Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Selective attention by authorities? A non-custodial mom speaks out (Poughkeepsie, New York)

Recently, Genia Shockome contacted me regarding government officials and how responsive they had been to her plight. Genia lost custody to the abusive father of her children several years ago, following rampant court misconduct.

You can read more about her case in this 2006 Newsweek article:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/45654

Anyway, in an era where congressmen, ambassadors, secretaries of state and the like are rolling out the royal red-carpet treatment for daddies whose children had been "kidnapped" (by their own mothers), what kind of help or support can a non-custodial mother expect to receive from various elected officials and government representatives?

According to Genia, the answer is zip.

"When custody was taken from me, I had sent literally hundreds of letters to all people in power who I thought could help me (with some attached documents, but not too many).

I spent at least $250 just on mail costs during first 3-6 months.

I personally met Hilary Clinton, spent 10 minutes with her, looked in her eyes, told her about my kids and my fate.

I personally met with Eliot Spitzer (then Governor of New York).

I personally met with several Assemblymen and Assemblywomen in Albany, New York and told them about my kids and my fate."

I personally met with Congressman and Senator from New York.

From all the above actions, all I got were staple letters, plus a lot of attention from the Assemblyman, which slowly died out, without any results or effective actions."

Danielle Duperret contacted me shortly after Genia. She says much the same thing:

"Ditto for me. Three Swiss presidents, senators, congresspeople, governors... I sent so many letters and got staple letters back that they could not intervene. 'You need to get an attorney' was the refrain."

Hmm. Double standard, much?