In Service to our Communities

Who is making a real difference in peoples’ lives?
By Valerie D Nixon

Vote socially responsible and honest individuals into public office.

Esther Yang is running for New York State Assembly, 74th district which covers a large portion of the lower East Side of Manhattan. She is a community and judicial activist who believes in accountability and in bringing governmental power back the citizens in which it serves. Esther, a woman of integrity and innovation, has vowed to open her district office 24/7 with free legal and medical advice from a licensed attorney and a health care practitioner to address the needs of her constituents. Her goal is to create a mutually caring community that will support families and individuals who live and work in the Lower East Side. Fed up with elected officials' complacency and broken promises that has made all New Yorkers suffer, Esther decided to run for State Assembly to effect some much needed changes. Esther Yang is probably the best suited candidate to date slated to become the first Asian NY State Assemblywoman. www.estheryang.net

“Neighbors in Health” Central Valley Kaiser Permanente Hospitals benefiting the Valleys’ uninsured and underinsured.

For the 9th year in a row, Kaiser Permanente facilities in California’s Central Valley held their annual community health fair on Sunday August 20th. Clinics in Manteca, Modesto, and Stockton offered free dental exams, children's clinic (free immunizations and medical, dental, hearing, vision, school entry, and sports exams), women's exams, men's physicals, STD screenings, HIV counseling, adult chronic conditions diagnosis, a one day with no-charge laboratory and pharmacy services, plus referrals to no-cost or low-cost services and follow up exams. Turn out was expected to be in the thousands and more than 200 Kaiser physicians and 1,500 volunteers, from both Kaiser and United Way, offered their medical expertise and assistance. Numerous interpreters were on hand. As an individual who both utilized the free services and acted as a volunteer, I can attest to the fact that the professionalism was exceptional and the volunteer staff eager to assist any and all who came. Rarely will the uninsured find the kind of assistance I witnessed, and all for free. www.kaiserpermanente.org

Aids education and spiritual guidance in Rwanda and beyond.

Evangelical pastor of the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, Dr. Rick Warren is probably best known for his series of books and media titled the “Purpose Driven Life”. Already well known to those who follow his teachings, it came as no surprise that the use of his book would be thrust into public scrutiny and ultimately praised during a hostage crisis in March of 2005. Hostage Ashley Smith, of Atlanta, Georgia read excerpts from the Purpose Driven Life to accused killer Brian Nichols and changed both of their lives on that fateful day. Dr. Warren is now concentrating his efforts to combat what he terms as the five “Global Goliaths”- spiritual emptiness, self-serving leadership, extreme poverty, pandemic disease and illiteracy/poor education. Money and extreme power is a corrupting influence in every area, in government, business and in personal lives. Character- good character is needed to resist the temptation to ignore personal ethics and morals and to do what is in the best interests of all, selflessly. The Warrens were determined that the new-found fame and fortune from the Purpose Driven Life series was not going to change their lives drastically. He repaid 25 years of church salary, began “reverse“ tithing in which they kept only 10% of earnings, giving away the remaining 90%, and they began 3 charitable foundations.

Dr. Warren, admittedly at the initial urging from his wife Kay, have teamed to bring education and spiritual guidance to the battle worn African nation of Rwanda. Kay Warren was motivated by an article chronicling the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa, a quote box in the middle of the article read: "12 million children orphaned in Africa due to AIDS" caught her attention and ultimately her determination to make a difference in the lives of the orphans. Kay was convinced that God was calling her to the front lines of ministry against HIV/AIDS in Africa, a calling her husband supported but initially didn’t respond to. Rwanda's President Kagame read The Purpose-Driven Life, he wrote Warren and invited him to visit. With this visit, the seeds of a humanitarian ministry developed. The PEACE plan was born, a plan that set a goal of the placement of spiritual minded individuals within each community, to train and assist each local church to become a Purpose Driven Church. The responsibility of HIV/AIDS awareness and education would become a focus of each local church, urging personal responsibility for one another onto each and every member of the church. More than being missionaries, these PEACE team members are visionaries, and they envision a world without HIV/AIDS and where spirituality is supported by a strong backbone of like minded community members. www.purposedrivenlife.com

Coastal Post August article by Valerie - Domestic Violence And Learning To Live Again

http://www.coastalpost.com/06/08/06.html

Domestic violence is always wrong. Child abuse is always wrong. That must be made very clear here. It only takes a quick glance at your local news to see another example of the fact that abuse is all around us and it is easy to ignore when you are not personally effected by it.
But in some families it becomes a way of life, you live the continual rollercoaster of the cycles of abuse and you learn to survive, since that is about the most you can do. You survive.

Most women will say that it sort of snuck up on them, the abusers tactics were very subtle at first. Verbal and emotional abuse are just the beginning, name calling, getting extremely angry at what you see as very minor things. You are always on the defensive and walk on eggshells until you know that today is a safe day, you don't have to be on guard, today.

The day comes when you find your clothes cut up and your possessions destroyed. He slowly gives or throws away anything that you brought into the marriage, he hides money telling you that it is being put away for security, for the families security. Later on the abuse becomes physical, if you walk too close behind him, his elbow jerks back and catches you under your jaw. You walk past him only to feel his arm across your throat as you have just been clothes-lined. Some women wake up to black eyes and bruises around their throats, it is often hard to remember what happened, but the physical signs are there and must be hidden to protect yourself from his anger at being exposed for what he really is-an abuser. He will deny it, he "didn't do anything, you just made it up and you have no witnesses."

No one will believe you and if you tell anyone, (he) will take your children and you will never see them again. If you leave, you will be walking the streets, he swears to it. And you are afraid that he is right so you stay and learn to take the punches and you become less of a person day by day. Then your children begin to imitate their father, it is always better to identify with the more powerful parent, the one who bullies and hurts than to be a victim, the one who is being hurt. So the kids begin to act like their abuser and the school gets involved, as no one in the normal world thinks that being threatened or hit is acceptable and they want you to do something to stop your child from bullying other students.

You take your children to a counselor and you take them to behavioral therapy and you leave your abuser because you are told that you have the right to live free from abuse. The family court gets involved and you struggle to understand why the abuser has an attorney and you do not, after all, the law says that during custody litigation the parties should be equally represented. That is what the law states, but in reality when there is domestic violence or child abuse accusations, rarely will you find the victim having legal representation.

The temporary victory of having said "NO, no more abuse" and taking the courageous step to a life that is free from violence is short-lived once you discover that the court is not a friendly environment for any abused woman or child. You will not be believed unless you have a very high priced attorney to inform the court of the facts and evidence supporting the abuse.

If you do not fully cooperate in giving him unlimited access to the children, if you insist that he follow the court ordered schedule, he finds it very easy to project the failures onto you. Simply stating in court that he is not receiving the visitation as scheduled begins the judicial manipulation.

If you refuse to meet him alone, if you refuse to accept the threats, it is used in court to accuse you of PAS, (Parental Alienation Syndrome.) PAS is an unscientific theory in which one parent tries to turn the children against the other parent, a term coined by the late Dr. Richard Gardner.

Unfortunately, most supporters of Dr. Gardner have failed to investigate the rest of his belief system which includes a very pro-pedophilia agenda. PAS is almost exclusively used by fathers who have been accused of abuse, against mothers who have taken steps to protect their children from the abuse. Judges seem to like the theory because it allows them to remove custody from a mother and give it to the father, no questions asked and if the father is guilty of abusing his children, there is no one watching and reporting. Once the judge has decided that you are committing PAS, any perjury, lies or evidence of abuse by the father or father's attorney is disregarded in favor of severely punishing the mother for daring to accuse the father. Custody is switched to the accused abuser and if the mother is very fortunate, she may get to have some supervised visitation.

Victims of abuse who deny visitation (Penal Code 278.5) have a legal remedy while seeking protection by filing what is known as a "good cause" order. The mother is told to enter a Domestic Violence shelter and ask the court for protection against parental kidnapping charges. How often this protection works is questionable since each district attorney can interpret the law however they wish and even if a parent makes a good faith effort to follow the law, she can find herself in jail under half a million dollar bail and facing 3 years prison time, as well as the total loss of custody of her children who will then be placed into the sole custody of the very person who abused them in the first place!

Not much of a choice. There have been several cases in Marin County in which a mother has attempted to protect her children against abuse and in each case, different legal methods were taken, all failed. Each mother lost all parental rights, were jailed and only after years were able to receive some visitation. Even a parent who has actually abused the children, abused drugs and alcohol or committed felonies are allowed some reunification with their children, but a protective mother and her children who get caught up in the slow churning twilight zone of family court in Marin County do not qualify for reunification services. Their relationship is destroyed and no legal reason is ever given. Currently there is another Marin County mother on trial who faced the difficult choice of either protecting her daughter from the threat of abuse or going into hiding to ensure that she would be safe.

What can a protective parent do? Maybe there is some hope. Over the past few years there has been a change in the winds of justice. Several judges and attorneys have begun to loudly speak out against the punitive nature of the courts when a parent attempts to protect themselves or their children from abuse. The vocal judiciary and associate professionals have written books and participated in documentary films in their move to expose the legal abuse that follows on the heels of domestic violence and child abuse. These brave souls are speaking out in order to fix a problem that is being ignored by many in the legal profession, as it doesn't generate income when the victim is destitute and unable to pay even the retainer fee.

The 2005 Tatge and Lasseur documentary: Breaking the Silence, Children's Stories featured the Honorable Sol Gothard, former 5th circuit judge and author who called for action to stop childhood sexual abuse, and for increased awareness in regards to awarding custody of abused children to perpetrators despite the evidence of long term harm.

Also in the film is author Lundy Bancroft, an expert on Domestic Violence and batterers treatment. Lundy has written several books on the subject including his latest; The Batterer as Parent-Addressing the Impact of Domestic Violence on Family Dynamics. Attorney and author Michael Lesher and Amy Neustein PhD co-wrote "From Madness to Mutiny: Why Mothers Are Running From the Family Courts and What Can Be Done About It." Attorney Richard Ducote whose accomplishments include defending, supporting and drafting landmark legislation for the benefit of abused children within the foster care system and family courts. California Attorney and Executive Director of the Child Abuse Forensic Institute -Seth Goldstein is another defender for abused children.

For simple step by step instructions and FAQs regarding what abuse is and what to do once you have decided to take the step to a life free from abuse, a good source would be "Scared to Leave, Afraid to Stay: Paths From Family Violence to Safety" by Attorney and author Barry Goldstein. This book tells the story of 10 women who found the courage to leave their abusers and the often difficult steps they took when they entered the family courts as well as the legal tactics the abusers used to discredit the evidence of abuse.

Custody-Visitation Scandal Cases have many of the following attributes: 1. Allegations of domestic violence and/or child abuse made by the mother and/or child(ren)

2. A failure or refusal by court agents (attorneys, law guardians, forensic evaluator, therapists, and/or judge) to take such allegations seriously.

3. An outcome that places the children at serious risk

4. An outcome that appears to be 180 degrees from what it should be.

5. An outcome that gives custody to the alleged abuser and restricted visitation to the protective mother.

6. The use by the abusive father and his attorney of "standard abuser tactics" (i.e. seeking custody to punish the mother or maintain control; using visitation or custody to harass mother; claiming that unfounded child protective claims were made falsely and maliciously by the mother; attempting to manipulate the children etc.)

7. The propagation of myths and stereotypes about domestic violence (i.e. that mothers and children frequently make false allegations of abuse to gain an advantage in litigation) by the court and its agents.

8. Using "experts" with little or no training and understanding of domestic violence.

9. Gender bias and double standards (mothers being held to a higher standard than fathers)

10. Failure to consider and use up-to-date domestic violence research.

11. Approaches that blame the victim.

12. Use of biased or unsupported theories (i.e. Parental Alienation Syndrome; "Angry women"; "Vindictive women"; alienation; masochism etc.)

13. Extreme penalties against protective mothers.

14. Outcomes that make it appear like the judge was bribed even though that is usually not the cause of the judicial abuse.

"I believe research will find that 98% or more of such cases have been tragically mishandled. The purpose of my book and my work is to help protective mothers overcome the all too common mistakes in the court system."-Barry Goldstein Esq.

For further information and resources, please log on to my online Page: Truth and Justice Family Court Reform at http://truthinscotsthistle.blogspot.com/ Or email me directly: justonemom@gmail.com