annual Battered Mothers Custody Conference to hear the stories of other victims and to meet with lawyers and activists for guidance. Speakers conducted workshops on court rulings, domestic violence in the military and the custody system.

“Be strong. If you don’t advocate for yourself and your children, no one will,” said Michelle Weiss, who traveled from New York City. She said she has battled unsuccessfully to regain custody of her children for years. She said she has not seen them since September 2010 because the courts are stacked against women who accuse a partner of abuse.

Conference organizer Mo Therese Hannah, a psychology professor at Siena College, said women have far more support than ever when they are ready to break from an abusive marriage. She said the public is also more aware of the difficulty battered women face than when the conference was launched nine years ago. Still, she said, advocates must keep pushing for more legislative changes so that battered women know they are not alone.

Holly Collins, a speaker at the conference, felt that way. She fled the United States in 1994 with her children to protect them after the courts granted custody to her ex-husband despite numerous documented instances of abuse. She was granted asylum in the Netherlands and remained in hiding for more than a decade until federal charges were eventually dismissed.

Collins, whose daughter Jennifer now advocates for abused children across the country, said it’s a myth that courts are hesitant to take children from their mothers, and that the courts ignore abuse.

“If the kids are being abused,” she said, “a man’s right to his children is not more important than the safety of his children.”

By: Scott Waldman, Staff writer, Times Union, NY

Mothers deeply entrenched in custody cases in America came to learn from doctors, lawyers, retired cops, investigators, and ex-judges. We learned it from the lion’s den first-hand. As Michael Bassett, J.D. said, “When ladies get together, amazing things happen”. With the help of visual media, the Holly Collins documentary certainly provided all of us with the inspiration we needed to stay motivated. The gripping tale of a protective mother who fled with her children to protect them from imminent death by abuse, then sought for immunity and was granted refugee status in the Netherlands – while in America, she became FBI most wanted criminal for kidnapping her own children. This gripping tale has now officially launched today. Garland’s “No Way Out But One” has a Facebook page with listings of all screenings. The movie trailer can be seen online too.

Toby Kleinman the third plenary speaker encouraged the many brave women in the room to forming alliances between them and uniting Protective Mothers by state. “Find the power you have, and then learn to use it effectively”. She recommended hunting out those internet listservs and various blogs, and join them so that you can keep learning. “Reach out to other mothers who are still facing the difficult challenges of litigation, and their refusal to integrate what we know about familial violence. Courts have romanticized notions of fathers who claim to want to spend more time with children, even though they are still abusing them, and mothers are still being blamed”. Alienation still gains traction and carries emotion, yet we are still stronger today than yesterday. Back in 1982, New Jersey developed a domestic violence statute, while in NY, we refer to the domestic violence offenses which are inadequate, since domestic violence should be addressed on a criminal level.

Ricky, a protective mother from NY expressed her grief with domestic violence centers and battered women centers such agencies in New York such as Family Justice Center and the YWCA, and Ohel. In response, Garland Waller who is the producer of the Holy Collins documentary No Way Out But One said that she donated a miniscule sum of $25 to a valuable organization, which in turn, earned her a spot into a whole new group dealing with domestic violence in in Massachusetts. “This small deed helps with getting yourself into a group, and into their email lists to navigate and negotiate the system”, she said.

The dynamic Dr. Phyllis Chesler, Emerita Professor of Psychology and Women’s Studies at City University of New York opened was the second plenary speaker following the eloquent Dr. Lundy Bancroft. The author of fourteen book, Dr. Chesler is a pioneer in academic studies on honor killings and and the psychology on terrorism. In her speech, she discussed how greatly the system has failed, on a civil rights level because “women have chosen early on, to choose”. Women’s groups must focus on what they are doing, and what they are not. As an example, the petition by Survivors in Action  in California, is urging people to sign a petition which will ask Lynn Rosenthal, about the need to track public anti-violence funds. The focus is on President Obama’s plan to assist with domestic violence, by allowing VAWA funds to go directly into the hands of our abusers. Mothers are not getting help from domestic violence agencies, and instead, these agencies are silencing mothers. These agencies are collecting all the moneys but are failing to service . This was already reported by CALA six months ago, titled, New Law in NY Allows men to get legal assistance as victims of domestic violence In this eye-popping amicus brief, a report on Columbia University’s Law Library identifies VAWA as a “primarily a source of grants” which has not reduced domestic violence.

On the subject of ethical complaints against a custody evaluator or attorney for the child, lawyer Nancy S. Erickson, Esq., J.D. (Brooklyn Law School, LLM. Yale Law School, M.A. Forensic Psychology) presented a do-it-yourself workshop. This casual round-table helped break the ice and make mothers feel comfortable, as names were shared and emotions were felt when horror stories were presented. This well prepared and fully informed and brave lawyer articulated the necessary steps on how to determine the hierarchical structure of grievances for each professional involved in a custody determination.

Barry Goldstein, the rare Y-chromosome at this conference, has gone all over the country to promote women’s issues. Goldstein is a NY/NJ lawyer who was retaliated against and had his license revoked five years ago. His presentation has the potential to change the world by merely changing the way we look at things. His report is titled, “From Poughkeepsie New York – a practical plan to reduce domestic violence by 80% and save 500 billion dollars every year”. Putting this money out there will create an incentive that we can have allies that we never dreamed of, and approach government agencies and courts, to give them an incentive to do what they should be doing anyway . The report is based on research for a chapter in the second volume of his book co-edited by Dr. Mo Therese Hannah.

Photo Courtesy: Protect Our Children. Address: P.O. Box 8963. Springfield, MO 65801. Phone: 417-882-4357. E-mail: protectourchildren@att.net

The new book titled, “Poughkeepsie: Learning from unsuccessful response to Domestic Violence”. Quoting the Shokome cases which was very well covered in the news, mother Jenny Shokome, is the “Rosa Parks of the custody movement”. Jailed while 7 months pregnant, this bizarre story became an all time media circus. The media had a lot of fun by saying that there was no evidence of domestic violence in this case. However, they obtained that ‘credible’ information by speaking to Mr. Shokome or reviewing the judge’s orders. However, Mr. Goldstein had direct access to the court files, in which it is evidenced that the father used to call the mother 10-15 times each night while she and the children were trying to sleep. There was an admission from a supervisor that the mother suffered a panic attack when she unexpectedly saw the father. The court evaluator said on the record that she was influenced by her belief that the judge and law guardian wanted to influence her recommendation for custody to the father. All the while, the judge continued to maintain that he is neutral to all parties.

In a healthcare study on “what is the cost of domestic violence to our healthcare system?”, it was found that an abuser assaults their partner, and she then goes for treatment, and then there is a cost for that. This new study is more comprehensive, since diseases are caused or exacerbated by stress. And living with an abuser is severe stress by interaction on a daily basis. People might self medicate, develop emotional issues, which in turn require long term treatment and expenses. The cost is about $750 bullion a year nationwide, close to a trillion dollars. Without domestic violence, there would be no crime. The greatest tragedy is that these victims never reach their potential – stalked women go to jail, don’t go to school, children are failing, commit crimes to third parties who in turn, don’t reach their potential. To this miserable scenario, Mr. Goldstein earned a round of applause, since this rang so true to the hearts of the audience. Victims can’t do their job and contribute to the economy. We don’t know what these women could have accomplished.

For the research in this book, Mr. Goldstein used his experience in Poughkeepsie NY and how the courts handle the domestic violence, which was then compared to the domestic homicidal rates. In turn, the system was then compared to the Quincy Model implemented in Massachusetts.

The Quincy Model, established in the late 1970′s was successful in reducing domestic violence crime. Poughkeepsie NY, a small town with only 300,000 people had a shocking contrast. Immediately following the revocation of Mr. Goldstein’s license in Dutchess County, there were 9 d.v. related homicides, including a cop who was killed while trying to rescue a three year old boy from a d.v. Situation, resulting in a lot of tragedies. Even the community realized that there was a tremendous problem.

The Quincy Model was founded based on the proven research that reducing domestic violence crimes will reduce all crimes in the community. Court decisions were scrutinized, with the tremendous support of both communities. Furthermore, “incest and sexual abuse in children is true, and more widespread than we want to believe”, said Goldstein. The head of probation and the David Adams from the DA supported this model.

With strict enforcement of criminal laws, and restraining orders through prison, court orders carry weight and truly reduce crime. In one perfect example, a woman had a no-contact order of protection against her husband. Her wise-guy husband sent her flowers, and the court put him in prison for six months for violating the order. This is the only way that the system can work. When a defendant re-offended and was on probation, they would quickly file a violation of probation and he would be quickly arrested, and expedite the case to get away from his victim. These practices really helped move this model along to its success. As a result, this part of the program made if easier for women to leave through the help of strategically placed advocates. Domestic violence homicides went down immediately.

“Accountability and monitoring are the only two factors which if combined, are necessary for an effective model”, urges Goldstein. “We cannot keep blaming the systemic failures on budget cutbacks to prevent domestic violence because by cutting hundreds of thousands, creating problems that cost millions. – essentially, supporting abuse”. In his research for the book, Mr. Goldstein made a call to Mr. David Bookstaver (NY Courts Communications Director), While he was predictably rude, he also remarked, “this chapter will be the shortest chapter in your book”.  At 113 pages, Barry is thinking of turning this chapter into a book for itself.

From Ohio, Michael Bassett, J.D. And Carol Pennington a protective mother, hosted a workshop focusing on how battered mothers can turn around their cases while entrenched in the horrors of a custody battle. In the given scenrio, a protective mother stands in a court of law and realizes, she just lost custody. Her immediate emotions at these terrible results are raw, shocked, upset, hurt feelings. Her first thought is, “I have to fix it, and I have to fix it now”.

Michael boldly said, you need to give yourself time, your kids time, give court time, and give the abuser time. Take stock now, and say, “I am a good mom, and I didn’t do something wrong to cause me to lose my kids”, and. “what things might I be doing that are easy nitpicky things that I am losing points for”. Is it the way I am communicating to my abuser?. Am I leaving myself open to him?. Think about that and think about what you need to changee. Networking with other moms in your area is critical. “When ladies get together, amazing things happen”.

Give court time – Michael’s guiding philosophy is that every motion you file in custody case, especially after a decision was entered against you, you should consider that to have a real cost with the judges against you. They will see you as litigious and difficult. While you have very valued reasons for filing these motions, resist the urge. Instead of “he didn’t show up for visitations”, give him three consecutive times to violate the order. You do not want to file a motion for a change in custody too soon, even if you have one good incident and you put testimony and then lose the chance because you don’t have the fifth or sixth incident to give it weight. In a nation full of Pro Se mothers, it is the 98% that gives the other 2% the bad name.

Why are you hypervigilant? They seem trivial to domestic lawyers, who are great at equitable division of assets. Do they practice law? Do they understand trauma and its intricacies? Do they understand your PTSD and legal abuse syndrome? Are they forcing to sit in the same room with your abuse and mediate? That is like asking Saddam Hussein to hold your hand, “for the best interest of the children”. Don’t fall for that story by your lawyer. It is coercion to get you to settle, and then they move on and retain a new client.

Give your kids time – indeed, this is the worst and most difficult time. Very quickly, you will see the results of the court’s mistakes, and this will pile up. Don’t run to court because there is sexualized behaviors after visitations, or your daughter is failing math, or when the step-mom is beating them up. All this will happen, so give your kids time. It’s brutally painful, but give it time to accumulate.

Give your abuser time – Put him in the box. Use email exclusively for communication. Sprint will no longer allow you to access your own text messages. For example, you need to communicate, “can you drop them off at three”… if you can do that in the email forum, he will still act like he always did. If you have a pile of emails and hand pick the ones where he beats you up on your parenting skills “all of the kids problems are your fault” you have a very powerful tool to get him on cross examination.

“Mr. Smith, would you say your ex wife is whore?”

“No, I want my kids to have a relationship with her”

“I would like to show you this email which you wrote on January 5^th.”

“Who wrote this?”

“I did”

“What did you write?”

“That she is a whore.”

While the court might not jump up and down on that, it is another element in your armor to use.

Discovery – if your attorney won’t do it, discharge them immediately. Dad should be deposed as soon as possible. Because they will say what they will do, and make it look like there is nothing wrong. They will insist that they cancelled your life insurance policy so that they can buy insurance for their girlfriend. Your attorney must know what to do and how to do discovery on the guardian ad litem, and on mental health providers. If they say it costs money, say, “you cost money too, and I insist”.

Sometimes a Guardian Ad Litem might petition for a protective order from being deposed, because it would put the kids in jeopardy. Instead, have your attorney do research on your local jurisdiction and what it says on the importance of cross examination on Ad Litem. Be prepared that your lawyer might tell you, “this takes a lot of work”, which is legalese for “a lot of money” and “people will be mad at me”. GAL’s can be deposed, except in NY where the use of lawyers as Attorney for the Child maintain client privileges are protected, and cannot be deposed. In turn, NY attorney for the Child must accurately present the ‘wishes of his client’ without making a custody making recommendation, or expression his or her opinion.

Carol Pennington, a protective mother joined Michael to explain how to put your abuser into a box, and then how you can think outside the box. What she learned through her association with Michael helped her survive. You cannot be anything for your children if you cannot care for yourself first. Give yourself time, give yourself forgiveness. This stuff makes you crazy, so acknowledge it for what it is. You will heal when you get out of Auschwitz, but in the meantime, attend a support group in the concentration camp. Use your time apart from your child to learn interesting things, so that you have ‘positive’ stuff to feed your child’s grey matter during visitations.

Behave every day as if it might happen today, and today you will get your kids back. Keep it on the forefront each and every day. Kids can get arrested, they can fail, get into a fight with step mom. Keep your ducks in a row constantly. Document emails, tape record everything, if you are allowed, but keep your documents in order at all times. Write your emails as if you are addressing the courts, because you are! Keep it very unemotional, very detached. He calls you a whore, move on, ignore it. Word your emails so that you are putting in a box. You will find that they will continue to insist on attention, like a two year old.

Keep ignoring it, and try to use the B.I.F.T. Method “Brief, Informative, Friendly and Firm”, by lawyer Bill Eddy. Say, “I would like to pick up my on at 8:00 pm on Sunday for the school play”. He responds, “you stupid whore, you are never involved anyway”. You then reply, “I have not received a reply on my email, so I presume I am picking my son up at 8:00”. Michael says to reposition your thoughts to the main position of the email, “I am the mom, and I am boxing in my abuser” rather than, “I am the mom and I want to see my kids”. Use every opportunity at communication to change the nature of communication in your mind.

If possible, create a system where you have a three-way conference call with two other moms before you even open an email from abuser. When you are done crafting a piece of communication, only then should you hit send. TreasureMyText.com keeps emails in a central location to be printed for your attorney.  PointOfMail.com makes you know that the abuser received the email. GoogleVoice is excellent for telephone communication. It is free, you can call from it, or receive calls on your unique phone number. Neatdesk is a program that allows you to scan your documents and then create searchable pdf’s. Keep your own records, make it easier for the attorney. Don’t pay him or their secretary to copy anything that you can do yourself. Make friends with your lawyer’s secretary., she will call your lawyer for you when it is really urgent.

Inside the Courtroom

In the Family court room, the first line of the attorney’s opening statement should be as follows, “your honor, today, you are going to be the first person who has ever heard what has happened to the Smith children”. Call in your case the primary witness. “What did you see, what did you do next?”.

You have to lay bare the assumptions they made, so that you can lay it out to the court in the form of system failure. This way, they judge becomes the first one to hear everything, rather than what the doctor said to family services, or the other way around. Keep in mind that with res judicata, retrying the same matter is “double jeoperdy” and if the issue has already occurred previously between the same two parties, you may not be able to raise this matter again. So if you brought in Police Officer Stevens to testify, “I watched him hit her”, you may not be able to bring this in again. Be prepared to have the other attorney bring this up and then you lose your case. They will tell you that to force you to settle. Know that there are ways to use previously used evidence in your case, before a final decree, and reintroduce to same judge, especially when there was a bad outcome. You can reframe yourself, and your attorney needs to be skilled.

Submit yourself to cross examination. You don’t have to answer questions fast. You need to take a bottle of water with you on the witness stand. When you hear a question, take a sip before you answer. Don’t answer anything except what you were asked. Do not offer any information at all. “What time is it?”, “12:15”. That’s it. Don’t say pm, say nothing! Don’t start pulling you phone out of your burps to check the time. Rather, say, “no, I do not know what time it is”.

Help your attorney by categorizing your documents, so you don’t overwhelm them. In order of date of court orders is best. Remember, you got out of an abusive relationship because you did not like being abused. So if your attorney is abusing you, AND charging you money, then you should put an end to that. You can use a highly skilled attorney from another state, as pro hav vice – appearing for your case only in your state., to avoid court rule for having another attorney from your state in there at all times. You need a lawyer highly skilled in trauma and domestic violence. Dr. Mo Hannah recommends contacting DV Leap for referrals. Professor Gaby Davis recommends The Battered Women’s Justice Project. If you have a case were social services says there is no evidence of abuse, call Seth Goldstein in California who is a former police officer and will testify on system failure. He works well with judges, and great to have there if your counsel needs someone else to shoot ideas with them.

After three intense days of this conference, the Protective Mothers Civil Rights Movement is finally scaring the bureaucrats, and rightfully so. When mother cougars unite to protect their cubs, stuff happens. A livestream of the event is now archived at this webpage.

LEGAL ABUSE SYNDROME (LAS) is a form of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  It is a psychic injury, not a mental illness.  It is a personal injury that develops in individuals assaulted by ethical violations, legal abuses, betrayals, and fraud. Abuse of power and authority and a profound lack of accountability in our courts have become rampant. Dr. Karin Huffer, author of the groundbreaking book, Overcoming the Devastation of Legal Abuse Syndrome, has devoted over 20 years to researching, diagnosing, and treating PTSD and other trauma disorders.

Women are often fearful that their reporting of domestic violence will precipitate retaliation by the batterer, a fear that is not unwarranted (Sisley et al., 1999). As a result, in 82% of disputed custody cases, fathers achieve sole custody despite the fact that only 13% had been involved in child care activities prior to divorce (Dr. Phyllis Chesler). The trauma of divorce is barely related to the cessation of a relationship, and more closely related to the combative nature of these divorce and custody battles in the Justice System. Losing access to the baby you carried and birthed causes an irreversible trauma to the child and its mother. A mother’s reaction to such a trauma is natural by design, and not a mental illness. Sociopaths who enjoy the luxuries of brand name lawyers latch on to a mother’s reaction as a way to judge her parenting abilities.

The most difficult aspect in divorce proceedings is the issue of which parent is going to maintain custody. This thorny issue is the single area where mental health professionals, often psychologists, are called upon for expert testimony. Pre-existing conditions, such as mental illness preclude immediate determination of custody and prolong the case, to the delight of sociopathic abusive men. Here again, psychologists are called upon to test the relevant parties for competence and some determination is then made by the courts for custody and visitation arrangements. However, in the case of PTSD sustained due to legal abuse in the very prolonged battle for custody, this injury is now being used against mothers, as they are being judged for their ability to be a fit parent.

Chronic strain in the courtroom during a lengthy divorce and custody battle is a near-guarantee for single mothers to develop PTSD. In the most fully developed form, this syndrome is called post-traumatic stress disorder (DSM-IV). A new wave of mothers are now unable to work and support themselves and their children, and receive social security benefits, courtesy of the federal government. Along with the SSI, mothers are entitled to accommodations in the courtroom such as extended time and recording devices. Additionally, these mothers appear in court with ADA advocates available assist the disabled inside the courtroom. The crisis in the family courts across America is now a federal burden, and your tax dollars are supporting this highly flawed systemic established.

Naming the pervy perps, Hynes insists, would compromise victim confidentiality.

But critics say the secrecy keeps neighborhoods in the dark about child predators in their midst and panders to the politically powerful ultra-Orthodox.

“In a misguided attempt to be sensitive to the Jewish community, the DA works with its leaders to hide the shame of child-sex abuse from the world at all costs,” said Asher Lipner, a psychologist who treats sex-abuse survivors.

“To say you’re not disclosing the names of perpetrators to protect the victims just defies common sense,” said Ben Hirsch, president of Survivors for Justice. “Clearly the law supports the opposite: It requires those convicted to be on a sex-offender registry.”

Hynes’ office refuses to release criminal complaints and indictments in all sex-crime cases, spokesman Jerry Schmetterer said, to shield victims’ names from view as required by state law.

But DA offices in the other boroughs said they routinely release the public records after redacting the victims’ names.

The Brooklyn DA, meanwhile, routinely issues press releases on non-Orthodox sex offenders, including last week’s announcement of a prison sentence for Gerald Hatcher, who raped his girlfriend’s 11-year-old daughter.

Schmetterer said Hatcher’s name was released because reporters had gotten wind of the case.

Hynes’ office credits its Project Kol Tzedek, Hebrew for “voice of justice,” with the arrests of 85 orthodox child molesters in three years. It uses a confidential hotline, and social workers familiar with the strictly religious culture.

After refusing to divulge details to the Jewish Week and Jewish Forward newspapers, DA officials revealed for a Post report last week that in 38 closed cases so far, just 14 offenders have been sentenced to jail.

Critics charge the Brooklyn DA fails to fight intimidation that leads victims to back out of pressing charges. “If victims feel protected, they want their cases publicized, because it encourages others to come forward,” Lipner said.

The father of two boys accusing an alleged molester told The Post his rabbi denied the family the right to hold the sacred Torah scrolls during a holiday in which everyone, including kids, get to do so. He also said his family has gotten harassing phone calls.

Schmetterer says the DA will investigate any evidence of threats, and even relocate a family in danger.

** CALA has heard first-hand that the mother fears to disclose the name of the father, since she has not received her GET yet, the Jewish Divorce. It is a typical abuse tactic for divorcing men to withhold the Get as a bargaining tool to give them a leg up in a contested custody case.

Source: NY POST SUSAN EDELMAN, December 18, 2011 susan.edelman@nypost.com