Mother Fights to Change Law After Husband Killed Children

http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/mother-fights-to-change-law-after-husband-killed-children-022510

Amy Castillo's husband killed their 3 children

Updated: Friday, 26 Feb 2010, 12:26 PM EST
Published : Thursday, 25 Feb 2010, 7:15 PM EST

• 

  Sherri Ly
  sherri.ly@foxtv.com

BY SHERRI LY/myfoxdc

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - When Amy Castillo's husband, Mark, killed her three children nearly two years ago she knew he'd carried out his threat.

"He said well really the worse thing I could do is kill the children and not you so you have to live without them," Castillo said.

Fifteen months earlier she told a Montgomery County judge the same story but he denied her final protective order because there wasn't "clear and convincing evidence."

Castillo says she was devastated.

The interim protective order had already angered her estranged husband, who suffered from mental illness and transcripts show had planned to violently end his own life.

"I think he would have had to have hurt them before, in the past, actually physically injured them. All along I felt that you have to actually hurt someone or prove you sexually abused them before you can get any help," Castillo said.

It's happened over and over to victims of abuse in Maryland. Victims try to get a protective order only to be denied sometimes with deadly consequences.

Yvette Cade, a Prince George's County woman was burned four years ago by her ex-husband after a judge removed a protective order as well.

In Castillo's case she said, "It went from threats to now they're dead. There wasn't anything in between."

So today Castillo went to Annapolis to fight for the protection her children six-year-old Anthony, four-year-old Austin and two-year-old Athena did not get.

She testified during a House Judiciary Committee hearing in support of a bill that lowers the standard for protective orders to a "preponderance of evidence."

Maryland is the only state that requires the standard of proof for a protective order be "clear and convincing evidence."

At least three times previously, lawmakers in Annapolis have tried to lower this standard, making it easier for someone to get a protective order. Each time it failed.

"People are in dangerous situations and in Amy's case, the dear children lost their lives because of our high standard of proof in Maryland. That's unacceptable," said Delegate Sue Hecht (D) Frederick County, the bill's main sponsor.

Historically, the judiciary committee has been hesitant to change laws.

It took Hecht seven years to get a child sex abuse crime of violence law passed and expects another tough fight on this one.

She ran a domestic violence center for 12 years.

"We had a woman shot in the face of my home county. This year she had been denied a protective order in two counties before she got shot in the face," Hecht said.

No word on when the committee will vote, but the Frederick lawmaker, is hopeful she'll have the votes to get the bill out of committee this time. Even with a protective order critics say enforcement is sometimes lacking but at least it gives victims another tool.

"You have to have something in place where not only the woman feels like she's being back up but there's teeth behind that," said Eileen King, Regional Director for Justice for Children-DC, an advocacy group for children and families.

"I never tried to get a protective order again," Castillo said after failing the first time, "because I felt like not only was it not helpful, it was useless."

By seeking the protective order, "it made him much more angry," Castillo said and without it she had nothing to stop him.

Castillo says she can look back now and say "I told you so" and wonders if she got the protective order would her children be alive.

 

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Mother Backs Easier Access To Protective Orders

http://wjz.com/local/amy.castillo.protective.2.1521048.html

Mother Backs Easier Access To Protective Orders

Reporting

Pat Warren

BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―

Click to enlarge

1 of 1

The mother of three children who were drowned in a downtown hotel bathroom by their father testified for easier access to protective orders.

CBS

 

The mother of three children who were drowned in a downtown hotel bathroom by their father testified for easier access to protective orders.

But as political reporter Pat Warren reports, not everyone is convinced it's necessary.

Dr. Amy Castillo hopes her devastating loss will somehow serve to help others in dire circumstances.

"I'm a pediatrician in Montgomery County, and I'm the mother who lost my 2, 4 and 6-year-old children when my husband drowned them in a bathtub in Baltimore almost two years ago," she said.

The deaths of her children at the hands of their father came just days after she tried and failed to get a protective order against her husband Mark Castillo.

"He told me that he could sabotage the house if he wanted to, and then he said, 'Actually I could kill all of you if I wanted to.' And then he said, 'The worst thing I could do would be to kill your children and not you so that you would have to live without them,'" said Amy Castillo.

A House committee is considering a bill to lower the burden of proof for obtaining a protection order from clear and convincing evidence to a preponderance of evidence. That's like going from "not a doubt" to "there's a good chance" that the person seeking the order could be in danger.

"I think that when you're in fear of your life and for your children, and you make that move to step out and do something about it, and then you go to get a protective order, and you don't get it, it's just really devastating. The other person is twice as angry, and you really -- it's like a discouragement to make a change in your life that needs to be made," said Amy Castillo.

But Montgomery County Delegate Luiz Simmons is among those who believe the clear and convincing standard is working, with only 14 percent of requests denied.

"When you examine them more closely, sometimes you find that the truth is a little bit more complicated than a bumper sticker," said Simmons.

The Maryland State Office of the Public Defender has taken a position of opposition to the bill.

Supporters include the Women's Legislative Caucus and the Coalition To Protect Maryland's Children.

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

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.

Technorati Tags: Violence,Women,Children,Jaffe,Zerwer,Poisson,Search,Justice,Services,Separation,Peter,Michelle,Samantha,Atkinson,Charitable,Foundation,system,efforts,Focus,Although,health,reader,context,myths,Download,Full,Report,Summary,Print,publication,Barriers,recommendations

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.

• Reporter: Erin Hartness
• Web Editor: Matthew Burns

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

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.

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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