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The state-of-the-art in what is best for children of divorce. Every parent, judge and family law attorney must view this video to save their children from the ravages of divorce.
Click Here to Learn More.

 
 

North Dakota Shared Parenting Battle; Hawking  to Pay Huge Divorce Settlement to His Abuser

October 24, 2006

 

Paid Political Advertisement--Election '06

Hello Fellow Divorced/Non-Custodial/Alienated Parents;

I'm Allen Hacker, campaign manager for Michael Badnarik, who is running for Congress. Michael understands and shares noncustodial parents' concerns.  He is as outraged as anyone about how our government treats its people.

Of course the problem isn't just family court, or divorce court, or society's recent anti-family trend.  The real problem is that people allow this stuff to happen.  Month after month, year after year, we have failed to band together and send representatives to statehouses and Congress to put an end to its source: money.

Yes.  Money.  If the federal government wasn't reimbursing the states for undermining marriages, state caseworkers would be looking for new jobs instead of creating new cases, and a lot of families would stay together.  Michael Badnarik's childhood is the life every child has a right to live, but fewer and fewer children ever see.  That's just wrong!

Here's Michael himself to remind you what's been lost and tell you what he'll do about it:

"I was fortunate enough to have had an idyllic childhood.  My father worked two, sometimes three jobs, just to clothe and feed my two brothers and me.  Mom stayed home and cooked the best meals on the planet, and she was always there to help us with our homework, cheer for us at our little league games, and find something to fascinate us even about a passing butterfly. We spent most of our summer vacations camping as we toured the lower forty-eight.

"The only family potentially more perfect were the Nelsons of 'Ozzie and Harriet' fame.  As an adult I realize that family life rarely achieves this level of perfection, however I am appalled

Reach 50,000 Readers!
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Need Help with Family Law or Child Support? Ask Glenn

that our government is so determined to make two-parent families a thing of the past.  To refer to any Family Court proceeding as a kangaroo court is an insult to Australia's animals.  While I regretfully admit that some parents may present a legitimate danger to their own children, I refuse to accept that twenty-five million parents in the United States should be denied any custody at all.

"It is time to reverse this vicious attack on the nuclear family by changing the way our courts deal with broken homes.  As the first Libertarian member of Congress, I will work specifically to eliminate federal funding to states for subsidizing the breakup of families.  I will also work in general to dramatically reduce the size of the federal government because I think you are smart enough to spend your money without Congress' help.  This will allow families to keep more of their money, thereby eliminating the primary cause of divorce and separation.

"I know how important it is to have a loving family to turn to for support.  I would like to do everything I can to ensure that every child in America has the opportunity to be loved and cherished the way my brothers and I were.

"Thanks, Mom.  Thanks, Dad."  --Michael Badnarik

So: Michael is a candidate who will represent your interests in your family no matter which district or state you live in, because it's all the same everywhere: as a Congressman, whatever he can do for one family will help all families.

What is our mutual need?  You need a champion in Congress.  I need to get him there.  We need each other to make it happen.  You need me to get him elected, and I need you to provide money and voices to make it happen.

I know things are tight for a lot of you. But I can't believe that more than a fraction of you can't afford $20 to $50 if you really thought it would make a difference.

Michael will make a difference.  Politicians have sold you down the river, and they're never going to do anything to help you get back.  Michael Badnarik in Congress is your best bet, and it's something you can make happen.

Back up your contribution with some word-of-mouth too.  Ask everyone you know to contribute.  Ask everyone who lives in our district to volunteer and vote for Michael.  District 10 stretches from Austin in Travis County, along Highway 290, all the way into Harris County near Houston.

Go to our website at www.badnarik.org right now.  Become part of the solution.

Thank you!
Badnarik for Congress

Paid Political Advertisement--Election '06


Final Push in North Dakota Shared Parenting Battle

Opponents of the North Dakota Shared Parenting Initiative, including the misnamed Concerned Citizens for Children's Rights Committee, are using scare tactics to try to convince voters to vote against Measure 3 on November 7. They have put billboards up and have issued pamphlets such as this. I usually try to be polite and think the best of people, and I will say that there are legitimate arguments against shared parenting. The arguments aren't terribly good, but they're legitimate. But the CCCRC's billboards and pamphlets are incredible misrepresentations--the people who wrote them are either liars or must be really, really dumb. I guess that's politics.

I've laid out my case for shared parenting and the North Dakota Shared Parenting Initiative in two columns--North Dakota Shared Parenting Initiative Will Help Children of Divorce (Grand Forks Herald, 7/18/06) and North Dakota Shared Parenting Initiative Helps Women, Too (Grand Forks Herald, 9/24/06).

The American Coalition for Fathers and Children, whose North Dakota affiliate is sponsoring the bill, is rallying volunteers this week. According to ACFC Executive Director Mike McCormick:

"With just over two weeks remaining until the election on November 7, the battle for Shared Parenting in the state of North Dakota is in full swing. Mitch Sanderson [the leader of the NDSPI] and the citizens supporting the North Dakota Shared Parenting Initiative need your help.

"Next Saturday, October 28, 2006, volunteers will be gathering in Fargo, North Dakota and other locations throughout the state to distribute literature and educate the public on the importance of Shared Parenting. If you are in a surrounding state, or even further away, and want to be a part of this historic opportunity to reform family law please call Sanderson at (701) 331-0410 and join us next weekend."


Stephen Hawking: Abused Husband

What has always been fairly clear has now just been made perfectly clear--professor Stephen Hawking, one of the world's greatest minds, was physically abused repeatedly by his wife. Thankfully, Hawking is now finally divorcing his abuser. According to Hawking's nurse reveals why she is not surprised his marriage is over (Daily Mail; 10/20/06):

"'I'm not surprised,' said the voice on the end of the line when informed yesterday that Professor Stephen Hawking is divorcing his wife Elaine.

"'Not surprised at all - I just wish it had happened a long, long time ago.'

"The voice belonged to a nurse who used to care for Prof Hawking; she parted company with him, reluctantly, after Elaine became the second Mrs. Hawking in 1995.

"'She is the reason I left. It's the reason everyone leaves. It's impossible to reconcile the way she treated Stephen with the ethics of our profession. I don't want to say anymore because it brings back painful memories.'

"It is a sentiment shared by almost all Prof Hawking's friends and family; relief that he is now finally free of Elaine, and distress that it has taken so long; the couple have been together for 17 years.

"It is a relationship that, almost from the beginning, has provoked a storm of controversy - and suspicion - the wheelchair-bound Prof Hawking, 64, who has suffered from motor neurone disease since the age of 22, and the 'controlling, manipulative and bullying' (the words of another former employee) Elaine.

"Because for years there have been shocking rumours of violence and abuse against the vulnerable scientist - mental as well as physical - supported by his own children no less.

"There is unlikely to be any reference to these allegations in divorce papers lodged by both parties at Cambridge County Court, however.

"Prof Hawking has publicly denied such claims in the past. For a fiercely proud man who, though feted as possibly the world's most famous living scientist, must rely on others to help him perform basic human functions, it surely would have been the final indignity: to be forced to deny that he is a battered husband.

"Next month, he will receive the Royal Society's most prestigious prize - the Copley Medal - won by such luminaries as Charles Darwin, Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein....

"In 2000, detectives launched an inquiry after Prof Hawking made a number of visits to Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, suffering from cuts and bruises, and another inquiry was opened in 2003 after his daughter Lucy rang police.

"Prof Hawking declined to explain how his injuries had come about. A number of his former nurses, however, were in no doubt.

"They alleged that over the years his wife inflicted a catalogue of injuries on the vulnerable scientist: fractured his wrist by slamming it on to his wheelchair; humiliated him by refusing him access to a urine bottle, leaving him to wet himself; gashed his cheek with a razor, allowed him to slip beneath the water while in the bath, ensuring water entered the tracheotomy site in his throat; and left him alone in his garden during the hottest day of the year so long that he suffered heatstroke and severe sunburn.

"It is these allegations that police investigated.

"But a woman who worked for him at Cambridge University says the 'unexplained injuries' began 'many years before' the police became involved.

"'He used to regularly come in with bruises and cuts,' said the source.

"'I remember once he turned up with a black eye. I asked him; 'How did that happen Stephen?' He replied: 'I bumped into a door.' That was obviously my cue to shut up, so I did.' 'It was common knowledge that Stephen was very, very unhappy long before all the allegations appeared in the papers."

"'Before they were married they went on holiday to Israel and we heard later that they had a furious row and their hotel room was damaged [former nurses claimed that Elaine would 'throw things around the kitchen' during tantrums].'

"I remember asking Stephen why he and Elaine stayed together and he said: 'any relationship was better than none.'

"'In the end I left Stephen because I couldn't stand it. I felt very strongly that I could no longer carry on without feeling that I was colluding in what was happening.'

"Normally, the break-up of a marriage is the cause of immense sadness and regret. But today, the family and friends of Prof Stephen Hawking - indeed for everyone who knows and admires him - those emotions have been replaced by a profound sense of relief."

Read the full article here. As I've written on numerous occasions, research overwhelmingly shows that women are just as likely as men to commit domestic violence, and a significant minority of those injured in domestic violence are heterosexual men. To learn more about male victims of domestic violence, see my recent co-authored column Schwarzenegger Should Veto AB 2051 (Orange County Register, 9/20/06).
 

The American Coalition for Fathers and Children
The American Coalition for Fathers and Children is dedicated to creating a family law system which promotes equal rights for all parties affected by divorce. Contact the ACFC at 1-800-978-3237 or visit them on the web at www.acfc.org.

The Second Wives Club
The Second Wives Club is what women in blended families are looking for: Remarriage, divorce, child custody, and step-parenting discussed in a solution-oriented, mature, and intelligent way; articles and news written by thought-provoking experts and journalists; personal accounts and advice from some of life's most interesting women. www.SecondWivesClub.com

Help for Los Angeles/Orange County Dads--Because They're Your Kids, Too
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Hawking to Pay Huge Divorce Settlement to His Abuser

To add insult to injury, Stephen Hawking will now be paying out a large sum of money--in the millions, probably--to the woman who battered him. According to Hawking's nurse reveals why she is not surprised his marriage is over (Daily Mail; 10/20/06):

"[Elaine] will leave her second marriage considerably wealthier than she did her first.

"The couple's townhouse in Cambridge, purchased in 1992 and now worth $1.4 million is in their joint names.

"Moreover, he has amassed a vast personal fortune.

"More than 210,000 copies of his book A Brief History Of Time have been sold in the past eight years alone, netting more than $3.5 million. He has also made lucrative sums from other books.

"On Thursday, Mrs. Hawking, who has always denied marrying for money, cycled to the (former) marital home where she was understood to have attended a meeting with solicitors.

"'I have been told that - surprise - one of the stumbling blocks in the divorce is money,' said an old family friend."


Hawking and Anti-Male Bias

There are a couple of other interesting elements in the article on Hawking, including this section:

"Elaine was, as we know, originally Prof Hawking's nurse and joined the staff after he had a tracheotomy operation in 1985 - the result of a previous pneumonia infection which nearly killed him.

"The operation left him unable to breath unaided and in need of round-the-clock supervision.

"It was Elaine's former husband, engineer David Mason, who made the voicebox which created the robot-like vocal tone for which Prof Hawking is now famous.

"From the start, say friends, she set out to ingratiate herself with him, and, over a period of time, the family noticed the mesmeric hold the 'new nurse' was beginning to exert over her charge, and felt deeply uneasy.

"'She brainwashed him to think that she was the only person who could possibly look after him,' one friend recalled.

"'She was also really jealous of his children and the close relationship they had with him.'

"Matters were complicated when his wife of 26 years began having an affair in the Eighties - with, apparently, Hawking's tacit approval - with a choirmaster, whom she had befriended after his wife died of leukaemia.

"Elaine began accompanying Prof Hawking on trips abroad.

"Prof Hawking and Jane divorced in 1990.

"He finally married Elaine in 1995 but neither Jane or their three children
attended."

What's interesting about this is that I can distinctly remember that when Hawking and his wife Jane divorced in 1990, this was portrayed as yet another example of men dumping their faithful, devoted wives for a younger model. In fact, I can distinctly remember this being portrayed as "see, all men do it--even this guy who's crippled does it." Somehow the fact that Jane was having an affair before their break-up didn't seem to be part of the public discussion of the issue.

I discussed the myth that many men ditch their loving wives for younger women in my co-authored column The Rise in 'Gray Divorce': It's Always Hubby's Fault (Houston Chronicle, 2/19/06). I wrote:

"...the stereotype of the husband trading in his wife for a younger model is by and large a myth. The women in [a recent American Association of Retired Persons] study were 60% more likely to claim that they ended their marriages than the men were, and men were almost twice as likely as women to say that they never saw their divorces coming.  In contrast to the Porsche and trophy wife stereotype, the AARP study found that these divorced men had many serious concerns, high among them their fear of losing touch with their children after their divorces...Though nobody says it, 'dumped for a younger woman' is sometimes just a woman's cop-out for not taking responsibility for her own contribution to the marital breakdown." 

Fathers' Rights Legal Help
If you need help with divorce, child custody, child support, alimony and visitation issues, The Law Offices of Jeffery M. Leving, Ltd. is one of the only law firms in the country focused almost exclusively on fathers' rights in divorce. Leving did heroic work on the Elian Gonzalez case, helping reunite Elian with his father. He also co-authored Illinois' Joint Custody Law, and was named one of "America's Best Lawyers" by Forbes Radio. Leving is the author of Fathers' Rights: Hard Hitting and Fair Advice for Every Father Involved in a Custody Dispute. Call today for an initial consultation (312) 807-3990 or visit us on the web at www.dadsrights.com.

Help, Resources for Dads
The National Fathers' Resource Center is a division of Fathers For Equal Rights, Inc. (FER), located in Dallas, Texas, with offices in both Dallas and Houston. In existence for over three decades, it has services and resources for dads nationwide and is one of the largest and most active fathers' rights organizations in the U.S. www.fathers4kids.org

Has Your Career Been Impacted by Custody Issues?
After empowering people's careers for over 20 years, I was duly initiated into family law just like you--through a 30 month, $520,000 custody suit. I learned that a solid home-based business could be the best option, allowing one to shake the financial shackles while still experiencing a "no limits" career. More than ever, our kids now need a free and available parent. Be there for them...and for yourself. Darrell W. Gurney, www.CEOinShorts.com

Fatherhood Leader, Author Dies

Robert Seidenberg, author of The Father's Emergency Guide to Divorce-Custody Battle, died last week following a courageous battle with cancer. I didn't agree with Robert on everything, but his book and subsequent commentaries are very insightful, and I highly recommend them. Robert was one of the first to grasp and detail the devastation wreaked by the use of fallacious restraining orders during divorce. Seidenberg founded Fathers for Virginia, an affiliate of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children, in the mid-'90s.

Robert's Washington Post obituary is here. There are many touching memories of Robert which his friends and loved ones shared in his guest book here.

Finally What Child Support Payers Need
Child Support obligors face a stacked deck when squaring off against CS Enforcement's army of lawyers and agents, all pitted against some beleaguered father who's working 50 hours a week to pay his child support and support his family. The burden of proving compliance with court-ordered support falls on the obligor, not the custodial parent or the enforcement agencies. Very often fathers are forced to pay money they don't really owe, or are saddled with fake arrearages and the concomitant interest and penalties.

Since the state provides a ton of free assistance to custodial parents, fathers need quality, affordable representation for these battles. Child Support Liberation's Child Support Audits and Record Management Program helps obligors challenge arrears by producing professional, top-quality self-audits which include all the necessary records in the proper form. CSARMP then conducts quarterly audits that will alert obligors to overcharges. In addition, they will maintain ongoing records of obligations, payments and interest.

CSARMP costs only $13 a month ($38 for the first month only) and can be cancelled with only 30 days notice. To learn more or to sign up, click here and here. If you have any questions, write to Michael Kennedy of Child Support Liberation by clicking here.

Parenting Plan Calendar Software
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Wisdom of Our Fathers

As I mentioned last week in relation to my co-authored column America's Father Hunger (World Net Daily, 10/13/06), a new feature on my enewsletter for the near future is going to be an excerpt from Wisdom of Our Fathers. Today's excerpt is a story from Mary Jo Ferro of East Amherst, NY, about her father Charles E. Darling. It's called "The Watermelon":

"On a warm summer evening in western New York when I was seven, my dad and I were eating watermelon slices on what we called our patio: we would open the garage door, place lawn chairs at the top of the driveway, and watch the neighborhood.

"My brother always swallowed the watermelon seeds, but I saved mine in a pile on the edge of my plate. 'Do you think if I plant these in the ground a watermelon will grow?' I asked my dad. 'Sure!' he replied. 'In fact, if you plant cheerios in the ground, you can grow donuts, too!'

"With this exciting horticulture project in mind, I took my pile of small, slippery seeds and placed them on a paper towel to dry over night. I was eager to plant them the next morning.

"The next day was Saturday. My dad popped his head through the side door of the garage as I was digging six small holes in the soil along the strip of land we shared with our next-door neighbors. 'Are you going to grow that watermelon?' he asked.

"'Sure am!' I replied as I patted the dirt on top of the six neat crevices. It was only 8:30 A.M., so the watermelon had the entire day to emerge.

"An hour later, I ran to where I planted the seeds to see if the watermelon had grown. Believe it or not, there was not even a sprout. An hour later I checked again. Still nothing. While I was eating lunch, my dad was standing outside the house and called to me, 'Mary Jo! Come here!' I ran outside so fast I broke the sound barrier.

"'What is it?' I asked.

"'I just wanted to let you know that the watermelon hasn't grown yet.' He pulled this stunt over and over, until I finally started to ignore him when he called me.

"After a few days, I put the watermelon plant out of my mind and continued with the other important issues of being seven, when suddenly my mother called me from my bedroom. 'Mary Jo! Come outside!' I went out the front door and followed her calls to the side of the house. Right there, vertically positioned, stood a perfect green watermelon that had apparently grown directly from the ground. My dad stood next to her, feigning amazement at my green thumb. 'It's incredible! We'll have a party!'

"Later that evening, several of the neighbors came over to our 'patio.' We cracked open the watermelon, and Dad made it known that I was a superstar for growing the amazing fruit. I was too excited and too naive to notice that the price tag was still on it."


The Carrot Seed

Anybody remember the children's book The Carrot Seed? I had a very similar experience to the story above with my son when he was five. His favorite bedtime story was always The Carrot Seed, in which a little boy plants a carrot seed and everybody tells him "it won't come up" but he keeps diligently watering it even though nothing grows. Eventually a whole bunch of carrots come up and the boy is ecstatic.

One day I told my son we should plant some carrot seeds. My son watered that space religiously for several weeks and there was absolutely no sign of life. So one day I went to the grocery store and bought a big bushel of carrots with the green stems still on them. I dug up the area where we had planted the seeds, stuck the carrots in them and then buried them with just a tiny bit of the green stem sticking up. It worked perfectly--my son dug them up and was thrilled over his carrots.

Oh, and unlike the dad in Wisdom, I did remember to take the store label off the carrots...

Attention California Child Support Obligors
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Dads--Buy Your Kids Great Clothes at a Low Price Without Shopping!
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Do You Want Shared Custody of Your Kids?
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Don't Hire This Lawyer...

New Jersey family law attorney Theodore Sliwinski writes in his Divorcenet.com column New Jersey Custody and Visitation Rights:

"A new trend in family law is to have shared residential custody. This means that the children live with both parents. In my opinion this is really a scam that is used by many ex-husbands.

"This type of shared custody is primarily a ploy by ex-husbands to reduce their child support obligations. The more overnights that the husband has will translate into a lower child support award.

"I always recommend to all of my clients to reject a shared parenting plan. Furthermore, I always advise my clients to permit the non-custodial parent to see their children as much as possible. However, I don't permit my clients to agree to a shared parenting plan because in most cases it is just a ploy by husbands to pay lower child support."

It never seems to occur to this brilliant legal mind that the opposite case is just as applicable. In my co-authored column
Louisiana's HB 315 Says One Parent is Better Than Two (Shreveport Times, 5/20/06) I wrote:

"Unfortunately, rather than putting the need to preserve children's relationships with both parents at the center of the discussion, advocates of HB 315 are instead focusing on child support. In Louisiana, like most states, how much time each parent spends with his or her children helps determine how much child support is ordered. Rep. Shirley Bowler (R-River Ridge), who authored the bill, asserts that dads seek shared custody as a way to decrease their child support obligations. She promotes HB 315 as a way to 'remove this angle' in the current law, which she claims divorced dads are exploiting.

"While it is true that there are fathers who put their pocketbooks above their children's best interests, Bowler and the bill's supporters ignore the obvious converse. If a dad may seek 50% physical time with his children simply to lower his child support obligation, doesn't it also hold that a mother may seek 85% physical time in order to increase it?"

Sliwinski's comments also reminded me of this brief but memorable
exchange on His Side with Glenn Sacks with feminist blogger Amanda Marcotte:

Marcotte: "Men want shared custody so they can avoid paying child support" Sacks: "Couldn't it just be that they want to be with their kids?"

I also wonder about the line "I don't permit my clients to agree to a shared parenting plan because in most cases it is just a ploy by husbands to pay lower child support." Does this mean that, when Sliwinski is representing a mother who wants to drop the vindictive female routine and adopt shared parenting, he can legally stop her?

Sliwinski can be reached at 732-257-0708 or by email at      info@divorcecenterofnj.com.
 

Help for Midwest Fathers
Cordell & Cordell is one of the largest domestic relations firms for men in the Midwest, representing fathers in Missouri, Illinois, Texas, Kansas, Indiana and Georgia. Men who come to Cordell & Cordell know that their interests and the interests of their children will be aggressively championed. www.cordellcordell.com

Civil War - A Father's Guide to Winning Child Custody
Joseph E. Cordell's Civil War - A Father's Guide to Winning Child Custody gives fathers clear, easy-to-understand tips on how to achieve the best results possible in a divorce. Comprehensive chapters explain every step of the divorce process, the meaning of legal terms, how courts determine custody, and how to maximize chances of victory at every stage. Cordell is the founder of Cordell & Cordell.

No Jail Time for Infanticide

When women kill, there's always an excuse for it. Example number I lost count a long time ago is out of England--Mother sentenced over son's death (10/23/06):

"A woman who started a fire which killed her baby boy has been sentenced to three years probation. Danielle Wails, 22, was on trial for murdering little Alexander Lee but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of infanticide.

"Psychiatrists told the court post-natal depression had played a part. Single mother Wails originally told police that intruders had tied her up and started the fire in her house in Newcastle in August 2005.

"She said she used her tongue to dial 999 after she was bound by the wrist by attackers but officers could find no sign of a break-in and eventually Wails admitted she had started the fire herself and responsible for her son's death.

"Paul Sloan QC, prosecuting, told the court: 'She has admitted infanticide on the basis that at the time the balance of her mind was disturbed by reason of not having fully recovered from the effects of giving birth to the child.'

"Two psychiatrists are of the opinion that the balance of her mind was disturbed."

Interesting that she was too mentally ill to be expected to care for her baby without murdering him but not too mentally ill to weave an elaborate plot to try to cover up her crime and deceive the police. Men's activist Jeremy Swanson is correct in a recent email he sent in which he wrote "Imagine the little boy's last seconds on earth before the fire consumed him. He would have reached for his Mother and called her name."

Comparing the severity of sentences is always tricky, particularly across state lines or, in this case, international boundaries. However, for what little it's worth, in reading of this case--where a woman who intentionally set a fire in order to kill her baby receives a "sentence" of a whopping 3 years probation--I couldn't help but think of the case of Texas teenager Gerardo Flores. In my column Alito and the Rights of Men (Los Angeles Times, 11/1/05) I wrote:

"Fetal protection laws now severely punish anyone who harms a fetus--except for mom. A Texas teenager named Gerardo Flores is now serving life in prison for the death of two fetuses even though his former girlfriend, Erica Basoria, acknowledged asking him to help end her pregnancy. According to Basoria, four months into her pregnancy she regretted not getting an abortion and punched herself in the stomach while Flores stepped on her stomach to induce a miscarriage. Basoria, who stood by Flores and cried when he was sentenced, could not be prosecuted because of her legal right to abortion."

How to Stop a Dirty Divorce
Many fathers are very naive when they walk into family court, and the results can be disastrous. Family Law Attorney A.J. Comparetto's Ultimate Guide to Stopping a Dirty Divorce teaches you the Dirty Divorce tricks before they are played on you. It's a series of cassettes and videos which teaches you what judges really want to hear from you in court, how to keep your words from being twisted by attorneys, and how to keep your kids from being caught in the middle. www.divorceproblems.com.

Congressional Candidate Takes Strong Stand for Noncustodial Parents' Rights
In 2004 Libertarian presidential candidate Michael Badnarik had a strong noncustodial parents' rights platform. Badnarik is clearly aware of and sensitive to the basic problems fathers today face, particularly the sole custody norm and the denigration of noncustodial parents to "second class parent" status. Badnarik is running for Congress in 2006--to learn more, go to www.badnarik.org.

Concerned about Financial Issues in Your Divorce?
If you're concerned about financial issues in your divorce, contact Jim DiGabriele of DiGabriele, McNulty & Co by email here or at 973-243-2600.

Los Angeles Dads--Free Legal Consultation on Your Case
If you are involved in a divorce, domestic violence, paternity, child custody or support case in the greater Los Angeles area, call Stephen A. Gershman to schedule your FREE initial one hour consultation at (888) 295-1756 or (818) 990-6505. Gershman is certified as a Specialist in Family Law by the Board of Legal Specialization of the State Bar of California. He is an experienced attorney, over 25 years, who will competently and aggressively defend you against unjust domestic violence restraining orders or unfair financial obligations. When Parental Alienation or custody is an issue, he will help you protect your relationship with your kids. www.losangelesfamilylawyer.com  

 
Trumpeting the Father of the Year

A couple weeks ago I discussed an article about an amazing father by Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated--see The World's Greatest Father.

Last week Reilly wrote about another remarkable dad in his column "Trumpeting the Father of the Year" (Sports Illustrated, 10/16/06). Reilly writes:

"QUESTION: What has four wheels, four feet, two eyes and one horn?

"Answer: Trumpet position number 7 in the Louisville marching band.

"Meet Patrick Henry Hughes and his dad, Patrick John Hughes--the only two-person marching-band member in college football.

"Patrick Henry, 18--born with a rare genetic disorder that left him without eyes, and with arms and legs that won't straighten--plays the trumpet from his wheelchair. Patrick John, 45, pushes the wheelchair. You can watch them roll during the halftime show at Cardinals home games. 'I was a little worried about the endurance factor at first,' says band director Greg Byrne. 'Not Patrick's. His dad's.'

"You think it's easy pushing a 165-pound man, in full uniform, around a spongy artificial-turf field, trying to keep up with 213 other band members and get to your spot in the A in CARDS and the L in U OF L, while not getting slammed by the person marching behind you--all on four hours' sleep because you work the graveyard shift loading planes for UPS? You try it.

"'My job is just to get, say, to the 32 1/2-yard line at the exact right time,' says the older Patrick, who doesn't wear the band uniform. 'Every now and then I'll take a mellophone in the back, but mostly it's been a blast!'

"'He hasn't dumped me yet,' young Patrick says, grinning.

"Dad also pushes his son to classes, sits with him and whispers anything written on the blackboard. After band practice they go home and eat dinner, then Dad goes to work at 11 p.m., gets off at 5 a.m., sleeps a little and gets up at 11 for breakfast, classes and band. If this guy isn't Father of the Year, I'm Liberace.

"Patrick John and Patricia Hughes, a sales assistant in a brokerage firm, have been going full-Patrick-ahead since he was born. 'My wife and I were sort of devastated at first,' the father says. 'I mean, we played by all the rules. We worked hard. She didn't have any alcohol during the pregnancy. Why us?' But then they started finding out why them. Dad, a violinist and pianist, found that he could calm his baby boy by laying him on top of the piano and tickling the ivories. By nine months young Patrick was tapping keys on the piano, mimicking his dad in a listen-and-play exercise. By two years old he was playing Sesame Street songs.

"Now the kid's a killer pianist and a monster trumpet player. Even though people have tried to stop him--like the ones at a performing-arts school in Louisville who discouraged the Hugheses from even applying--he has done nothing but succeed. Was all-state in band and chorus at Atherton High. Had a 3.99 GPA. Sang a duet with Pam Tillis at the Grand Ole Opry. Played piano at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Put out a CD of 23 songs.

"So when he enrolled at the university, young Patrick asked to join the pep band, which guaranteed a precious seat at Cardinals basketball games. But director Byrne crossed him up. He asked him, 'Why don't you join the marching band?'

"Next thing you know, the teenager and his father were at band summer camp--12-hour days with only 90-minute breaks for lunch and dinner. Dad pushed like crazy, and young Patrick played the theme from Superman while being whirled around in his own giddy darkness.

"It about killed Pop. 'I was whipped,' he says. So he took the chair to a mechanic friend, who rigged it with bigger, wider wheels. That helped them get through the triple Axel of marching-band maneuvers: the dreaded Diamond. Two battalions of marchers come at each other in full stride, intersect, reverse, then split apart again. To pull it off, Dad has to pop a wheelie, spin the chair, try not to wipe out the entire wind section, then peel off the other way. 'It takes everything I've got to make sure I'm in step,' the older Patrick says. 'If I don't get there quick enough, or cut quick enough, I'm the lone cowboy out at the end of this thing. I don't want people to remember us as the kid in the wheelchair whose dad couldn't keep up'...

"Life with this kid just keeps getting more fun. 'We still say, Why us?' says the father. 'But now it's, Why us--how'd we get so lucky?'"


Will I See You at the Children's Rights Council Conference in November?

The Children's Rights Council's 20th Anniversary conference--"Shared Parenting in the 21st Century: Exploring the Best Interests of Children"--will be held in the Washington, DC area from November 3rd through the 6th. I will be speaking there, along with numerous interesting guests. To learn more about the conference, click here. To read the conference flyer, click here.

Late note from CRC CEO David L. Levy--"if money is an issue, people can come at the early bird rate of $20, and that includes meals throughout the conference. The Sheraton Crystal City hotel is $109 a night, but that people can ask the CRC for a room share. Call us at 1-800-0787-KIDS."
 

Expose False Allegations with Technology
Don't let the anti-male bias in criminal law victimize you. If you could be falsely accused by an angry woman, be prepared! Use technology to expose the real aggressor. DontMakeHerMad.com

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New Jersey Divorce and Family Law
New Jersey family law attorney David Perry Davis, Esq. can help you through your divorce. In Pasqua v. Council (2006) Davis successfully challenged New Jersey's unconstitutional practice of failing to appoint attorneys for indigent child support obligors at enforcement hearings where they face incarceration. As a result of this suit, trial courts must apply the same standard used when a defendant requests a public defender in a criminal matter. www.dpdlaw.com


Column: Russert's Bestseller Reflects America's Father Hunger

My recent co-authored column, America's Father Hunger (World Net Daily, 10/13/06), discusses Tim Russert's new book Wisdom of Our Fathers: Lessons and Letters from Daughters and Sons. In 2004, Russert published Big Russ and Me about his father, and says he received an "avalanche" of letters from men and women who wanted to tell him about their own dads. Wisdom is largely a sampling of those 60,000 letters, and the book is a surprise runaway hit. Mike McCormick, Executive Director of the American Coalition for Fathers & Children, and I wrote:

"Are fathers irrelevant? Are they really the useless buffoons we see on TV? The irresponsible deadbeats the local DA says they are? The controlling abusers we see in domestic violence PSAs?

"That's not the way Tim Russert's readers see them...

"In heartwarming and heart-wrenching stories, Russert's readers remember their fathers as strong, devoted and honorable. In the chapter 'Daddy's Girl,' one woman tells Russert that she was her 'father's princess,' and explains 'growing up in a rural area of the Deep South could have been a harsh experience for a little black girl, but I was insulated by his love and tenderness.'

"Another 'Daddy's Girl' writes:

"'When I was a little girl and my father put me to bed...I had a litany of things I went through every night. 'Can I call you if I need anything?...Can I call you if I get scared?'...He would listen and say yes after each one, and I would fall asleep, secure that I was completely loved and cared for...'

"Perhaps the book's most striking feature is the overwhelming outpouring of love from women towards their fathers.

"The Russert dads also knew when to take a stand. One letter writer remembers:

"'By 1963, white flight was beginning to transform our neighborhood, and before long the first African American child took a seat in my Catholic school classroom. Birthday parties were about the biggest social events a third-grader had to look forward to, and I was delighted to receive an invitation to her party. Then I learned that none of my friends were going. I remember being confused by that, because we all went to one another's parties. But if my friends weren't going to this one, I wasn't going to go either, especially when they seemed convinced that there was something wrong with the very idea.'

"'...Dad put his foot down and told me that, like it or not, I was going to that party. He took me to the five-and-dime and we bought a card and a gift. The day of the party, he took me by the hand and we walked the three or four blocks to the girl's apartment. My whining and complaining were useless, and it wasn't until many years later that I understood why he made me go. He knew why none of my friends was there, and he wanted no part of it. No child of his was going to contribute to the hurt that would surely be felt by a little girl sitting at an empty birthday table."

Another says:

"'My dad's second job was serving in the New Jersey National Guard...In the summer of 1967, his Guard unit was sent to Newark, where a riot had erupted and the police were having trouble containing it...When he died a few years ago, we had both his memorial service and his wake in a local restaurant...one of dad's old guard buddies, Sergeant 'Jeep' MacAdams, grabbed the sleeve of my suit...Jeep rasped into my ear...'You know we were in Newark during the riots of 'sixty-seven. It was a combat situation, let me tell you. I want you to know what an excellent and brave soldier your old man was. He was a true leader.'

"'We were called to a building that the state police had their machine guns trained on. They said they needed backup because there were rioters in the building. They told us to help them take this position with tear gas, machine guns, grenades, whatever.'

"'Your dad challenged the state cops from the get-go. He asked them what made them think there were no innocent civilians inside the position. The state police were zealous, you see. They had already fired shots, and they wanted us to fire warning shots, but your dad asked them to please hold their fire. Then he volunteered to assess the situation. He stayed low and got to the big door of the building, which was locked, and he calmly announced, 'I'm with the New Jersey National Guard and I'm here to lead you to safety. Everything will be ok. Follow me.'

"'Suddenly, about twenty-five black high school kids came out of the building behind him, shaking and crying. Your dad was comforting them with one hand and giving the 'hold your fire' sign with the other. He asked if they needed water or food...If he hadn't gotten involved, I'm sure there would have been bloodshed, if not death.'

"This is what I learned for the first time at my dad's memorial service. Could I be more proud of him had he won the Congressional Medal of Honor? I don't think so."

"Wisdom's significance goes far beyond that of a sentimental journey. It's success is a testament to the hunger so many Americans feel for what recent generations have lost--their fathers. The book's letters are overwhelmingly from baby boomers--perhaps the last generation of Americans who could ever be reasonably confident that they'd have a father in their lives."

Letters From a Deadbeat Dad
Have you ever been framed as a "deadbeat dad" while you were just trying to be a father? Have you ever been forced to pay child support while being denied your basic rights? Have you ever had to explain Parental Alienation Syndrome to your own child? Have you ever heard about fighting family law battles outside the law by following principles of non-violence--and winning? Read Letters From a Deadbeat Dad by Cosmo Monkhouse.

Help for Maryland Fathers
Family law attorney Dawn Elaine Bowie works to protect parents' relationships with their children and reduce post-divorce conflict. She practices in Montgomery, Anne Arundel and Prince George's Counties. Contact her at attorneydawn@marylandfamilylawfirm.com or go to www.marylandfamilylawfirm.com.

How Does Sex Discrimination Affect Men and Boys?
The National Coalition of Free Men Los Angeles is a non-profit educational & civil rights organization that looks at the ways sex discrimination affects men and boys. NCFM-LA helps provide men a unified voice on important political and social issues. www.NCFMLA.org 


Glenn Discusses Wisdom of Our Fathers on Radio--Audio Available

Partly because the mainstream media has given Wisdom of Our Fathers very little attention, and partly because I'm dense, I was not aware of the book's success until my friend Al Rantel, radio talk show host at KABC AM 790 in Los Angeles, contacted me about discussing the book on his show. To listen to our discussion of the book and of the crisis in American fatherhood, click here.

Lisa Scott Launches RealFamilyLaw.com
Shared Parenting Advocate/Family Law Attorney Lisa Scott has launched www.RealFamilyLaw.com to expose the truth about what is happening in our family law system. Lisa, the all-time leader in appearances on His Side with Glenn Sacks, says that she was "tired of having her stuff rejected by elitist bar publications and politically-correct newspapers" and decided to start her own website. www.RealFamilyLaw.com

Help for Michigan Dads
Michigan family law attorney Mindy L. Hitchcock has experience fighting for noncustodial parents against Michigan's abusive FOC. Her holistic approach to divorce gets results for her clients while avoiding the scorched earth approach to law that leaves families emotionally and financially devastated. www.Lady4Justice.com


I Love It--Fathers 4 Justice Wins Again

I am a great admirer of the English fathers' group Fathers 4 Justice and its founder Matt O'Connor. Fathers 4 Justice recently scored another success. According to this article:

"A Fathers for Justice campaigner has promised the 'fight will continue' after a jury decided a rooftop protest at the Palace of Westminster had not broken the law.

"Farmer Guy Harrison, who spent four-and-a-half hours perched on a spire, was mobbed by cheering supporters as he left the courtroom.

"He staged the effort to spotlight his fight for access to a nine-year-old daughter he had not seen for over five years.

"The father-of-one said his acquittal on a public nuisance charge meant, 'we have won a battle.'

"'But we have not won the war and the fight will continue.'"

"London's Southwark Crown Court heard the prosecution brand his demonstration as nothing more than 'an illegitimate and selfish' stunt.

"Ian Pattern, prosecuting, claimed the incident on September 27 last year risked Harrison's life, forced police to seal off Westminster Hall, tied up ambulance and fire brigade crews, and endangered others from possible falling masonry.

"But the 39-year-old, an amateur mountaineer, assured jurors his safety was never an issue, no one else was put at risk, and that the police response amounted to an over reaction.

"He also argued that the route he followed to the roof exposed a serious security loophole terrorists could have taken advantage of.

"In the event the seven women and five men trying him took just over five-hours to decide he had done nothing wrong."

I've explicitly endorsed F4J's tactics on the air and in newspapers, including in In Defense of Spiderman (Cybercast News Service, 11/11/03), Powder Attack on Tony Blair Done in Service of a Just Cause (Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, 6/20/04), Nonviolent Resistance by British 'Dads Army' Rocks UK (2/15/04), and Leader of British 'Dads Army' Discusses Group's Rapid Rise, Upcoming Plans (6/22/03).
 
Help for Seattle Fathers
The Law Offices of O. Yale Lewis III is a one-person law firm that focuses on customer care. Mr. Lewis can help you identify and focus on the outcome that you want and implement the steps necessary to get there. www.yalelewislaw.com.

Help for California Divorced Dads
The Divorced Fathers Network helps dads in Los Angeles, the Bay Area and Santa Cruz. Local chapters sponsor free weekly co-parenting classes, individual mentoring for fathers and much more. www.divorcedfathers.com.

The Secrets of Happily Married Men
How can a man achieve a long and happy marriage? If you've been checking out advice columns or seeing a therapist, you may have been looking in the wrong place. Despite all the advances in brain technology, and all of that we have learned about developmental psychology--men and women are given the same advice about solving problems. But when we ask men what works for them, we hear a different story. www.SecretsofMarriedMen.com


Am I Crazy?

I never hear anyone else say it, so I guess I'm the only one who thinks this way, but I can't describe how amazed and appalled I am that Gil Garcetti is the president of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission. As Los Angeles District Attorney Garcetti treated California men and fathers so horribly that even arch-feminist attorney Gloria Allred protested the actions of his office.

Garcetti is regularly in the news here in Los Angeles for his role as an ethicist, such as in this recent Los Angeles Daily News article. With a straight face reporters quote Garcetti on "ethics" though, as I explained in my co-authored column Some Progress for California Fathers, but Still a Long Way to Go (Pasadena Star-News & Affiliated Papers, Daily Breeze [Los Angeles], 6/18/06), Garcetti is not morally capable of holding the office of dog catcher, much less President of the Los Angeles City Commission on Ethics. I wrote:

"In 1998 then-Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti declared a 'get tough' campaign against so-called 'deadbeat dads,' sending out thousands of summonses for paternity cases. The men were given only 30 days to respond.

"Many of the summonses targeted the wrong men, and many never reached the intended parties. Eighty percent of Garcetti's paternity judgments were made by default, locking the men into 18 years of child support. Many took DNA tests proving that they were not the fathers of the children they now had to take second jobs to support. Others were assigned huge support arrearages by mistake. Many became unable to support their own children. Some of their marriages broke up, and some of the men landed in jail.

"Garcetti created so much chaos and heartache that even diehard feminist attorney Gloria Allred protested. Allred, who has perhaps done more than anybody to promote the phrase and concept of 'deadbeat dads,' called Garcetti's office 'an organization without a heart, without any compassion, and without a sense of priorities...[it's] a system run amok.''

"Allred represented an impoverished, wheelchair-bound woman named Mary Smith, who Garcetti's office erroneously billed for $24,000 in child support. In a panic Smith called Allred, who agreed to handle the case pro bono. Allred made repeated calls to Garcetti's office to resolve the case but did not receive any response. She noted, 'Talk about trying to get blood out of a stone.'

"The Los Angeles Times described the men targeted by Garcetti as 'overwhelmingly blue-collar workers who ride the bus or drive aging cars, showing up for court in jeans and a work shirt.' According to the Times:

"The men almost always come to court alone because they cannot afford counsel. It can take months to get an appointment with the county-sponsored, free paralegal service."

"When they arrive in court, many are already awash in child support debt. Their failures to answer summonses routinely lead to court orders--even if the summonses never reached them.

"From that point on they are in trouble, with bills for delinquent child support quickly reaching thousands of dollars. But sometimes the accuracy of those bills cannot be relied upon.

"'People get the bills and they're almost always wrong,' said one prosecutor. 'It's like a bank putting in a hypothetical balance instead of putting in your real balance'... 

"'So pervasive are the mistakes that even the courts have lost confidence in the government's accounting...[the men targeted] square off against an office with dozens of prosecutors, who...are pressured by their bosses to speed cases through to secure more collections.'

"Jackie Myers, a former Deputy District Attorney under Garcetti, said that she quit her job because 'we were being told to do unethical, very unethical things.'

"Garcetti later acknowledged that many of the men had been mistakenly targeted but refused to relent, instead blaming the men for not responding within 30 days. 'The law is the law,' he told CBS's Bernard Goldberg. Incredibly, in 2002 Garcetti was appointed to the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission."

Garcetti's appointment to the ethics commission is also sadly indicative of the weakness of our movement.

How to Win Shared Custody
If you are an active, engaged, committed, dedicated, loving parent facing a divorce, family law attorney Nicholas Palermo's The Ten Essential Elements to Winning Joint Shared Physical and Legal Custody can help you protect your relationship with your children. www.TenEssentialElements.com

The LaMusga Company
The LaMusga Company provides customized solutions to assist individuals and business owners in reaching their financial goals. The LaMusga Company is committed to helping you accomplish your long-term financial objectives. LaMusgaCo.com


Someone Who Didn't Take My Advice on Child Support...

I sometimes get letters from custodial dads who complain to me that their exes aren't paying their child support. This isn't surprising--as I've mentioned in the past, according to US Census data, noncustodial mothers are 20% more likely to default on their child support obligations than noncustodial fathers. This is despite the fact that noncustodial mothers are less likely to be required to pay child support, and those with support obligations are asked to pay a lower percentage of their income in child support than noncustodial fathers. Partly because of this, custodial fathers are three and a half times as likely to work long work weeks as custodial mothers.

In my column Not the Era of the Deadbeat Dad but the Era of the Hero Father (Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, 6/19/05) I noted:

"While divorced dads are unfairly stigmatized as stingy, some noncustodial fathers raise their children in their homes but still pay child support to the children's mothers. Many others never ask for child support. In the face of a family court system which usually grants mothers a monopoly of power over children, these fathers must buy or rent their children back. When mothers allow their children to live with their fathers--or send them there because they've become unruly or inconvenient--fathers often won't  challenge custodial and financial arrangements because they fear doing so will mean they'll be pushed out of their children's lives. "

When asked my advice in these situations, I sometimes tell fathers that if they can live without the money it's sometimes best to not bother trying to get child support, for the following reasons:

1) the ex probably won't pay anyway

2) if she does, it won't be much

3) asking for the support might enrage her--as family law attorney Lisa Scott says, "you've never heard complaints about paying child support until it's a woman who has to pay it."

4) Once she's enraged, the odds are that she's going to make a false accusation against you and cause you far more misery than any benefit you'd get from her child support.

I suppose the dads to whom I've given this advice could accuse me of being generous with their money, but the other day I received a letter which provides a classic example of what can happen when a custodial dad asks for child support:

"I am writing you on behalf of my brother. He is the custodial parent to his 8 year old special needs son, which he was granted after their divorce over 5 years ago. And until he filed for child support against the mother only 2 years ago, he never had any problems out of her. Her interest in her son was lackluster at best. Now that she has been order to pay child support she is trying to make his life a living hell.

"She is constantly calling CPS and the local police department to make accusations of physical abuse against the child that are never substantiated. But each time he has to defend himself, especially for CPS. The local police normally ask her for proof which she is never able to provide and they dismiss the report, but CPS is always requiring him to come there for interviews, setting him up for counseling, and also notating these events in a file that has to be maintained because reports are being made.

"This is so devastating to him because he's having to take time off from work, which he really can't afford to do. It seems so endless is there anything that he can do to put a stop to this madness. Any legal way to prevent her or CPS from pulling him into this craziness all because she is the WOMAN and there is a more sympathetic ear even if she's NOT the custodial parent."

Still want to ask for that child support, dad? 

File Taxes Online with  Professional Help
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Legal Help for Fathers
If you live in Los Angeles, Riverside or Orange counties and you're facing a divorce, separation, or a child custody issue, the law firm of Oddenino & Gaule can help. www.OddLaw.net

Legal Help for Fathers in New Jersey
If you're a New Jersey father facing a divorce or separation, the law firm of Pitman, Pitman, Mindas, Grossman & Lee can help. PitmanLaw.com


Social Worker Has Interesting Perspective on Domestic Violence, Child Abuse

One of my readers is a social worker who has an interesting, insider's perspective on domestic violence and child abuse. He wrote me after reading my columns on AB 2051. The social worker wrote:

"I have been a child protection investigator and currently work in a capacity where I do therapy with families in crisis, usually dealing with CPS in some way. I do not have statistics but a majority of abuse/neglect cases are related to behaviors of women, either in picking loser guys for boyfriends or they are the perpetrators.

"One of the worst abuse investigations I ever did the mother was the perpetrator, and a few years ago I worked a case where the mother beat her 4 year old daughter to death. The child had so many marks you could hardly find a place not marked-bruised, cut, or scraped.

"Regarding domestic violence, I agree that men are usually the perpetrators. However, there are many cases where the men are arrested for simply trying to get way from the wife/girlfriend punching or throwing things at him. I also often run into cases where a woman has lied about what she has said to police to keep a father away from his children in divorce/separation cases. It is a very common tactic in divorces, and in most cases the courts will take what the woman says as fact when there is absolutely no truth in the accusations. And protective orders are issued with false allegations, which results in supervised visitation or no visitation between fathers and their children, or no chance for custody of the children.

"Some of these issues were quite a wake-up call for me because I used to believe all the stories about abused women and abuse/neglect issues with fathers/men as the perps. However, life experience has shown me that women are just as capable as men to be violent and that women are the perpetrators much more often than people want to believe. It is a part of society that seems to escape having the truth exposed. I had to learn to take each case and start from the beginning and not to assume a thing.

"Kids also learn, in abuse cases, that they can lie about allegations against parents to get them into trouble. Kids learn to behave from their parents (or primary caregivers), so it is any wonder why this problem is increasing?

"Domestic violence courts are a joke because the people/alleged victims take it that way. Protective orders are filed and then dropped when they want to make up with the alleged perp. I have been to too many DV courts where women joke around talking about how they are going to show their man what they can do."


Glenn Appears on the Lynne Breidenbach Show


I discussed my new co-authored column Are Single Mothers the 'New American Family?' (World Net Daily, 9/28/06) on the nationally-syndicated Lynne Breidenbach Show on October 11, 2006.

Best Wishes,
Glenn Sacks
GlennSacks.com

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