Connecticut Attorney Sharon Dornfeld troubled by comments from Parent

While this letter is regarding Guardians ad litem in another state what is being said can be equally applied to situations involving Guardians ad litem in any state:

Hello Ms. Dornfeld,

I'm told that you are troubled by my observations of the system. As an expert in legal operations, legal e-billing and legal spend management, I would again extend to you the invitation to meet with me at your convenience and at any time to discuss your perspectives and concerns, as well as to share mine and those of many other legal professionals equally as fed up with what our family courts have become and how they operate.

I was in the courthouse in Hartford today and saw many of my family attorney friends and contacts there. Two of them approached me and asked to meet with me next week - as they are considered testifying as to how bad the situation has become and how dramatically it has impacted them and their clients.

Veteran family law attorneys - one of whom wrote the attached letter. This would bring to 12 the number of family law attorneys I have organized and who will also speak out as Attorney Rutkin recently did, when the time is right and they no longer have to worry about retaliation against them.

And what does that say and reflect in regards to what our family court system has become, and the powers-that-be have created and perpetuated - when family law attorneys themselves are afraid to speak about their own industry for fear of how it may personally impact them?

Once again - the world has changed and the genie is out of the bottle. "The system" is no longer able to threaten and intimidate parents and attorneys into silence, social media has changed that forever and good riddance. And this is true not just here in Connecticut, but nationally and even internationally as well.

No parent or citizen should EVER have fear the Judiciary or suffer retaliation for speaking their opinion - EVER in the United States. That is not why I and my family came here from a communist country to see and experience.

Once again - shouldn't we all be ashamed of what our family courts have become and its complete lack of focus on families and children and abuses we have all suffered at the hands of the system?

The family court is supposed to be a source of resolution and closure - not open ended cycle and source and cause of abuse and therapy.

What's happened to the basic principles of common decency, common respect, understanding and compassion?

If you are "irritated" by my commentary - then I'm afraid I can offer you no apologies, because I and the thousands of parents, children of divorce, grandparents, family attorneys and GALs who have been severely impacted and financially and otherwise devastated by the horrific perspectives and policies you and others have promoted, are not the ones who are fault for what is wrong.

* The problems in our family court were not created by parents or our fault.

* It is not what we are responsible for or what we created.

* It is not what we want for ourselves and our children and our families or our state.

* It is not parents who are blatantly violating the basic principles of due process, civil and parental rights, or the rights of child.

* It is not parents who are acting in an unethical, immoral and illogical manner.

* It is not parents who are willfully ignoring violations of court order or the abuses and neglect of children.

* It is not parents who are in Court perpetuating and promoting conflict to profit from it.

* It is not parents who are imposing draconian and devastating financial orders on parents to punish them for being in court.

* It is not parents who are forcing the liquidation of retirement accounts and children's college funds and demanding payments from grandparents.

* It is not parents who jailing themselves solely because they have no means to pay.

PARENTS ARE NOT THE PROBLEM.

And you do not use the same people who created a problem and who profit handsomely from it, to solve it.

It is perhaps most telling that after two months of hearings, and that as Chair, you have not called a single parent or child or divorce to testify - not one. And that every person who has been called, is a member of the divorce industry and someone who profits from and engages in perpetuating the problem. And no surprise - practically all of them members of FCC member, as you and Ms. Cousineau are.

* Which speaks volumes as to how co-opted and pointless the Task Force has become.

Task Forces are created by the legislature to solicit to hear testimony from people and citizens adversely impacted by a situation or problem - not those who create and profit from it.

It is equally as telling that we have not heard testimony from a single parent or child of divorce stating how wonderful the court system is, how much time their AMC/GAL spent with them to get to know them and how much they helped them, or how helpful a court ordered therapist was. And that any of this was worth the money taken from them or their parents and families. Why is that?

What the Task Force has become is like watching a home improvement show, where the focus of the show is to take pity on and only listen to shady contractor who did shoddy work and left the homeowner with a massive problem and walked away with all of their money.

Perhaps we should listen to the Chief Justice of Canada, who has publically come out and stated that family courts are beyond the point of repair, and need to be completely replaced with "something else." As an expert in legal operations and legal spend management, and business process improvement expert, I couldn't agree more. And applaud Attorney Rutkin for his recommendation that the state consider bringing in an outside management company to run the Judiciary and correct its operational dysfunctions. (I volunteer to help.)

Please let me know when you would like to meet and review the information I have to share with you and the Task Force. Most notably - an examination of the devastating financial impact the crisis in the family courts have exacted onto parents and families, and how many people it has thrown out of work, cost them their homes, and caused people to be unfairly jailed.

Regards

Peter Szymonik
Glastonbury, CT

www.galreform.org

Parental Rights being Routinely Violated by Guardians ad litem and States

Are divorcing parents being discriminated against by Guardians ad litem and the courts? There have been and are cases in Maine where there has been unwarranted removal of a child from one parent to another. In doing so the Guardian ad litem and by default the courts are preventing a parent from exercising their parental rights. These rights are protected substantively under the Constitution of the Untied states.

When a Guardian ad litem makes this kind of recommendation to the courts and the courts enforces this recommendation (as we have seen time and again) - placing a child under primary control of one parent. It is being done so through the use of unchecked and unsubstantiated use of the state's power. This is discriminatory and prevents a parent from passing on his/ her beliefs to their child(ren).

For more information please contact us at NationalGALalert@gmail.com or find us on Facebook for up to date information and ideas.

"In the child's best interest" a misleading standard for Guardians ad litem!

Although we may get hammered by opposing opinions (from Guardians ad litem), someone has to say it.  The current standard for child custody decisions, "in the child's best interest," is misleading and ambiguous!  It presumes that a Guardian ad litem using this standard has been anointed by God (and the appointing judge) and that the ensuing Guardian ad litem determinations are made objectively and above the contentious fray of a marriage dissolving. It assumes that one person, a Guardian ad litem, can read all of the many tea leaves and read only the child's "best interest" through the tangle of tea leaves at the bottom of the tea cup. It assumes that society will be better for such a ritual and such a formula.

It is wrong. And ... the whole notion of "in the child's best interest" as a court standard is deeply flawed conceptually, factually and legally. It also provides an irrefutable, unarguable weapon for any miscreant Guardian ad litem (or court) who chooses to abuse it. It is the ultimate authoritarian refuge that can be used to preclude any further exploration or discussion of issues. We are aware of reports of numerous abuses of "in the child's best interest". There is the refusal to disclose Guardian ad litem case records, the refusal to provide reasons behind complex, seemingly irrational Guardian ad litem decisions, the refusal to respond to client challenges about regulatory violations, the refusal to identify charges on a Guardians ad litem invoice of charges for service.  When challenged for enlightenment, the reply: Open discussion is "Not in the child's best interest!"  Sometimes this refusal to share data is reenforced with, "It might be dangerous." End of discussion. Over and out!

This kind of authoritarian claim that a Guardian ad litem, alone, using whatever resources, can determine what is "in the child's best interest", is misleading.  The child's wishes may be denied, and parental rights may be ignored.  Further there is no way of correcting the actions of a delinquent Guardian ad litem making such highly subjective decisions, other than a very expensive, time consuming, slow moving appeal to a higher court. Don't like it? Take your money and do an appeal to a higher court which created the unsupervised Guardians ad litem in the first place. No wonder there are so few appeals.  It is not about a lack of grievances, as some suggest. It is about the lack of money and energy and time to pursue a complex corrective action.

In the hands of a delinquent Guardian ad litem, the idea of "in the child's best interest" can be a devastating weapon that brooks no defense. It implicitly says: "Because I'm the Guardian ad litem, and I say so!"  The Guardian ad litem has no place in common law and shouldn't be setting custody standards in court!

Along with 'ex parte' discussions, "in the child's best interest" makes Guardians ad litem virtually bullet proof legally!

If you are having issues with a Guardian ad litem please contact us at NationalGALalert@gmail.com. Thank you.

Guardians ad litem and the Safety of Our Children

In the hands of a Guardian ad litem are our Children Really Safe?

It strikes us that if one uses a "in the child's best interest" standard, that an important baseline consideration is: "Is the child safe?"  Clearly there are additional issues like the child's well being, its opportunities for normal, physical and psychological growth and development, its social and moral development, but central to society's interest is safety.

We have been appalled by reports of Guardian ad litem recommendations that propose assigning a child's custody to a parent with an extensive history of alcoholism, prescription  drug abuse and felonious legal issues - especially when there are other, safer, better choices.  In these cases there has been no assessment of child's safety or of the older idea of "parental fitness".  The new, hip view is that at all costs the Guardian ad litem should avoid "social or cultural bias".  In bending over backwards to meet the avoidance of social or cultural bias, the "broad-minded" Guardian ad litem must give due consideration to high risk parents, who might have been considered "unfit" in previous years.  Has the parent showed up drunk for an interview with the Guardian ad litem?  Have they dilated pupils or do they stagger?  If not observed by the Guardian ad litem, and if they say they are clean, they are innocent until proven guilty.  It is simple, blind denial, and it places "the best interest of the child" at serious risk.

We feel that the Judicial Branch should demand primary, professional  information to back up these recommendations.  What do the physicians, psychologists, drug counselors, parole officers have to say?  What about family members (on both sides)?  What about independent psychological testing for fitness to parent?  What about an in depth assessment of the biases in favor of not showing bias to cultural or social issues?

There is another concern that comes out of "the child's best interest" standard, mediation.  Isn't mediation a conflict of interest for a Guardian ad litem?  If a Guardian ad litem stands for "the child's best interest", how can that Guardian ad litem broker a "deal" with the parents?  Doesn't "best interest" have to be separate from: "I want; you want?"  Carving up the child for the parents is not necessarily in "the child's best interest!"  Parents are frequently told by Guardians ad litem that whatever they agree to will be recommended to the court.  Mediation is one of the "mission expansions" that has gradually been added to the Guardians ad litem statutory role.  It generates huge billable hours.  Can a Guardian ad litem, as an arm of the court, be an unbiased mediator?  In our opinion the legal power behind a Guardian ad litem precludes a free, open exchange necessary for true mediation.  The Guardian ad litem is "armed" by his/her appointment in these transactions, and wearing a "gun" precludes free discussion.

As old teachers are wont to say to children, "We can do this the easy way or the hard way, the choice is up to you."  But Guardian ad litem clients aren't children!  

We ask ... is this 'modus operandi' "in the best interest of the child" or in that of the Guardian ad litem?

The choice is up to you.




If you are having issues with a Guardian ad litem please contact us at NationalGALalert@gmail.com