"52 Days of Domestic Violence Flu in America"

I just had to use Safe Places SafeBlog to publish the following Blog post written by former San Diego City Attorney, Casey Gwinn, Esq.

This week I have been reflecting on those that would choose to ignore the importance of dealing with domestic violence in America. After over 30 years of the modern domestic violence movement, we still struggle for funding, we face budget cuts and reductions when the economy goes bad (though domestic violence rises) and we rarely are the primary focus of public policy makers in America. This week the news is consumed with coverage of the swine flu, an important public health issue in America. As of May 2, there have been 167 confirmed cases of the swine flu in the United States and one death. But there has been little news about the mass killings of 68 people across America in the last 52 days, with men doing all the killing and virtually all related to men with a history of violence against women.

Public health officials in the United States fear a global pandemic from the so-called H1-N1 virus. A pandemic is defined as a global outbreak of disease that causes serious illness or death and then spreads easily from person to person worldwide. Pandemics differ from seasonal outbreaks of an illness. The news this week quoted many officials talking about high levels of illness, death, social disruption, and economic loss from pandemics. We must all be vigilant about addressing swine flu in the days ahead. But the pandemic of violence by men against women, men, and children has killed more people in the last 52 days in America than swine flu. This pandemic has been going on now for hundreds of years causing high levels of mental and physical illness, death, social disruption, and economic loss.

There have been 12 mass killings in the last 52 days in the United States. In 11 of the 12, the killer had a history of abuse against women or they were directly related to or defined as domestic violence. 68 people have been killed in those mass killings including 20 children and 7 police officers.

Let's honor those who have been killed in the pandemic of domestic violence flu by identifying their killer and listing them:

March 10 - Michael McLendon, 28, killed ten people, including his mother, grandmother, aunt and uncle, and the wife and child of a local sheriff's deputy in rural Alabama. He then killed himself. The worst mass killing in the history of Alabama killed: Virginia White, 74; James White, 55; Tracy Wise, 34; Dean Wise, 15; James Starling, 34; Lisa McClendon, Michael's mom; Bruce Maloy, 51; Andrea Myers, 31; and Corrine Gracy Myers, 18 months.

March 21 - Lovelle Mixon, a parolee with a history of violence against women, sexual assault, and other violent crimes shot and killed four heroic Oakland police officers - Sgt. Mark Dunakin, 40; Officer John Hege, 41, SWAT Sgt. Ervin Romans, 43; and SWAT Sgt. Daniel Sakai, 35 before he was shot and killed by police.

March 29 - Robert Stewart, 45, shot and killed eight people at Pinelake Health and Rehab Center in Robbins, North Carolina. He came to the center seeking to kill his wife, Wanda Neal, 43, a nurse's assistant. She was working in the Alzheimers Unit when he entered the facility and survived after herding residents into the TV Room and locking the door. The dead included: Tessie Garner, 88; Lillian Dunn, 89, Jessie Musser, 88; Bessie Hendrick, 78; John Goldston, 78; Margaret Johnson, 89; Louise Decker, 98; and Jerry Avent, 39. Jerry was a newly hired nurse at the facility. He was shot 27 times but continued protecting patients until the final shot. Police estimated his efforts saved at least ten others patients and staff members.

March 30 - Devan Kalathat killed six people in a murder-suicide in Santa Clara, California including his children. During his rampage he shot his wife, but she still clings to life in critical condition. Police identified the victims as Kalathat's children: 11-year-old Akhil Dev and 4-year-old Negha Dev; Kalathat's brother-in-law Ashok Appu Poothemkandi, 35, Poothemkandi's wife, Suchitra Sivaraman, 25; and the Poothemkandis' infant daughter, Ahana Ashok.

April 4 - Pittsburgh police officers Eric Kelly, Stephen Mayhle, and Paul Scuillo were shot and killed responding to a "domestic disturbance" call. They were ambushed by Richard Poplawski when they arrived at the house. Officer Eric Kelly was not on duty. He was on his way home to his wife and three daughters when he heard the call on his radio and responded to support his fellow officers.

April 5 - James Harrison killed his five children in Pierce County, WA while his wife was at work. Police confirmed that the couple had a domestic violence incident earlier in the day and the wife had left. The husband demanded that she return and while she was away he methodically shot Maxine, Samantha, Heather, Jamie, and James. The first four children were shot in their beds. The last child was shot as she was running toward the bathroom.

April 5 - Kirby Revelus, 23, killed his 17 year old sister, Samantha and his five year old sister, Bianca. Police officers responding to a domestic violence incident shot and killed him as he was trying to kill his 9 year old sister Sarafina.

April 7 - Kevin Garner fled Greenville, Alabama late in the afternoon after setting fire to his wife's home and car. Hours later, police found his wife and daughter, and her sister and her sister's son shot to death inside the burning home. Garner later shot himself before being apprehended.

April 10 - Two students at Henry Ford Community College were found dead in a murder-suicide in the Fine Arts Building on campus in Dearborn, Michigan. Police determined that Anthony Powell, 28, killed Asia McGowan, 20 with a shotgun and then turned the gun on himself.

April 18 - Christopher Allan Wood, 34, an accountant for a railroad operator, killed his wife, Frances, and his three children in Middletown, Maryland before taking his own life with gunshot to the head. Chandler was 5 years old, Gavin was 4, and his daughter, Fiona, was 2 years old when she was shot and stabbed by her Dad.

April 19 - William Parente, 59, killed his wife, Betty, 58, and daughters Catherine, 11, and Stephanie, 19 before killing himself in Garden City, New York. Each of the victims was killed by asphyxiation and blunt force trauma.

April 25 - University of Georgia professor George Zinkhans shot and killed his wife, Marie Bruce, and two of her friends from a local community theatre group in Bogart, Georgia. Two others were seriously injured by bullet fragments. Her two murdered colleagues were: Ben Teague, 63, and Tom Tanner, 40. More than 200 police officers are currently searching for him the dense woods near Bogart, 60 miles east of Atlanta. Police believe Marie was preparing to get a restraining order, file for divorce, and leave him after a history of domestic violence.

So, we are not done. We all must re-double our efforts to raise awareness, call for more resources in the war by men against women and children. We must call it what it is...it is not Violence AGAINST Women. It is most often Violence BY Men AGAINST Women. All the killers in the mass killings of the last 52 days have been men.

The next time you hear someone say they cannot afford to keep a Family Justice Center or domestic violence program open because of the economy, ask them to read this article. Next time, you hear someone say that we don't need any new, evolving, innovative approaches to family violence prevention because our current service delivery models are doing the job well; ask them to read the list of 68 names from the most recent 52 bloody days of domestic violence in 2009. Don't be silent; don't let elected officials, or policy makers, or bureaucrats, or disinterested community members ignore the tragedy of domestic violence. We must address swine flu in America and around the world but we must also take guns away from men who are violent and start spending the time, energy, and money necessary to stop the pandemic of violence by men against women that is destroying families, killing women, men, and children, and continuing to destroy the lives of so many.

(Casey Gwinn is the former San Diego City Attorney. He founded the internationally recognized San Diego Family Justice Center which is credited with reducing domestic violence homicides in San Diego by over 60%. He currently serves as the President of the National Family Justice Center Alliance which is developing specialized, multi-agency Centers to stop domestic violence across the United States and around the world.}

Just Sharing Casey's Thoughts,

Kathy Findley at Safe Places SafeBlog

A Tragic Anniversary of a Tragic Day

Remembering Columbine High School
April 20, 1999

Teenage shooters spilled the blood of children before Columbine - in Alaska, Arkansas, Mississippi and Oregon.

After Columbine, more blood was shed in Minnesota and California, in Germany and Finland.

The rampage at Columbine High School, where 13 people were gunned down 10 years ago today, casts a dark shadow on each of us. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, seniors at the suburban Denver school, detonated homemade bombs and opened fire with shotguns, a rifle and a semiautomatic handgun on April 20, 1999. They killed 12 students, injured 23 others and mortally wounded a teacher before committing suicide.

The shooting shocked the country like no other. It was the worst school shooting in American history at that time, and it came in the wake of a half-dozen others. Its shadow would stretch across the nation, and its aftermath continues to affect both law enforcement and educators today.

Marion City Schools Superintendent James Barney, who was superintendent of Old Fort Local School District in 1999 said this:

"We at that time sat down with kids, talked about what happened. We invited kids to help us be the eyes."

Barney said that, after Columbine, teachers and administrators became more sensitive to threats.

"We don't say that's just kids talking," he said. "We immediately investigate."

We must also remember Jonesboro Middle School, the shooting at Stamps, at UALR and at UCA, and the attack of a teacher at Sylvan Hills in Sherwood.

Words of a School Shooter

I just remember life not being much fun.
Reject, retard, loser.
I remember stick boy a lot, cause I was so thin.

- Barry Loukaitis, 14, Moses Lake, Washington 1996

A School Shooter's Journal Entry

I am not insane. I am angry.
I am not spoiled or lazy,
for murder is not weak and slow-witted, murder is gusty and daring....
I killed because people like me are mistreated every day....
I am malicious because I am miserable.

- Luke Woodham, Pearl Miss., 1997

School Violence: Is It Bullying Turned Tragic?

Currently in Pulaski County our local school districts seem to be seeing an epidemic of bullying behavior. Safe Places works with more than 1,000 children and youth annually, so we hear what they say and listen to their fears.

These days, we are learning that there is also a new twist to the bullying problem in our local schools. It's what we used to call "tattling" and school officials are sometimes condemning children who "tell" when they are being harassed.

And yet, "telling" is one thing we have taught our children to do in bullying prevention classes.

Bullying is a signal, a red flag. If we don't pay attention to that signal, it is likely that the bully will grow up to be the abusive adult."

- Former AMA president Robert McAfee, MD

Just how common is bullying and harassing behavior?

83% girls and 79% of boys report experiencing harassment

- Bullying, Teasing, and Sexual Harassment in School
(AAUW, 2001)

The CDC reported an average of 16.5 "school-associated homicides" annually
against "a backdrop of 55 million students enrolled in K-12."

What does a parent do?

Most school districts now have an emergency response phone service where parents and guardians can be called or texted quickly if there is a situation at a school.

According to an American Red Cross press release, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that U.S. schools remain relatively safe places. Among children ages 5-18 who were victims of homicide, suicide or legal intervention, less than one percent of those losses happened on school property, at school-sponsored activities, or in traveling to or from school or the activities.

Be prepared
While the chance of such an event as Columbine happening at a local school is statistically remote, the Marion County Chapter of the American Red Cross suggests that people should still take basic steps to be prepared:

• Know how you would communicate with each other during, or immediately following, an emergency. Make sure each member of the household has a current list of key names, phone numbers and addresses, including some close friends, neighbors or relatives;

• Establish a short list of locations where members of the household should meet if a crisis occurs. Work out several possibilities. Choose more than one option because some routes or entire neighborhoods ma be inaccessible under certain conditions;

• If you have school-age children, be familiar with the school's emergency procedures.

• Know whether or not they will keep children at school until a parent or designated adult can pick them up. Ask what kind of authorization may be needed to release a child to someone you designation if you cannot pick them up yourself.

• When your contact information changes, share the changes with the school.

For an online memorial and a list of school shootings, please follow this link.

If your child is being bullied and needs help, contact Safe Places at 501-374-7233 or email amcgraw@safeplaceslr.org.

Money, Money Everywhere!

Money does seem to be everywhere in these days of stimulus. Groups are meeting and talking, scheming and planning, developing smart strategies for getting some of that plenteous stimulus money. For nonprofit organizations like Safe Places, this could well be a dream come true. At best, it could be for us a pot of treasure at the end of a rainbow. At worst, it might result in a few extra dollars to provide a little cushion against disaster.

But there are some problems. Getting any of that money is not going to be easy. Proposals for funding will have to be written quickly, far more quickly than the typical grant proposals we write.

And there will be strings attached. Probably a few more strings than the usual strings that are tied to our grant funding. Finally, there may not be time to think about whether our mission really fits the money that's going to be so stimulating. So in order to make the most of these days, we are going to have to re-visit our mission and be very sure that our actions - and our grant proposals - fall within the guidelines of our mission.

All this really means is that our mission and vision is still our primary guiding light, in seeking money, in planning programs, in serving people. When stimulus money has come and gone, our mission and vision will remain steadfast. So we'd better honor it and follow it, whether money is flowing freely or whether it has dried up.

When all is said and done, the Vision of Safe Places will always be ...

envisioning a world without violence, a world where every child can experience safety, nurture, and opportunities that ensure a future filled with hope.

And our Mission is just as clear:

Safe Places affirms the right of every child to safety, protection, and well-being at home, at school, and in our neighborhoods. To that end, we work in the community to help children and their families break cycles of violence and abuse through counseling, advocacy, support, and education.

Just my thoughts for these glorious days of stimulus,

Kathy at Safe Places SafeBlog

Barry Nolan Report on Jennifer Collins

Here's another perspective on the story of Jennifer Collins. Safe Places thanks you for reading this and making yourself knowledgeable about the injustices faced by battered women and their children. Again, we ask that you remember our client who is in a similar circumstance.

This Is Really Hard to Believe

By Barry Nolan

January 11, 2009

This is really hard to believe. I am sitting in a room filled with women who were beaten, and violated in terrible ways. The room is not in Bosnia, or some far flung third-world hell-hole. I am in a function room in a hotel in Albany at the Battered Mothers Custody Conference.

Many of the women around me are sobbing now, as a child tells her story. “My father beat me” she begins. Well, she is not a child now actually, but she is a child to me. She is a poised, attractive young woman named Jennifer Collins who is a survivor of child abuse and of a Child and Family Court System that betrayed her and her brother, just as it betrays children across this country every day when it orders children to live full time with an abusive parent.

I know you do not believe me. And that makes me realize that this is the experience that these women who surround me have all had. No one believes them. No one believes this can happen. But it does. Sometimes this happens despite voluminous evidence, eyewitnesses and medical records that the child has been beaten, even raped and sodomized by a parent seeking custody. Sometimes the courts do this even if the parent seeking custody has been convicted of, or admitted to domestic violence or sexual assault. I know you don’t believe me. But you would believe Jennifer if you were here.

It is a strange world in Child and Family court. For instance, even as much energy in the wider world goes into efforts to make certain that sex offenders have no access to children, that they can’t live near a school and walk near a playground, in this odd little corner of our judicial system, courts routinely order children to “reunite” with a sexual predator parent who hurt them. All in the name of family re-unification.

I know this sounds impossible. It is against all common sense. This is America after all. But come sit here with me, and listen to this woman/child tell her story. She has “aged out” of the system and is no longer under the thumb of a court that tells her she must be silent. There is a whole group of courageous kids like Jennifer who are old enough now to tell their story to you, face to face. Jennifer’s story is a pip. And it is pretty typical.

Jennifer tells us about her mother Holly and her dad. He was a batterer who beat Holly. And he beat the children. Jennifer moves her story along quickly to the day when her older brother, then about 4, tried to intervene as dad was beating mom. Dad threw the son against the wall and fractured his skull. There is much more. But I will move the story along quickly to what happens when Holly finally decided to leave this man who beat her and the children. She fled that terrible house, only to find herself in a house of mirrors, the Child and Family Court system.

It is almost as if none of the people who run the Child and Family Court system ever read about or learned a single thing from sad saga of the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse scandal. It’s like they never heard about how victims of physical or sexual abuse are often silenced by their own sense of shame. How their terrible stories can sometimes finally come pouring out in torrents. It may be years later, but it is no less true. This is not theory. This is fact. We have all watched these sad dramas on the 6 O’clock news.

But, uniquely in Child and Family Court, if allegations of physical or sexual abuse are raised during a divorce where custody is an issue, the allegations are used, not against the perpetrator, but against the victim. There is this invented thing, a bit of junk science called “Parental Alienation Syndrome”. It basically says that any time a woman raises the issue of physical or sexual abuse, of herself or the children in the midst of a custody dispute, she is just trying to make the man look bad and make the children hate him. She must be lying.

Look, I am not a fool. I know people lie. I know some women lie. I know people say awful things about each other in divorces. I have watched Jerry Springer just like you. But I have also watched “To Catch a Predator” and I know “respectable” people can do horrible things. So, do a thought experiment here. Pretend you are a woman who had finally left an abusive relationship, taking your children with you. If your controlling soon-to-be ex-husband sought to get full custody of the children as one last slap at you, what would you say? OK? Sure, that sounds fair? Fat chance.

The thing a real court would do when this happened is to consider all the evidence, and talk to all the witnesses. Witnesses like the children. They were after all, there when “it” happened. This is what a court would do if a stranger were accused of beating them. Or raping them. But this is not what the Child and Family Court system does.

Jennifer, the survivor, tells us of the day the representative of the court came to take her away from her mother and take her to live at her dad’s. How she clung desperately to her mother’s leg, until they pried her fingers loose, lifted her up, carried her away, and compelled her to live with the man who would beat her.

Jennifer tells us how her mother, desperate beyond all measure, kidnapped the children, spirited them away to the Netherlands, where they became the first Americans to be granted asylum. How she lived in a refugee camp, with refugees from Somalia and Sierra Leone, people who had to learn how to use toilets and forks. How this was better than “home”. This was a step up. She was with her mom.

Jennifer lived in exile for 14 years. She finally aged out. The court has no jurisdiction now. And so Jennifer had the freedom to come home to America, to this room where I sit, surrounded by women who are now weeping with joy and cheering for Jennifer’s mom for being so brave and for Jennifer for telling her story to this room full of people who know her story is true. Because the same thing happened to them. So they believe her.

I believe her, too.

And so do we.

Kathy Findley at Safe Places SafeBlog

A Story of Injustice - A Tribute to Courage

I am using my Blog today as a tribute to one of our clients. I will not include her name because of a pending legal process that we believe will eventually result in justice for her and her children.

A Tribute

I believe I can speak for the entire staff of Safe Places in offering this tribute to our client - a courageous woman who refuses to give up on her children and their safety.

We pay tribute to a courageous mom who loves her children, and who has persevered in the face of injustice to protect them.

We pay tribute to her children, languishing in the custody of their father, and pray every day for their physical safety and emotional well-being.

We gratefully acknowledge the national advocacy organization that is joining with us to bring justice to this family and restore the children to the custody of their mother.

We will not give up; we will not shrink from the truth; we will not lose heart; we will not stop until this injustice stops!

Now, Jennifer Collins speaks through Safe Places SafeBlog. She is a young woman who is using her voice to tell the story of her family as she describes what she calls "Court Appointed Child Abuse."

Jennifer Collins will share a story that I could not have believed before our own client experienced a similar injustice. Sadly, Jennifer's story is not all that uncommon these days.

This is the story of Jennifer Collins from the following Blog site: http://www.americanchildrenunderground.blogspot.com/

Jennifer's Story

My name is Jennifer Collins. I am a 23 year old American and a university student living in exile in the Netherlands.

My brother (Zachary who is two years older) and I were severely abused by our father when we were children. My father also beat our mother (who was only 22 years old at the time) but she stayed with him because she was terrified. Our father, Mark Collins was extremely violent and he vowed that if our mother ever left him, he would murder us all. This young woman didn’t know what else to do and she tried her best to protect her family. So many times our mom stepped in front of us and took severe beatings which were intended for her children. When my father fractured my brother’s skull by repeatedly slamming him into a wall, child protection became involved and threatened to charge our mother with “failure to protect” if she didn’t take us and leave our father. When we finally left, the child abuse case was transferred from juvenile court to family court. We were granted an ‘Order for Protection’ but we were forced (by the family court) to go alone on visitations with our father. (Child Protection claimed that they no longer had jurisdiction in our case.) Our father regularly beat up our mom in front of us during the exchanges and he continued to abuse us during his visitations.

We told our Mom that our father was still hurting us and she believed us. We would show our mother the bruises when we returned from our fathers and we would beg her not to send us again. She pleaded with the court to protect us but they refused. When my father appeared at our home to pick us up I would cry so hard that I would throw up. Many times my mother would also cry and sometimes she couldn’t bear to make us go with him, but then my father would call the police. The policemen would enter our home and search for us. My brother and I would hide in the closets or under our beds. It was terrifying. The police would pull us out from underneath our beds and hand us over to this man who was beating us as we were kicking, screaming and begging for help.

My father filed for a custody reversal based on Parental Alienation Syndrome and used the police reports as evidence that our mother was interfering in his relationship with his children. Even though the judge found that our father was abusive, in the very same order he issued a reversal of custody, citing that our mother was too traumatized from the abuse to care for us. I was 7 years old when a court officer arrived with my father and pried my fingers loose from my mothers dress. I was fighting with everything I had. Witness heard me screaming “Mommy, Help Me Mommy! Please don’t make us go with him. He hurts me and he hurts my brother!” The court officer simply stated “I know” as he handed me to my father. I continued screaming “Mommy! Help Me! Mommy! I want my Mommy!” It was the worst day of my life!

We weren’t allowed to have any contact with our mom for what seemed and eternity. My father and his new wife told us that our mommy didn’t love us, that she was crazy and she didn’t want us anymore. Even though we knew it wasn’t true, it was devastating. When we were finally allowed to have very limited supervised visitation with our mom I showed my mom and the court supervisor the bruises on my back and said “He’s still hurting us.” The court supervisor scolded me, “You know you are not allowed to talk about those kinds of things anymore.” We started writing notes to our mother at our father’s house and we secretly slipped them into her pockets during the supervised visitations. We kept begging her to come rescue us.

On June 30 1994, I ran away with my 11 year old brother and we met our mother at a parking lot. We fled the United States and were granted asylum in Europe. We lived in secrecy for 12 years until we were publically found by the FBI in 2006. (The US authorities were aware of our location for 12 years, but kept our secret until it became public.) Fortunately I was already 18 and Zachary was 20 but the United States demanded my mother’s extradition from the Netherlands.

The Dutch Government requested an FBI investigation to answer the questions: Were we physically abused by our father? Were we telling the truth about the severity of the abuse? Did my mother exhaust all legal options to protect us? Did our mother reasonably believe that she was honestly protecting us from severe physical danger? The FBI concluded yes to all of the questions! Even though they were adamant that our mother broke the law and should be turned over to the American authorities to face criminal charges, the Dutch Government refused. We were protected under the Hague Convention and we were granted indefinite asylum in the Netherlands.

In November 2007, I started an email campaign and I have sent out over 1000 mails demanding justice for our mother. I also wanted to find a way to hold the responsible officials accountable for the (court appointed) child abuse we suffered as children. I wrote to every US Senator, all of the Minnesota State Representatives, and any organization I could think of.

Eventually all International and Federal kidnapping charges against our mother were dismissed. The ‘parental interference’ charges were dropped as well. My mother was instructed to apologize to the local judge for disobeying his order but she refused. In September 2008 my mother returned to the United States and (I think) she was bullied into plea bargaining to one count of ‘contempt of court.’

Our mother replied “I admit to being in contempt of a court which failed to protect my children.” She completed 40 hours of community service and has been officially released from probation. Our mother is a free woman! Now the same family court judge who failed to protect me and my older brother has issued another warrant for my mother’s arrest for not returning our younger 16 year old brother (from another relationship) to the United States. Despite the conflict of interest, and the fact that he is not presiding in family court, this biased judge refuses to recuse himself.

In the criminal plea bargain with the district attorney, they agreed that they would not bring any future criminal charges against our mother pertaining to our little brother. However the judge has issued a civil warrant demanding my mother to be held incarcerated for contempt of court for a minimal of 6 months. It doesn’t really hold any legal weight, but we are forced to remain in the Netherlands for 2 more years until my brother turns 18.

Surprisingly, I was invited to Washington D.C. and I have met with Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (Democratic Majority leader) and several of his colleagues. I have had numerous consultations with Marlene Kaufmann, General Counsel CSCE (Commission for the Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission.) I was a key speaker at various conferences around the United States and I have started my own organization, CA3 (Children Against Court Appointed Child Abuse.) I have attained all of the court documents in our case and over 10 boxes of all of the records have been shipped to Washington DC. for investigation and safe keeping. I am working with several leaders and organizations in Washington and nation wide to try to find a way to prevent this from happening to other children. I have had personal interviews with ABC/CBS, Inside Edition and even appeared on a live American Talk Show with Dr. Joyanna Silberg, and Geraldo Rivera opposing a ludicrous cover up of child abuse called PAS (parental alienation syndrome.)

My mother is a remarkably strong, incredible woman and an amazing, loving mother. . . It has been unsettling watching her being pulled back into her past of trying to prove that her children were telling the truth about being abused. We have been advised that her current fears are indicative of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder so I have decided to take over my own case. Now that I have reviewed the court documents, I am even more outraged. The supporting evidence is overwhelming! They knew our father was abusing us and they tried to cover it up. I was determined to find a way to find a way to hold court officers in our personal case accountable although it looks like that is not possible. Even though they have clearly broken the law, they have immunity and can not be held accountable. It is so unfair and I want justice!

I am determined to use our case as an example to initiate change in the family court system and demand protection for children.

Sincerely,
Jennifer Collins

http://www.americanchildrenunderground.blogspot.com/
http://ca3cacaca.blogspot.com/

More to come in the days to come. Until then, we will lift up hope so that our client can see it clearer, and stand beside her in the journey toward justice.

Enraged but hopeful,

Kathy Findley at Safe Places SafeBlog

Love Is Not Abuse!

Just two days after the end of National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Week, singer and teen “role model” Chris Brown was arrested for alleged domestic violence felony battery and then released on a $50,000 bond. Police reports reveal that Brown’s girlfriend, Rihanna, suffered contusions and bite marks in the alleged assault.

If you take time to check out some Facebook or MySpace profiles posted by Arkansas teens, you will likely find Chris Brown listed under “favorite music.” I wonder if the singer’s recent behavior will concern any of Brown’s young male and female fans to the extent that they would change their favorites list.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 14.1 percent of Arkansas high school students report being hit, slapped, or physically hurt on purpose by their boyfriend or girlfriend. That 14.1 percent represents the fifth highest percentage rate of teen dating violence in the nation.

For students who were physically forced to have sexual intercourse, Arkansas has the highest rate in the nation, 14 percent according to the same CDC study.

In 2007, Brown revealed in an interview with Giant magazine that his mother had been physically abused by his stepfather. "He used to hit my mom," Brown told the interviewer. "He made me terrified all the time, terrified like I had to pee on myself. I remember one night he made her nose bleed. I was crying and thinking, 'I'm just gonna go crazy on him one day.' ... I hate him to this day."

We cannot continue to gloss over the correlation between adult domestic violence and violence among young dating partners. We cannot continue to underestimate the lasting and devastating effect of intimate partner violence that is so obviously passed down from one generation to the next. Whether violence exists in an adult or a teen relationship, it reveals a great deal about gender inequality, unhealthy relationships, the abuse of power, the level of self-determination among young women, and a host of other significant issues.

Arkansas’ teen dating violence rates should alert us that teen dating violence is a serious public health concern that poses a significant threat to our children and youth. Arkansas teen dating violence statistics as indicated below indicate that rates of “hitting, slapping or purposeful physical harm” are continuing to increase.
1999 - 10.10%
2001 - 10%
2006 - 13.80%
2007 - 14.1%

(Data Source: 2007 CDC Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey)


A Note to Young People: You deserve to be treated with respect in your relationships. Listen and watch carefully for signs that a dating partner is abusing you. Some of the red flags are:

* Your dating partner is intensely jealous.

* Your partner sends you text messages or calls you constantly.

* Your partner tells you what to do, what you can wear, or where you can go.

* Your partner sneaks on you or monitors your calls or e-mails.

* Your partner frequently shows up unannounced.

* Your partner publicly embarrasses you.

* Your partner frequently accuses you of "cheating" or flirting.

* Your partner keeps you from doing things you enjoy or isolates you from friends and family.

* Your partner threatens to kill or harm him/herself if you break up.