Kill AB 1877

I sent the following letter to California Assembly members regarding AB 1877, a proposed bill which is being heard by the California Assembly Judiciary Committee on March 25. If passed, this bill would would potentially allow the court to sanction parents, or even to switch custody, for showing a custody evaluation report to law enforcement, a non court-appointed therapist, an oversight agency, or any organization trying to rectify problems in the family court system:

Re: NO to AB 1877

Custody evaluators function primarily to turn criminal domestic violence and child abuse cases into family court custody disputes. Evaluators' reports underlie rampant family court related corruption and fraud, and are the basis of enacting Conciliation Court Law in place of more appropriate family codes and other laws:

http://www.newsmakingnews.com/ross,familycourtcorrupt2nd2,19,03.htm

Custody evaluators are already threatening the integrity of the criminal justice system and the safety of abuse victims. Their bogus "alienation" theories, e.g., Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS), have been identified as obstructing prosecution and otherwise preventing proper adjudication of abuse cases:

http://www.ndaa.org/publications/newsletters/update_volume_16_number_6_2003.html
http://www.ndaa-apri.org/publications/newsletters/update_volume_16_number_7_2003.html

Custody evaluations are specifically crafted to conceal evidence and to shift blame, so that parents reporting abuse (almost exclusively mothers) are dismissed as dysfunctional and vindictive alienators making false allegations. Dishonest, often outright fabricated evaluation reports are the basis of court-ordered PAS "threats", calling for women and children to be punished not only through custody switches and supervised visitation, but in jails and mental institutions:

http://www.fact.on.ca/Info/pas/gard99m.htm
http://www.batteredmotherscustodyconference.org/letting_children_speak.htm

In February 2000, investigative reporter Karen Winner issued, "Findings on Judge Michael Dufficy, Commissioner Sylvia Shapiro and Court Appointees in Marin County Superior Court in California". The Winner Report included at least one case where a secretive evaluation report (which the mother was not permitted to see) was used to justify diverting child support funds to court-appointed evaluator, Nancy Olesen, and to court-appointed attorney for the minor child, Mary Halbert. (Since the release of the Winner Report, the National Alliance for Family Court Justice has also obtained documents detailing approximately $30,000 in improper payments made to these court appointees by the County of Marin.): Click here: http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/1/16/1702195/WinnerReport.pdf

We do not need more laws providing secrecy to custody evaluators. AB 1877 is dangerous legislation which will allow evaluators to continue engaging in surreptitious case rigging activity and other misconduct, while helping conceal their role in facilitating outrageous, illegal and unsafe custody recommendations and rulings:
http://www.centerforjudicialexcellence.org/cjefldocumentary.htm

Please KILL AB 1877.

Cindy Ross
California Director
National Alliance for Family Court Justice