Washington State DSHS - Children's Administration - What is child abuse or neglect?

Common Indicators of Physical Abuse

Consider the possibility of physical abuse when the child:

• Unexplained burns, bites, bruises, broken bones, or black eyes.
• Fading bruises or other marks noticeable after an absence from school.
• Frightened of the parents and protests or cries when it is time to go home.
• Shrinks at the approach of adults.
• Reports injury by a parent or another adult caregiver.

Consider the possibility of physical abuse when the parent or other adult caregiver:

• Offers conflicting, unconvincing, or no explanation for the child's injury.
• Describes the child as "evil," or in some other very negative way.
• Uses harsh physical discipline with the child.
• Has a history of abuse as a child.

Common Indicators of Neglect

Consider the possibility of neglect when the child:

• Is frequently absent from school.
• Begs or steals food or money.
• Lacks needed medical or dental care, immunizations, or glasses.
• Is consistently dirty and has severe body odor.
• Lacks sufficient clothing for the weather.
• Abuses alcohol or other drugs.
• States that there is no one at home to provide care.

Consider the possibility of neglect when the parent or other adult caregiver:

• Appears to be indifferent to the child.
• Seems apathetic or depressed.
• Behaves irrationally or in a bizarre manner.
• Is abusing alcohol or other drugs.

Common Indicators of Neglect

Consider the possibility of neglect when the child:

• Is frequently absent from school.
• Begs or steals food or money.
• Lacks needed medical or dental care, immunizations, or glasses.
• Is consistently dirty and has severe body odor.
• Lacks sufficient clothing for the weather.
• Abuses alcohol or other drugs.
• States that there is no one at home to provide care.

Consider the possibility of neglect when the parent or other adult caregiver:

• Appears to be indifferent to the child.
• Seems apathetic or depressed.
• Behaves irrationally or in a bizarre manner.
• Is abusing alcohol or other drugs.

Common Indicators of Emotional Abuse

Consider the possibility of emotional maltreatment when the child:

• Shows extremes in behavior, such as overly compliant or demanding behavior, extreme passivity, or aggression.
• Is either inappropriately adult (parenting other children, for example) or inappropriately infantile (frequently rocking or head-banging, for example).
• Is delayed in physical or emotional development.
• Has attempted suicide.
• Reports a lack of attachment to the parent.

Consider the possibility of emotional maltreatment when the parent or other adult caregiver:

• Constantly blames, belittles, or berates the child.
• Is unconcerned about the child and refuses to consider offers of help for the child's problems.
• Overtly rejects the child.

Author: National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information (DHHS)

What Happens Once Abuse & Neglect is Reported?

Child Protective Services

Staff within DSHS provides Child Protective Services (CPS). When someone reports that a child may be abused or neglected, CPS determines if it meets the criteria for investigation. A report of suspected child abuse or neglect could be made to CPS or the police. Even though CPS staff and the police work together, they make separate investigations. CPS conducts family assessments, and the police conduct criminal investigations.

Protective Custody

When it appears that a child is in danger of being harmed, or has already been seriously abused or neglected, a police officer can place the child in protective custody. Custody of the child is then transferred to CPS which places the child with a relative or in foster care. By law, a child can be kept in protective custody for no more than 72 hours, excluding weekends and legal holidays. If the child is not returned to the parents or some other voluntary arrangement made within 72 hours, the matter must be reviewed by a court.

Parental Rights

In very serious cases of abuse and neglect, a child can be removed permanently from the parents. This is called termination of parental rights. When this happens, the child becomes legally free through a court procedure. The parent no longer has any rights or responsibilities toward the child. If a parent voluntarily gives up a child for adoption, the process is called relinquishing parental rights.

Child Welfare Services

Child Welfare Services (CWS) provides services to children and families with long-standing abuse and neglect problems. Typically these children have been removed from the family home and are in the foster care system. The focus of CWS is to achieve a permanent plan and placement for these children as soon as possible.

Go to DSHS Children's Administration Child Abuse and Neglect Website for more information - CLICK HERE!

Okay, so if you look at the Washington State Statistics On Child Protective Services Cases in Senator Pam Roach's blog, Pam Roach Report ,the statistics not only do not add up, but it leaves even a regular citizen of Washington state with a mere average IQ to wonder what happens with all the children in our state that fall through the cracks?

Well, if you look at all the state funding that DSHS gets for each program, paid by your taxes, it isn't too difficult to know that their real aim isn't for the safety and well being of Washington state's children, it is to use their power to make decisions over our children that will ultimately protect their financial security.

Just imagine this huge sifter that has all the abused and neglected children in Washington state along with state funds for the Child Protective Services department. Now, imagine the management of the Child Protective Services cranking the handle on this sifter. The final result is that this sifter will save out the state funds while letting our children who need help to live a safe and loving childhood will be discarded right back into the hands of their abusers and neglectful caregivers.

What's sickening is that all case workers know what provisions Washington state's laws give abused and/or neglected children protection. Yet, they routinely do what the CPS management tells them to do, in order to protect their job and income. This is horrifying and pathetic! Since when does the safety and well being of a child take priority over someone's job or bank account?

Meanwhile, these children that have fallen through the cracks are growing up in abusive and unhealthy homes, and will grow up to be potentially screwed up adults. For us, who are getting up in to our golden years, this is a scary thought. When the times, if any of us should become totally dependent on these children that are being screwed up in the head when they become adults, I would hate to think of the quality of care that we will get.

Child abuse and/or neglect doesn't affect only the child, it affects us all. And, so many of us in Washington state are waiting for CPS to get their priority straight and start protecting our children as they are by law required to do so. For the sake of our children, for the sake of us of the older group of society, and for the sake of a safe and healthy Washington state!

Get it together CPS!

Gail Lakritz: The War on Women

By Gail Lakritz

The War On Women

A few years ago, we had organizations and people who, when the disturbing trend of court abuse became apparent to many individuals, were willing to stand up to the slaughter. They aided the women who were not knowledgeable about court matters and were too poor to afford the help needed to make the fight a fair one. Today, they all seem to have crawled into holes to hide from the War On Women perpetrated by law enforcement, the media, the mental health profession and those associated with the courts. Even our federal government has abandoned women by funding any fly by night fatherhood program that applies for funding, refusal by the FBI and DOJ to investigate allegations of corruption and a White House that has created the Council of Women and Girls, an underfunded and ineffectual council designed to quiet the many complaints lodged against the government but have no power to do anything to prevent the cause of the complaints.¹

Our national organizations refuse to address the problem, perhaps because they have been side tracked by issues that affect only a minority percentage of women and do not attempt to appeal to women of all ages and beliefs. NOW, the organization founded in equality for all women has focused on the gay and lesbian communities to such an extent that it is perceived by mainstream heterosexual women as “that organization for lesbians.” In NOW’s press release of September 21, 2009, rather than stress a march on Washington as a march for equality for all women, NOW focused on “Eliminating second-class rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people” ² which has the effect of alienating women who would otherwise support such an action.

In the past few years, the media has been sensationalizing the number of violence incidents predicated by women. According to Bureau of Justice statistics, 83 percent of spouse murderers are male.³ When horrific murders of women and their children are discovered to be predicated by a male domestic partner, the media discontinues coverage of the story. This was the case of the murders of six people in Fayetteville, TN and Alabama whose bodies were discovered on July 18, 2009. As soon as it becomes public information that the murders where connected to domestic violence, all national coverage of the events was discontinued. Time and again, media chooses to sensationalize the murders committed by females, for example, in the blogs written by Teri Stoddard and published in the online edition of the San Francisco Examiner.⁴

PRIOR TO APPEARING IN ANY COURT ROOM

Some of the people a victim will encounter prior to entering a courtroom as well as during the court process:

Law enforcement, being a majority of men, still side with men in domestic violence matters. Women, though decidedly making inroads into policing, are regulated to desk jobs, after the fact investigation and seldom act as primary responders and arresting officers.⁵ Educational programs for law enforcement have been ineffective due to the continued lack of intensive training required to determine who is the perpetrator and who is the victim. Educational programs are often limited to “a couple of hours with self-paced training program”⁶that teaches nothing about the mental effects of abuse on the victim, i.e. dealing with a victim in mental distress from repeated and prolonged abuse or dealing with narcissists and sociopaths who are experts at distorting situations. To further compound this situation, police are often too enmeshed with lawyers who represent batters. They are encouraged by lawyers to slant, fake and distort reports of violence against women to lessen the possible consequences of violence. One study done in New Orleans showed , in 60% of rape cases, police disbelieved the victim, resulting in inaccurate reports⁷ and resulting in no prosecutions.

Victim Advocates are generally non-legal employees of the District Attorney’s Office who are supposed to accompany the victim to the courtroom for moral support, but not advise the victim on legalities. They will walk a victim through the process of obtaining Orders of Protection by providing forms and the names and addresses of the people a woman needs to see to obtain these orders. In reality, the victim advocate, as an employee of the system, answers only to the system, not to the victim. They are generally social workers, with all the accompanying problems of being a social worker, heavy case loads, low pay and having “heard the story a million times.” They become jaded to the abused and the situations they find themselves in. As advocates, and without legal training, they file reports for the judge to consider. Requirements for this job are generally a four year college degree (no major specified) or two years work experience in a similar job.

Doctors are key to any case involving domestic violence. Documentation is often required by the courts to obtain a conviction. Problems arising from medical attention can vary from courts not accepting written reports as hearsay to doctors who are unwilling to testify, fearing their standing in the community. Doctors who do testify, the so called “expert witnesses”, are often too connected to the courts and lawyers who have other interests at heart. Future income may depend on the very people they are asked to provide information to, creating a conflict of interest.

Shelters are supposed to be a refuge for women in time of crisis. As the Victim Advocates, shelters are often staffed by people who work for the court and related systems. Thus, entering a shelter provides the woman with little security that anything said or done will remain private. Lawyers often provide “services” and financial contributions to these havens in expectation of referrals. Shelter workers, as Victim Advocates are overworked, underpaid and often lack formal education beyond a four year degree and/or minimum previous experience.

IN THE COURTROOM

In case after case, women are subjected to intense mental health testing and evaluation by the courts. Hundreds of reports of males being allowed to skip such testing altogether have been documented by women. When these evaluations are done, women who have suffered continued abuse and the onslaught of legal abuse by lawyers, are suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Syndrome.⁸ which is not considered or diagnosed by the evaluator. As published by Eleanor E. Maccoby of Stamford University “I can only applaud their judgment that standard measures of parents’ and children’s intelligence, personality traits, and emotional states are wholly inappropriate for custody evaluations, and that even the measures and constructs that have been designed specifically to assess child custody arrangements for individual children have no proven validity as predictors of a child’s well-being in the care of one or the other disputing parents.⁹

Clerks of the Court are under the direct supervision on the judges they serve. Alter and missing court files, transcripts, etc are common. One need only do an Internet search using the terms “missing court records”, which on the Google search engine resulted in over 7,700,000 returns on September 22, 2009. Attorneys, GALs and sundry other court associated persons have unfettered access to these records. A few pages or an entire file can be removed in briefcases without detection. Handwritten orders are suddenly typewritten. Notes by written judges are withheld from pro se litigants. In many clerks offices, there are two sets of photocopiers, one used by lawyers on which they may photo copy anything and a system of an assistant clerk having to photo copy for the pro se litigant, thus, lawyers can copy any piece of information they wish to free from prying eyes. Lawyers can obtain copies of all evaluations, home visits, etc., but that information is not allowed to be given to the pro se.

Parenting classes have become the darling of the court system. Books, such as Parenting After Divorce become how-to abuse manuals during custody litigation. Written by Philip Stahl, Ph.D., ABPP, the book gives the reader specific examples of what not to do, but in the wrong hands, becomes an action plan for abusers, pointing to specific situations and giving both the correct and incorrect reactions by parents. Dr. Stahl has made a successful career of teaching the legal profession about the use of custody evaluations.¹⁰ The book appears to rely heavily on the unaccepted theory of Parental Alienation Syndrome¹¹ without actually using the name applied to the theory. Nowhere in the book does Dr. Stahl mention the use of Maternal Deprivation in increasing the already heightened anxiety levels of children caused by witnessing abuse, the dissolution of the family unit and the separation from a loving, nurturing parent.

The legal representation is often not available to available to women who have suffered domestic violence. In large part, economic abuse plays a significant role in the abuser controlling his victim. Women are left with no financial means to fight back. If she does have any form of financial means, it is quickly dissipated by protracted court proceedings. It is not unheard of for such proceedings to be dragged out by lawyers for three to five years. Once the money is gone, so is access to all lawyers. Men, by having the financial advantage, can hire the superior lawyers, lawyers with personal inroads into the courts, and can afford to support drawn out litigation.

Lawyers are motivated by one thing, money. Without paying clients, lawyers do not have any hopes of paying student loans, often in excess of $80,000¹². Facing a third year of internship at a law firm, the not so bright graduates are forced into unethical practices. Family Courts are the lowest courts on the legal food chain, thus attracting some of the least well educated and bottom of the law school class lawyers. The idea of an ongoing source of income which is cannot reported by the client to the IRS. In order to claim these fees, use of the long form is required which requires income levels determined by the IRS. Lawyers are required to furnish to clients, upon request, a Tax Identification Number, but are not required to verify or certify that the number is correct. In past years, rules governing the reporting of payments to lawyers are mired in regulations and paperwork that applied to the payment by business entities, but nothing that is clearly stated for payment by individuals. The 1099-misc, the form used to provide income reporting when taxes are not withheld from payments and, as in the past, is filed by businesses, but not individuals. As current IRS rules stand, being a lawyer is the ultimate cash business with no one overseeing how much lawyers actually make as opposed to how much they report in income. With an average salary of $114,000 per year¹³, and given their propensity for appropriate cars, repayment of student loans, requirements for clothing to accomplish the “look” in court, costs of offices, assistants, professional organizations, etc. they must win all cases, or at least make them profitable enough to cover yearly expenses.

Some of the tricks that lawyers can play on the pro se are unimaginable in other forms of business. There are lawyers in every court that specialize in dirty tricks.¹⁴ Sending paperwork to the wrong address (you gave me the wrong address). Sending duplicate paperwork, one by mail and one by process server and later claiming that you received the motion or proffer you have never seen. Piling on motion after motion always threatening contempt. Using ruses, such as depositions, to pound the victim for immediate settlement. Suggesting court reporters for use in depositions and court proceedings. Intentionally giving you the wrong date for a proceeding or an incorrect address for a meeting. Misleading and often fabricated laws and cases used in the courtroom, for instance, I have discovered codes in Virginia Laws that refer to other codes which are blank ( Code XX-XXXX: see code AA-AAAA which is blank). Misleading information on court orders which actually state something totally different when a copy of the order is received weeks later and too late for appeal. Rapid fire emails that are designed to irritate and fill you in box (Oh, I meant to send them to your spouse). Mentioning “evidence” that is never filed with the courts and the use of “surprise witnesses”. Bulling you to force a settlement that is less than advantageous. Using your children in a “game” of deception with a defined reward for doing so. All of the above tricks are used daily on women with no reigning in of the known dirty tricks lawyers.

Guardian ad liteums are lawyers with a minimum of training in deciding the “best interests of the child” and are the bane of custody litigation. In Virginia, the salary that a GAL receives for representing a child is capped at $500 without permission from the courts for increased payments which often only amount to a few dollars more. This leaves an avenue for the more economically stable parent to corrupt the findings of a GAL. If a GAL handles fifty cases a year, this caps their salary at $25,000 per year, just above the poverty level for the average family of four.¹⁵ In some states, GALs are free to charge what the traffic will bear. It is not unheard of, after losing custody, for a woman to be presented with bills in excess of $20,000 to $30,000, forcing the filing of bankruptcy. States, such as Colorado, allow for the filing of indigent status by one or both parties, which again provides an avenue for illegal payments to GALs. In all cases, GALs are not allowed to testify, but there exists the opportunity for GALs to do so when rendering verbal opinions to the court.

The judge is the weakest link in the courtroom. They are elected more for popularity among lawyers than actual legal knowledge. Often their instructions to the new lawyers who enter the local Bar Associations is something akin to “I don’t care what you do in my courtroom so long as I do not get investigated”. I have seen estimates that as many as 50% of the judges in the local courts are corrupt. They often entertain arguments of Parental Alienation, knowingly hear false testimony, refuse to allow a pro se to speak, hold ex parte communications with lawyers and other litigants, threaten, cajole and bully pro ses, withhold Constitutional Rights of due process, empty courtrooms for proceedings or move proceedings to Chambers where there are no witnesses to testify against them. They withhold the mailing of court orders to prevent appeal, sign court orders containing things other than agreed upon in court or as stated in court, set contempt citations at high levels to prevent further litigation, refuse to recuse when conflicts are discovered, use friends and family as cohorts in corrupting a proceeding, and liberally ignore the law.

When it comes to custody and divorce, there are so many avenues open to a judge to receive payment that plugging one hole only opens another. Besides the outright payment of money, there are many ways for a judge to enrich himself from the bench. Contempt fines can be reported to the State at a much lower monetary value than actually assessed with the difference going to the judge. Property ordered sold can be purchased by the judge at below market value through a “blind trust” ( the favored method in my state and one I have personally traced). Court fees can be greatly inflated or ordered paid when not applicable, ending up in the judge’s pocket.

CONCLUSION

The need for investigation and oversight is overwhelming. Children suffer and die from the actions of the courts. Abuse needs to be removed from the family court system and tried as a crime of assault in regular courts. Everyone involved in a case, when a child dies at the hands of an abuser, should be tried and convicted as an accessory to murder with no less than the application of the death penalty for all involved. Children coming out of this system should receive mental counseling at the costs of the states that allowed this system to exist.

Try reporting any of this to the State, the FBI, DOJ or even the White House. Try, yes, but you will not get anywhere. Though I have tapes of ex parte, 911 tapes where my husband is telling obvious lies, police reports that do not match to evidence, pictures of the wounds on my person, tapes of people claiming to be persons they turned out not to be and proof that evidence was lost in the court files, it does me no good. The system is corrupted, and the custody/divorce machine likes it that way. They make money off of it.

Gail Lakritz is a Domestic Violence advocate and survivor in the Williamsburg, Virginia area, as well as a published writer known for her work in humor.

REFERENCES

[1] “(d) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.” Barack Obama, President, United States Of America http://www.whitehou se.gov/the_ press_office/ Executive- Order-Creating- the-White- House-Council- on-Women- and-Girls/

[2] NOW Endorses National Equality March Statement of NOW President Terry O’Neill http://www.now. org/press/ 09-09/09- 21.html

[3] Bureau of Justice Statistics: “Family Violence Statistics,” June 2005: http://www.ojp. usdoj.gov/ bjs/pub/pdf/ fvs.pdf

[4] Ms. Stoddard’s own son has lost his parental rights due to abuse. Ms. Stoddard maintains the web site “Jugs For Justice”, a pro Father’s Rights blog

[5] FEMALE POLICE OFFICERS IN THE UNITED STATES, Barbara Raffel Price http://www.ncjrs. gov/policing/ fem635.htm

[6]Domestic Violence Training http://www.simmons. edu/ssw/dvtraini ng/resources/ Manual-final. pdf

[7]Bruce Eggler, NOPD downgrading of rape reports raises questions http://www.nola. com/news/ index.ssf/ 2009/07/nopd_ downgrading_ of_rape_repor. html

[8] Women, Domestic Violence, and Posttraumatic Stress disorder (PTSD) Margaret J Hughs and Loring Jones, http://www.csus. edu/calst/ Government_ Affairs/Reports/ ffp32.pdf

[9] 2005 American Psychological Society http://www.psycholo gicalscience. org/pdf/pspi/ pspi6_1.pdf

[10] http://www.parentin gafterdivorce. com/

[11] Sexual Abuse & Parental Alienation Syndrome Allegations http://harfordmedle gal.typepad. com/forensics_ talk/child- sexual-abuse- parent.html, makes references to several legal cases and other legal materials citing the debunking of the theory.

[12] www.testprepreview. com/paying_ for_lawschool.htm

[13] The Liz Library

[14] The Portable guide to Testifying In Court For Mental Health Professionals, Barton E. Bernstein, JD http://books. google.com/ books?id= vJVRO3GlQs0C&pg=PA134&lpg=PA134&dq=Tricks+lawyers+ play&source=bl&ots=ED-hzMMGYH&sig=H1quunzWXXalK94 LjE-n3TzFPKA&hl=en&ei=XH26Ssb2KIGB8Qak i_SCBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5#v=onepage&q=Tricks%20lawyers% 20play&f=false

[15] The 2009 HHS Poverty Guidelines http://aspe. hhs.gov/poverty/ 09poverty. shtml

What A Corrupted Web The System Weaves

Out of all the cases where a battered mother alleges abuse towards her and/or her or alleges that her children are being molested during a custody hearing, 70 percent resulted in unsupervised visitation or shared custody with the alleged abuser/sexual molester. And, 20 percent of cases of these cases, the mother lost custody completely. And, many mothers who lose total custody risk getting supervised or no visitation rights if she dares to call Child Protective Services and alleges that the father is abusing or molesting the children.

That is grossly staggering statistics and it's time that CPS, Guardian Ad Litems, and Judges start putting the safety and well being of a child priority over their personal interests. What personal interest might you ask? I would be glad to share. That green stuff that fills their fat wallets.

What makes me so angry is that there is this money making scam by the system. They are ignoring the horror of abuse and sexual molestation Washington state's children are going through, because they know as long as these children remain abused and sexually molested, they get kick backs handed down to them from Federal funding, for the programs that are desinged to help get these kids out of their horror.

From where I come from, this is CHILD TRAFFICKING. Offer the child a bare minimum of it's rightfully due service for protection, send them back into the abusive situation again, then the child's back into the system receiving services again, and the cycle is repeated.

Talk about a secure income!

But, wait...there's more. There's the good ole court appointed psychologists and psychiatrists that get involved in matters where the protective mother expresses natural and healthy anxiety over her children going back into the hands of their abuser. She is immediately ordered to get a psychological evaluation...and of court the court ordered head shrinks are going to say she's mentally unstable and lying. This benefits all in this corrupted system...they must declare Mom a lying crazy woman so that she is held back from exercising her right to protect her children. After all, they can't lose the abused and sexually molested children to the protective mother, that would destroy their ability to maintain their secure income.

How pathetically sick! So, the heads of abused and sexually molested children have a price tag attached to it by the corrupted system that uses them for financial security, instead of a tag that says, "Priceless treasure, handle with absolute care!"

I'm also angry for the fact that the corrupt and evil people in this system knows what they are doing and they know we the people have figured it out, and they keep trafficking the children over and over again. Why? I'll tell you why. It's because not everyone, who sees and knows of this corruption have taken up the shield and sword as mighty warriors, got in the faces of these doers of corruption and relentlessly fight them until they relent. It takes more than a few people here and there. It takes ALL of us.

You're a part of the problem, if you are not a part of the solution.

Profile Of An Abuser

There are many hallmark traits of an abuser. The following is a list of the traits. It is important to remember that abusers come from all social backgrounds, exist in all professions and are amongst all economic levels of society.

1. Has a poor self-esteem.
2. Has both nice and evil personality.
3. Expresses inappropriate levels of jealousy.
4. Isolates victim from family and friends.
5. Strong desires for victim to stop working outside the home.
6. Has constant social problems with others.
7. May have past and/or current legal problems.
8. No reason for impulsive displays of rage.
9. Does not take responsibility for own bad behavior and blames partner or others for bad behavior.
10. Verbal and physical assaults, demeans others with insults, criticisms, and/or lies.
11. Either denies, minimizes or justifies the abuse.
12. Feels entitled to every good thing in life.
13. Will do anything to manipulate victim to think abuser is sorry, feels remorse and will change. Yet, returns to same pattern of abuse.
14. Will use children no matter how in order to get partner under control.
15. Comes from a family where there was a pattern of violence and control.

Does you partner exhibit these traits? If so, you need to seek help to break the cycle of abuse for your own sake. Especially for the sake of the children, if you have any!

Break The Silence!

Parent Alienation Syndrome - The Twisted and Perverted Tale

Dr. Richard Allen Gardner, MD
Born April 28th, 1931 - Died May 25th, 2003

Dr. Gardner was a psychiatrist who pushed his junk science theory Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS), to explain away why children during a contested custody case accuse a parent of abuse or sexual molestation. Dr. Gardner testified in well over 400 child custody cases as an expert witness, reporting that children who suffered PAS was brainwashed by the exposure of a vidictive parent's (mostly mothers) onslaught of bad mouthing the other parent without reason or justification.

Dr. Gardner's PAS theory is biased against mothers. His theory claims that a protective mother has a "pathological disease" that causes her to go into unwarented hysteria when she feels the threat of losing her children during a contested custody hearing. Thus, she will manipulate her child/ren to be co-partners with her, to lie about allegations of abuse and/or sexual molestation from the accused father. His theory also claims that the mother's hysterical response to her child/ren's real reports of abuse and/or sexual molestation done by the abusive father, must be "treated" by a mental health professional, to help her understand that abuse and sexual molestation as she knows it, is globally deemed as normal and healthy and accept it as such. Thus, her child/ren will also learn to accept abuse and sexual molestation as health and normal through her example.

Dr. Gardner's opinion is, if a mother refuses to accept abuse and sexual molestation as health and normal, that she should be considered a danger to her child/ren pychologically, because the child/ren will always feel a false sense of being victims of their father and that the natural bond between them and their father will be damaged. What's Dr. Gardner's fix all for this? That the courts deem this protective mother as an un-cooperative parent, place the child/ren in the full custody of the abusive father, giving her limited or no access to her child/ren depending on the severity of the so called, Parent Alienation Syndrome. In other words she basically being told, "Bitch, know your role! Shut up and put up or you are going to get punished!"

Dr. Gardner's, Parent Alienation Syndrome theory has been outright opposed by mental health and child abuse professionals, along with anti-PAS lawyers and anti-PAS judges. PAS never has had proper scientific research to base it's theory on and be named a "syndrome". Both the American Pyschiatric Association and American Medical Association has never accepted PAS as a "syndrome". Basically, it's a theory developed by a mentally twisted man, that is biased against protective mothers and is used against them as a weapon by evil and money greedy lawyers to demolish the mother's credibility in court, during the custody hearing.

Dr. Gardner's died in his home at the age of 72. The cause of death is suicide. He was too much of a coward, to stand up to the plate and confess his lies to the world. In doing so, he would have had to take responsibility for the pain and sufferage that mothers and children have suffered because of his "junk science". He didn't want to do that apparently. Imagine all the legal trouble he would have had to deal with if he had lived. Dr. Gardner even lied about his status at Columbia University as being a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry in the department of Child and Adolescent Pyschiatry. He was only a unpaid volunteer at this university.

It's just too bad that this twisted perverted woman hating bastard didn't kill himself long before his theory had the chance to create so much damage to so many abused mothers and children. It would have been so kind of him, if he had.