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Thursday,
October 06, 2005
ITEM 1: Boston Herald Item on Paternity
Fraud—Senator Nuciforo quoted
ITEM 2: VAWA passes senate—from Dan
Grubb
ITEM
3: PBS Show on Domestic Violence Set
for Thursday, October 20th,
from Dan Grubbs
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(Rinaldo's
Notes: This story contains quotes
from our excellent State Senator--Andrea
Nuciforo.)
Dr. Ned Holstein is president of Fathers
and Families, based in Boston. (Staff
photo by Patrick Whittemore)
Dr. Ned Holstein is president of Fathers
and Families, based in Boston. (Staff
photo by Patrick Whittemore |
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BOSTON
HERALD |
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By
Laurel J. Sweet
Sunday, October 2, 2005 -
Updated: 09:35 AM EST |
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To
the age-old question, ``Who's
your daddy?'' more and more
Bay State men can honestly
say, ``Not me!'' And many
are now mounting a challenge
to change state law governing
child support.
Of the 1,838
children genetically tested
in paternity cases before
14 Probate and Family courts
involving the state Department
of Revenue during fiscal year
2005, 17 percent of men were
ruled out as fathers of the
children in question.
``I
call it young and dumb,''
Mibsam Wiggins, 41, of Roxbury
said of the drug-and-drink-fueled
roller-coaster ride with his
ex-wife that blessed him with
two children - a daughter,
now 20, and a son, 16.
Wiggins may
not be Roxbury's father of
the year, but neither did
he aspire to become a poster
child for paternity fraud.
Well into the kids' formative
years, while he was locked
behind bars, Wiggins said
the missus dropped not one
bomb, but two. Neither child
was his, she allegedly said.
Wiggins'
story isn't unique.
Nationally,
the American Association of
Blood Banks reports a paternity
exclusion rate of more than
28 percent among its 44 accredited
labs nationwide.
``I
had my doubts,'' says Wiggins,
an unemployed chef paying
$50 a week for child support.
``They were conceived years
before the marriage. We were
running the streets. I was
working a lot.''
For
the past 11 years, Wiggins
has been in and out of Suffolk
Probate and Family Court trying
to persuade a judge to order
a genetic-marker test - a
simple cheek swab that would
prove once and for all if
he is or isn't the father.
The
children's mother, however,
won't give her consent.
``I'm
not a bad man,'' Wiggins said.
``You make a baby, you pay
for the baby. I still, to
this day, love them. I just
want to know.''
Wiggins
may never know. And under
state law, it doesn't matter.
``We want people to take the
test if they have any doubt,''
said Marilyn Ray Smith, deputy
commissioner of DOR's Child
Support Enforcement. ``But
at some point, it's too late
to go down that path.''
According
to Smith, 22,000 children
are born out of wedlock each
year in Massachusetts. In
roughly 75 percent of those
cases, the presumed father's
name is on the baby's birth
certificate, which means both
parents attest to paternity.
The
father then has 60 days to
go to court and request a
genetic-marker test. But if
either parent believes he
or she was deceived or under
duress, they have a year to
mount a challenge.
Smith
said DOR will even pick up
the $131 cost of the DNA test.
Dr.
Ned Holstein, president of
the 2,200-member, Boston-based
organization Fathers and Families,
says a lot of heartache could
be avoided if the law simply
required a DNA test proving
paternity at birth - a step
the government is unlikely
to take, Smith said.
Paternity
fraud, said Holstein, ``is
probably the only scam in
our society in which the scam
artist gets rewarded with
18 years of revenue. Let's
not only be fair and just,
let's be fair to the child.''
State Sen. Andrea Nuciforo
Jr. (D-Pittsfield) is trying.
For four years he's been pushing
a bill that would mandate
genetic-marker testing of
anyone before Probate and
Family Court or require them
to sign a document saying
they refuse. If they do refuse,
they would then have five
years to challenge a judge's
order to pay child support.
``A bill like this raises
issues that legislators find
difficult to wrestle with,''
Nuciforo said. ``I hope we
have better luck this year.''
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FROM DAN GRUBBS: |
Wednesday,
October 05, 2005
VAWA Passes Senate
The United States senate has
reauthorized the Violence
Against Women Act of 1994.
The legislation, unpopular
among men's groups, was passed
by the Senate by Unanimous
Consent on October 4, 2005.
Men's Rights Activist
Glenn Sacks was
sanguine: "It says a
great deal about the balance
of power between the genders
that a piece of legislation
like VAWA--which has so many
problems and is in such need
of a close examination--could
pass the Senate on unanimous
consent."
The noted Men's Rights Advocacy
group
Media Radar had
expressed hope that the Senate
would include "clear
and explicit language"
entitling men to the same
level of Domestic Violence
services as women, and to
re-write the legislation to
make it less hostile to male
victims of domestic violence.
Violence Against Women Act
of 2005 (Reported in Senate)
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Folks,
we have to do something about
this...
Breaking the Silence: Children’s
Stories
New PBS Documentary Reveals
Surprising Information about
Child Abuse and the
Shocking Inadequacies of Family
Courts across the Country
Premieres Thursday, October
20 at 10 pm ET on most PBS
stations (check local listings)
(Hartford,
CT) – It is no secret that
domestic violence has devastating,
long-term effects on children.
For the past two decades,
the evidence has been mounting
in psychological studies and
academic journals. What is
lesser known is that many
domestic batterers are successfully
using custody and visitation
litigation to abuse their
families further.
Breaking
the Silence: Children’s Stories
— premiering Thursday, October
20 at 10 pm ET on most PBS
stations (check local listings)
— is a powerful new PBS documentary
that chronicles the impact
of domestic violence on children
and the recurring failings
of family courts across the
country to protect them from
their abusers. In stark and
often poignant interviews,
children and battered mothers
tell their stories of abuse
at home and continued trauma
within the courts. Co-produced
by Tatge-Lasseur Productions
and Connecticut Public Television
(CPTV), this one-hour special
also features interviews with
domestic violence experts,
attorneys and judges who reveal
the disturbing frequency in
which
abusers are winning custody
of their children and why
these miscarriages of justice
continue to occur. |
his
program is made possible by
funding from the Mary Kay
Ash Charitable Foundation.
One of the most effective
ways an abusive father can
inflict pain and declare his
domination is to take custody
of his children away from
their mother. As Joan Meier,
an attorney and professor
of clinical law, explains,
“To win custody of the kids
over and against the mother’s
will is the ultimate victory…short
of killing the kids.” While
there may be a perception
in society that the family
court system has a maternaL
preference, statistics show
that, in the past twenty years,
fathers are more often being
awarded custody. Furthermore,
in family court cases where
mothers allege battery, fathers
are given custody two-thirds
of the time.
{Rinaldo Notes: Furthermore,
the author is case study in
pathological lying.}
Breaking
the Silence: Children’s Stories
also explores a controversial
theory called Parental Alienation
Syndrome (PAS), which has
been used in countless cases
by abusive fathers to gain
custody of their children.
The theory states that the
custodial parent (most often
the mother) is alienating
the child against the father
by raising false allegations
against him. Despite being
discredited by the American
Psychological Association
and similar organizations,
PAS continues to be used in
family courts as a defense
for why a child is rejecting
the father.
The documentary
profiles several shocking
stories of abuse further complicated
by the courts, including the
story of Karen and her three
children. Karen’s suspicions
of her husband’s sexually
abusive behavior were confirmed
through a medical exam. However,
when the custody case came
to trial, a court-appointed
psychologist, or evaluator,
testified that Karen was using
Parental Alienation Syndrome
to turn her children
against their father. The
psychologist never read the
medical and police reports
of the case and never interviewed
the children. All three children
were awarded custody to their
dad.
Karen’s
son Jeff, who left his father’s
custody when he turned eighteen,
now serves as an advocate
for children in similar abusive
situations as a member of
the Courageous Kids Network.
His two younger sisters still
live with their father.
Breaking
the Silence: Children’s Stories
also features interviews with
New York Yankees Manager Joe
Torre, who dealt with domestic
violence as a child, and in
2003, started the Safe-at-Home
Foundation to help educate
people about the issue; and
Walter Anderson, Chairman
and CEO of Parade magazine,who
recounts the emotional and
physical abuse he suffered
at the hands of his alcoholic
father.
Breaking
the Silence: Children’s Stories
is a follow-up to the acclaimed
2001 PBS documentary,Breaking
the Silence: Journeys of Hope,
which focused on women and
domestic abuse. “Journeys
of Hope documented how much
we, as a society, made progress
to combat domestic violence
and serve its victims,” explains
producer Dominique Lasseur.
“Children Stories reminds
us that a lot needs to be
done to better protect our
children from the long term
effects of living with violent
abusers.” Both documentaries
were funded by the Mary Kay
Ash Charitable Foundation,
Breaking
the Silence: Children’s Stories
is made possible by the generous
support of the Mary Kay Ash
Charitable Foundation. Started
in 1996, the mission of the
foundation is two-fold: eliminating
cancers affecting women by
supporting top medical scientists
who are searching for a cure
for breast, uterine, cervical
and ovarian cancers; and ending
the epidemic of violence against
women by providing grants
to women’s shelters and supporting
community outreach programs.
The Foundation wholeheartedly
supports education and awareness
on the issue of domestic violence.
Breaking
the Silence: Children’s Stories
is co-produced by Tatge/Lasseur
Productions, and its principals,
Catherine Tatge and Dominique
Lasseur. Tatge/Lasseur have
a long and successful history
of producing programs for
PBS, including The Question
of God: C.S. Lewis & Sigmund
Freud, Dances of Life, Holo
Mai Pele, CeCe Winans: A Gospel
Celebration and Breaking the
Silence: Journeys of Hope.
Tatge/Lasseur have had close
association with Bill Moyers
on several projects. With
Moyers, they co-produced Genesis:
A
Living Conversation and Joseph
Campbell and the Power of
Myth, the latter of which
earned Tatge anEmmy Award.
The documentary
is co-produced by Connecticut
Public Television (CPTV),
a nationally recognized producer
and presenter of quality public
television programming, including
Barney & Friends™, Alan
Alda in Scientific American
Frontiers, Bob the Builder™,
and Wounded in Action. Entering
its 43rd year, CPTV remains
committed to bringing the
best in educational programming
and services to Connecticut
and the nation.
Co-Producers: Tatge/Lasseur
Productions and Connecticut
Public Television.
Underwriter: The Mary Kay
Ash Charitable Foundation.
Producer: Dominique Lasseur.
Director: Catherine Tatge.
Executive-in-Charge (CPTV):
Larry Rifkin.
Format: Closed captioned
Publicity contacts:
PBS stations: Lee Newton,
Connecticut Public Television,
860-275-7285; email:
lnewton@cptv.org
National Press: Sharron McDevitt,
Hill and Knowlton, (212) 885-0393
email: sharron.mcdevitt@hillandknowlton.com |
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