The bill eliminates a well-hidden aspect of the overt corruption in our family courts: the ability of wealthy, well-connected people to pick and choose custody "evaluators" and "mental health professionals" who will do whatever is required to secure custody for the parent who had them hired by the judge.
The bill is currently in committee. You can email the committee members and encourage them to approve the bill. After they approve it, they will forward it to the legislature for a full vote. If approved by the full House and Senate, the bill will then go to the governor's desk to be signed into law.
PLEASE contact your state legislators and tell them to vote FOR this bill.
Children and parents experiencing painful family separation deserve this protection from Louisiana's corrupt, vile, one-sided court system!
Following is the email I sent to my legislators and the committee. You are welcome to use/modify it as you wish:
_________________________________
Senators,
First,
thank you for your service to our state. This has been an especially
difficult year for Louisiana, and I appreciate your tenacity and
willingness to go the extra mile for your constituents.
Second, I would like to encourage you to support Sen. Troy Carter's SB 461.
As
the mother of a son who endured 16 years of family court abuse in
Louisiana, I am hopeful that this legislation will eventually reverse
the widespread corruption and overt graft in our state's district
courts. This bill represents the only glimmer of hope for systemic
improvement and progress in an otherwise notoriously corrupt family
court system.
My son's father is an attorney here in Shreveport, and I cannot begin to tell you how harshly he abused my son, me, and the system by using his unfettered access to personal friends who are also court officials. You are welcome to read a sample of our horrific court transcripts here: http://debbiehollis.blogspot.com/2009/08/top-20-craziest-things-on-record-during.html
My son's father is an attorney here in Shreveport, and I cannot begin to tell you how harshly he abused my son, me, and the system by using his unfettered access to personal friends who are also court officials. You are welcome to read a sample of our horrific court transcripts here: http://debbiehollis.blogspot.com/2009/08/top-20-craziest-things-on-record-during.html
Over
the years, countless parents across the region have contacted me about
their similar painful experiences with custody/divorce trials, and
several of us have started a support group for people who have lost
children via the courts and their faulty use of unqualified, prejudiced
mediators and court-appointed "experts." NOTE: Parents in our group were
never reported to or investigated by the Department of Children &
Family Services. Our experiences are all the result of intentional
abuse by and through the court system via a circle of
attorneys/mediators/judges who have a well-documented history of working
together to manipulate the 1st Judicial District court to their
financial and personal advantage. In addition, each parent in our group was found 100% fit to rear our children upon being evaluated by independent licensed psychological professionals, despite the findings of court-appointed mediators and judges during the course of our trials.
This
type of abuse is rampant and unchecked here in the 1st Judicial
District; there is no evidence that other districts in our state operate
any differently.
This bill, as I understand it, eliminates a portion of the overt corruption in our family
courts: the ability of wealthy, well-connected people to pick and choose
custody evaluators and mental health
"professionals" who will do whatever is required to secure custody for
the parent who (literally) had them hired by the judge.
It
also forbids ex parte communication between the court and the
mediators, as well as eliminating many other prejudicial practices I
have personally witnessed in the courtroom while fighting to rightfully
maintain custody of my own son for 16 years.
I encourage you to approve this bill as it is written, and send it for a full vote of the legislature.
Children and parents experiencing painful family separation deserve this legal protection from Louisiana's corrupt, one-sided family court system.
I encourage you to approve this bill as it is written, and send it for a full vote of the legislature.
Children and parents experiencing painful family separation deserve this legal protection from Louisiana's corrupt, one-sided family court system.
I trust that you will do what is best for our state's children and families.
Many thanks,
Debbie Hollis
(Address, Phone)
