September 13, 1999
Hon. Aubrey Ford, Jr.
Chairman, Alabama Advisory Committee for Access and Visitation
Administrative Office of Courts
300 Dexter Avenue
Montgomery, AL 36104-3741
Dear Judge Ford:
I found it quite ironic that at the committee meeting Friday September 10, 1999, the committee was unanimous in its statement that the biggest problem with the Alabama Judiciary is a lack of education. There was no better example of this pervasive ignorance as your lack of understanding with regards to the committee's purpose and your actions, either by design or error, to subvert the letter as well as the spirit of the law.
The appropriations legislation (Sec. 469B [42 U.S.C. 669b]) funding the committee's activities is "to establish and administer programs to support and facilitate noncustodial parents' access to and visitation of their children". The issue of child support is not part of this program and never was intended to be part of this program. This legislation was enacted as a response to a growing body of sociological research that demonstrates quite conclusively that the father's role in the psychological and moral development of his child is extremely important. Indeed, based on the data one can conclude the father's relationship with his child is more important than the mother's relationship. The denial of a father to freely associate with his child and for his child to freely associate (violating the child's constitutionally guaranteed rights as well as the child's human rights) with him is responsible for a great many of the social ills plaguing our country. In particular, 63% of youth suicides, 71% of pregnant teenagers, 90% of all homeless and runaway children, 70% of juveniles in state-operated institutions, 85% of all children that exhibit behavioral disorders, 71% of all high school dropouts, 75% of all adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers, 85% of all youths sitting in prisons are attributed to the trauma of divorce.
If you would have allowed the witnesses to give testimony, you would have learned from officials from Alabama's Prison System that 95% of inmates in Alabama's prison system come from broken homes. You would have also learned that these same inmates have greater access and visitation opportunities with their children than the average law-abiding father in the State of Alabama.
There appears to be a negatively prejudiced opinion concerning divorced fathers. The prevalent opinion is that the father, the husband, the man is to blame for the dissolution of a marriage. Research has shown quite conclusively that this opinion is false. In recent surveys among the petitioners of divorce, it was found that 90% of persons petitioned for divorce because of a general feeling of unhappiness and a desire to be free of any responsibility, i.e. they want their freedom. 90% of the petitioners were women. In other words, 90% of the women who file for divorce do so to relieve themselves of the responsibilities associated with raising children.
Approximately 15% of all divorces are due to infidelity and less than 5% are due to domestic violence. It is very easy to conclude that in the majority of cases, the petitioner of divorce is inherently acting contrary to the best interests of the children.
Domestic violence was another issue introduced into the discussions Friday. Domestic violence is an important issue, but again public perceptions do not agree with scientific facts. The facts are women are more violent in domestic situations than are men. Indeed, two decades ago, research demonstrated that the perpetrators of domestic violence were split between the genders, with women initiating physical violence roughly 2/3 of the time. Indeed, Erin Pizzey, founder of the first modern women's shelter in the world, noted that 62% of the women who came to the shelter were more violent than the men they were leaving. In her paper "Working with Violent Women", Ms. Pizzey describes a particular pathology afflicting these women. She described the many of these women as "family terrorists". One of the characteristics of the "family terrorist" is the ability to portray herself as victim of violence when in fact she is the perpetrator of violence, thus manipulating the system to do her bidding.
More recent studies presented at the International Family Violence Research Conference seeking to identify the gender of offenders in domestic violence continue to demonstrate that females are more prone to violence than males. In particular, one study focusing on violent behavior in adolescent children in found that 65% of adolescent girls initiated in physical aggression against boys and 43% of boys initiated some form of violence against girls. In addition, girls which were victims of divorced, i.e. their parents divorced when they were young and were summarily placed in their mothers custody are much more likely to be violent than those who were not victims of divorce.
A valid argument may then be that domestic violence is not a worry but child abuse. Again, the facts betray the argument. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the US Department of Justice, 2/3 of child abuse perpetrators are women. At an offending rate of over 50%, mothers comprise the largest group of abusers for all types of abuse including sexual abuse. If the said abuse results in life threatening or fatal injuries, the mother is 5 times more likely to have injured the child than the father, and 3 times more likely than anyone else. With only 1 in 6 abused children afforded protection by state agencies, it is easy to conclude that the safety and welfare of children is not the focus of the Alabama DHR and Alabama courts. The child protection situation is so poor in the State of Alabama that the only way for an abused child to obtain relief is through death. This summer far too many children obtained relief from abusive mothers.
It is interesting to note that over the past 30 years, divorce rates, domestic violence rates, and child abuse rates have all tripled. It does not take a genius to realize that these statistics are all related. The judiciary through its prejudicial application of the law is complicit in the many social ills of our society and resultant violence. Through your committee, you have the opportunity to require the courts and state agencies to do more than "lip service" concerning the "best interests of children" and in doing so break the cycles of violence and poverty. However, this will require you, sir, to be educated in the issues and the possible consequences of your action or inaction. It requires a committee that is not stacked with those that seek to perpetuate the violence, but rather those who seek to help families.
I ask that if you are not prepared to consider the best interests of the children as demonstrated quite conclusively by thirty years of research by hundreds of psychologists, if you are not prepared to protect our children and grandchildren from the forces that would do them harm, you resign immediately and allow someone who really is concerned with the welfare of children to lead the committee.
Sincerely,
Dr. James J. Stagliano, Jr.
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