Show Overcoming Child Sexual Abuse ~ With Kathy Andersen, Ep THE ELENA MORGAN STORY – A Must-Hear Story of Overcoming – Dec 21, 2022
Category: Domestic Violence
Dr Elizabeth Morgan Custody Crisis Case ’80’s – YouTube
Family Court report writer cautioned by watchdog after breaching parent’s privacy – ABC News (from 2019)
In the family law system, psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers can give evidence and impact cases, but a review has found no-one is keeping them in check. The Attorney-General knows it’s a problem and there are calls for him to fix it.
The cases highlight what court insiders and legal experts say is the lack of proper scrutiny of private psychoanalysts — described by some parents as “Gods of the court” — because their opinion can affect family legal battles and custody rulings.
A long-awaited report into the Family Court by the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) urged the Federal Government to tackle concerns about the quality of these court-appointed experts by introducing mandatory accreditation and lifting the veil of secrecy around them.
Andrea* said her distressed 13-year-old son would “smash his head on a brick wall” after attending appointments with the same family report writer during a long Family Court battle.
Andrea said her son wanted to stop the appointments because he was being threatened by the psychologist.
She said she was too frightened to complain about the family report writer.
“She can say anything in the witness box and that becomes evidence,” Andrea said.
Andrea said the psychologist gave evidence in their trial and the judge ordered her son to spend time alone with his father.
But the teenager then obtained a family violence intervention order against his father in a state magistrates court.
In the case of the Sydney psychiatrist, up to a dozen parents made complaints to the Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC), accusing him of “placing the public at risk” with his Family Court reports.
In August last year HCCC commissioner Sue Dawson wrote to one of the parents stating the psychiatrist “did not have judicial immunity” and an investigation would be conducted.
But in a letter to one of the parents in April, the New South Wales medical watchdog changed its position and said it “did not have the power” to investigate.
The Sydney psychiatrist was a report writer in the matter of *James — a case the ABC has previously reported on — in which the Family Court gave custody to a father accused of sexual abuse.
Alison*, one of the HCCC complainants, claimed the psychiatrist’s reports followed a pattern of “minimising” allegations of family violence and abuse.
“In almost every one of these cases he talks about ‘if the spurious allegations continue or are not recanted, the child should be removed’.
The ALRC report in March found that psychiatrists and psychologists in private practice who provide family reports played a “crucial” role in legal cases.
But it found there was no effective way of holding them to account if they failed to meet professional guidelines set by the court.
Source: Family Court report writer cautioned by watchdog after breaching parent’s privacy – ABC News
Abusive Men Describe the Benefits of Violence – Voice Male magazine
For many years, I facilitated courtmandated groups for men who batter. In the early 1980s we were concentrating on healthy relationship skills building, emotional identification and selfcontrol, and anger management, among other related issues. Then battered women in Duluth, Minnesota, began gathering to discuss the impact of the violence on their lives. What emerged was that the men who beat them not only physically assaulted them, but also controlled where they went, who they talked to, what they wore, where they worked, if they worked, how the money was spent, when, with whom, and how they had sex, how the kids were raised, how the domestic labor was split in the household. You get the picture. Basically, the men got to control the women to get what the men wanted… and the threat and use of violence was the bottom line that ensured it would happen.
Now I was training men in weekly groups at the time to use assertiveness when in conflict with their wives or girlfriends, teaching them how to access and express their feelings appropriately. Then I would send them home to practice. The next week they would come back and report that their new assertiveness “skills” weren’t working. I asked them why, and they would say, “Because she still did A, B, C, and D and would not do E, F, and G.” Which is what he wanted. I began then to slowly understand that I was teaching men multiple personal life skills and they were simply using those skills in attempts to control women even more effectively.
One night I started the group by asking the men what they thought the benefits were of their violence. At first they all looked at each other (notably) and said, “There are no benefits.” This did not surprise me, as men who batter routinely deny their actions—as they deny their intents as well. So I said, “Well, there must be some benefits from the violence; otherwise why would you do it?” They looked at each other again and then one guy started admitting there were benefits, and then they all chimed in until the four-by-eight-foot blackboard I was writing their responses on was full.
The first time I did this exercise I looked at the blackboard and I thought, “Oh my God. Why would they give it up?” I then decided to ask the men: Why give it up? They then filled a two-by-two foot space on the blackboard with things like, “get arrested,” “divorce,” “get protection orders taken out against you,” “adult kids don’t invite you to their weddings,” “have to go to groups like this.” That was about it.
This was the first time I fully comprehended the necessity of a consistent coordinated community response through the criminal, civil, and family court systems which can mete out safe and effective interventions that hold men who batter accountable while preserving the safety of the women, girls, and boys they abuse. It was on that day that I realized if I had to choose between providing batterer groups for men who batter or a consistently effective criminal and civil/family court response to domestic violence, I would choose the criminal and civil/family court response every time. There are just too many benefits gained from this behavior.
Source: Abusive Men Describe the Benefits of Violence – Voice Male magazine
Tragic details of fatal domestic violence attack detailed in NT coroner’s court, as landmark inquest begins – ABC News
The first day of hearings in a series of inquests into the deaths of four Aboriginal women at the hands of their partners has heard horrifying details of one victim’s death in a house fire lit by her partner. Warning: This story contains graphic details that some readers may find distressing.
Over six weeks of evidence, spread across six months, the court will examine each death separately, before two weeks of expert and institutional evidence is called in October to detail systemic issues in the Northern Territory’s response to domestic, family and sexual violence.
Violence against women and domestic violence: Council agrees position on draft EU law – Consilium
The Council settles on a proposed directive to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence.
The new law would criminalise the following offences across the EU:
- female genital mutilation
- cyber stalking
- cyber harrassment
- non-consensual sharing of intimate images
- cyber incitement to hatred or violence
Member states must also ensure that victims can report acts of violence against women or domestic violence through accessible and easy-to-use channels, which can include the possibility of online reporting and to submit evidence online.
Member states must also ensure that evidence relating to the victim’s past sexual conduct should only be permitted in criminal proceedings when it is relevant and necessary.
Victims would have the right to claim full compensation from offenders for damages. They should also be able to obtain compensation in the course of criminal proceedings when this is appropriate.
Member states will also be required to provide dedicated services, such as rape crisis centres, to support the victims of sexual violence. They must furthermore make a national telephone helpline available that victims of violence can reach 24/7, free of charge.
Currently, no legal instrument specifically addressed violence against women and domestic violence at EU level.
Source: Violence against women and domestic violence: Council agrees position on draft EU law – Consilium
NSW Police on domestic violence charges investigated by colleagues
Police officers accused of domestic violence are investigated by their own colleagues, they can sometimes keep their weapons, and there are no policies detailing their supervision if they remain employed after being charged or convicted, a damning report has found.
About 100 NSW police of almost every rank have been charged with domestic violence-related offences since 2015, including nine so far this year to May 31, unpublished data obtained by this masthead under freedom of information laws found.
Allegations include aggravated sexual assault, rape, stalking, breaching Apprehended Domestic Violence Orders, destroying property and recording intimate images without consent. Most of the police were senior constables (54), but 22 were sergeants, one was an inspector, and one a superintendent. The remainder were probationary constables or constables. The data did not include how many charges resulted in convictions.
Domestic violence advocates say women can be scared to report allegations against police because they fear conflicts of interest and access to firearms, and worry that the officer facing allegations will use their knowledge of police procedures to their advantage.
Source: NSW Police on domestic violence charges investigated by colleagues
First Nations women don’t always access health care after head injuries from family violence. Here’s why
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are 69 times more likely than non-Indigenous women to be hospitalised with head injuries due to assaults.
But some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women don’t access health care and support services after head injuries from family violence. Our research, published this week, explored some of the reasons why – and how these barriers can be overcome.
We found fear of child removal, poverty, coercive control and low awareness of traumatic brain injury related to family violence can all impact on when and how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women access health care and support services.
Interview with Anna Kerr of the Feminist Legal Clinic, Australia – Hague Mothers
There needs to be a presumption in favour of children remaining with their mothers where the mother is the primary care-giver. The onus should not be on a mother to prove that she should retain care of her own child.
Anna Kerr
In this interview, Anna Kerr explains why she believes that the operation of the Hague Convention has become a feminist issue and offers a powerful assessment of the barriers domestic abuse survivors face when trying to break free of their abusers. She also suggests ways in which these barriers might be overcome – an approach which requires significant cultural and social shifts as well as legislative change.
Listen to the interview here
Source: Interview with Anna Kerr of the Feminist Legal Clinic, Australia – Hague Mothers
Remembering Catherine Kassenoff and Continuing the Fight for Fair U.S. Child Custody Outcomes – Ms. Magazine
Attorney and mother Catherine Kassenoff died by suicide due to the U.S. family court system and unfair divorce and custody proceedings.
“This is a story that ends with my own assisted death in Switzerland. Its lead up has been published for years on Facebook, in Ms. magazine and in other media. The New York Court system is responsible for this outcome and should be held accountable for ruining the lives of my children, me, and so many other similarly-situated protective parents (mostly mothers) who have tried to stand up against abuse but were labeled ‘liars,’ ‘mentally ill’ and then treated like criminals.”
“I cannot survive this torment and the grief that comes from such a prolonged separation from my children. … This court system did this to me, as it does to countless other protective mothers (and fathers). Professor Joan Meier’s extensive research in this area confirms this is an epidemic. It is a predatory system that functions in darkness—through ‘gag’ orders like the one in my case, through a publicly-inaccessible docket, through a closed courtroom and through ex parte ‘temporary’ orders that are in place for years. Money is the goal, not helping families get through traumatic divorces. It must be investigated at large by the FBI or another federal law enforcement agency or it will continue to devastate our families.”
—Catherine Kassenoff, May 27, 2023
This case follows countless others across the country that claim “parental alienation”—a pseudoscientific theory that has been widely discredited, including by the United Nations—but is often used by those accused of abuse.