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Parental Alienation Theory (PAS)
Technorati Tags: Diane,Sawyer,Domestic,Violence,Video,Parental,Alienation,TheoryFILED IN: ACTIVISM, CANADA, CAROLYN GREGOIRE, CORRUPT BASTARDS, DESPERATE MEN, DOMESTIC ABUSE, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, MCGILL UNIVERSITY, RADAR, VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
RADAR (Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting) whined and whined about this student newspaper article from McGill University (Canada)….they did make a couple changes, but RADAR still is not happy. Overall I thought it was an accurate, thoughtful piece of journalism. RADAR is the organization that basically claims that all women and children lie about abuse.
The McGill Tribune, 12/1/2009
OFF THE BOARD: The fight for men’s rights
by Carolyn Gregoire
Discrimination against men has, understandably perhaps, never occupied a prominent position on the feminist agenda. Recently, however, the rise of the men’s rights movement has led men’s rights groups and feminists alike to call issues specific to male identity into question. A recent article on Slate’s women-oriented webzine DoubleX entitled “Men’s Rights Groups are Becoming Frighteningly Effective” has spurred contentious debate extending beyond the feminist blogosphere as to whether feminism should encompass issues of men’s rights.
The article was triggered by the actions of men’s activist group RADAR (Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting) who gathered in Washington this October to lobby against issues such as false allegations of rape and domestic violence, unrecognized domestic violence against men, and child custody rights for divorced fathers.
Many women, and not only those who identify as feminists, are outraged by the measures these groups have taken. Rather than addressing the negative impact that patriarchy and gender stereotypes have on men and calling for change, RADAR chooses instead to undermine the prevalence of rape and domestic violence against women. Relying on hyperbolic claims and sensationalism – suggesting, for instance, that domestic violence laws represent “the largest regression in civil rights since the Jim Crow era” – RADAR succeeded in blocking the passage expansion of several domestic violence bills, such as the Violence Against Women act. [*Correction appended] It is also worth noting that many of the movement’s leaders are themselves accused batterers.
Though issues of men’s rights and injustice towards men deserve attention, the anti-feminist approach employed by RADAR and many other men’s rights groups in battling these issues is counterproductive and alarmingly reactionary. RADAR’s attempt to take funding away from “discriminatory” women’s-only shelters, rather than fighting for resources for male victims of domestic violence and sexual harassment, epitomizes this ineffectual methodology.
While it’s true that all human rights are men’s rights and that history is essentially a men’s rights movement, discrimination against men should be a feminist concern because male and female rights are inextricably intertwined. Though a patriarchal society operates for male benefit, societal standards of masculinity are also harmful to men in real ways which deserve to be acknowledged. Rigid definitions of masculinity which narrowly cast men into aggressive, machismo, bread-winning roles are damaging to men, and further, they are damaging to men in ways that are also damaging to women. Following this line of reasoning, many feminists fight for fathers’ rights as a means of countering the socially sanctioned notion that nurturer or caregiver must be a female-occupied role. A central objective of the feminist movement is debunking gender stereotypes, even when they apply only to men.
Male victims of sexual harassment, domestic violence, and rape deserve to be recognized and taken seriously, mothers should not be unjustly favoured over fathers in child custody proceedings, and individuals of both genders do not deserve to be systemically limited and harmed by rigid social definitions of masculinity. Feminist concerns and men’s rights are not mutually exclusive, and should meet on the common ground of seeking gender equality – the irony of it all is that we’re both fighting the same battle. As feminist Gloria Anzaldua suggests, “Men, even more than women, are fettered to gender roles … We need a new masculinity and the new man needs a movement.”
Correction: The article’s original version claimed that RADAR had blocked the passage of several domestic violence bills, including the Violence Against Women act. In fact, RADAR helped block the expansion of these bills. Also, the Tribune apologizes for previously claiming that many of RADAR’s leaders were accused batterers.
Read the excellent Double X article here.
Parental Alienation Theory (PAS)
Technorati Tags: RADAR,ALERT,BABIES,NOBODY,DOMESTIC,VIOLENCE,DRIVEL,RightsForMothers,ACTIVISM,CANADA,CAROLYN,GREGOIRE,CORRUPT,BASTARDS,DESPERATE,ABUSE,MCGILL,AGAINST,WOMEN,Accuracy,student,newspaper,article,Overall,piece,journalism,organization,children,Tribune,BOARD,rights,Discrimination,agenda,movement,male,Slate,DoubleX,Effective,actions,Washington,October,custody,Many,measures,Rather,impact,gender,prevalence,instance,regression,expansion,Correction,worth,leaders,Though,injustice,attention,victims,harassment,methodology,human,history,Rigid,bread,notion,role,proceedings,individuals,Feminist,irony,Gloria,Anzaldua,needs,version,fact,Also,Read,Double,Parental,Alienation,Theory,allegations,fathers,definitions,roles,genders,feminists,rape,batterers,sexualWarrant out in Wichita for arrest of Cecelia Arnold for trying to see her kids. Reform badly needed. AUDIO:http://tinyurl.com/ygksbyx
How can wanting to see your child whom the mother has never physically harmed be a felony, but yet, domestic violence, battery on another person (a physical crime, potentially fatal, bond $2,500.00) is only a misdemeanor????????? $10,000.00 bond
Listen to Cecillia Arnold:http://tinyurl.com/ygksbyx
ARNOLD , CECELLIA L
Race: B Sex: F Age: 24
Height: 506 Weight: 150
Hair: BLK Eyes: BRO
Warrant Id: 92696
Court Case No.: 2009CR003679
Type: ARREST WARRANT
Charge: INTERFERENCE W/PARENTAL CUSTODY; OTHER THAN JOINT CUSTODY
Felony/Misdemeanor: F
Bond: $10,000.00
By Earl Glynn On December 4, 2009
Abused mom Cecillia Arnold lost her parental rights. She wants her kids back.
“I did all court orders and my girls were placed back home with me”
“The case workers changed many times. I couldn’t get through to them sometimes.”
“The reintegration itself … was going well”
“I had stability. I had a home. I had a job. I had everything that they would ask someone to do for reintegration to occur.”
“My abuser … was going to jail at the time at the time the girls were removed from home. He was incarcerated for, I think, it was two years for the crime he committed against me.”
“The girls were removed from home for the second time.”
“The assistant [Sedgwick County] DA … filed a petition for termination [of parental rights], and after … the trial termination was granted.”
“As of now I have not seen my children since March of this year”
“During the trial I had testimony from different people — the foster care parents … — their testimony was overlooked.”
“… bad experiences with DCCA …”
“They said the reason for termination was … me not following the reintegration plan. That was not true.”
“… the ball got dropped on me from the Agency that was contracted through the courts … They didn’t do the job that they were supposed to do, which resulted in my girls being removed from home”
Senator Oletha Faust-Goudeau: “Her parents are in the audience … They have been denied custody of their grandchildren, too, and told there were too old; they were too sick.”
State Rep Bill Otto (R-LeRoy): “Your rights are severed?”
Arnold: “My rights have been terminated … I have no rights to my children. I have not seen them since March. I filed an appeal that didn’t go anywhere. I’m here today because I want my children back.” …
Otto: “Where was your lawyer?” …
Arnold: “I had court-appointed attorneys … I feel I could have done a better job representing myself” ..
Otto: “This should not happen to anybody … I’m so sorry.” …
Chair Kiegerl: “Your problem mainly is with the courts, although, I’m sure, the agency’s testimony was instrumental in the decision. … My heart goes out to you …I wish there were a magic wand that … we could use to solve your problem.”
Arnold left in tears.
Listen to Cecillia Arnold:http://tinyurl.com/ygksbyx
Watch this Kansas Watchdog YouTube Video of Arnold explaining her case.
Technorati Tags: Kansas,Domestic,Violence,Victim,Mother,Against,State,Felony,Warrant,Babies,KansasWatchdog,Wichita,Cecelia,Arnold,kids,Reform,VIDEO,AUDIO,battery,person,crime,misdemeanor,Details,CECELLIA,Race,Hair,Court,Case,Type,ARREST,Charge,INTERFERENCE,PARENTAL,CUSTODY,JOINT,Bond,problems,placement,removal,children,Earl,Glynn,December,Cecillia,rights,orders,workers,times,abuser,Sedgwick,termination,March,testimony,DCCA,ball,Agency,courts,Senator,Oletha,Faust,Goudeau,audience,Bill,Otto,LeRoy,Where,lawyer,Chair,Kiegerl,decision,heart,wand,tears,Listen,Watch,Watchdog,YouTube,tinyurl,ygksbyx,parents,girls,reintegration,didn
FILED IN: CHILD CUSTODY, CHILD CUSTODY FOR FATHERS, CHILDREN'S RIGHTS, GUSTAVO TURECKI,MATERNAL DEPRIVATION, MICHAEL MEANEY, MOSHE SZYF, MOTHER CHILD RELATIONSHIP, MOTHERLESS CHILDREN, MURDER, MURDER - SUICIDE, NONCUSTODIAL MOTHERS, PATRICK MCGOWEN, ROBERT HAWKINS,SCIENTIFIC STUDIES, SUICIDE
More on maternal deprivation. A study completed at McGill Universityconfirms maternal care has an effect on children. Imagine not having that maternal care…being deprived of your mother, and how it affects future suicide victims.
Remember Robert Hawkins, the boy who shot up the mall in Omaha, Nebraska. His father had custody of him:
Throughout most of his life, he and his family were plagued by his psychiatric problems. The day after he turned 14, he was sent to a mental health treatment center for threatening to kill his stepmother with an axe.
Four months later, he became a ward of the State of Nebraska, which lasted nearly four years. He had undergone two psychiatric hospitalizations, and was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, an unspecified mood disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and parent-child relationship problems. His extensive treatments cost the state USD$265,000.
On December 5th 2007, Robert Hawkins, went to Westroads Mall in Omaha and fired against employees and customers in a department store, killing eight people and then he killed himself.
Maribel Rodriguez, Robert’s mother said in interviews she was deeply devastated. She hasn’t had custody of her son since Robert was around 4 years old but she said that had a good relationship with her son and felt the obligation to apologize for what he did. Robert was without hope, without faith and without courage she added.
Who was the first one he told “I love you” on his suicide note? Mommy. This is what maternal deprivation gets you. Now, the information from the study…
Study confirms effects of early environment in brains of suicide victims
McGill University and Douglas Institute scientists have discovered that childhood trauma can actually alter your DNA and shape the way your genes work. This confirms in humans earlier findings in rats, that maternal care plays a significant role in influencing the genes that control our stress response.
Using a sample of 36 brains; 12 suicide victims who were abused; 12 suicide victims who were not abused and 12 controls, the researchers discovered different epigenetic markings in the brains of the abused group. These markings influence the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) function, a stress-response which increases the risk of suicide.
This research builds upon findings published last May that showed how child abuse can leave epigenetic marks on DNA.
But, in this, the first study of its kind, Moshe Szyf, a professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics; Gustavo Turecki, associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry who practices at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute; Michael Meaney, a professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology and Neurosurgery, who is also at the Douglas; and McGill postdoctoral research fellow Patrick McGowan have built on their world-renowned epigenetics work to uncover how parental care affects the DNA in the brains of a group of Quebec male suicide victims who suffered abuse as children. The all-McGill study is set to be published in the February 22, issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience.
“We know from clinical experience that a difficult childhood can have an impact on the course of a person’s life”, said Dr. Turecki.
“Now we are starting to understand the biological implications of such psychological abuse,” added Dr. Szyf.
“The function of our DNA is not as fixed as previously believed, said Dr. Meaney. “The interaction between the environment and the DNA plays a crucial role in determining our resistance to stress thus the risk for suicide. Epigenetic marks are the product of this interaction.”
Epigenetics is the study of changes in the function of genes that don’t involve changes in the sequences of DNA. The DNA is inherited from our parents; it remains fixed throughout life and is identical in every part of the body. During gestation and even later in development, however, the genes in our DNA are marked by a chemical coating called DNA methylation. These marks are somewhat sensitive to one’s environment, especially early in life. The epigenetic marks punctuate the DNA and program it to express the right genes at the appropriate time and place.
The researchers discovered that maternal care influences hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) function in the rat through epigenetic programming of certain receptors in the brain. In humans, child abuse alters HPA stress responses and increases the risk for suicide.
In previous studies in laboratory rats, the group proved that simple maternal behaviour such as mothers who licked their pups during early childhood has a profound effect on the epigenetic marks on specific genes and effects on behaviour in ways that are sustained throughout life. However, these effects on gene expression and stress responses can also be reversed in adult life through treatments known to affect the epigenetic mark known as DNA methylation.
The brain samples in the latest study came from the Quebec Suicide Brain Bank, administered by Dr. Turecki of the Douglas Mental Health University Institute. With the support of the Bureau du Coroner du Québec (Office of the Chief Medical Examiner), the McGill Group for Suicide Studies (MGSS) founded the Quebec Suicide Brain Bank (QSBB) at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, to promote studies on the phenomenon of suicide. Research carried out on brain tissue can help develop intervention and prevention programs to help people suffering mental distress and who are at risk of committing suicide.
The research was funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research and the National Institute of Child Health and Development (USA).
Please visit McGill’s website for this story.
Technorati Tags: SCIENTIFIC,EVIDENCE,MATERNAL,CARE,CHILDREN,RightsForMothers,CHILD,CUSTODY,RIGHTS,GUSTAVO,TURECKI,DEPRIVATION,MICHAEL,MEANEY,MOSHE,SZYF,MOTHER,RELATIONSHIP,MURDER,SUICIDE,NONCUSTODIAL,PATRICK,MCGOWEN,ROBERT,HAWKINS,McGill,Imagine,victims,Remember,mall,Omaha,Nebraska,father,Throughout,life,problems,health,treatment,Four,ward,State,attention,deficit,disorder,mood,parent,cost,December,Westroads,employees,customers,department,Maribel,Rodriguez,obligation,faith,courage,Mommy,trauma,brain,Study,environment,brains,Douglas,Institute,findings,rats,plays,role,response,marks,professor,Pharmacology,Therapeutics,Psychiatry,Mental,Neurology,Neurosurgery,McGowan,world,Quebec,male,February,journal,Nature,Neuroscience,impact,person,interaction,resistance,Epigenetic,product,Epigenetics,gestation,development,chemical,gene,Bank,Bureau,Coroner,Québec,Office,Chief,Medical,Examiner,Group,MGSS,QSBB,phenomenon,Research,tissue,intervention,prevention,Canadian,National,FATHERS,treatments,humans,Departments,implications,sequences,responses,psychiatric,genes,researchers,markings,hypothalamic,pituitary,adrenal,methylation,behaviour
FILED IN: CHILDREN'S RIGHTS, ALCOHOLISM, FATHERS, MENTAL DISORDERS
From BBC News:
Fathers’ mental health problems can affect their children
Children whose fathers have mental health disorders are likely to have psychiatric or behavioural disorders themselves, researchers warn.
University of Oxford experts reviewed existing evidence and said, in the Lancet, there had been too much focus on mothers’ mental health issues.
They said boys in particular could be affected if their father had depression or was an alcoholic.
Mental health campaigners said men often had problems seeking help.
Alcoholism
The Oxford team said it was not surprising much of researchers’ emphasis had focused on mothers as, in most societies, it is mothers who provide the majority of childcare – particularly when children are very young.
But they said the role of men had been “underemphasised” and that they had more influence on their children’s development than previously thought.
In addition, the peak age for men to be affected by psychiatric disorders is the same as the peak age for becoming a father – between 18 and 35.
Paternal depression during the postnatal period, measured at eight weeks after birth, has been associated with increasing the chance of the child subsequently developing behavioural and emotional problems from 10% to 20%.
Teenage offspring of depressed fathers also have an increased risk of various psychological problems, including depression and suicidal behaviour.
Around 2% of men are affected by generalised anxiety disorder, and children whose parents have anxiety disorders have a two-fold increased risk of developing such disorders themselves, researchers say.
Previous studies have also found links between a father’s alcoholism and an increased risk of conduct disorders, where children behave aggressively and destructively and abuse substances – particularly in sons.
Paternal alcoholism is also associated with an increased risk of mood disorders, depressive symptoms, poor performance at school, low self-esteem and problems forming relationships.
Adolescents whose parents have bipolar disorder are up to 10 times more likely than adolescents with mentally healthy parents to develop bipolar disorder, and three to four times more likely to develop other psychiatric illness, research suggests.
‘Nurturing role’
The Oxford team, led by psychiatrist Professor Paul Ramchandani, said more research was needed on how fathers’ psychiatric disorders affect their children’s development.
He said: “Fathers are more involved in child-rearing in countries including the UK than they used to be.
“In years gone by, if fathers were depressed and distant it may not have made much of an impact.
“We now need a more general understanding of what effects psychiatric problems in fathers can have on children.”
Emily Wooster, policy and campaign manager for the mental health charity Mind, said: “Men’s roles in bringing up children have changed significantly over the last century, with many dads now taking on an active ‘nurturing role’ so it’s important that there is more research into the relationship between fathers’ mental health problems and how these may affect their children.
“Mind has found that men often have difficulties coming forward and talking about their mental health problems, perhaps because of the way they are socialised into being ’strong, tough men’ who can’t show their emotions.”
She said the charity was due to launch a campaign next week calling for “male-friendly” mental health services and better support for men.
Technorati Tags: DEPRESSION,HARMS,YOUNG,CHILDREN,RightsForMothers,RIGHTS,ALCOHOLISM,MENTAL,From,News,health,problems,Oxford,Lancet,father,team,emphasis,role,development,addition,Paternal,period,Teenage,Around,disorder,Previous,links,mood,performance,self,relationships,Adolescents,times,psychiatrist,Professor,Paul,Ramchandani,impact,Wooster,policy,manager,Mind,relationship,male,services,FATHERS,DISORDERS,campaigners,substances,symptoms,roles,emotions,psychiatric,behavioural,researchers,parents,bipolarhttp://voices.washingtonpost.com/crime-scene/montgomery/mother-of-children-drowned-in.html
Amy Castillo, the Montgomery County pediatrician whose ex-husband drowned their three children in a hotel room bathtub in 2008, is scheduled to testify in Annapolis today to support a bill that would make it easier to receive court-approved protective orders.
Here is her prepared testimony.
Before her husband killed their children, Castillo tried to get a protective order to keep him away. A judge denied her request. Maryland law requires "clear and convincing evidence" to grant protective orders. The billwould lower the bar to "preponderance of the evidence."
Efforts to apply that standard to protective orders have failed in the past in the Maryland legislature. The group Justice For Children also will argue for lowering the burden of proof.
Here is a video of Amy Castillo discussing her husband's guilty plea in October.
The legal issues involving child custody disputes and protective orders can be complicated, and difficult for judges to sort through, as was the case with the Castillo's.
-- Dan Morse
Technorati Tags: Mother,children,bathtub,House,orders,crime,Castillo,Montgomery,husband,hotel,room,Annapolis,Here,testimony,Maryland,preponderance,Efforts,legislature,Justice,plea,October,custody,judges,Morsehttp://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=7298867http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/assignment_7&id=7298861
VIDEO: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=7298867
Vic Lee
More: Bio, E-mail, News Team
They call themselves "the alliance." Others call them rebels. They are a group of California judges who say the state's judicial branch is no longer serving the people and they are demanding reform.
Last month, Judge David Lampe from Kern County made a public appeal to the California Judicial Council to stop closing courthouses one day a month. It is a decision the council says it made because of the state's budget crisis.
Lampe says his plea fell on deaf ears.
"I believe that a lot of judges felt they did not have a sufficient voice in the decision that closed our courts," he said.
That decision was made by the 27 judges who sit on the judicial council. They make statewide policy and administer the multi-billion dollar budget for California's courts. Members of the judicial council are appointed by the chief justice of the state supreme court, who also presides over its meetings. The council's staff is called the AOC, short for Administrative Office of the Courts.
The court closures and employee furloughs have triggered an open revolt against the council by some of California's 1,700 judges.
"A very insular, elite group of folks has run this branch for now 15 years or so," Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Charles Horan.
Some judges began complaining that the judicial council and the AOC were becoming a remote bureaucracy; all too powerful and all too secretive with the court's budget. Last September, these judges formed what they called the alliance -- a sort of pro-democracy movement.
Lee: Is this something like Star Wars: Alliance versus evil empire?
Horan: You know, I must be truthful, there is a certain element of that and you're not the first person to notice it.
Judges Horan and Lampe helped organize the alliance which now has more than 200 members from across the state. They are shopping a bill in Sacramento that would create an advisory group of judges from each of the 58 superior court districts to provide oversight on the judicial council's budget decisions.
"The governance there is very much out of touch with the branch, out of touch with what's happening in the local courts and out of touch with the view of the public," Lampe said.
Alliance members point to the expensive upgrade project for the court's computer system during these lean times.
"They went from a month ago apparently $1.4 billion estimate to now $1.7. The numbers fly around and are mind-boggling," Horan said. "It's a million dollars per judge. One million dollars per judge by the time they're done."
The alliance complains that judicial council votes are almost always unanimous.
"There are 21 voting members currently of the judicial council," Lampe said. "Our research discloses that except for four instances over the last 13 years, all of their decisions have been 21 to nothing,"
The alliance says the council's staff, the AOC, has grown to a huge bureaucracy of nearly 1,000 state employees. The AOC gave pay raises to dozens of staffers during the height of the budget crisis when most judges took a voluntary 5 percent pay cut.
This angers alliance members like Judge Quentin Kopp of San Francisco.
"It is incompatible with the prudent administration of money," Kopp said. "It makes no sense to be adding to compensation for people in the AOC."
The AOC counters by saying despite the pay raises, there have been voluntary furloughs and no cost of living increases.
"So we've been very conservative in terms of our costs and payroll at the AOC," Ronald Overholt with the AOC said.
Judicial council members ABC7 spoke with bristled at the alliance's criticism of them, saying their decisions are influenced by a broad spectrum of judges.
"It's not just those of us sitting in that room, but it's about 500 judges around the state who sit on committees and bring reports to us and work very hard day in and day out," California Appellate Court Justice Brad Hill said.
"Everything is vetted, everything goes out for public comment," California Appellate Court Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye said. "We seek public comment on every proposal, every rule, every idea."
The public, that is who the rebel judges say they are fighting for. After all, Lampe says, it is the people's court, not theirs.
"We do know the value of speaking with one voice as a branch," Lampe said. "I think to speak with one voice, that voice must first be found. Work with us to give the people a voice. Thank you very much."
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