The Mothers Not Found in the Media- (the author/mother was silenced) « A Human Rights Issue-Custodial Justice

I found the below on A Human Rights Issue-Custodial Justice

 

Looks like she’s still silenced. The page is gone and her blog is empty. (but we have the article) Hang in there Julie- they CAN’T Silence us all!

The Mothers Not Found in the Media

by JULIE LEVINE

Mrs. Tiger Woods, Mrs. Aaron Spelling, Ms. Britney Spears, even our first lady, Mrs. Obama ….all mothers that you can read about on an almost weekly basis. The media loves to cover them and to expose them. Whether they like it or not.

The media does not cover the women who have lost custody battles to perpetrators of domestic violence. Their abusers are almost never exposed. The children in these cases are damaged, their lives stained forever. Over and over again, these children are torn from the arms of a loving parent-their mothers.

When will you read of Debbie, Rachel, Susan, Maria, and hundreds of others who have lost their children in a court system that enables such injustice? Probably never. And the silence is breaking them.

In our judicial system of today, powerful men, dominating men, are able to use the court system as a weapon. Tragically, they are able to use their children as ammunition. The media doesn’t know the women that have fallen victims to our courts. We should read about the personal enfolding of celebrity moms, professional athletes’ spouses, and other characters that are deemed of high interest to the public. Or so they say. When do we read of the other mothers?

No one wants to report on the woman whose husband repeatedly raped his 5 year old daughter. That man was then given sole custody of the young girl, as the woman could not fight the court battle laid out before her. Who would want to read of the woman whose husband broke every bone in her face, over a period of years? He was then given custody of the children who witnessed this horror.

In another case, a forensic psychologist stated that he was of the professional opinion that two boys had observed their father being psychologically and physically abusive towards their mother. Documentation regarding physical abuse of the mother was evidenced. Then the judge deciding this particular custody dispute awarded sole custody of the two boys to the father.

When this woman sought safety prior to the divorce dispute, her husband warned her that she would never see her children again. After custody was "awarded" to this male perpetrator, the mother never had a relationship with her sons again. A judge looked her in the eye and told her that just because her husband had raped and beaten her, it did not mean he couldn’t be a good father.

Not understanding any of the court’s instructions, she contacted newspapers, radio stations, and magazines. In our wonderful United States of America, there was not a single reporter that would come to her aid. No one wanted to speak of her story, her life….It was her own, never to be shared.

Until now.

It happened to me.

In our country that promises protection and justice, judges are awarding custody to men with violent histories. Women that have made their children a priority, are left childless. Many times, these women turn to the media for assistance…only to be turned away.

These are the mothers not found in the media. Reporters refuse to reply to coverage requests, as judges are never held accountable for their poor and damaging decisions. If these cases are told to the public, how are they remedied? Perhaps this is why reporters run from such stories. Rather than ignore such tragedies, it seems that finding an answer would be a much better conclusion.

In order for there to be a solution to many of these horror stories, the stories themselves must be told. Bullied and emotionally battered by judicial figureheads, the mothers not mentioned in the media must be heard. They need a voice. We need a voice.

If you are reading these words, that proves there is hope. It says things can get a little bit better. This is all being told from a mother who lost her children in a court of law to the abuser; from a mother not found in the media.

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The Mothers Not Found in the Media- (the author/mother was silenced) « A Human Rights Issue-Custodial Justice

Dental records confirm body

On the morning of 26 Jan. a farmer in VA called 911 to report that he had found human remains in a field on his farm, The Anchorage Farm.  The police are fairly certain they have said, that those remains are Morgan Harrington.  Morgan was last seen on 17 Oct 2009 after a concert.  Apparently the remains show decay that suggests she did not recently die.  Many questions are still surrounding this and the police are hesitant to say anything more at this point.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to this family.

One fairly informative source is:  WTVR.com out of Richmond, VA.  Their article with videos and links to other articles can be found here: Medical Examiner Positively Identifies Remains as Morgan Harrington

The below is a short excerpt from CNN with a link to their full article and videos at the end.  The links I have added below are to the general area maps to give an overview of the area.

(CNN) -- Skeletal remains found in a hayfield are those of Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington, a spokeswoman for the Virginia State Police said Wednesday.

The remains were identified based on dental records provided by the victim's family, spokeswoman Corinne Geller said.

Morgan Harrington, a 20-year-old education major, went to a Metallica concert at the University of Virginia's John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Virginia, on October 17. She was separated from her friends and was the subject of repeated searches.

"Investigators are now working to determine how the remains came to be in this particular location, cause and time of death, and identifying who was responsible for the remains being there," Geller said in a news release.

More information is expected after the completion of an autopsy, the spokeswoman added.

Police said skeletal remains were found Tuesday morning by a farmer driving a tractor through a hay field on his 700-acre farm. The area has no public access po... Dental records confirm body is Va. Tech student's - CNN.com

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MS lawmakers decline to expand divorce laws

http://nems360.com/bookmark/5651024 

Mississippi lawmakers have no intention of making it easier for “I do’s” to become “I don’ts.”

It has been more than three decades since the Legislature enacted no-fault divorce. To use this method, both spouses must agree to divorce and agree to child custody, child support, and property division.

Since that time, lawmakers have passed laws addressing with child abuse, sexual abuse and spousal abuse. While a male-dominated Legislature agreed to the seriousness of those crimes, it would not — despite urging of others — agree those same transgressions could impact on a marriage.

Attempts to change the grounds for a divorce, to allow either party in a failing marriage to seek a no-fault divorce, or to require pre-divorce counseling have died in the Legislature.

Conversely, efforts to appeal the three-day waiting period to get a marriage license or put more restraints on getting a divorce have failed.

Lawmakers have also declined to go off into the area of an equitable division of property, on which chancery judges have been guided by a Mississippi Supreme Court decision dating back to 1994.

Opponents have said before making any change lawmakers should be sure they will improve the situation, not make it worse. If a judge does not handle property divisions fairly, they say, the Supreme Court will overturn the ruling.

The late Sen. Howard Dyer of Greenville, who championed the no-fault divorce law, campaigned for its passage saying feuding parents should avoid messy court fights.

“Airing their dirty laundry in public and exposing the children to a disgusting courtroom soap opera,” Dyer said in one debate.

State Rep. Mark DuVall, D-Mantachie, waded off into this quagmire this past week with legislation that proposed adding compulsive gambling as a 13th ground of divorce.

There are 12 grounds for divorce in the state, including adultery, habitual drunkenness and impotence.

“I drafted this bill to address the concerns of a few in my district that had to get a divorce on other grounds, but did not have grounds to get the lost savings or assets repaid them since they were divorced on other grounds,” DuVall told The Associated Press.

Or as House Judiciary B Committee Chairman Willie Bailey, D-Greenville, said: If a spouse repeatedly gambles away the paycheck and “doesn’t feed the children and doesn’t feed the dogs” the partner should be allowed to divorce on those grounds.

However, opponents said the state should not make divorce easier. In the debate, they argued marriage was steeped in Biblical teachings and Christianity. Some lawmakers also said compulsive gambling wasn’t defined anywhere in the DuVall’s bill.

Rep. John Mayo, D-Clarksdale, jokingly asked: “Is farming considered compulsive gambling?”

The bill failed with 40 votes for and 74 against.

Other bills have been filed in the 2010 session addressing divorce. Many deal with child custody issues and premarital agreements.

A couple of bills proposed adding irreconcilable differences as the 13th ground, allowing one spouse to seek dissolution of a marriage using a method not limited to no-fault divorces. That issue also has failed in recent legislative sessions.

Another bill proposes a 13th ground as when a couple has been separated without reconciliation for at least five years. There is a proviso that a chancellor can block the divorce if minor children are involved and a divorce is not in their best interests.