Marin Family Court Crisis?

Date March 9, 2008

This trailer is for the 42 minute film, “Family Court Crisis: Our Children At Risk” was created for the Center for Judicial Excellence by Kathleen Russell Consulting. Kathleen Russell recently ran for the Mar
in Healthcare District Board. The Center for Judicial Excellence (CJE) is a community-based organization “established to improve the judiciary’s public accountability and strengthen and maintain the integrity of the Marin County Courts”.I have not seen the full-length version of this film, but it is very interesting.


Apparently, if you are in a divorce that involves child abuse, the abuser can claim that the spouse is just turning the child against him and/or claim Parental Alienation Syndrome and get custody of the child.Parental Alienation Syndrome is when one parent, usually in a divorce situation, “brainwashes” the child to alienate that child from that parent. This syndrome which is not recognized by the American Psychological Association and can be used by abusive parents to take away custody from appropriately concerned ex-spouse.

The question is whether a syndrome with no empirical studies to back it up should be admissible in family court.According to this film, this is all happening in Marin Courts and nearly all of the interviewees are Marin residents. The film documents a crisis that has been brewing in Marin Family Courts for many years.

According to spokeswoman Kathleen Russell, it is impossible to say how many cases in Marin have gone this way. There have been 8 egregious documented. There are problematic cases that have emerged just this past year. In the first film screening 230 people showed up and many of those experienced this directly. Gathering data is tricky because protective parents and their lawyers fear retaliation if they speak up and further complicating factor is that often court files have gone missing in these cases and much of the evidence of abuse is stricken, excluded, or sealed. According to Russell, the Marin Superior Court has ignored or denied attempts to gather data about problematic cases involving specific judges or court personnel.

In a 2006 Marin IJ article, Barbara Kauffman, a Marin Family-Law Attorney asserted that while other county Courts don’t give batterers special treatment and treat abuse seriously, Marin is a different case altogether.

“In the family law system, it’s not treated as a crime, it’s treated as a family matter,” Kauffman said, adding that advisers routinely order joint custody to batterers. “It’s a problem in Marin, I have to say.”

In June 2007 a citizens’ committee was formed to “to inform Marin residents about the work of the courts and to seek ideas for making the legal system more open and accessible.” Kathleen Russell became one of its members, but was removed from the committee because there was a claim that she was trying to influence the outcome of a pending case. Russell and Kauffman have come out to state that Russell’s questions and comments were limited to procedural questions. Is it possible that this committee is merely window dressing to give the impression that reform is happening in the Marin Family Court and no one wants to rock the boat? I dunno.

CJE is responding to the growing number and disturbing nature of complaints against Marin’s family law bench. The organization is focusing on legislation and performance audits that will increase monitoring judges to make sure they are adhering to the California Code of Judicial Ethics, which they swear to uphold.<br>

What can we do?

I have to admit that I still don’t know enough to say for certain if the Marin Family Courts system indeed needs reform. It does seem that there are people who believe this is the case. All I can say that a Judicial review to make sure Judges and their employees are working consistently with the California Code of Judicial Ethics is a good idea for all courts in the State. I think we need more data to determine if all citizens are getting treated fairly by the Judicial System and children are being protected.

1. CJE has just finished drafting a bill to create Judicial Performance Evaluations (JPEs) across California, which would create for the first time a system that monitors how well our state’s judges are abiding by and following the California Code of Judicial Ethics, which they are sworn to uphold. They are hoping to get the legislation introduced before the “gut and amend” deadline at the end of March. We are asked to contact Jared Huffman and ask him to introduce the legislation. Assemblymember Mark Leno, who is running for State Senate against Carole Migden has shown real leadership on the issue in helping ensure the bill was drafted. Both Leno and Migden should be contacted as well.

2. CJE has a postcard campaign underway which will urge the California House and Senate Judiciary Committee chairs to hold hearings on creating a Judicial Performance Evaluation system. 19 other states have such systems and some for over 20 years. If you would like postcards to sign, call 415-267-6149. These cards need to be signed and collected by the end of March.

3. There should be a hearing in early May in regards to making an official request to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee to conduct a performance audit of the Family Courts. You can sign up for email alerts and updates at the CJE website, www.centerforjudicialexcellence.org.

4. Parents who have experienced these problems with the family court should submit a written complaint to the Commission of Judicial Performance at http://cjp.ca.gov/filingacomp.htm containing a summary of the problematic behavior by judges and court personnel in their case, along with supporting documentation such as transcripts, pleadings and rulings. Parents who are in a situation of domestic violence who wish to divorce, should get help from Marin Abused Women’s Services for a referral to legal assistance.

5. Concerned Marinites can also urge the Board of Supervisors to do an in-depth investigation of CPS and local law enforcement, since recent problems appear to extend to these agencies which do fall under the jurisdiction and/or influence of the County Board of Supervisors. Presentations by affected litigants to the Board of Supes began this past week and will continue every other week until something is done to fix the broken system, or until CJE runs out of litigants to testify, whichever comes sooner.

6. CJE will be hosting another screening of the 42 minute version of “Family Court Crisis: Our Children At Risk” on March 26, 2008 at 7:30pm. The screening will be at the College of Marin’s Student Activities Building in Kentfield. The public is encouraged to attend.

I will leave you with Kathleen Russell’s summation of this issue:
“All claims of abuse should be carefully scrutinized. While isolated incidents of “false abuse allegations” do exist in family courts, domestic violence is frequently a very real issue in “high-conflict” custody cases, and abusers often use court proceedings to control and further abuse their victims. This is why a number of trusted family law experts have recommended that when custody orders are made in cases where domestic violence or child abuse is alleged, then that custody order should be reviewed by a multidisciplinary panel to ensure the ongoing safety of those children above all other considerations“

What do you guys think?

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Category Posted in Marin Courts & Law, Parenting, Video Marin, film