26.2.10

Access Denied: The Barriers of Violence and Poverty for Abused Women and their Children (Jaffe, Zerwer, Poisson)

cover

Access Denied

The Barriers of Violence and Poverty for Abused Women and their Children's Search for Justice and Community Services After Separation

http://www.lfcc.on.ca/access_denied.html

Peter Jaffe, Michelle Zerwer & Samantha Poisson (2002)

Funded by the Atkinson Charitable Foundation. In this two-year study, 62 women were interviewed about their experiences in the legal system and their efforts to find legal and counselling services after separation from an abusive partner. Ninety-five of their children were interviewed as well. Focus groups were held with women involved with specialized domestic violence counselling. Although some women found assistancem others described a sense of re-victmization by legal, social service and mental health profesionals who lacked an understanding of the dynamics of domestic violence. To provide the reader with a broader context, each section of the report contrasts the myths and facts juxtaposed with study facts and recommendations.

Download the Full Report or a Summary

Access Denied: Summary

Access Denied: Full Report

Ordering

The 15-page summary can be ordered for $15.00 plus shipping and handling. The full report is out of print. Print off a copy of the publication order form for more information.

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Man charged in wife's death returns to Durham

 

Raven, Janet and Kaiden Abaroa in an undated photo

http://www.wral.com/news/news_briefs/story/7123709/

Posted: Today at 9:56 a.m.
Updated: Today at 1:23 p.m.

DURHAM, N.C. — Authorities on Friday brought a former Durham resident charged with killing his wife almost five years ago back to town to face a murder charge in the case.

Raven Abaroa, 30, was taken into custody Monday, Feb. 1, 2010, in Montpelier, Idaho, for the 2005 death of his wife.

Raven Abaroa, 30, was arrested Feb. 1 at his home in Montpelier, Idaho. He is charged with first-degree murder in the April 2005 slaying of 25-year-old Janet Christiansen Abaroa.

He arrived at the Durham Police Department shortly after 1 p.m. and declined to comment as investigators led him inside.

Janet Abaroa was stabbed to death in an upstairs bedroom at her 2606 Ferrand Drive home. She was pregnant at the time, and the Abaroas’ then-6-month-old son, Kaiden, was in the home. He was unharmed.

Raven Abaroa has maintained his innocence in the case. In an October 2007 interview with NC Wanted, he said he was at a soccer game in Morrisville when she was killed. He found her when he returned home, he said.

Kaiden was placed in the custody of his paternal grandmother after his father's arrest, authorities said.

Copyright 2010 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Woman Abuse Affects our Children An Educator's Guide by Linda Baker & Peter Jaffe (2007)

    Woman Abuse Affects our Children: An Educator's Guide

    Woman Abuse Affects our Children: An Educator's Guide

    by Linda Baker & Peter Jaffe (2007)

    A resource for elementary teachers, principals and guidance counsellors funded by the Ontario Women's Directorate.

    This Educator's Guide and its Facilitator's Manual were developed by an Expert Panel formed as part of the Government of Ontario's Domestic Violence Action Plan. The English-language panel developed these training materials to better support women and their children, and reduce abuse. The panel included representatives from provincial elementary teacher organizations, principal councils, school and Native guidance associations, Ontario faculties of education, community groups supporting immigrant and refugee women, and organizations from the violence prevention field.

    Download Copies

    Woman Abuse Affects our Children: An Educator's Guide (2.5 MB)

    Table of Contents

  • Importance of this Topic

  • Glossary

  • Understanding Woman Abuse Helps Us Support Affected Students

  • Power and Control Wheel

  • Equality Wheel

  • Results of the 2004 General Social Survey on Victimization

  • What Recent Surveys Tell Us about Children Exposed to Spousal Violence

  • Impacts on Children and Adolescents

  • Signs a Student is Having Difficulties

  • Potential Impacts at Different Ages

  • What Educators May See

  • Responding When Students Display Troubling Behaviours

  • What Educators May See

  • Strategies for Supporting Students

  • Ways to Support a Student Who Makes a Disclosure

  • Guidelines for When a Parent is a Victim of Woman Abuse

  • Reporting to the Children's Aid Society

  • Reporting Guidelines

  • Safety Planning

  • What Educators May See

  • School and Community Partnerships

  • Community Responses

  • School-Based Violence Prevention

  • Examples of Resources

  • Resources that Promote Healthy Equal Relationships

  • Where to Go for Help

  • Resources

  • Appendix A: Child and Family Services Act (Ontario)

  • Appendix B: Ethical Standards for the Teaching Profession (Ontario)

  • References

    • En français

      A French-language Expert Panel worked concurrently to the English-language panel developing materials for the francophone Ontario community:

      Aide Enfants Témoins

      Ordering Information

      For information on how to order hard copies of the Educator's Guide and the Facilitator's Manual, visit the project's Resource Website.

      photo

      Other Resources on Children and Domestic Violence

      The Centre for Children and Families in the Justice System (formerly called the London Family Court Clinic) is known around the world for our innovative approach to understanding children exposed to domestic violence, supporting their mothers, and creating resources for service deliverers. A range of resources is available to assist students, front-line professionals, volunteers, educators, and mothers who themselves have survived woman abuse. On our Children and Domestic Violence Resource Page, you find links to all the material on our web site related to this important topic.

      www.lfcc.on.ca

      © 2004-2007 Centre for Children and Families in the Justice System

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      What Batterer Programs Can Do Demonstrably and Reliably with All Men Ordered by the Courts

       

      http://www.nomas.org/node/195

      Filed under Ending Men's Violence, Paper.

      By Phyllis B. Frank, , Director, VCS Domestic Violence Program for Men

      Batterer programs often confound even those who work closely with them.  Courts, probation, prosecution, parole, advocates, and the public understandably have unfulfilled hopes about what batterer programs can accomplish.  After thirty years of consistent trial, error and more trial, the NY Model for Batterer Programs has devised a simple list of what we know we can accomplish and measure and what we cannot be certain we can accomplish.
      Batterer Programs Can Clearly, Easily and Certainly . . .

      • be used by courts as a meaningful sanction for domestic violence offences.
      • be used by courts to hold defendants accountable for a domestic abuse incident.
      • be used by courts as an appropriate sanction when the seriousness of the crime does not merit a more serious penalty.
      • be used by courts to monitor whether defendants are complying with a court order to attend a batterer program.
      • provide simple, fair policies and procedures that allow program participants to demonstrate compliance through objective behavior.
      • require that participants adhere to program policies and procedures.
      • objectively track compliance with program policies and procedures and provide straightforward, nonjudgmental compliance information to the court.
      • be effective with 100% of the participants – if courts consistently sanction those who do not comply with the court order to attend[1].

      Batterer Programs Cannot, with Certainty and Clarity . . .

      • know fully and accurately how a participant is behaving outside of the program.
      • promise that any participant will end abusive and controlling behavior either during or after his tenure in the program. 
      • infer reliable behavior change from  a participant’s apparent understanding of (or apparent enthusiasm for) information and skills presented in the program.

      Batterer Programs Should . . .

      • have an ongoing, supportive relationship with local domestic violence services.
      • participate actively in local Domestic Violence Community Coordination initiatives.
      • operate within the criminal justice system .
      • be ordered by courts (or agents of the court)  based on the crime committed, not on the personal or individual  traits of the perpetrator.

      Batterer Programs Should Not . . .

      • interact with partners of participants (that is the work of advocacy programs).
      • be ordered by the court if a crime merits a more serious penalty.
      • ever have staff replicate controlling and abusive tactics such as yelling, berating, mocking, shaming, humiliating.

      Batterer Programs Sessions Should . . .

      • impart a sense of confidence that ANY man can end his abusive behavior.
      • understand that men who batter are just regular people, from all walks of life, from all communities.
      • acknowledge that most intimate partner violence committed by men against women (as defined by the domestic violence movement) is not illegal.
      • understand that participants in batterer programs represent a miniscule percentage of the men who are abusing intimate partners.
      • engage participants with state of the art information, material, ideas, data, history, current events, films, etc. relating to domestic violence, sexism and racism.
      • teach about various successful social justice movements in the United States and the connections to the movement to end domestic violence.
      • present an analysis of men’s violence against women and its pervasiveness around the globe.
      • exemplify awareness of sexism, racism, heterosexism, classism, ethnocentrism, etc. and the interconnectedness of these oppressions with domestic violence.
      • model absolute respect, at all times, through interactions among staff and between staff and program participants.

      Batterer Program Suggestions to Ponder

      • Refrain from referring to programs as “BIPs,” which can be perceived as trivializing the seriousness of the crimes that resulted in the creation of batterer programs.
      • Refrain from referring to men ordered to batterer programs as “the guys” or any other informal, buddy-type language. 
      • Do speak about domestic violence in active – rather than passive –  voice; acknowledge agency of abuse in your language. For example, replace ““Eleven women died as a result of intimate partner violence last year,” with “Eleven men murdered their intimate women partners last year.”
      • Consider that batterer programs may not, in fact, play a role in enhancing the safety of the women partners of program participants.  Batterer programs may play a small role in enhancing safety for women, in general, if they contribute to the court’s ability to hold offenders accountable.  
      • If domestic violence is universally accepted as a human rights and criminal justice issue, then batterer programs should not provide treatment or rehabilitation. Rather, they should be consistent with effective and appropriate social justice and criminal justice responses.

      [1]  100% effective mans that every participant experiences that he has not “gotten away” with the act that resulted in his court appearance.

      © Phyllis B. Frank

      845 634-5729 ~ pbfrank@vcs-inc.org ~ www.nymbp.org
      12/2009

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      Custody dispute over children brings charge

      http://www.romesent inel.com/ news?newsid= 20100224- 141238

      A custody dispute at Park Drive Manor II Monday landed a Utica father in City Court Tuesday on accusations that he threw his two young children onto the floor.

      Police said Bob W. Szewcyzk Sr., 25, of 766 Mary St., Utica, went to the apartment at 12:45 p.m. without permission for a custody exchange with his ex-girlfriend. In a statement to police, Szewcyzk’s ex-companion said that her brother owned the apartment, and she was visiting when Szewcyzk drove up with their two children, a 1-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl.

      The woman said she brought the children inside, which is when Szewcyzk decided that he wanted the children back, she told police.

      Authorities said Szewcyzk pushed past the woman when she tried to block the front door and trespassed inside the residence, despite both his ex-girlfriend and her brother telling him to leave. Authorities said Szewcyzk picked up his two children and tried to carry them out of the residence.

      When he was blocked once again by his ex, police said Szewcyzk threw the young children onto the ground. The woman told police that he eventually picked them back up and ran out the back door of the apartment to his vehicle, but by then police had arrived.

      Szewcyzk is charged with one count each of endangering the welfare of a child, second-degree harassment and trespass, police said. Bail was set and not met at $500 cash or bond by City Court Judge Daniel C. Wilson on Tuesday, and his case was adjourned to March 3.

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      Bibliography on PAS by Joan S. Meier, Esq.

      [DOC]

      Bibliography on PAS

      by Joan S. Meier, Esq.

      last updated October 2009

      ARTICLES:

      Adams, M.A., “Framing Contests in Child Custody Disputes:  Parental Alienation Syndrome, Child Abuse, Gender, and Fathers’ Rights,” Family Law Quarterly, 40:2 (Summer 2006), 315-338

      American Psychological Association Presidential Task Force on Violence in the Family, Report on Violence and the Family at 12 (1996)

      Bancroft, L. & Miller, M. “The Batterer as Incest Perpetrator,” in Bancroft & Silverman, the batterer as parent: addressing the impact of domestic violence on family dynamics 84-85 (2002)

      Bruch, C.S., “Parental Alienation Syndrome and Parental Alienation:  Getting It Wrong in Child Custody Cases,” Family Law Quarterly, Vol. 35, No. 3, Fall 2001

      Dalton, C., Drozd, L., & Wong, F. (2006).  “Navigating Custody & Visitation Evaluations in Cases with Domestic Violence:  A Judge’s Guide” (Rev. ed.). Reno, NV:  National Council of Juvenile & Family Court Judges.

      Faller, K.C., “The Parental Alienation Syndrome:  What Is It and What Data Support It?”  Child Maltreatment, Vol. 3, No. 2, May 1998, 100-115

      Gardner, R.A., the parental alienation syndrome: a guide for mental health and legal professionals (1992)

      Hoult, J. “The Evidentiary Admissibility of Parental Alienation Syndrome:  Science, Law, and Policy,” 26 Children’s Legal Rights Journal 1, Spring 2006

      Jaffe, Zerwer and Poisson, “Access Denied:  The Barriers of Violence and Poverty for Abused Women and their Children After Separation” Centre for Children & Families in the Justice System, www.lfcc.on.ca or e-mailpubs@lfcc.on.ca

      Johnston, J.R., “Children of Divorce Who Reject a Parent and Refuse Visitation:  Recent Research and Social Policy Implications for the Alienated Child,” Family Law Quarterly, Vol. 38, No. 4 (Winter 2005)

      Johnston, J.R, “High-conflict divorce,” Future of Children, 4, 165-182 (1994)

      Johnston et al, “Allegations and Substantiations of Abuse in Custody-Disputing Families,” Family Court Review, Vol. 43, No. 2, 283-294 (April 2005)

      PAS Bibliography, cont’d

      Meier, J., Parental Alienation Syndrome and Parental Alienation:  Research Reviews, published by VAWnet, a project of the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence/Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence (January, 2009), http://new.vawnet.org/Assoc_Files_VAWnet/AR_PAS.pdf

      Meier, J., “Domestic Violence, Child Custody, and Child Protection:  Understanding Judicial Resistance and Imagining the Solutions,” A.U. J. Gender, Soc. Pol. & Law, 11:2 (2003)

      Meier, J., “A Historical Perspective on Parental Alienation Syndrome and Parental Alienation,” Journal of Child Custody, Symposium on Domestic Violence and Custody, Journal of Child Custody, 6:232-257 (2009).

      Meier, J., “Getting Real About Abuse and Alienation:  A Response to Drozd and Olesen,” Journal of Child Custody, Symposium on Domestic Violence and Custody, forthcoming 2009

      Neustein, A. & Lesher, M. From Madness to Mutiny:  Why Mothers are Running from the Family Courts and What Can Be Done About it (Northeastern University Press: 2005)

      Neustein, A and Lesher, M.  “Evaluating PAS: A Critique of Elizabeth Ellis’s ‘A Stepwise Approach to Evaluating Children for PAS.’”  Journal of Child Custody, 6:322-325 (2009).

      Petition of Claudine Dombrowski et al, before to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, available at http://www.stopfamilyviolence.org/media/IACHR_web_petition.pdf

      Ragland, E.R., & Field, H. (2003), “Parental Alienation Syndrome:  What Professionals Need to Know,” Update Newsletter, 16(6).  Alexandria, VA:  National District Attorneys’ Association’s American Prosecutors’ Research Institute (APRI) 

      www.ndaa.org/publications/newsletters/update_volume_16_number_6_2003.html

      Smith, R. and Coukos, P., “Fairness and Accuracy in Evaluations of Domestic Violence and Child Abuse in Custody Determinations,” The Judges’ Journal, Fall 1997

      Thoennes, N. & Tjaden, P., “The extent, nature, and validity of sexual abuse allegations in custody/visitation disputes,” 14 Child Abuse and Neglect, 151-163 (1990)

      Thoennes, N., Pearson, J., & Tjaden, P., “Allegations of sexual abuse in custody and visitation disputes,” Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, Denver, CO (1988)

      Trocme, N. and Bala, N., “False allegations of abuse and neglect when parents separate,”  29 Child Abuse & Neglect (Issue 12), pp. 1333-1345 (2005)

      Wood, C., Note, “The Parental Alienation Syndrome:  A Dangerous Aura of Reliability,” 27 Loy.L.A.L.Rev. 1367 (1994)

      PAS Bibliography, cont’d

      CASES:

      Rejecting:

      Snyder v. Cedar, 2006 Conn. Super. LEXIS 520 (2009)

      People v. Fortin, 706 N.Y.S.2d 611 (N.Y. Crim. Ct. 2000)

      NK v MK, 2007 WL 3244980 (N.Y. Sup. 2007)

      Recognizing:

      Only four trial courts have ruled favorably on the admissibility of PAS (as distinct from the hundreds of trial courts which have admitted it without examining its admissibility).  While at least two of these decisions were ultimately upheld on appeal, neither appellate decision addressed the PAS issue:

      In re Marriage of Bates, 794 N.E.2d 868 (Ill. App. Ct. 2003) (noting that the trial court  allowed PAS testimony under a Frye test).

      Boyd v. Kilgore, 773 So. 2d 546 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000)(rejecting request for appellate  review), 783 So.2d 257 (Fla.  2d DCA 2001)(same), 783 So.2d 257 (2d DCA  2001)(same).

      Arkansas and Louisiana appellate courts have seemingly recognized PAS while sidestepping the scientific validity and admissibility questions:

      Palazzolo v. Mire, 2009 WL 103957 (La. App. 4 Dcir. 2009) 

      Ignatiuk v. Ignatiuk, 2006 WL 933490 (Ark. App. 2006)

      Linder v. Johnson, 2006 WL 3425021 (Ark. App. 2006)

      Faucher v. Bitzer, 2002 WL 432750 (Ark. App. 2002)

      Discussing (unfavorably) in dicta:

      In the Interest of TMW, 553 So.2d, 260, 262 (Fla. 1989)

      People v. Loomis, 172 Misc.2d 265 (N.Y.Co.Ct. 1997)

      Hanson v. Spolnik, 685 N.E.2d 71, 84 (Ind.App. 1997)

      In the Matter of JF v. LF, 694 NYS2d 592, 1999 N.Y. Slip Op. 99408

      C.J.L., v. M.W.B., 2003 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 100 (Ala. Civ. App., Feb. 2003)

      In the Matter of JF v. LF, 694 N.Y.S.2d 592 (1999)

      Widerholt v. Fisher, 485 N.W.2d 442 (Wisc. 1992)

      Rejecting Related Diagnostic Instruments

      Page v. Zordan, 564 So.2d 500 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App. 1990)(rejecting Sex Abuse Legitimacy  Scale (SALS))

      Tungate v. Kentucky, 901 S.W.2d 41 (Ky. 1995)(rejecting Gardner’s “indicators” for  pedophilia)

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      IF YOU DON’T THINK CHILDREN ARE AFFECTED BY VIOLENCE, READ THIS

      RightsForMothers.com

      FILED IN: DEMITRIOUS COTTON, MEL COTTON, MILTON GOBERT, MURDER, MURDERED MOTHERS, TEXAS

      My heart goes out to this dear boy.  From News 8 Austin:

      Child recounts the night his mother was murdered

      Updated: 2/25/2010 6:53 AM
      By: Harlan Schmidt




      Demitirous Cotton and his mom Mel when Demitrious was just three years old.

      It was a riveting day of testimony in the capital murder trial of Milton Gobert, who stands accused of stabbing 30-year-old Mel Cotton to death in 2003.

      Cotton’s son, Demitrious Cotton, was five when he witnessed his mother’s murder. He was also stabbed during the attack, but survived.

      Now 11 years old, Demitrious took the stand Wednesday to testify face-to-face against the man accused of the attack. A full courtroom watched as he passed just feet from the man he said he saw stab his mother to death.

      The boy’s family and prosecutors diligently tried keeping the boy at ease, while he was forced to recount the events of that night.

      The boy answered question after question, telling how the man bound his mother while demanding her purse and repeatedly stabbed her with a knife.

      “What did the knife look like?” the prosecutor asked.

      “Sharp, and it had a brown handle,” he answered.

      “Was the man doing anything with the knife?” the prosecutor asked.

      “Yes,” Demitrious answered.

      “What did you see the man do?” Demitrious was asked.

      “Stab my mom,” he said.

      Gobert listened as Demitrious’ testimony continued.

      “What did you do when you saw the man, and your mom, and what the man was doing?” he was asked.

      “I ran over and tried to pull him down by his leg,” Demitrious answered.

      “You tried to pull the man down by his leg?” the prosecutor asked.

      “Yes,” he replied.

      “And did you say anything to the man?”

      “Yes.”

      “What did you say?” the prosecutor asked.

      “Stop.”

      Demitrious told how the man came in to his room and choked him until he was unconscious. When he awoke, he had been stabbed.




      Demitrious now lives with his aunt.

      The prosecution showed Demitrius a picture of him and his mother when he was three and asked him why he was bravely reliving the memories he has talked about so little since.

      “What is the reason you’re trying your best to remember?” the prosecutor asked.

      “For my mom,” he answered.

      Demitrious now lives with his aunt, and he told the court his favorite activities were reading and playing his PlayStation.

      If convicted of capital murder, Gobert could face the death penalty. It will be up to the jury to determine the sentence.

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      Autopsy confirms deaths of man, woman on Kauai as murder-suicide

      http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100225/BREAKING01/100225010/Autopsy+confirms+deaths+of+man++woman+on+Kauai+as+murder-suicide

      The woman whose body was found Tuesday morning in a Lawai home is Kapaa High School volunteer and former weekend radio personality Clara Kaneshiro, Kauai police said Thursday.

      Police on Wednesday said the man whose body was found in the home was 38-year-old Duane Bukoski of Lawai. An autopsy confirmed the deaths as a murder-suicide.

      The Garden Island newspaper says Kaneshiro, 43, of Kapaa, was appointed as a member of the Family Celebration Commission by Gov. Linda Lingle in 2008, and that she was active in the Kapaa High School Parent Teacher Student Association.

      Kaneshiro had also worked as a secretary in the U.S. Small Business Administration's Small Business Development Center on the campus of Kauai Community College, when she was Clara Oligo, and was a weekend radio personality on KUAI AM 720 when the studio was in Eleele Shopping Center, with the radio moniker "Sista Clara."

      "Clara was a gift from God," said Pastor Matt Higa of New Hope Christian Fellowship Kapaa, who said he spent most of yesterday counseling fellow church members coping with the apparent death of a beloved, active, involved parishioner.

      "Special lady, that's all I know, a good-hearted person," said Higa.

      Higa said Kaneshiro's truck was found at Bukoski's Lawai residence where both bodies were discovered.

      Two children were home when their father shot their mother and then himself.

       

      Husband, wife dead in apparent murder-suicide

      The Associated Press

      TAMPA, Fla. -- Two children were home at a Tampa apartment when their father shot their mother and then himself.

      The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office reports that deputies responded to the home Thursday morning and found the man dead from a what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The wife was taken to a hospital, where she later died.

      The girls, ages 10 and 14, reportedly hid in the bathroom during the shooting and ran for help when it was over. They have been placed in state custody.

      A manager at the apartment complex said the family had lived there for more than three years. He said the couple were friendly and involved in the community.

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      25.2.10

      The color of Parental Alienation Syndrome is green. Cha-Ching

      cha-ching

      The Use of Dr. Richard Gardner's

      Parental Alienation Theory (PAS)

      In The Hamilton County, Ohio Courtroom Of

      Judges Ronnie Panioto and Judson Shattuck Jr.

      Welcome to Cincinnatipas.com. On these pages you will read the incredible lengths that Cincinnati lawyers, psychologists and judges go to lie, steal and cheat in order to protect one-another and abusers, at the expense of children and their protective parents. In essence, the court system further abuses the children by failure to protect, undoubtedly makes possible more abuse, and victimizes the accusing parent (usually mothers) by denying them custody and visitation. Individually, many of the court personnel are nice people. As a group, they are sick and wrong. This has been going on for over two decades, ever since Judge Ron Panioto took over as of one of the most pro-abuser jurists in Ohio.

      Panioto's Court is a proponent of Dr. Richard Gardner's debunked PAS theory. Gardner and PAS theory have been rejected by the scientific community. See this website's Dr. Richard Gardner's PAS Debunked page to read all the amazing pro-pedophile things Gardner said and wrote before he slashed himself to death. The misogynist Gardner trained Panioto's Court personnel, an infection lasting to this day as Gardner played the court for the fools they are.

      This website does the work here that the local Cincinnati media should have done long ago. The local newspapers lack the type of journalistic hustle and integrity needed to expose the danger that our children face walking into Panioto's pro-pedophile courtroom. The slow witted Panioto is not alone as Gardner's theory is most expediant, a disincentive to litigants that seek to bring time consuming allegations of abuse, and goes a long way to glossing over messy cases. Cincinnati's family court judges have bought into PAS hook, line and sinker. Read now what happens when good parents bring allegations of child molestation to Cincinnati's family court.

      PAS Judge Judson Shattuck's Pro-Abuser Decision

      To Protect Judge Panioto, Judge Shattuck Traumatized
      The Thibodeaux Children

      To Do That - He Had To Cheat

      The great thing about Skyline Chili is that you can order and eat it in 15 minutes, which is about how long it takes PAS Judge Judson Shattuck to scribble allegedly pro-abuser decisions on a napkin. He roamed from county to county in southern Ohio handing out child custody decisions in favor of alleged abusers wherever he went. It's good work if you can get it. Required almost no writing skill and certainly no thought. If you know how to use copy and paste in word processing, as Judge Shattuck did, then just fill in the blanks where it says "Father's name" in front of "Awarded" and the "Mother's name" where it reads "Denied". It's good pay and your name appears on documents next to Chief Justice Thomas Moyer, who appoints the roaming PAS Judges.

      Convicted abusers and alleged abusers had a mighty friend and protector in PAS Judson Shattuck. If Shattuck didn't exclude evidence of abuse allegations and testimony outright, then he simply ignored the allegations in his decisions. The reason he avoided mention of serious allegations was for the simple reason of beating any appeal of his decision. You see, if he didn't mention it at all ... then he can't be in error. No error means no reversal. That kind of thought process is evil.

      Shattuck probably had but two regrets. First, that he was not always there when the mother finds out that she lost her children to an alleged abuser; and secondly, that he's not there to party with the alleged abuser when he gives him custody of the alleged victims. The shocking losses for the protective mother are an adrenaline rush for Shattuck. And the surprise wins given to the alleged abusers give him that warm, fuzzy feeling that only PAS judges can know and appreciate. He did this many times in his twisted career. Indeed, he was on a roll in November 2004, having done the exact same thing with the exact same custody and visitation schedule in the Lanfranc case the previous month.

      Everybody knew that Judge Judson Shattuck Jr. had a major screw loose, that he was a knucklehead. Nobody knew why? In Greene County, Ohio, he had been called "the worst thing ever to happen to abused children". We do know that he lied on his state compensation reports regarding the Thibodeaux case. He bilked Ohio out of thousands of dollars in falsified expenses while also cheating the protective mother and her children. The knucklehead got caught and the mother's brother made him pay a heavy price with a bar complaint aimed at taking away his license, and the threat of felony charges to follow. Shattuck had deluded himself into thinking that he could cheat and get away with it, probably because he always had. But how could he not see the mother's brother coming? What a fool.

      In October of 2004, PAS Judge Judson Shattuck pretended to preside over this Cincinnati child custody trial. Except that it wasn't a trial. Shattuck excluded the sexual abuse allegations from evidence. So there really was no trial. Only a sham of a trial. Shattuck ignored what evidence he did let in, Louis and Kelly Thibodeaux's reading of the "Understanding The Borderline Mother" book. Ignored as well PAS attorney Dominic Mastruserio's blatant deceit and skulduggery, and rendered a decision that demonstrated absolutely no thought or concern for the children. It could have been written between his three-way chili and cheese coney at Skyline and maybe was.

      Becoming Dominic Mastruserio's willing fool, Judge Judson Shattuck humiliated himself by handing over what was left of his sorry reputation to quite possibly the most prolific liar in the Hamilton County courts. Mastruserio made a complete monkey of Judge Shattuck. At one point, when Mastruserio was caught in one of his many lies (insisting that the mother reported abuse to Children Services when it was actually the school principal), Shattuck ruled that Mastruserio didn't have to admit the deceit out loud because he's an "Italian". What a stupid thing to say. What an insult to the many fine and honest Italian lawyers in this country. Decent and hard-working Italian lawyers (that's most of 'em) find Mastruserio an embarrassment. Shattuck thinks it's funny.

      After several years as the presiding judge, PAS Judge Ron Panioto quit the Thibodeaux case under pressure from the mother's brother, having botched the investigation into the original allegations that Dr. Louis Thibodeaux had sexually molested the Thibodeaux daughter, and before that, his son. The quivering Panioto ran from the case three hours into the first trial. The brother had spooked him with a steady dose of testimony linking the Panioto court evaluator, Dr. Michael Borack, who had ordered two children that he hadn't the ability to assess "deprogrammed" - as if they had been brainwashed into believing they were abused - with the 1960's Cultural Revolution in Communist China that had also sought to "re-educate" or brainwash their citizens. The point was that Hamilton County Ohio was recklessly engaging in mind control. Try doing that to an American citizen or his family and watch out! Minutes after that damning accusation and the day after this web site went public with the allegation that Panioto's top aide had perjured herself in deposition (he knew for a fact that she had), Panioto quit the case under false pretenses. Like most candy-ass bullies, he ran when he got punched.


      Judge Penelope Cunningham was assigned the case. She was the only Cincinnati judge known to protect children. Her husband is right wing radio talk show host Bill "Not Hussein" Cunningham, the fellow John McCain "threw under the bus" in 2008 following tasteless remarks about Senator Barack Obama. Judge Cunningham didn't write any Profiles In Courage chapters herself, opting out of the hot Thibodeaux case for the same lame and false excuse Panioto used - that a friend was a witness. We hasten to add that Mr. Cunningham correctly has attacked on his radio show church officials who have covered up allegations of molestation. However, he has remained stone silent about the skeletons in his wife's worklife, that she rubs shoulders daily with people who award custody to child molesters and do it under the auspices of junk science, namely the pro-pedophile PAS theory. While decrying others who do the wrong thing, Mr. Cunningham stops short at pointing the finger at people of whom he is likely to see at his wife's Christmas party.

      So the Thibodeaux case rolled to the third and last Cincinnati judge, Susan Tolbert, who had been the subject of an NBC Dateline report for having awarded custody in another case to ... an alleged child molester. See here Dateline NBC - Farmer that Judge Tolbert failed to protect the little girl and caused that mother and daughter to flee the country, making a felon of the mom. So Judge Tolbert was immediately attacked on this cincinnatipas.com website because her mind has been poisoned by PAS theory. Unlike Judges Panioto and Cunningham, Tolbert admitted to reading this website and recused herself as a result of it. So she's no liar. A stupid PAS jurist, but no liar.

      In sports they say winning starts at the top. In law it can be said ethics, or the lack of it, does too. Ohio Chief Justice Thomas Moyer assigned the crookedest judge he could find, Judson L. Shattuck Jr. of nearby Greene County. Shattuck bent over backwards to cheat the children and their mother from their day in court. He served not to protect the allegedly abused children, but to protect the alleged child abuser, Louis Thibodeaux. In his decision, Judge Shattuck cited none of the trial testimony, witnesses or exhibit evidence, which strongly favored the mother. But that's what PAS judges do, ignore evidence that is damaging to alleged abusers. Shattuck's decision demonstrated almost no thought or effort. He was a hired gun, a hack, who was sent to protect Panioto, who had come under fire for his pro-abuser court rulings.

      Unfortunately for Dr. Louis Thibodeaux, because his PAS attorney Dominic Mastruserio also struggled so mightily to keep out the allegations of child sexual abuse, lying often in the process, there is absolutely no vindication for Mr. Thibodeaux.

      The question still remains, did Mr. Thibodeaux abuse his children as a number of therapists suggest? And if he didn't, why would his attorney lie for him in court? And why would he not want a trial on the abuse allegations? Didn't he want his name cleared? Why run if you're innocent? What happened, or better still, what didn't happen in Shattuck's court, leaves nothing answered, nothing settled.

      Of course, everyone also wonders and it's so very worth asking ...

      ... why won't Mr. Thibodeaux take his children to a therapist, a mandatory reporter of abuse?

      Or does the question also serve as the answer?

      Shattuck, well known in Greene County, Ohio for supporting suspected child abusers, denied the mother the opportunity to have a highly qualified and nationally prominent therapist interview the children. The shocking decision protected Louis Thibodeaux from possible new allegations of abuse and trapped the children into Dr. Michael Borack's incompetent PAS reports of four years prior.

      The children had not been evaluated since 2001 - though they subsequently disclosed abuse to school counselors - because the mother was precluded from doing so. She would have lost visitation if she had taken her children to a therapist. Mr. Thibodeaux admitted in court that his children needed therapy, but that he couldn't find anyone to see them. He blames this website. As of 2008, he still has denied them therapy.

      We hasten to call attention, however, to the fact that all therapists are mandatory reporters of abuse, and if the children disclose yet again, Mr. Thibodeaux would be in even more trouble. Isn't that really why he has never taken them to a therapist? After all, if the children have been coached, a good therapist would likely uncover it and vindication results. But Mr. Thibodeaux would not take them to a therapist. Why not?

      But one thing was for certain, Judge Shattuck was also not in search of the truth when he denied the mother the right to have the children evaluated by a nationally prominent therapist. Did that decision serve the children's best interest? Of course not. Whomever Shattuck was protecting, it wasn't the children.

      Shattuck did not allow the mother to present evidence or testimony regarding the sexual abuse allegations leveled against Louis Thibodeaux by three separate therapists (Kowalski, Boat & Olafson). Again ruling to protect the alleged abuser, Louis Thibodeaux, Shattuck denied the mother her day in court, and denied the children justice as well. For that this site will hound him to the grave.

      Understanding The Borderline Mother

      In his tersely worded Skyline Chili decision, Judge Shattuck completely ignored the trial's remaining number one issue, the only one he would leave on the table, that Mr. Thibodeaux had intentionally denigrated the mother by having his wife Kelly Reichert Thibodeaux read to the children"Understanding The Borderline Mother". Judge Shattuck devoted zero words to the book. So it must be okay for alleged abusers and step-mothers to read psychological books to children to convince them that their mother is crazy. Judge Shattuck considers that sort of thing unworthy of the slightest comment.

      So is it now okay for the mother to read to the children "Understanding The Borderline Child Molester"? I think we all know what a PAS court would do in that situation.

      Clouding the real legal issue of child abuse and who really is the better parent, Judge Shattuck used the excuse that the mother is a flight attendant and AWARDED custody to the alleged abuser, a doctor, who is also very busy or should be. Shattuck strained to find any morsel to deny the mother. It read lame because it was lame.

      Which REWARDED Louis Thibodeaux and his deceitful attorney, Dominic Mastruserio, for using "Parental Alienation" theory against the protective mother.

      The Mother appealed and lost.

      If a PAS court is sick and twisted (see Hamilton County, Ohio), there is no control mechanism in place to reign them in. The Appeals Court lacks spine, common sense, intellect and legal ethics as they reward blatant deceit which serves to further trap allegedly abused children. On the one hand they boast about serving on the board of "Pro-Kids" while on the other they validate judges who are "Pro-Abuser". The geniuses who looked the other way in the Thibodeaux case are Hildebrandt, Painter & Sundermann.

      After Shattuck's pro-abuser decision, the delighted PAS Court Administrator Ray Shannon and Mr. Panioto supplanted the usual visiting judge, Charles Lowman of Montgomery County, by specifically requesting henceforth of Ohio Chief Justice Thomas Moyer, the more pleasing crook of a judge, Judson L. Shattuck Jr. of Greene County Ohio.
      So Lowman is out and Shattuck is in. Mr. Lowman should feel honored to be rejected by misters Panioto and Shannon.
      Judge Lowman had been assigned to every Hamilton County case requiring a visiting judge from 2001 until the Thibodeaux case in 2004. Judge Shattuck now gets all of Hamilton County's business. Give a PAS Court a PAS decision, and more business will follow.

      How did the Hamilton County Domestic Relations Court take away the children from an "excellent mother"? In short, the PAS court used pro-abuser PAS theory against her and then cheated her again by hiding the court evaluator's PAS reports from the Appeals Court.

      Because of those actions, the mother never received a full trial on the sexual abuse issues.

      The trial judge (Shattuck) ignored every transgression of the alleged abuser, all the trial testimony and evidence - and then took away the mother's children. His Skyline Chili decision does not explain his reasoning. He can't explain it.

      Here's a brief case history:

      1. In 2000, child abuse expert Dr. Jacqueline Kowalski determined with "psychological certainty" that Louis Thibodeaux had abused his three year old daughter and brought the allegations to Judge Ron Panioto’Äôs court.

      2. Judge Panioto turned to Dr. Richard Gardner's debunked, pro-abuser PAS theory and appointed Dr. Michael Borack, a "parental alienation" expert, to investigate the abuse allegations and report his findings to the court. His old buddy, Dominic Mastruserio, who is Louis Thibodeaux's deceitful attorney, had requested a "parental alienation" expert. Good buddy Panioto replied, "I have no problem with that." The PAS fix was in. This is what they do to protective parents.

      3. But Dr. Borack did not investigate the sexual abuse allegations against Mr. Thibodeaux. PAS evaluators almost always attack the protective parent and Borack did exactly that, following Gardner's methods right down to deprogramming the children and recommending full custody to Mr. Thibodeaux. Borack ignored his two court appointed deprogrammers, Drs. Boat & Olafson, who called the mother "excellent" and "honest" and like Dr. Kowalski, reported non-coached disclosures of "possible sexual touching".

      4. When the mother protested to Mr. Thibodeaux in July 2000 that their 8 year old son did not like his father physically bathing him, Dr. Borack did not investigate the new allegation of abuse, but instead wrote another report attacking the mother and writing that he was of a mind to award full custody to Mr. Thibodeaux. The deceitful and opportunistic Dominic Mastruserio threatened to go to trial where he was confident that with his PAS evaluator Borack, and his old buddy Panioto, he would win custody for his client.

      5. Between a rock and a hard place, the mother's then attorney, William Abernethy, told her to sign a "temporary" six month agreement giving the alleged abuser, Louis Thibodeaux, sole custody of the children and allowing for the deprogramming of the children (as if they had been brainwashed into believing they were abused) and an intervention to change or stop the mother's allegations (which they failed to investigate). Once the mother signed the coerced agreement (she was crying), Judges Panioto and Shattuck used it against her to rule again and again that she had basically turned her back on all the previous abuse allegations leveled against Louis Thibodeaux. Temporary became permanent. It was the worst thing that she could have done. William Abernethy, her attorney, failed her and the children. He capitulated to Panioto's pro-abuser court and eventually quit as her attorney with the parting words, "I need to make a living in this town."

      6. When the mother attempted to appeal Judge Panioto's decision not to reverse the Borack coerced agreement, Judge Panioto then also refused to supplement the official record with Dr. Michael Borack's PAS reports for the Appeals Court to read and consider. This shocking and blatant attempt to hide material so germane and central to the case served to cheat the mother from justice as the Appeals Court decided that Panioto had given them "no choice" but to affirm him. Panioto protected himself at the expense of the children.

      7. Judge Panioto squandered several months fighting off the mother's motion that he recuse himself from the case for reasons of bias. Three hours into the mistrial in February 2004, however, Judge Panioto did step aside but not for the reasons he stated. It had come to light only days earlier that his top aide, Jayne Zuberbuhler, had perjured herself in deposition testimony, and the Judge removed himself before the issue, and his personal knowledge of it, embroiled him. Zuberbuhler's office is down the hall from Panioto's. They're tight. She lied about Borack in deposition, got caught, and Judge Panioto is a witness.

      Enter this website cincinnatipas.com

      8. Judge Susan Tolbert recused herself because of her familiarity with this website, a public criticism of the Hamilton County Domestic Relations PAS Court. This website is a double edged sword. By exposing the Court's secret PAS world and failure to protect abused children, this website is intimidating and causes unethical people who cannot explain themselves to run. It also creates even more animosity from a morally bankrupt court system that lost its bearings the day Dr. Richard Gardner stepped into Cincinnati to train them.

      9. Giving some credit where some credit is due, Judge Ron Panioto did make one attempt to correct his errors. He signed a pretrial court order allowing testimony and evidence that would include all the sexual abuse allegations going back to 1997. Never mind the coerced agreement, bring it all in. Of course that's the right thing.

      10. Second trial Judge Judson Shattuck did exactly the opposite. He ignored Judge Panioto's Pretrial Order and refused to bring it all in. Erring on the side of the alleged abuser, Louis Thibodeaux, PAS Judge Shattuck used the Dr. Borack coerced 2nd agreement signed in 2000, which Judge Panioto had refused to reverse, to preclude all testimony and evidence regarding the alleged abuser's sexual molestation of the children. Judge Panioto's decision in 2002, therefore, not to reverse Dr. Borack's incompetent recommendations, ultimately led to a full pardon in 2004 of every sexual abuse allegation leveled against Louis Thibodeaux.

      11. Mr. Thibodeaux was let off the hook, was never held accountable for his actions, and to the mother's horror received full custody of his alleged victims. Judge Shattuck had conducted a Sham Trial and rendered a Skyline Chili decision in favor of the alleged abuser without citing any evidence, exhibits, witnesses or trial testimony. That's because his decision cannot be supported by the evidence, exhibits, witnesses or trial testimony.

      12. After the trial Mr. Thibodeaux's attorney Dominic Mastruserio was investigated by the state for lying and frauds upon the court. Judge Judson Shattuck was caught stealing money from the state in his billing on the case. Judge Ronald Panioto's real reason for recusal came to light as Ray Shannon goofed by not keeping to the story - the lie, that Panioto had a friend as witness. It was really this website that made him cut and run. Mr. Thibodeaux's second wife Kelly Thibodeaux gave up the facade that they had an All-American family and left him almost immediately after the trial, feigning a marriage until the appeals were exhausted. She left Louis Thibodeaux for two years from October 2005 until the fall of 2007. She told the Thibodeaux children that she would have been fine with the children's real mother gaining custody, and seemingly wasn't too happy that it turned out the way that it did. Adding insult to injury, most likely her name would have been redacted from this website long ago with a simple 50/50 split of visitation.

      13. Teresa's children are now left alone 83% of the time with Louis Thibodeaux. Nobody knows how safe they are because he won't take them to a therapist, and the court has stopped the mother from doing so. The court has no idea whether Mr. Thibodeaux is a child molester or not? We do know that the children are desperately lonely and ache for their mother and her extended family. By incompetence, fraud and deceit, Misters Mastruserio, Borack, Panioto & Shattuck have collectively ruined their childhoods.

      Before he died, Shattuck was caught profiting from the Thibodeaux case -
      grossly over-billing the State of Ohio and Hamilton County.

      Never take crap from a pro-pedophile anybody. Judge Judson Shattuck Jr. spent the final year of his life in one helluva pickle.

      Before his surprise death during back surgery on December 4, 2007, the mother's brother had filed a licensing board complaint against Judge Shattuck and pummeled him for his gross misconduct. He was unable to answer the most serious allegations, thus lending credence to the charges that he was nothing more than a common thief dressed in judicial robes. He died under suspicion, no doubt anticipating that felony charges would be filed against him. Indeed, private investigators were halfway through their investigation of him when he suddenly passed away.

      Shattuck's Monthly Compensation Reports, since 2003, were littered with fabrications costing the state of Ohio untold thousands of dollars. Here's a sampling ...

      Visiting Judge Judson Shattuck Jr.
      Stuffed The Turkey & His Pockets
      On Thanksgiving Day 2004

      On Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 2004, while most people watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and NFL Football or otherwise enjoyed their families, Judge Judson L. Shattuck Jr claimed on his Ohio Monthly Compensation Report that he had worked a full day (eight hours) on the Thibodeaux case. He stated that he was "writing".

      But that was impossible and a lie.

      There was absolutely nothing to write about. Zip. Zero. Zilch.

      That's because Judge Judson Shattuck had entered his final Decision in the Thibodeaux case three days prior on November 22, 2004. There was simply nothing left for him to write about. The knucklehead made it up. Judge Judson Shattuck Jr. fabricated his compensation report which he signed. Shattuck stole $440.16 from Ohio taxpayers and has been reported to the state to be disciplined - hopefully disbarred.

      Almost every individual, from PAS attorneys to PAS psychologists to PAS judges, who have stuck their necks out for Mr. Thibodeaux have eventually paid a heavy price for doing so. Mr. Shattuck joins a long list of unethical court officials who are stunned when they are caught - and as cousin Gail says "sin always reveals itself" - so they always get caught. This is the form (his handwriting) that the unethical Judson Shattuck Jr. used to fabricate his compensation:

      See the highlighted line? You're watching a judge lie on his expenses.

      And there's plenty more where that came from. Go to Judge Judson Shattuck Jr. Stuffs His Pockets & Gets Caught
      to read more.

      Get a load of this though ...

      Court Administrator Ray Shannon Reveals That Judge Ron Panioto Lied In Court Regarding His Reason For Recusal

      The Appointment Request letter from Hamilton County Court Administrator Ray Shannon to Justice Moyer is very revealing. It should have come from Judge Panioto himself and not Mr. Shannon, though Mr. Shannon was careful to say Judge Panioto had authorized it. If Judge Panioto is to be believed that he recused himself because a friend was a witness in the Thibodeaux case, all Mr. Shannon needed to write was simply that.

      But Mr. Shannon doesn't mention anything at all about a Panioto friend. He blames the mother and her website (this one) for Panioto's recusal. So Shannon-Panioto's Appointment Request letter to Chief Justice Thomas Moyer is false on it's face. Either the letter is false or Judge Panioto's stated reason in court is false. Which was it? The website or the friend witness?

      The answer of course, is that the letter is correct, it was the website. Therefore Judge Panioto lied in court. Is anybody surprised?

      Footnote: Ohio State Board investigator Carol Costa fabricated her report, ignoring entirely the main allegations, falsely pretending that they were never written and clearing the unethical Shattuck. That was a foolish thing for her to do. Shortly after, Shattuck died. Soon Carol Costa will need to explain how Shattuck explained his thievery, and why that explanation didn't make its way into her false report? The lies, dear folks, stretch all the way to Columbus, who are supposed to be the ones catching them. That kind of ethical standard starts at the top.

      tmtcincy@yahoo.com

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