FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Anne Hart 916-715-5243
On Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2011 at 11:00 am, Mothers of Lost Children will hold a press conference in front of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Ave SW, Washington DC. They are protesting the enormous expenditure of tax dollars to help ex-prisoners and known abusers connect with their children, and the heartbreak for mothers and children when this funding is misused and misapplied. A vigil and speakout by mothers and chlild victims will be held at the White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW on Sunday February 13 from 2:00 to 4:00 pm.
During the past two decades, mothers have been losing custody of their children (even nursing infants) in increasing numbers to fathers who are convicted or identified batterers, child molesters, drug addicts, gang-bangers and felons. Family courts force children into the custody of abusive fathers at alarming rates, allowing these men to continue controlling and abusing their victims. Research shows that 70% of batterers who ask for custody get it. Safe mothers who left the abusers in order to protect their children are frequently labeled “unfriendly” and are inappropriately ordered to supervised visitation or denied all contact with their children.
“The reason, in part,” says Karen Anderson, Executive Director of California Protective Parents Association, “lies in a misguided and dangerous objective of the Fatherhood Initiative to give fathers access to their children regardless of the risk they pose.” ‘The goal is to have former prisoners paying child support and reconnecting with their children as soon as possible,’ (Washington Post June 21, 2010.)
“It’s crazy to believe that allowing violent men to care for children is a good idea. Vulnerable children should not be used as guinea pigs to try to rehabilitate criminals,” says Anderson.
The National Fatherhood Initiative website states in 15 years it hasfcr “ensured that two million more children are living with their fathers”. The Leadership Council research indicates 58,000 children are placed with abusers every year. These statistics may be connected.
“Thousands of former prisoners and identified abusers have also discovered that if they get custody, they can receive child support instead of paying it.” says Ms. Anderson. “It’s a batterers’ and molesters’ paradise. Federally-funded supervised visitation centers are meant to protect children during visits with potentially dangerous fathers. Instead, family courts order safe mothers to see their children under supervision, which means the children aren’t able to tell their mothers about abuse by their fathers. That way the Fatherhood Initiative goals are met to access even more federal funds.”
During this time of deep fiscal crisis, when children are hungry and parents are penniless, $500,000,000.00 dollars designated to increase marriage and promote ex-prisoners to reconnect with and often harm children is doubly offensive.
Mothers of Lost Children call for a Congressional investigation into the failure of family courts to protect children and potential fraud, waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars.
www.mothers-of-lost-children.com
Showing posts with label Leadership Council. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Leadership Council. Show all posts
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Mothers Demand Changes in Family Courts (Washington, DC)
Since I lost custody of my daughter to her abusive father in 1996, the protective parents movement has really grown. I truly wish I could have been in Washington to show my support. Praise to Connie, Barry, Eileen, and everybody else who made this happen.
http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=113776&catid=158
Mothers Demand Changes In Family Courts
Peggy Fox
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WUSA) -- They call themselves "Mothers of Lost Children." They say family courts awarded custody of their children to the very people the children said hurt them. But the courts didn't believe them.
"Children very rarely lie about these things. And the reports are coming from the children. Even when they're switched over to the custody of the batterers and the molesters, continue to report abuse. And they're ignored," said Connie Valentine with the Protective Parents Coalition.
"The courts are sending children to live with abusers at a terrifying rate," says Barry Goldstein who helped compile research from the scientific non-profit Council for Justice for a book he co-edited.
The Leadership Council found more than 58,000 children every year are ordered into unsupervised contact with physically or sexually abusive parents following a divorce.
"Seventy-five children were murdered by fathers involved in contested custody cases last year by battered in a nine month period that ended in April," said Goldstein.
Three of those children were siblings killed by their father Mark Castillo who drowned them last year in a Baltimore hotel room. Earlier, Amy Castillo had asked a judge to keep her children away from her estranged husband , because he had threatened to kill them. The judge denied her request.
The group started their march at the Department of Justice. They want the DOJ to launch an investigation into when they call family court corruption.
The group alleges custody decisions are made based on which parent has more money instead of safety.
"We want to see the child put first. We want to see the 'best interest of the child' mean the safety, protection, love and nurture of the child. That should be the priority in the courts," said Eileen King with Justice for Children.
Written by Peggy Fox
9NEWS NOW & wusa9.com
http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=113776&catid=158
Mothers Demand Changes In Family Courts
Peggy Fox
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WUSA) -- They call themselves "Mothers of Lost Children." They say family courts awarded custody of their children to the very people the children said hurt them. But the courts didn't believe them.
"Children very rarely lie about these things. And the reports are coming from the children. Even when they're switched over to the custody of the batterers and the molesters, continue to report abuse. And they're ignored," said Connie Valentine with the Protective Parents Coalition.
"The courts are sending children to live with abusers at a terrifying rate," says Barry Goldstein who helped compile research from the scientific non-profit Council for Justice for a book he co-edited.
The Leadership Council found more than 58,000 children every year are ordered into unsupervised contact with physically or sexually abusive parents following a divorce.
"Seventy-five children were murdered by fathers involved in contested custody cases last year by battered in a nine month period that ended in April," said Goldstein.
Three of those children were siblings killed by their father Mark Castillo who drowned them last year in a Baltimore hotel room. Earlier, Amy Castillo had asked a judge to keep her children away from her estranged husband , because he had threatened to kill them. The judge denied her request.
The group started their march at the Department of Justice. They want the DOJ to launch an investigation into when they call family court corruption.
The group alleges custody decisions are made based on which parent has more money instead of safety.
"We want to see the child put first. We want to see the 'best interest of the child' mean the safety, protection, love and nurture of the child. That should be the priority in the courts," said Eileen King with Justice for Children.
Written by Peggy Fox
9NEWS NOW & wusa9.com
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Mothers of lost children to gather for White House Vigil on Mothers Day (Washington, DC)
I am unable to go to this vigil in person, but I will certainly be there in spirit.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contacts:
Connie Valentine 916-233-8381
Kathleen Russell 415-250-1180
May 3, 2010
MOTHERS OF LOST CHILDREN TO GATHER FOR
WHITE HOUSE VIGIL ON MOTHERS DAY
12 Noon Press Conference with Grieving Moms from Across America
Mothers from across America who have lost their children because family courts ordered them into full custody or unsupervised visitation with their alleged abusers will gather for their first silent vigil at 11:00 am on Mothers’ Day, May 9, 2010 in front of the White House.
"We decided that Mother’s Day was the perfect time to stand vigil in front of the White House with mothers from all over America whose children are either dead or living in harm’s way because of the broken family court system," said Connie Valentine, the vigil organizer and Co-founder of the California Protective Parents Association.
Experts at the Leadership Council on Child Abuse and Interpersonal Violence estimate that more than 58,000 children each year are either placed into dangerous homes or forced to go on unsupervised visits with their alleged abusers by divorce courts that simultaneously deny the children’s safe, protective parents access to their sexually and physically abused children.
The 11am silent vigil and 12noon press conference will take place in front of Lafayette Square, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, D.C.
Mildred Muhammad, the ex-wife of the Beltway Sniper, will join grieving mothers who recently appeared on the Dr. Phil Show’s Crisis in the Family Courts. California mother Katie Tagle, whose nine-month old baby Wyatt was murdered by his father, and Illinois mother Amy Leichtenberg, whose two school-aged children Duncan and Jack were murdered by their father, will share their tragic stories of desperately trying to keep their children alive. Advocates Kathleen Russell from the Center for Judicial Excellence and Eileen King from Justice for Children, who have been closely monitoring this escalating crisis for years, will discuss their work to expose and remedy the most under-reported human rights scandal in the United States.
These mothers of lost children are soccer moms, kindergarten teachers, physicians, flight attendants, dentists and homemakers. Most of them are middle class, educated and ordinary. They are safe, loving mothers (not addicts or abusers) who have been rendered powerless to protect their children from court-ordered child abuse. Most are battered women who tried to flee domestic abuse to save their children, only to end up mired in our nation’s family courts, unable to protect them at all.
"America’s Moms are coming to the President and First Lady to request a federal investigation into these horrific civil and human rights abuses. I need to make sure that that no parent has to ever go through this incredible pain again, and that my Duncan and Jack’s deaths mean something, " said Amy Leichtenberg.
A cottage industry of mental health professionals and attorneys with cozy relationships with family court judges routinely bankrupt families with enormous court-ordered fees and often recommend that children be placed with their sexually or physically abusive fathers. Family court judges frequently ignore evidence of abuse, refuse to hear direct testimony from the children, and rubberstamp their cronies’ recommendations. Nurturing mothers are forced to pay costly fees to attend supervised visits with the children they raised, watching helplessly as their children continue to report abuse by their abusers to uncaring visitation monitors. Mothers who speak out about system failure often face judicial retaliation and lose what little time they have with their children. The unregulated cottage industry churns away, generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees to experts, while some of the worst cases settle only when the children turn 18. This is a national epidemic that is destroying families across America.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contacts:
Connie Valentine 916-233-8381
Kathleen Russell 415-250-1180
May 3, 2010
MOTHERS OF LOST CHILDREN TO GATHER FOR
WHITE HOUSE VIGIL ON MOTHERS DAY
12 Noon Press Conference with Grieving Moms from Across America
Mothers from across America who have lost their children because family courts ordered them into full custody or unsupervised visitation with their alleged abusers will gather for their first silent vigil at 11:00 am on Mothers’ Day, May 9, 2010 in front of the White House.
"We decided that Mother’s Day was the perfect time to stand vigil in front of the White House with mothers from all over America whose children are either dead or living in harm’s way because of the broken family court system," said Connie Valentine, the vigil organizer and Co-founder of the California Protective Parents Association.
Experts at the Leadership Council on Child Abuse and Interpersonal Violence estimate that more than 58,000 children each year are either placed into dangerous homes or forced to go on unsupervised visits with their alleged abusers by divorce courts that simultaneously deny the children’s safe, protective parents access to their sexually and physically abused children.
The 11am silent vigil and 12noon press conference will take place in front of Lafayette Square, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, D.C.
Mildred Muhammad, the ex-wife of the Beltway Sniper, will join grieving mothers who recently appeared on the Dr. Phil Show’s Crisis in the Family Courts. California mother Katie Tagle, whose nine-month old baby Wyatt was murdered by his father, and Illinois mother Amy Leichtenberg, whose two school-aged children Duncan and Jack were murdered by their father, will share their tragic stories of desperately trying to keep their children alive. Advocates Kathleen Russell from the Center for Judicial Excellence and Eileen King from Justice for Children, who have been closely monitoring this escalating crisis for years, will discuss their work to expose and remedy the most under-reported human rights scandal in the United States.
These mothers of lost children are soccer moms, kindergarten teachers, physicians, flight attendants, dentists and homemakers. Most of them are middle class, educated and ordinary. They are safe, loving mothers (not addicts or abusers) who have been rendered powerless to protect their children from court-ordered child abuse. Most are battered women who tried to flee domestic abuse to save their children, only to end up mired in our nation’s family courts, unable to protect them at all.
"America’s Moms are coming to the President and First Lady to request a federal investigation into these horrific civil and human rights abuses. I need to make sure that that no parent has to ever go through this incredible pain again, and that my Duncan and Jack’s deaths mean something, " said Amy Leichtenberg.
A cottage industry of mental health professionals and attorneys with cozy relationships with family court judges routinely bankrupt families with enormous court-ordered fees and often recommend that children be placed with their sexually or physically abusive fathers. Family court judges frequently ignore evidence of abuse, refuse to hear direct testimony from the children, and rubberstamp their cronies’ recommendations. Nurturing mothers are forced to pay costly fees to attend supervised visits with the children they raised, watching helplessly as their children continue to report abuse by their abusers to uncaring visitation monitors. Mothers who speak out about system failure often face judicial retaliation and lose what little time they have with their children. The unregulated cottage industry churns away, generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees to experts, while some of the worst cases settle only when the children turn 18. This is a national epidemic that is destroying families across America.
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