Press Release: Historic US Supreme Court Case

May 5, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS CONFERENCE May 6th, 2011 at 12 Noon
Location:  US Supreme Court One First Street, NE Washington, DC 20543                                                                                             
Sidewalk in front of the US Supreme Court
                             
                 HISTORIC US SUPREME COURT CASE
Child Advocates and Legal Scholars are anxiously awaiting the filing of a
Petition for Writ of Certiorari on May 6, 2011 at 12 noon at the US Supreme
Court in Washington, D.C. in the Sacks v. Sacks case.

This truly will be an  Historic Day at the US Supreme Court, for  America’s
children and their “Protective Parents”, as this landmark case is being hand
delivered by a Florida Mother and exposes a national crisis all over the US.

The Sacks v. Sacks case is the perfect opportunity for the US Supreme Court to
thoroughly explore and address the issue of Battered Mothers and child abuse,
and their documented evidence of “protective parents” losing custody  and the
failure of family courts and Child Protective Services to thoroughly investigate
and handle Domestic Violence, child sexual/and or child physical abuse cases
properly, therefore resulting in a verdict, contrary to the “bests interests of
the child(ren)”.

Kathleen Russell, from the Center for Judicial Excellence, in the California
Progress Report, on 10/19/09 “When Family Courts Get It Wrong”, says “When a
parent harms his or her own child, family courts are supposed to step in and
safeguard the victim. Can you imagine what a tragedy it would be if courts
awarded custody to the wrong parent Actually according to one conservative
estimate, more than 58, 000 children a year are court ordered by family courts
into unsupervised visitation contact with physically or sexually abusive parents
following a divorce in the U.S. The fact that this type of scandal is taking
place in the American justice system defies the imagination. Not since the Roman
Catholic Church pedophile scandal has the US seen this type of institutional
harm inflicted on innocent children.” (www.centerforjudicalexcelllence.org)

The National Organization for Women, NOW and the NOW Ad Hoc Law Committee
are  addressing this issue and in their Spring 2011,  “and explore what can
happen to  a protective mother and her children when she does nothing more than
to protect her children”, as quoted on page 36 of the Petition for Certiorari.

The Petitioner, in the US Supreme Court case, Linda Marie Sacks, has been chosen
as the “Poster Mother” of the Family Court Crisis, is interviewed for the
article.(www.now.org) Click on the Family Law Spring Newsletter.
On April 21, 2011,  in the BMCCVI Digest Number 2011, reports that Eileen King
representing Justice for Children participated in the Office of Violence Against
Women Roundtable Discussion that took place at George Washington University Law
School. The Roundtable was organized by Rita Smith, the Director of the National
Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Prof. Joan Meier, Director of the
Domestic Violence Legal Empowerment and Appeals Project (DVLEAP) at GWU Law
School. OVW will post a report about the Roundtable on their website in the near
future. (www.justiceforchildren.org) and (www.dvleap.org)

As noted by Barry Goldstein, Esq. The Office of Violence Against Women (OVW) is
part of the US Justice Department that provides grants for programs to reduce
and prevent domestic violence. They recently sponsored a forum for their staff
and other professionals in various parts of the government to learn about the
crisis in the custody court system.

 “It was a discussion based upon current scientific research and actual
experiences that courts are routinely making catastrophic mistakes in failing to
protect children and domestic violence survivors.

Linda Marie Sacks, a Florida Mother, truly the “All American Mom”, has only seen
her children at the Family Tree House Visitation Center for  82 hours in the
last 4 years and 2 months, is challenging the “Best Interests of The Children”
Statute 61.13,  as Domestic Violence, child sexual and physical abuse must be
considered in a judge’s decision determining the “Best Interests of the
Children”. In the Pro se Cert  Petition, Sacks raises  the constitutional
implications of a fit parent to the care, custody, of her children, and without
a finding of unfitness by clear and convincing evidence, established by the US
Supreme Court ruling in Santosky v. Kramer, U.S. 745, 769-770 (1982).

Her daughters said in April 2007, “Mommy fight for us and do something every day
to get us back and don’t ever stop”. Their Mother not only kept her promise to
them, but nowisa national spokesperson on the child custody crisis, and is
speaking up for her children, and all of America’s children affected by the
failure of our justice system to protect our most innocent children from sexual
and physical abuse. She is a formidable legal opponent, as she has been self
taught, going to “Internet Law School” to continue her legal challenge after
spending $140,000 to undo an unjust custody decision. The Fifth District Court
of Appeals REVERSED and REMANDED the issue of child custody back to the lower
court  for a violation of the Petitioners constitutional rights to due process,
in 08/08. This rare reversal provided no relief as the lower court of Judge
Shawn L. Briese refused to abide by the Appeals court and refused to protect the
children and said one child lied about being sexually abused.

In an article by John Weiss, from Post-Bulletin, Rochester, MN , “Do children
lie about sexual abuse? Not Usually.” Children do lie, but seldom about being
abused. “All human beings can and do lie, but it’s hard for kids to do it about
sex”, said Victor Vieth, the director of the national Child Protection Training
Center at Winona State University. “They can’t lie about something they have no
knowledge of” he said, and children don’t learn about oral sex from Sesame
Street.

Dr. Deborah Day of Psychological Affiliates, the court ordered custody evaluator
said the minor child at 8 years old had pediatric bipolar and that negates any
child sexual abuse, and then  thwarted the DCF investigation. The court record
clearly showed that the child DID NOT have bipolar, but  the trial court still
refused to protect the children, which is typical from cases all over the US.
 
One day justice will prevail for America’s children. Could it be in the Sacks v.
Sacks case?
 
 National Advocacy groups and Mothers will be attending events to shed light on
this crisis in America’s Courts.
Mothers Day, May 8th, 2011  in Washington DC will also have the Mothers of Lost
Children from 6-9:30 PM at the White House. 

6:00-9:30 p.m.
6:00 pm speak out
7:00 pm march
7:45 Candlelight vigil
Information will be available on Sunday night about activities onMonday.
And another group will be having the:
 
Million Mom March Mother’s Day 2011 in Washington DC
Feb 152011
 
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Million-Mom-March-Mothers-Day-2011-in-Washington-DC/153380204718360?sk=info

CONTACT:
http://americanmotherspoliticalparty.org/
 

For more information and press
Please contact:
Kathleen Russell 
Executive Director
Center for Judicial Excellence
495 Miller Avenue, Suite 304
Mill Valley, CA 94941
Main 415.388.9600 Fax 415.388.4610
 
http://www.CenterforJudicialExcellence.org

Ms. blog: Huffington Post censors mother’s rights activists

Elizabeth Black covers the Huffpo piece – censorship of domestic violence advocates and mothers rights activists’ comments and the promotion of pseudo-science – on the Ms. Magazine blog:

Huffington Post censors mothers’ rights activists

And here’s a case of a man claiming alienation and then blaming this lack of access for his kidnapping, sexually assaulting and killing his ex-wife. This is one of many that end up in the papers – and, like this man, they’re all oblivious as to why the wife hindered their access or fled:

Remorseless Moore gets life

Huffington Post has another article up on how women are misspending child support. What it doesn’t mention is how expensive it is to raise a child, all the expenses such as rent/furniture/utilities/food/school supplies/sports equipment, etc and the intangible items like losing time at work when the child(ren) is sick, fewer promotions, lower wages than single women or men, etc. I have no doubt custodial parents pay far more than non-custodial parents – I just wonder if there have been studies to prove this.

DC rally and press conference on family court corruption

Please attend if you’re in the area!

Protective Parents

Friday, October 1st at 11:00 AM

US Department of Justice

950 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Washington, DC

We will assemble to demand an investigation of family court corruption across the nation, which places our children in the custody of batterers and molesters. 

After an hour long rally and press conference, we will march at noon to the Senate Hart and Senate Russell Buildings to meet with Senate staff. We will insist that they reschedule 1994 Congressional hearings on the abject failures of family court and child protection systems to protect children from physical and sexual abuse, and the systematic attack on victims and mandated reporters of child sexual abuse.

We’ll finish the march at the Sewall-Belmont House at 144 Constitution Ave, headquarters of the Suffragists.

Bring your white Tshirts with “Mothers of Lost Children” on the front. Wear white skirts or pants if you have them. Take a look at the signs carried by the Suffragists. Make signs like those, so everyone will understand that we are marching to keep children safe from violence and rape.

Contact us to connect with others in your region who plan to come. 

www.mothers

oflostchildren.com

Protective Parents

Here are some resources for protective parents, people who make allegations of abuse in family court and are not believed. The newsletter (link below) includes information on a clearinghouse, a brochure, a letter on PAS, and another event to help raise awareness about family court catastrophes (a two-day event in DC on Friday, October 1st and Saturday, October 2nd – Please come and join us!)

NOW Foundation

PAS doesn’t make manual

There are always lobbyists for parental alienation syndrome, but they did not win out this time either.
PAS is not making it into the DSM-5, according to an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Great news for Protective Parents!!
PAS, or parental alienation syndrome, is the idea that one parent (usually the mother) poisons the mind of the child(ren) against the other parent. It was created by Richard Gardner who blamed “hysterical” women for making false allegations of child sexual abuse against fathers. He was misogynist, didn’t publish in a peer-review journal, defended child molesters, and this mental health expert stabbed himself in the chest, committing suicide.
The biggest concern about PAS is that it masks child abuse (see work by Jay Silverman at Harvard). Is the parent “alienating” the child or has the other parent abused the kid, creating hostility and fear? It also serves to scapegoat women. Children experiencing divorce can be depressed or angry for many reasons – not just because Mom tells them bad things about Dad. Then, there are the “reunification centers” where they reunite children with the estranged parent (potential abuser) and cut off ties with the parent that had the closer relationship.
Now, why is it that PAS – if it’s truly a mental health condition – works on changing children’s attitudes and not the parent’s? Wouldn’t that be working on changing the “cause” of the problem? And, is PAS a mental health condition or a legal strategy for gaining access or custody?
I refer to PAS as Pedophile Acting as Scientist. There’s no doubt in my mind that this so-called syndrome is in the best interest of the abuser. It also fails to meet scientific standards. I have no doubt parents bad-mouth each other, but it is not a mental health disorder. It is not a blanket cause for relationship break-downs or failures – sometimes, it’s because the parent can’t or won’t take accountability for their past or current actions. Sometimes it’s because there’s been abuse and it’s more common for abusers to deny abuse than it is for people to make false allegations.  

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

How much should the director of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children earn?

Would you believe $1.3 million?

NCMEC salaries, role questioned

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) paid its CEO over $1.3 million in salary and compensation in 2008, the St. Petersburg Times reported last week, in an article now drawing fire from the group.

Now check out why Protective Parents question their role…

Police investigating missing mom, son from Sharon Hill

Without any investigation of abuse, the judge awarded custody to the father and NCMEC got involved –

On Jan. 20, a judge awarded full custody of the boy to David Aguilar, prompting police to reach out to the media and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

 

The light bulb goes off

There’s been a case going on in Canada where the parents have been battling custody decisions over 3 boys, one of which is 18 years old. The mother accuses the father of “alienating” the children. This is unusual in that men almost exclusively claim women “alienate” children. The claim is referred to as parental alienation syndrome and is not accepted by the American Psychological Association (APA) or the American Medical Association (AMA). In regard to the case, the judge ordered the 2 younger boys to be “deprogrammed.” The 18 year old sibling then fought for custody of his younger brothers – who had become suicidal.

Here’s one story about it here. You’ll find many more on the Internet.

Anyway, the biggest problem with PAS is that it masks child abuse – what’s the difference between a child that has been “alienated” and a child that has been abused? Nothing. Nada. Zilch. The so-called scientific theory is nothing more than a simplistic excuse for a child’s negative feelings towards a parent. In fact, it negates the child’s feelings and beliefs. It also presumes women lie about abuse when women make allegations. It becomes the woman’s claim of abuse vs. the man’s counter claim of PAS. Studies find men accused of abuse use this claim and…get custody.

So, here is an article on Men’s News Daily where the light bulb has finally gone off….well, maybe. The writer is referring to the 18-year-old in the following quotes:

First, he’s not a bit happy with the experts in the case.  He feels strongly that they had theories to peddle and they were going to do so regardless of the realities of the case.  They became advocates for PAS rather than impartial assessors of parental and adolescent behavior.

Protective parents have been saying this all along. Funny, they don’t listen to us when the case involves a mother who is the victim of the PAS witch hunt.

But the interesting wrinkle P.F. puts on the issue of PAS allegations is that once an expert gives evidence of PAS, the court tends to ignore what the child has to say, apparently believing alienation to be an established fact.

Bingo! PAS is unscientific. It needs no evidence but an accusation that Mom is “alienating” Junior. It totally disregards the consequences of divorce on children (depression & hostility), witnessing violence in parent’s relationships or….being abused by your parent. It totally disregards the right children have to their own thoughts, beliefs and values. It tells them their own thoughts are wrong and tries to “deprogram” them.

It is beyond me how courtrooms are able to use such junk science in their decisions. If it takes women making claims against men to get them to ponder how crazy it is to negate children’s feelings, well, then, so be it…but stop the witch hunt that punishes women (fines, jail & loss of custody for making “false” allegations) and puts children in harm’s way (over 58,000 children are place in danger each year, according to the Leadership Council on Child Abuse).