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.
