Response to the Recorder Article Kamena Recall Effort Has a Weird Mix of Bedfellows By Cindy Ross 2001 Editor I am the California Director of the National Alliance for Family Court Justice [NAFCJ], a support and advocacy group seeking accountability and reform of courts of Judges, attorneys and social services. NAFCJ has identified a Family Court Corruption scheme involving the misuse of federal parenting and custody grant programs. The legal strategy used to accomplish the fund diversion for individual cases is the Parental Alienation Syndrome [PAS] custody switching program devised by incest advocate Dr Richard Gardner. PAS calls for the Court to suppress evidence of Family Violence and child abuse when the father is the perpetrator. Blame is shifted to the mother by dismissing her reports of abuse as attempts to alienate. children from their father. The mothers and childrens silence is ensured by court ordered PAS threats which include supervised visitation, loss of custody, jail and institutionalization. When PAS is used, domestic violence and child protection laws are violated and mothers and children are placed in danger by and through the Court. Perpetrator fathers avoid both criminal prosecution and child support obligations and mothers are prosecuted for trying to keep themselves and their children safe. The Court steers the case in the Guise of Childrens Best Interests, while the actual agenda is for the Court and court appointees to receive and divert funds intended for Access to Visitation, Responsible Fatherhood and Child Support Enforcement programs. The Recorder Article Kamena Recall Effort has a Weird Mix of Bedfellows [4-3-01] states that the DAs Office has little if any contact with the Family Court, and no authority over Family Court issues. These statements are misleading. While it is true that the DA has no jurisdiction over Family Law cases, the PAS strategy specifically depends on collaboration between the DAs Office and the Family Court in turning Domestic violence and child molestation cases into custody disputes. When the Family Court identifies PAS, it depends on the DAs refusal to prosecute perpetrator fathers and collaboration with the Family Court in criminalizing mothers. This is done by giving Family Court jurisdiction and enacting Conciliation Court Law [CA Codes 1800-1852], so that the abuse becomes a custody dispute rather than a crime. The more a mother complains or seeks assistance, the more her attempts to rescue her children are used against her in both the Family and Criminal Courts. The Courts work together to label her an alienator and a vexatious litigant to justify threatening and punishing her through the legal system and in jail. [PAS is not a legitimate psychological disorder and other fabricated syndromes may be used instead of or in addition to PAS. These include Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, Malicious Mother, Domestic Predator and Access Interference.] Sometimes legitimate disorders are inappropriately applied e.g. Borderline Personality Disorder, and sometimes the mother is labelled delusional or crazy. The PAS strategy also depends on the DA Family Support Divisions participation in abating rather than supporting fathers child support obligations. This is done through programs which recruit fathers with child support payment issues and provide them with free benefits including legal services from contracted attorneys and mediators. While the stated goal of these programs is to enhance the well-being of children, in fact these programs do exactly the opposite. Responsible fatherhood program evaluation documents from the Department of Health and Human Services [DHHS] show that TANF/Welfare funds are used to reduce or eliminate fathers child support payments and to resolve access to visitation issues using PAS methodology. NAFCJ has received information regarding DHHS-ACF-OCSE [Administration for Children and Families-Office of Child Support Enforcement] Incentive/Hold Harmless funding which shows that approximately one half billion Dollars is granted out to the states based on a performance schedule. Preliminary review of program documents suggests that Incentive Fund payment is based on factors such as child support pass-throughs, with GREATER bonus money for LESS child support collected and passed through. In Marin County, the Superior Court/Family Law Facilitator, and the DA/Family Support Division collaborate through a project called the Focus on Fatherhood Program and the Court is the recipient of an Annual Title IV-D Child Support Enforcement Grant. All of the attorneys and evaluators contracted by the Courts are those that used and teach PAS methodology, especially through Affiliations with the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts [AFCC] and/or the Childrens Rights Council [CRC]. CRC is the Primary Fathers Rights Group working directly with Richard Gardner, DHHS, OCSR and other Government Officials and agencies and is heavily cross affiliated with AFCC. Court contracted and appointed AFCC affiliates do PAS custody switches and fund diversion through conciliation court by Calling themselves mediators who practice Collaborative Law and Alternate Dispute Resolution. After receiving payments as attorneys for children, custody evaluators, special masters and therapists, they rig the cases so that fathers avoid child support obligations and the funds are redirected back to themselves and the Court. Often this means that the father will get custody in arrangements that are both illegal and detrimental to the children and mothers. However because the DA participates in the scheme, any requests for investigation are dismissed as Family Law Matters, over which the DA claims lack of Jurisdiction. In Marin County, virtually all of the attorneys and custody evaluators identified in the Karen Winner report are those connected to the PAS scam. Most of the cases documented in the Winner Report involve attorneys affiliated with Judge Verna Adams Dorman and Adams Law Firm. Adams has been the Director of the Center for the Family in Transition which spawned all of the PAS proponents who are cross affiliated with the Northern Californian Mediation Center [NCMC]. They have reconfigured their group as the Northern California Task Force for the Alienated Child and give training seminars in PAS including AFCC conferences. Verna Adams is the Judge who convicted Carol Mardeusz in a PAS scheme that involved collaboration of the Courts and the DAs in Sonoma and Marin Counties. Her partners Terence Colyer and Mary Halbert are attorneys for the Father of Hanna Stone, who were planning a PAS transfer of Custody. Now that the mother has fled with the child, the DA is handling this as an abduction by a noncustodial mother. The same Investigator from the DAs office, is involved in the Mardeusz and the Stone Cases. Mary Halbert is the attorney appointed for my own son, who diverted funds to herself and an evaluator who was also involved in the Stone case. When I approached DA Paula Kamena as a litigant whose case was in the Winner Report, she refused to investigate claiming a conflict of interest. When I approached her as a member of the Marin County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council [DVCC} concerned about PAS victimization of mothers in Family Court, I received a letter from her stating, ... I will not be available to discuss your concerns with you, nor will any other staff members in this office. This was especially inappropriate, as I routinely attended work with DA staff through the DVCC. What was even more inappropriate, However, was the Head of Family Court Services, who had been present with Paula Kamena at one of my meetings, legally inserted himself as a mediator in my case, after it had been disposed by the Court. In Judge Sutros chambers, I was threatened for my association with the Recall, even through I was not involved at the time and had been previously told press that I thought the Recall effort against the DA was a really bad mistake. [Ross Valley Reporter June 7-13 2000] Perhaps the Kamena Recall effort had a weird mix of bedfellows, but that does not mean that there are no legitimate concerns about the DAs Office and the Superior Court. Considering that atrocities that have been perpetrated on custody litigants and our children, it is no surprise that a few people have cracked under the pressure. Paula Kamena as District Attorney is adept at throwing out red herrings that accuse innocent citizens and take focus off her own actions thereof. Instead of flinging mud, Kamena should address her own role in the Family Court debacle. I hold Paula Kamena responsible for incurring an unnecessary expense to the citizens of Marin County. The recall elections would have not have been necessary if Paula Kamena did her job properly and was not busier covering for her political allies that she is serving her constituents. I am presently organizing a campaign with NAFCJ national director Liz Richards to address court corruption on a Federal Level. We are contacting top US Senators and Representatives to relay our complaints and serious evidence of misuse of Family Programs and funding by FR Groups and their court allies. Please contact me for further information. Cindy Ross CA Director National Alliance for Family Court Corruption Fairfax California
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 00:29:32 +0000
Trending Topics
© 2015