CT FATHER'S POWER ADVOCATES SKETCH OUT A LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVE TO CRUSH MOTHERS IN CT FAMILY COURT!

The Commander, "The Handmaiden's Tale"
The way Fathers in CT want things to be!

In Margaret Atwood's dystopic novel "The Handmaiden's Tale", a series which airs soon on Hulu, women have been reduced to baby making machines in a society where men have seized full political control  of the entire United States.  Impossible?  Unlikely?  Don't be so sure.

"Handmaidens" whose sole purpose is to give birth
in Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaiden's Tale"

Recently, I was at the Legislative Office Building with some friends when a person showed me current 2017 legislative proposals, which, appallingly enough, sketch out a strategic plan that will essentially crush mothers in Family Court and lead to a situation where men seize control of family court processes and essentially remove mothers from the lives of their children in droves. 

Apparently, this is legislation that father's rights extremists within the Coalition formulated without sharing it with the many abused women who are a part of the membership.  If this legislation succeeds, we will pretty much have "The Handmaiden's Tale" in real life on our front doorsteps.

Let me just go through the full panoply of legislative proposals which will lead to this horrific situation.  

First we have PSB - 363.  This is an act which would require Judges to receive training on Parental Alienation Syndrome which is a quack psychological theory invented by Dr. Richard Gardener to justify the sexual abuse of children.  It is solely used for the purpose of removing a mother from the life of her children. While both fathers and mothers have accused one another of parental alienation syndrome in family court, historically only women end up losing custody and all contact as a consequence of this quack diagnosis.  

What is so ridiculous about this particular piece of legislation is that Judges and GALs already receive extensive education in Parental Alienation Syndrome, hilariously enough some of it from Dr. Donald Hiebel, a notorious Family Court professional who was recently sued for sexually abusing some of his patients.  This is how outrageous such proposed legislation is since it essentially opens the doors for pedophiles and abusers to continue their wrongdoing.  

Next we have PHB - 6645. This legislation would establish the presumption of shared parenting, i.e. 50/50 parenting automatically, in custody decisions, as would PHB 5989 An Act to Establish Parental Equality Rights. This approach is absolutely foolish. For instance, what about the many situations where parents live over an hour away from each other, or when one parent lives out of state.  How is shared parenting supposed to work in those situations, aside from the havoc wrought in the lives of the children who have to bounce like tennis balls from one town to another, and end up being at home in neither.  

This is not even beginning to address the issue that violent abusers and perpetrators of coercive control would have a bonanza abusing their victims under this type of system.  

While I understand that there are some who naively support shared parenting because they believe it would give them access to their children that they do not have now, this is just a foolish expectation.  Shared Parenting, if it is ever instituted, will arrive with the exact same loopholes that exist now that eliminate parents from the lives of their children. These loopholes will not change just because you put Shared Parenting in place.  

If you were accused of PAS and denied access to your child under the presumption of Joint Custody, you will most certainly be denied access to your child under the presumption of Shared Parenting.  That's a given.  If you challenge that view, I am going to wonder if you ever set foot in family court.  

Moving further along, we have H.B. No. 6444 and H.B. No. 6449 both of which would expand Grandparent's rights.  

Why?  

Because we all know that as soon as the Shared Parenting bill gets passed, the fathers who fought so hard for it will take the extra parenting time they get with their kids and pass it along to their grandparents.  These bills expanding the grandparents role are simply there to legitimize such actions when Mothers inevitably say, wait, the father's aren't using this time, so I should have it back.  Father's will then be able to say, Grandparents have legitimate rights to the children.  

Again, we don't even need any legislation for this.  It happens already.  I can't tell you how many fathers who fought and obtained sole custody of their children from abused mothers, then either turned around and passed the children on to their parents or else already live with their parents because, the fact is, they have no clue how to care responsibly for their children without their parents' help.  I hear that all the time.  

The next area where Fathers crafted more legislation to stomp all over protective mothers is P.H.B. 6442 Custodial Interference in the First Degree which includes Parental Alienation Syndrome in Item #3 and which would increase punishments for any real or perceived (i.e. not real) interference with children.  

Along with that, there is another beaut--P.H.B. 6626--which includes sanctions against a person who is in violation of court orders related to custody or visitation.  Again, this is all legislation which centers around let's punish the Mom, because we all know it will be enforced against mothers, but never against fathers.  

None of this legislation in any way benefits or supports the issues that concern Mothers in family court matters.  

Of course, if any of this legislation gets passed, we would see a massive deconstruction of society as we know it. Mothers in large numbers would lose custody of their children, end up confined in jail, be left homeless and indigent, which is, of course, the end goal of these Father Power advocates, so no big surprise there.  

I mean, it isn't as though with the massive sums of money, the millions and millions of dollars in fatherhood initiative funding, these outcomes aren't already happening.  Of course, they are.  Absolutely.  

But these Father Power people, not being sufficiently happy with trashing women thus far, now propose P.H.B. 5656 an act which would put limitations on the payment of child support to a non custodial parent.  

This prohibits the court from ordering a person who has sole legal custody to pay child support to the non-custodial parent.  So this means that the guy who seizes control of the children because of his considerably greater financial resources, can party around with his six digit salary, and then deny his ex wife who is living on the street the money she might need to see her children in supervised visitation for one hour a week.  Wow! Wouldn't that be great for fathers, if it passes.  And it goes on and on--see P.H.B. 6638.  

Then to top it off, we have H.B. 6455 and P.S.B. 531 which would place limitations on the access self represented parties have to the family court system.  And whom would that affect for the better part?  Women, of course. Because once they have been bullied out of custody, thrown in jail, and rendered homeless and indigent, the only way they can come to court is as self represented parties, so of course the Father Power contingent wants to stop them and shut them down.  

I don't know.  I am pretty disgusted.  For the better part, the vast majority of injured parties in family court are women and their powerful stories of injustice have provided most the fuel that has galvanized the Coalition For CT Family Court Reform.  Now, ironically, these Father Power people have co-opted these stories and are using them to support an agenda that would crush women under their feet.  There is nothing more disgraceful than that these men would exploit the sufferings of women for their own nefarious ends.

I can recall in 2012 a group of women met with a CT State Legislator and each of us spoke of our stories in family court.  I recall there was more than one meeting actually.  

Not long after these meetings were held, I heard the rumor that the legislator hesitated to take action to support us because we women were too whiny, clinging, and weak to accomplish anything.  

Recently, I heard an equivalent sentiment from a women family court activist; she stated that men are tough and strong, and women court victims are incapable of political action.  In 2016, when we just watched a woman run for President, I find the position that women are not capable of fighting for themselves in the political arena rather old fashioned.  Certainly, I think if these Father's Power people keep up with their shit, they will really get some major examples of what strong women advocates can do.