Allegations of Criminal Abuse Should Not Be Handled in Family Court – With Its Low-to-No-Evidence Rules

Joan Kloth-Zanard argues that the current system, which allows abuse claims to be adjudicated in family court, is not equipped to handle criminal matters.

She also says the prevalence of false allegations by women in divorce cases is skewing statistics and creating a false impression of an epidemic of abuse.

She refers to the divorce and custody case of Luigi DiRubba and Anna Maria Mongelo, with her six separate false allegations of abuse.

Anna Maria got the upper hand by lodging false abuse claims against her husband Luigi. This is called the “silver bullet” by which you shoot the other parent from the start, and end his chances of having shared custody. Luigi has not seen his children in years.

By Joan Teresa Kloth-Zanard

MFT, ADA, RSS, ABI, GAL, MDCF, LC

The DiRubba case is so dirty. It is an example of why the family court system must be shut down. Family courts are not the proper place for supposed abuse claims. Child and spousal abuse is a criminal claim and must be in criminal court only.

Worse, women’s rights groups claim 73% of all DV cases are dismissed, and this is serious because the kids are supposedly going to abusers. What they haven’t considered in their faulty statistics is that 73% were unfounded because they were probably false allegations. This means we have a serious epidemic of false allegations filed by women.

This is a very sad commentary, not only because of the “silver-bullet” false claims, but also because the DV organizations are reporting false information, making it look like there is an abuse epidemic in this country.

If we truly have an epidemic of DV abuse, this is NOT how you handle it. Epidemics are not treated in the courts. They are treated as a whole in society through medical means. But I suspect that if someone did a proper scientific study, they would find that the 73% figure would show that 70% of the unsubstantiated were false allegations, leaving only 3% that we inappropriately decided.

THIS ABUSE OF THE SYSTEM IS AN ATROCITY! IT SHOWS HOW CORRUPT OUR FAMILY COURTS ARE. IT SHOWS HOW DESPERATELY THE FAMILY COURT SYSTEM NEEDS TO BE CHANGED.

My thoughts:

1) All financial matters related to a divorce are only in regular civil court. Stop mixing the apples and oranges. Coparenting the children is completely separate from financial matters. You do not need money to co-parent.

2) If there are true allegations of abuse or neglect, they need to be properly investigated to rule out all false allegations, and this can only be done in criminal court. In criminal court, a low-income parent can get legal assistance to defend the allegations and be properly represented. Typically family law attorneys are NOT criminal attorneys. Including criminal abuse allegations in family court means family law attorneys must also be criminal attorneys.

3) Family court cases need to be mediated and mediated, and mediated and mediated and mediated until such time as there is enough evidence that one party or both refuse to co-parent. Mediators need to be trained mental health professionals, or at least, the mediation team should include an attorney and a mental health professional. If there are financial issues directly related to the children’s activities or care, then a financial expert is added.

WE NEED TO STOP THE ADVERSARIAL PROCESS. FAMILIES DO NOT NEED ANY MORE ADVERSITY. THEY NEED COLLABORATION, AS THEY WILL ALWAYS BE THE PARENTS OF THE CHILDREN. AND THE CHILDREN DESERVE A CHILDHOOD FREE OF THEIR PARENTS’ CONFLICTS.

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  • http://www.stephenkrasner.com/articles-family-law.html Enough information to make your head spin.
    A Broken System: Halls of Justice

    Stephen Krasner, Contributor

    2016 – A Broken System Series​
    A Broken System: Halls of Justice
    A Broken System: Motions for Money
    A Broken System: Fighting To Be A Dad
    A Broken System: Misconduct and Whistle-Blowing
    A Broken System: Parental Alienation
    A Broken System: Stewards of Fraud
    A Broken System: Child-Parent Sanctity (CPS)
    A Broken System: Veteran and Service Member Mistreatment
    A Broken System: Court Sanctioned Legal Abuse
    A Broken System: Contempt Of Family Court

    2017 – A Broken System Series
    A Broken System: Timed-Out Custody
    Parental Alienation Is Erasing Family
    A Broken System: Unconstitutionality Of Family Law
    A Broken System: Oaths Betrayed In Family Law
    A Broken System: Gatekeeping And Alienation
    A Broken System: Court Of Parents
    A Broken System: Web Of Enforcement
    A Broken System: Wake Of Family Law
    A Broken System: Fostering Abusive Dysfunction
    A Broken System: Parental Voices Unsilenced​

    ​2018 – A Broken System Series
    A Broken System: A Court’s Eye View
    A Broken System: Obstruction of Parental Rights
    A Broken System: Deportation of Innocence
    A Broken System: Electing Judicial Bias

  • The perverts “long march through the institutions” infiltrated many family courts throughout America and the world …

  • “… and the schizophrenics were all reporting they were seeing these shadow people enter their rooms …”

    • Joan’s Linked in page:

      “… Tenafly High School

      1974 – 1978 …”

      https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanklothzanard

      An Independent article says: “… After he developed his Parental Alienation Syndrome in the 1980s, however, he and Columbia slowly distanced themselves from each other and he spent most of his time in private practice in New Jersey. Along the way, he also turned into an authentic American monster. …”

      Wikipedia says:
      “… He committed suicide by stabbing himself at his home in Tenafly, New Jersey on May 25, 2003, at age 72. …”

  • I’ve been in and out of DV groups since 2007. The only abused mothers I ever saw keep custody of their kids were either shot or stabbed, and even then it took tens of thousands of dollars in court fees to “prove” abuse.

    Yes, domestic violence IS an epidemic! When you have a broken system that forces the poor and marginalized (usually women) to somehow come up with thousands of dollars to defend themselves I’m a court where evidence is ignored and perjury downright expected, who’s going to win? Not only do abusers get custody nearly every time, they get to pass on their bad behavior to their children with little to no influence from the “safe” parent.

    The system is broken. Abolish Family Court! Slavery and child labor were once totally legal, too. I’ll start the discussion! Sign my petition at change.org/AbolishFamilyCourt

  • Retaliation for “speaking up to politicians and helping families of parental alienation and domestic violence by proxy”? 🤔 says:

    “April 17, 2022
    by Catherine MacWillie, Organizer

    Dear Colleagues, Clients and Friends:
    I need your help. Please if you could find it in your heart to write up a letter of support about who I am and what you know about me.

    Several experts and attorneys have now confirmed that I am clearly being retaliated against in court and held to a higher set of standards than all others because of the work I do including testifying, speaking up to politicians and helping families of parental alienation and domestic violence by proxy.

    Presently, I have a horrible attorney but do not qualify for a public defender on a DUI arrest.

    My attorney has done NOTHING on my case but charge me astronomical amounts of money for me to train him in the American Disability Act.

    He has not subpoenaed anything. He has not spoken to my medical professionals. He has not looked even at my medical records nor my Discrimination case against the State Police.

    He has ignored everything I have given him for the past two years. And because I cannot afford to pay him, and the GoFundMe did not raise enough money, I cannot hire another attorney, especially at this late date.

    My attorney could have had this case dismissed several times over if he had just subpoenaed several things but he refused even after we offered to pay for the subpoenas.

    I am now forced to go to trial immediately with only a 1-hour notice to get to court to select a jury.

    I am looking at 2.5 to 15 years in jail for a crime I did not commit and is based on my legal disabilities that I get SSDI for.

    What I need are strong letters of support explaining the kind of person I am, the work I do for free, and so on.

    Time is of the essence and these letters need to be notarized and scanned to me or faxed to me at [phone redacted].

    Please I do not belong in jail. We actually have caselaw here in CT that shows many cases where someone in a similar situation was not treated this way. I am desperate for your help.

    Joani“

  • “... the largest and oldest 501c3 nonprofit for psychological abuse with over 50 chapters around the world ...”? says:

    “Joan is a fighter for parents and children around the world and is married with one child. Presently, she runs and manages the largest and oldest 501c3 nonprofit for psychological abuse with over 50 chapters around the world.” 🤔

    “… February 12, 2022
    by Catherine MacWillie, Organizer
    PASI, PASG Member and PA Expert Facing Retaliation in Family Law

    Joan is a colleague of mine of more than fifteen years. Joan is in dire straits. This campaign is designed to raise the funds necessary for a criminal defense attorney for Joan. This is in connection with a matter resulting from a traffic accident which never should have escalated to a legal scenario. Joan believes this may be in retaliation for testimony she gave in a family law matter against a member of the court.

    Joan has worked tirelessly and often for free to assist a national [and sometimes international] community of victims of parental alienation, (pa) and violence dealing with divorce and custody. If you are unfamiliar with parental alienation it is a particular form of abuse where a parent deliberately impedes the relationship between the children and the other parent where there is no true abuse occurring.

    Because of the decades of work that Joan has provided on a pro bono basis to needy parents and others around the world, Joan and her family do not have the funds necessary for her legal representation. We need to take this burden off of Joan so that she can continue to do the amazing work she has been doing to assist in advancing the art and science and legislation necessary to protect families in crisis during divorce and custody issues.

    If Joan has over the years assisted you or someone you know that you cherish and/or respect, this is your opportunity [and their opportunity if you would kindly refer this page to them] to give back and help Joan out so that Joani can continue to support these communities. I hope that we can count on your support and guide others to this page so that we can give back to someone who has provided so much assistance to others.

    Joan is a fighter for parents and children around the world and is married with one child. Presently, she runs and manages the largest and oldest 501c3 nonprofit for psychological abuse with over 50 chapters around the world.

    This 501(c)(3) is an international non-profit organization for the Prevention, Intervention and Support of abuse Survivors. (www.PAS-Intervention.org). Part of this work includes running online support groups for these Survivors of Abuse and in particular, Psychological Abuse since 1998. Despite her education, she still works for free helping families because by the time they get to her organization, they are usually financially devastated.

    I understand that many may not be able to afford to contribute to the GoFundMe setup for Joan And I get that. But you can help her in another way. If Joan has supported you, helped you, whether on her own or through the non-profit, PAS-Intervention, putting those praises and support for Joani into a notarized letter would be immensely helpful. As you know, she is being retaliated against in an attempt to have her voice shutdown permanently for helping parents like you out. Please, Joani is counting on you to make a difference the way Joani has made a difference for hundreds and hundreds of parents.… Please send all notarized letters to:
    ℅ Catherine MacWillie
    320 North George’s Hill Road
    Southbury, CT 06488 …”

    • “Presently, she runs and manages the largest and oldest 501c3 nonprofit for psychological abuse with over 50 chapters around the world.”

  • The state of Connecticut has done one thing right it’s not allowing her to be a GAL. Can you imagine the unlimited amount of stories Frank and the circus blogger would have?

  • She is constantly recommending a robusuk GaL who is lurking around the Hartford, Rockville and Middletown town court house. Awaiting the judges to force her appointment. She is sighted by judges as unbiased. The court of public opinion has determined that is a lie. She is an AFCC GaL and has been bulling women and children for years. Running the alienation scam for years. She stands on the left side of the father’s when in family court.

  • If they are yours, Abuse of children isn’t criminal in Connecticut. If you dated, married, had a fake wedding when you were 5, abusing a woman or man isn’t criminal in many states- especially CT- it goes to family court, child abuse goes to juvenile court. The uninformed Joanie Kloth is wrong again.

    • I believe you’re wrong, because when there are “allegations” family court uses it against you you may be correct logistically, but that doesn’t work in real life because in Family Court there are no rules. Why do you think the criminal system waits almost a year before they dismiss all charges against allegations when there’s no evidence? Because they use that full year to slam you in Family Court all the while you do not have any recourse against the false allegations because the statute of limitation has run out in criminal court to file against the person who made the false allegations. Wow what a creative scandal.

  • Wow you let this nut job write an article like this? You just lost all credibility. She is a loose canon, has no credibility in the state of CT and is laughed at. Frank do better. This is shameful. Joan pushes PA and PAS nonsense, all disproven by SCIENCE! Science proves that women and children VERY SELDOMLY lie about DV in court, if she used any scientifically backed data to do her “research” with she’d know this. It’s good to know you allow pedophile sympathize pushing quacks to write articles. She even started a laughable go fund me because she has legal issues from her ludicrous ideations. She is an embarrassment to all women.
    https://www.gofundme.com/f/retaliation-for-family-law-testimony

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      👇
      “ Dr. Lynn Steinberg and Other Family Advocates Celebrate the Defeat of SB616

      NEWS PROVIDED BY
      Lynn Steinberg
      Sep 07, 2022, 23:42 ET
      SHARE THIS ARTICLE

      LOS ANGELES, Sept. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — With the end of the 2021-22 California legislative session, family advocates across the state are celebrating Sen. Susan Rubio’s decision to pull SB616 from the docket. SB616, known as Piqui’s Law, would have barred courts from referring families in crisis to proven psychotherapy treatments 🤔 that reconnect children and parents who have been alienated, usually during a contentious custody case. It also would have set onerous training requirements for judges and other court professionals.

      “SB616 would have legislated the concept of parental alienation out of California jurisprudence and permanently separated thousands of children from a loving parent,” according to Dr. Lynn Steinberg, a family therapist based in Los Angeles.

      Parental alienation is when one parent emotionally manipulates a child to speak out against the other parent, often making unfounded accusations of abuse. It is a form of child abuse that can have life-long negative effects.

      Steinberg worked with attorney Virginia Griffin Donnell and other team members to spearhead the effort to fight the bill as currently written. They reached out to thousands of family advocates, many of whom are victims of parental alienation, and encouraged them to contact legislators. In response, hundreds of emails and phone calls were made urging elected officials to either amend the bill or, failing that, vote against it.

      At a hearing of the California State Senate Judiciary Committee on August 24, Griffin Donnell and others testified against the bill. They were joined in opposition by the Judicial Council, the organization that oversees the California court system. They vehemently opposed the excessive training requirements. The day after the hearing, Rubio announced that she was pulling the bill.

      According to Sen. Rubio (D-Baldwin Park), SB616 was introduced “because children continue to be murdered at the hands of an abusive parent during custody disputes.” Dr. Steinberg notes that the provisions in the bill do nothing to protect children.

      “To protect children from violence we need the tools to predict future violence,” Steinberg notes. “We must work with psychologists familiar with parental alienation to develop metrics that enable us to best understand the potential threats to a child. In most cases, it is the alienating parent – the one manipulating the child – who is the risk for violence.”

      Sen. Rubio is almost certain to introduce a revised version of Piqui’s Law in the next legislative session. Steinberg, Griffin Donnell, and other family advocates expect to have a seat at the table to ensure that their concerns are addressed.

      “In 2020, we worked with Sen. Rubio’s office on SB1141, which added ‘coercive control’ to California state law.” This is when an abuser isolates a victim from family and friends and deprives them of basic necessities to control their behavior and emotions. “We have a track record of working with Sen. Rubio in the past and we look forward to working with her again in the future,” states Steinberg.

      For more information, contact Dr. Lynn Steinberg;
      (323) 449-2203; 344168@email4pr.com; lynnsteinberg.com or Attorney Virginia Griffin Donnell at https://griffindonnell.com/.

      SOURCE Lynn Steinberg”
      https://www… prnewswire.com/news-releases/dr-lynn-steinberg-and-other-family-advocates-celebrate-the-defeat-of-sb616-301619952.html

      “CA Senator Susan Rubio’s Statement on Piqui’s Law

      August 25, 2022
      SACRAMENTO, CA – California Senator Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park) today released a statement on holding her family court reform bill, Senate Bill 616, Piqui’s Law: Keeping Children Safe From Family Violence:

      “I introduced Piqui’s Law because children continue to be murdered at the hands of an abusive parent during custody disputes. Piqui was among those innocent children and one of the reasons behind our national movement to reform the judicial system. Judges and court employees are best positioned to help avoid this loss of life. It is unfortunate that the Judicial Council’s resistance stifled our ability to include stronger protections for victims. 👈 👆

      “Despite strong efforts by my colleague, Senator Tom Umberg, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Piqui’s Law did not achieve our goals. Advocates and I agreed that it was too important to get this law right and decided to continue to work on it. I want to thank Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins, Senate Leadership, and the Governor’s staff for all their support and commitment to me, Piqui’s mother, Ana Estevez, the Center for Judicial Excellence, and stakeholders to craft legislation that makes California a leader in judicial reform.”
      https://sd22.senate.ca.gov/news/2022-08-25-ca-senator-susan-rubios-statement-piquis-law

      “State Lawmakers Consider Bill Banning Controversial Reunification Therapy and Camps

      The Davis Vanguard
      Posted by Robert J Hansen April 07, 2023

      👉 A bill known as Piqui’s Law would prohibit court-ordered family reunification therapy or “camps” as part of a child custody or visitation rights proceeding, that is predicated on cutting off a child from a parent with whom the child is attached, is moving through the legislature.

      Authored by Senator Susan Rubio, the intent of SB 331 is to increase the priority given to child custody court proceedings affecting the custody and care of children, excluding child protective, abuse, or neglect proceedings and juvenile justice proceedings.

      Scientifically unproven, reunification therapy is a controversial method in which children are removed from their preferred parent or safe parent, often used as a tactic to deflect allegations of abuse or mistreatment directed towards the other parent and cost tens of thousands of dollars.

      Abusive parents will often lodge “parental alienation” or “alienation” claims against a safe parent as a legal strategy to cast doubt on their credibility and valid claims of abuse are labeled as “alienation” by the abusive parent.

      Once a court finds a claim of “alienation,” the children are removed from their safe parent and forced to reunite with their alleged abusive parent via a reunification camp …

      … Children subjected to these abusive programs report being denied food, being assaulted, being drugged, being shamed, and having no privacy as transport agents follow them into bathroom stalls, according to the Center for Judicial Excellence (CJE).

      Ally Toyos was 16, she and her younger sister were taken from their mother and flown to Montana where they were subjected to reunification therapy in a hotel for four days by the organization, Family Bridges.

      “My sister and I were kidnapped from a courthouse in Johnson County Kansas and transported to a remote city in Montana,” Cable said.

      Toyos, Youth Initiative Founder for the CJE, said she and her sister were “held captive” in a hotel and threatened into a relationship with their abusive father through Family Bridges.

      The Second Appellate District Court reversed an order, in favor of the mother, that would have sent two children to Family Bridge’s 90-day reunification program last January. …”

      “Reunification Camp Survivors Expose For-Profit Industry’s Relationship with Family Courts

      November 29, 2022

      by Robert J. Hansen

      “… Family Bridges claims to be a structured, four-day education experience to help “alienated children” and a rejected parent begin restoring a positive relationship in a relaxed setting.

      In the four-day workshop … ‘We were coerced into saying that our safe parent, our mom, had brainwashed us into believing that we were abused,’ Cable said …

      … These scientifically unproven “reunification” programs which cost tens of thousands of dollars address the debunked condition “parental alienation,” created by psychiatrist Richard Gardner in 1985.

      Before committing suicide, Gardner was a part-time clinical professor of child psychiatry at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University …

      … His “parental alienation” concept is not recognized by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), the World Health Organization (WHO) or the American Medical Association.

      That has not deterred a growing number of individuals who have repackaged Garner’s original concept of “parental alienation syndrome” to simply “parental alienation” or, “alienation” looking to benefit from the financial opportunities it has created within the family court system.
      👇
      Dr. Lynn Steinberg is one such individual who offers a four-day workshop similar to Family Bridges’ and recently played a pivotal role in the removal of Maya and Sebastian Laing from their grandmother’s Santa Cruz home.

      What happened to the Laing children sparked the County of Santa Cruz to reevaluate and look into regulating private youth transport companies that are hired to remove children from their homes …”

      https://www.davisvanguard.org/2022/11/reunification-camp-survivors-expose-for-profit-industrys-relationship-with-family-courts/

        • cold day in hell, too many pockets being lines, getting red flagged amongst your (dirty connected) colleagues,, and last but not least …apathy (until it happens to them or their adult children then you will hear bloody murder screams. I have no remorse saying this I hope it does happen to them for all the families, parent and CHILDREN they pawned, extorted, raped and ruined.

    • Does the mishandling of criminal abuse cases in family courts create 25% of all crime? Erm ... probably. says:

      “… In fact my own research of ten years identified that family law may be responsible for 25 percent of the crime in the United States. …”

      — Catherine MacWillie. Custody Consultant and Divorce Coach, Los Angeles, CA

      https://youtu.be/29z5TaYHJkU?t=856

    • “Catherine MacWillie and John Hamel are organizing this fundraiser.”

      Who are Catherine MacWillie and John Hamel?

  • Joan is a quack and a predatory victim harvester. She cannot make one assertion that is backed by any actual scientific review.

  • As much as I dislike Joan Kloth Zanard for her relentless attack on women. I agree there is a very low level in investigation into abuse. Which has allowed for the relentless fraudulent alignment of parental alienation. Fraudulent alignment of abuse which harm women and children who are actual victims.

    • You should dislike her for running cover for pedophiles too. And for shilling her PAS company where she can fuck up families herself off the record. She doesn’t hate the child trafficking of family court, she’s jealous of it and wants a slice of the pie.

        • If you’re NOT triggered by someone advocating putting children with their rapists then something is wrong with you, not me. I understand you might not have been around long enough to know about that – it happened back in May 2014 – but you can still look at her current position of shilling to move the child trafficking courts are doing moved over to her own PAS company where she will fleece emotionally stunted men for nothing more than endless validation as long as you will pay. She is not against the crimes that judges and lawyers are committing, she’s jealous of their haul and wants in on the action.

          Learn a little bit of discernment. Not everyone who says things you like to hear is your friend. Not everyone who says things you don’t like to hear is against you.

        • She is not credible. She can easily be caught in a lie. Plenty of evidence of her engagement in the fraudulent cases of parental alienation.

  • There does even have to be a claim or charge of criminal abuse for these attorneys and judges to destroy your reputation and criminalize parents in the eyes of their children.

    No-contacts orders should not be allowed in family court. They’re handed out like candy to the financier, and go on indefinitely. Instead of being able to challenge them after a given period of time, they become a life sentence.

  • I agree. I petitioned over 3 years ago for divorce. My filings requested mediation and shared custody. We were married 14 months, she didn’t pay a single bill, and she stole my car. Before leaving, she triangulated all my friends trying to get them to forge letters, spent an unknown extent of time switching my seizure etc meds out with antihistamines. Her lawyer said I attempted suicide twice, after being first denied orders and then her lawyer got a commissioner coworker to approve it on those false claims. No evidence, no claims of abuse, or neglect.

    Three years later, after 14 months of marriage (yes, months) I am 140k more in debt, I have barely seen my son 24 hours a year, and none since June, and I now have a permanent order granted for ?? Because no evidence was accepted, I was not present and neither was my lawyer of record, and the court reporter was canceled. This was after 2 years waiting and fighting for justice of my own, and being sanctioned or insulted while the judge makes plans with her coworker to appear at your Anti SLAPP motion in a different department, so she can ignore the filing you made with legal references clearly defining submitted evidence as protected. Ignored visitation documents, said I needed counseling. In the documents were 10 sworn statements, agreeing to appear and testify on my behalf, including one from my brother stating I was a better father than him (made me cry btw, nicest thing that jerk ever said about me), a parenting class I wasn’t ordered to take, an anger management class I wasn’t ordered to take, and proof that, yes I had been attending counseling from the supervising psychologist and my counselor. She had no idea what was in the packet and insulted me in FOAH after dropping my listed custody to 0% from 8% in a visitation hearing. The very next day, my still wife tried to file for more child support. They already forged my signature on a financial statement that claimed I made more money than I did, exactly $1,000 a month more to obtain almost 900 a month in child support. She is still embezzling my vehicle and has, over the course of three years, crashed the vehicle no less than 6 times. I don’t know what my son’s face looks like. To see the people like the one below who thinks women are just a giant populace of victims: I have had plenty of really horrible and completely ridiculous things done to me by women. Women have all of the same potentials as men, and saying otherwise is plainly sexist. I haven’t even skimmed the surface of things I have had to deal with from this one woman. Can you tell me why I am permanently unable to go back to my trade and work, see my son even though there are orders to see him 3 times a week, I can’t substitute out my lawyer, and I can’t take any action in the court in pro per because of that? Or maybe you can explain why the orders for visitation were not in my printed out copy in my file, are not online in court docs, and the FLFacilitator is claiming someone took the file and I can’t be given assistance ‘because I have a lawyer’ I haven’t spoken to since August of 2022? I am sure it’s just all me though right? I must have done something, because women never lie, like you said right?

    • The lies and manipulation of all players in family court is SOP. The public needs to be informed to stop people from entering this sham of a courthouse where there is no Justice or no due process.

      Judges simply legalize kidnapping of children, defamation of innocent parties, and larceny of lifelong savings.

    • Women who have had dirty legal system play tricks are not on board with this. The system is a complete shit show

    • Dear John Cortesi, you are being played by your own lawyer, because you have money. Dumb the lawyer, go pro se, you are the cheddar.

    • I’m so sorry that happened to you. Of course women can also be abusers! The problem is this whacked system we allowed lawyers to create!

      I would prefer a system of elected professionals who serve the public as politicians do. Psych and Sociologist grads traditionally have a tough time finding work! It wouldn’t matter how much money you have because it would be completely subsidized by the Federal government, but administered by the county, much like community care facilities back in the day. No more years-long battles! Criminal behavior would stay in criminal court, and the accused would have the right to representation.

      What we have now is almost a worst case scenario of how the disposition of children should be managed. We can change! Civil rights didn’t end in the 1960’s. Please don’t give up!

  • Believe the woman Joan. Women do not lie. Only men lie and they abuse women. I never saw a woman lie. My experience shows 95% of abuse cases are true only men run the crooked system and the abuser gets off.
    It is insulting to suggest a woman would stoop to make a false claim to win a divorce settlement or keep the kids. Women are not selfish. Men are.

    • 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 I could name about 20 reasons why they woman would stoop that low and make false claims. You can wake me up from a drunken stupor and I can give you 11 off the bat lol.

    • I can dispute that so quickly with just one case. Mother claims father is sexually abusing the children. He goes to jail for 1year. While in Jail, the mother admits to a friend that the way she got him arrested was simple. Every time the children came home from the father’s house, she put them in the tub and rubbed their private parts until red and raw. And then she took pictures. Thankfully this friend was so horrified that they reported it and the father was released and the mother charged with sexual abuse.

      THIS IS A GENDERLESS ISSUE. BOTH MEN AND WOMEN LIE TO GET WHAT THEY WANT. THINK THE OLD SAYING ABOUT GOLD-DIGGING WOMEN. THEY LIE TO GET THE MONEY.

      • Spot on. Not a gender issue, but it is true that it happens more commonly against men than women and the pendulum does swinging One Direction majority of the time again, it is not a gender issue.

        • 1. “Not a gender issue”
          2. “but it is true that it happens more commonly against men than women”
          3. “and the pendulum does swinging One Direction majority of the time”
          4. “again, it is not a gender issue.”

          • She was eventually forced to incorporate that talking point because she was getting humiliated in debate and discourse with her “all women lie all the time” position, but as pointed out she has never actually changed her pedo protector ways. So of course she incorporated the talking point in the most hilariously ridiculous way possible.

            I still marvel that more men don’t catch the fact that she targets you with emotional validation because you’re the ones she thinks have the access to more resources to pay her for nothing more than “there, there, yes your ex is very very bad, you poor thing”.

      • Sex is a biological fact while gender is a social construct. Women are discriminated against because of their sex. Countless studies debunk the ridiculous anecdotal jibberish drunk Joan strings together. Abusive men love this misogyny steeped woman and are happy to pay her for this drivel.

          • anonymous 1222pm … what rock have you been living under? patriachal? are you smoking crack?

          • Dark money. The over turning of roe v Wade. The buying of the supreme court. The weaponization of the government against the citizens. The weaponization of Connecticut family court against mothers. Parental alienation scam

      • Joani, you said in 2014 that it’s better to let pedophile fathers have their children than ever to “alienate” a child from a pedophile rapist father. STFU.

        • No, her statements are clearly that when you’re run through Family Court, you’re treated worse than a pedophile and a criminal criminals get to see their children in Family Court the minute they lay her on false allegations and some form of concocted statement from a coached woman by their attorney fathers are treated worse than criminals

          • You really need to pull your head out of your ass and stop sucking up any old crumbs of validation some stupid venal woman throws at you. She is not your friend. She wants your business.

          • When you learn to construct a whole sentence in English then get back to me about what Joani actually said. I was there. She’s not your friend. She’s not helping you.

        • “… The “alienation industry” is the dark underbelly of the family court system – and it’s a lucrative industry. It is our goal to shine a light into the darkness and provide a pathway for those who find themselves trapped in the predictable but disturbing pipeline …”

          https://www.alienationindustry.com/

      • They needed more than “just one case” to create their “Parental Alienation Syndrome” cottage industry says:

        “I can dispute that so quickly with just one case.”

        • I can dispute the parental alienation theory with one case. But there are sooooio many others who can too.

      • Actually, Joani has helped a lot of women – attend one of her support groups, they’re about half women.

      • Joani actually helps a lot of women – attend one of her support groups which is about half women.

          • In one case, she testified on behalf of a mother who was on SV for alienation. Told the court that the mother is NOT an alienator. The mother got off SV and got her daughter back. Unfortunately, the son was too alienated from the mom by that point. Sadly, I don’t think it was Joani alone who achieved this but the fact that the daughter appeared to have become suicidal without mom, which forced the court’s hand to intervene as the courts can not afford to have newspaper headlines of a child suicide on their hands because of a bad decision. But Joani helped bring this to the court’s attention.

            I don’t agree with all of her positions, but I have seen her stick her neck out to help.

        • hector,

          You wrote, “In one case, she testified on behalf of a mother who was on SV for alienation.“

          In what capacity did she testify? A GAL? An expert witness?

    • People are selfish and stupid
      People can be generous and smart

      Children should have both parents in their lives if their parents want to support them and help create harmony and a loving , respectful environment
      The system is flawed so much it’s incredibly dysfunctional
      It’s chaotic and toxic

      It’s already hard enough for people to separate and realize they lost their marriages
      Having to go through the trenches of family court on top of it is excruciatingly challenging

      It’s torture for the children

      Then add on possible child abuse ?

      This system must be changed

      Just like there should be affordable healthcare for all, there should be affordable family lawyers

      If not free

      What parent is going to have the time, focus and smarts to suddenly be able to navigate through family court against their ex and all the greedy little lawyer vultures?

      It’s so sad
      So bad

      I don’t understand why people don’t have gigantic protests

      Look at what the French did a few weeks ago in Paris! They revolted completely because the government wanted to change the age of retirement

      Why are people not picketing?

      I hope people, not one gender, all rise together in solidarity for our children to make systemic changes All across America

      Our entire country is at stake
      Not one gender
      Not just one state

      • I’m picketing with my lil’ signs and petition. Usually by myself, but always meet people who know exactly what I’m talking about. They’ll join up once I get a little press, which is nearly impossible, btw. Journalists won’t touch my case, for example, and I’ve pitched my story to nearly everyone who’s ever written about DV in courts. My DS will be 18 in a few months, so maybe they’ll be more amendable when he’s an adult.

        Talk – action = zero! Even writing your representatives is better than nothing!

  • This is one of the most retarded things I’ve read in a while.

    While I agree with the premise that criminal courts should handle criminal matters for a number of reasons, the conclusion that 70% are false allegations is based on your own overly active imagination.

    But then you’ve always gotten money and attention from claiming that women are lying about their violent offender husbands, and never seem to be able to get to the deeper crimes of family court, which are not sex discrimination at all. Are you thick? Are you a limited hangout gatekeeper type? Why do you keep on the same patently false rhetoric that was already stale 15 years ago? Are you still trying to push your collaborative divorce business?

    Family courts do not have jurisdiction over criminal matters. The fact that they insist that they do should cause everyone to look deeper into what their real objectives are. It’s not just being mean to men. We all need the adversarial system to protect and enforce our rights. The answer is not to sweep all the criminal shenanigans over to your mediation company where sunlight doesn’t shine.

    • Sounds like you’re a part of that Connecticut DV c group that accuses men for JFK murder

      It has happened to me false claims by a woman don’t even get looked into until after the fact, if a man makes claims they want evidence upfront just because she said so doesn’t mean it is so and yes Joni is correct regarding 70% of claims or fabricated or embellished Usually assisted by their corrupt attorney who coaches them to amplify embellish and also coach the children. Sounds like there’s a little toxic femininity here.

      • That’s not true. Tons of evidence doesn’t make it in the court. You can give the gal and your own attorneys all the proff you want. Your can present other professionals. The GaL will obstruct the information getting on the record. The curruption is not only real it’s rampid. 3 boxes full of documentation of a 3 year long case. I know people who have been going through court for 9 years. This needs to stop.

      • The biggest scam in Connecticut family court is parental alienation. Joan why did you lie about the investigation into family court with the inside investigator to women? Telling them they don’t need to speak to anymore women. Only father’s You left your dirty finger prints. You have exceeded your three strikes rule.

        • I believe you’re in La La Land PA is definitely real and the courts assistant and it’s predominantly done by women. Why because they’re incentivized the more they can manage custody and divorce proceedings financially, the more they layer it on Family Court has no rules they overstepped her bounds on the civil and criminal aspect. Why not wait for criminal charges to be over and done with then proceed with Family Court because the system is set up intentionally for someone to fail predominantly fathers as we all know, the statistics have proven that repeatedly not that it doesn’t happen to women/mothers, but predominantly to men/Fathers

      • No I actually can’t stand them but whatever makes you feel better…

        Look, the only way anything will ever get done about this is when people can stop globalizing their own personal situation. This is being an adult. What happened to you is not the whole story. Joan is a pedophile apologist scam artist who sells validation to men who can’t get past their own emotional problems from a shitty divorce. No one should ever give her any attention. She’s playing you. The grown-up thing to do is to depersonalize your own experience and look for the underlying commonalities and patterns of the criminal operation stealing our kids and our assets. Only then can we ever actually organize enough to fight back and get rid of these evil mossad/cia motherfuckers.

      • Stop with the Melissa Issac all women who file for divorce are toxic. Just because she had an issue with her own mother is not an excuse to label all women. You guys are being played. It’s not your x wife who is emptying your pocket. It’s the Melissa Issacs of the industry. Just ask Luigi Dubric. Stop listening to toxic lawyers who are escalating the situation for your cash.

  • Nailed it…if you peel away the layers you will find substantial unethical attorney coaching & running meter in these cases. Shame on the judges, pathetic representation of the law not calling out the sleazy attorneys on this. The judges should be slammed just as much as the cesspool attorneys. Judges need to make an example of one them and youll see how quickly they cleanup their act.

    • They don’t call them out because they TRAIN them to do this. They do this because it rotates the calendar, drives up bills and wets the all the beaks of the vultures picking at your family.

About the Author

Frank Parlato is an investigative journalist.

His work has been cited in hundreds of news outlets, like The New York Times, The Daily Mail, VICE News, CBS News, Fox News, New York Post, New York Daily News, Oxygen, Rolling Stone, People Magazine, The Sun, The Times of London, CBS Inside Edition, among many others in all five continents.

His work to expose and take down NXIVM is featured in books like “Captive” by Catherine Oxenberg, “Scarred” by Sarah Edmonson, “The Program” by Toni Natalie, and “NXIVM. La Secta Que Sedujo al Poder en México” by Juan Alberto Vasquez.

Parlato has been prominently featured on HBO’s docuseries “The Vow” and was the lead investigator and coordinating producer for Investigation Discovery’s “The Lost Women of NXIVM.” He also appeared in "Branded and Brainwashed: Inside NXIVM, and was credited in the Starz docuseries "Seduced" for saving 'slave' women from being branded and escaping the sex-slave cult known as DOS.

Additionally, Parlato’s coverage of the group OneTaste, starting in 2018, helped spark an FBI investigation, which led to indictments of two of its leaders in 2023.

Parlato appeared on the Nancy Grace Show, Beyond the Headlines with Gretchen Carlson, Dr. Oz, American Greed, Dateline NBC, and NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, where Parlato conducted the first-ever interview with Keith Raniere after his arrest. This was ironic, as many credit Parlato as one of the primary architects of his arrest and the cratering of the cult he founded.

Parlato is a consulting producer and appears in TNT's The Heiress and the Sex Cult, which premieres on May 22, 2022.

IMDb — Frank Parlato

Contact Frank with tips or for help.
Phone / Text: (305) 783-7083
Email: frankparlato@gmail.com

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