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How the Failure of Welfare Reform Created Our Lawless Courts
By Terri Lynn Tersak (about the author) Page 4 of 5 page(s)
During these periods without her medication she would act-out very violently towards her husband and child. Following several involuntary committals to in patient mental health hospitals she again decided to stop taking her medications. In this, the last of such events for the family, she beat Dave and their son with a baseball bat. Most of Dave's injuries were the result of him shielding their son from the blows directed at the child.
Dave was told to file criminal charges. Since repeated efforts to keep his wife on medication had failed, he had to think solely of protecting his son. So he did file complaints of criminal spousal abuse and child abuse on behalf of their son.
The day before the hearing Dave's wife filed a civil complaint of domestic violence on behalf of herself and their son against Dave in family court. He was arrested entering the courthouse for the hearing for the criminal charges. Having missed the hearing the criminal charges against his wife were dropped.
Later that day Dave was in court again, this time as the defendant in a civil domestic violence case. Without going into great detail, the restraining order, sole custody of the son, and a temporary child support order were granted to the mother. However, review of the court documents showed that all of this was allegedly granted three weeks before Dave's wife filed her complaint.
An investigation revealed that the court was so predisposed to granting domestic violence restraining orders, with custody and child support that they would preprint the court orders, leaving only the personal information of parties of the case to be added. In this case, someone neglected to dispose of the old forms and Dave's information was added to a form over three weeks old.
The issues in Dave's case are as yet unresolved.
One very well publicized case is Ben V's (story on www.5thEstate.com). Ben was doing his custody exchanges in the lobby of his Pennsylvania city's main police station to make sure nothing went wrong. After one drop off Ben's ex-wife filed a domestic violence complaint against him. She claimed she was attacked in the lobby of the police station.
Even though the police department's own video surveillance system clearly shows that nothing happened, while police officers were present at the reception desk where they met, the restraining order that included his son was issued against Ben anyway. Ben's case regarding this blatant false claim being supported by the family court is still ongoing.
But not all cases end in disaster, like Bill R's case; once again that is his real name. Bill wanted the military to be his career. Early on he married, the couple had a son and all looked wonderful. That is until his wife developed a serious substance abuse problem. An intervention hosted by family and friends resulted in Bill's wife leaving one night without any notice to Bill or anyone he knew and not returning.
Given Bill's entry level pay scale he was having a hard time financially. So Bill tried to go about what we all know every reasonable single parent does and filed for child support. After two years without receiving a cent he went to the court house for help enforcing the child support order.
To his absolute shock he was told right to his face that, "We don't enforce against women." Bill chuckled and replied, "So much for equal protection under the law." The case worker scolded him and then informed him that if he didn't watch his mouth she would call children's services on him and make sure they take his son so he would have no reason to return to her office and give her anymore lip service. Bill never received so much as one cent in child support.
Despite the bad experience Bill had with the family court and having to give up his dream of military service to earn more money, he made the choice to do what was in the best interest of everyone concerned, especially his son.
Bill worked tirelessly to inspire his son to love and respect his mother. Although nearly a decade passed before Bill wife got help for her substance abuse issues, she did reestablish contact her son and today they enjoy a happy and healthy relationship. No matter what goes wrong in a family law case, that should be how it ends.
Bill's case proves it doesn't take government interference in your life to do what is in the best interest of a child. Maybe it does prove the absent of government interference in your life helps it happen. But unfortunately, case like those covered above are more the rule than the exception today.
To date, not one person involved in the above cases who wronged the citizens they swore to serve has been so much as reprimanded for their actions, nor have any of the false claims made to our courts been prosecuted. Charges have been filed against Ben V's ex-wife and her attorney, the first such case I have heard of. But the hearing is still pending and an unending stream of motions to dismiss flood the court.
Take action -- click here to contact your local newspaper or congress people:
Stop the Feds from paying the States to Destroy Our Families
Click here to see the most recent messages sent to congressional reps and local newspapers
http://www.True-Equality.org
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