Brazil Criminalizes Parental Alienation

With special guests:

• Brian Ludmer
• Dr. Tamara Brockhausen and
• Judge Elizio Perez.

Finally the world has witnessed the first Government with the courage and insight to recognize and legislate for the criminalization of Parental Alienation. Brazil is the first country in the world to actually enshrine the cursed criminal behavior of Parental Alienation into its criminal code of justice. By so doing, Brazil is now leading the way into facing up to the  world’s human rights responsibilities, which obliges every country to protect the human rights of it’s nations’ children, by ensuring all their children enjoy a continuing relationship with both of their responsible parents.  

First up we speak with Brian Ludmer, Lawyer and Expert on Parental Alienation in Toronto Canada. Brian is a highly credentialed lawyer with expertise in corporate /commercial and securities law and Family Law, most particularly with Parental Alienation.

The advantages of having exposure to both fields is that his commercial background brings a perspective to what Family Law could be or should be when Family Law is often dysfunctional. The understanding promotes negotiations between parents. The difference is that in business the benefits are often shared which may not be the case in Family Law. In Family Law it is often a zero sum with winner takes all instead of the optimal situation of two healthy homes.

Brian has written many papers on PA. He defines PA as a pattern of behaviour or a strategy by an aligned parent leading to a rejection in whole or in part of the other parent. You look at the results to determine if it is mild, moderate or severe. It is sometimes called “Parental Alienation Syndrome.”

We then speak with Tamara Brockhausen Psychologist and writer on Parental Alienation from Sao Paolo, Brazil, who is the wife of Judge Elizio Perez, the Brazilian Judge who wrote the world’s first Law criminalising Parental Alienation from Sao Paolo, Brazil. Tamara kindly volunteered to translates the interview with Judge Perez.

Judge Perez commented that although parental alienation occurs in Brazil as it does in other countries the justice system ignored it until the legislation that he introduced.

The law has been in place in Brazil since August 2010. There is still some resistance in Brazil to even the existence of PA among professionals such as therapists so the Judge sees this as a good thing that the law is in place.

The broader application of the law is that parents who are worried that there may be PA occurring can read the law for themselves and then ask questions. They are worried about the penalties to which they may be exposing themselves.

A good thing about the new law is that PA is set out and defined so Judges can do something without having to wait for a report from Psychologists or other professional experts.

Judge Perez said that the list of symptoms set out in the law came from the professional advisers such as therapists and affected parents. When proved in Court the Judge can impose a fine or one of the other penalties.

The penalties available include uncapped fines. The Judge determines the amount of the fine after taking everything into account including the severity of the alienation and the means of the parents. Fines have ranged from $100 to $1000 a day while the alienation continues. Other remedies include increasing the time with a parent or making it joint. If joint is not possible the Judge can reverse the residence order.

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Celebrating Our Boys, Men And Fathers

With special guests:

• Jason Van Genderen and
• Stephen Toon.

First up we speak with Jason Van Genderen, Creative Director of Treehouse Creative, a communications and design studio – based in Gosford, Crows Nest and Melbourne — who talks about his film ‘The Unspoken’ written as a tribute to his father who is dying of lung cancer, which was awarded the runner-up prize at Tropfest 2011 .  

This year’s batch of brilliant short films, selected 16 finalists  from more than 700 entries. The main event was held last Sunday 20 February in The Domain, Sydney and public viewing sites were set up across the nation – Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Hobart, Adelaide, Surfers Paradise and Perth – giving all Australians the chance to be a part of the anticipated 150,000 strong live audience.

Each year, Tropfest’s competition attracts aspiring filmmaker’s worldwide, eager to share their stories and craft with the public. 2011 had a distinct international flavour – entries flooded in from all corners of the globe and one of the Finalists came all the way from South Africa.  

Jason started out making comedies but is building a reputation for emotional short films. His film ‘My Town is Broken’ about urban decay in Gosford, won an award at the Sydney Film Festival in 2008 for films shot on a mobile phone. Another film “Mankind is No Island’ about homelessness won the first Tropfest New York in 2008. He also won 3 awards at the Geelong 24 hours Shoot Out Film Festival in 2007  

Our second guest is Stephen Toon, Director of Consultancy & Community Programs, AIMHS,  Australian Institute of Male Health and Studies – talking about ‘From Boyhood to Manhood’, Stephen has extensive experience in working with men and boys and in developing and delivering a range of male health, preventative mental health, suicide prevention, and personal development programs. These programs have been taken up by government, and NGOs, and have spanned health, education, and welfare sectors. 

Stephen has been responsible for the State-wide rollout of the highly successful Men in Communities Program (awarded the South Australian government, Dr Margaret Tobin Award for Excellence in Community Mental Health Education). He has played a pioneering role in the development of men’s health in South Australia and has been a commentator, educator, and male health consultant in much demand.  

Currently, Stephen is conducting research for the University of South Australia, concerned with establishing an evidence base and developing a best practice framework for conducting group work with men. He is also a PhD candidate in the University of South Australia’s Centre for Regional Engagement. 

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But No Tears For Decimated Families

With special guests:

• John Flanagan and
• Dr. Demosthenes Lorandos.

Tears flowed freely in our National Parliament for the victims of powerful unstoppable forces of nature, as the nation publicly mourned those who lost their lives in the recent string of natural disasters. The tears were accompanied by emotional words about those left behind to pick up the pieces. It reminded us of previous Prime Minister’s Bob Hawke’s tearful performance and the quivering bottom lips of Malcolm Fraser and Kevin Rudd. But the public is no longer fooled by such highly suspect displays of empathy by our elected decision makers, and with good reason.

These same hard-nosed Politicians, see nothing wrong with the man-made human disaster they themselves created in 1975, which has caused an estimated 35,000 parents to take their own lives since then, as a result. We see no tears shed by our elected representatives for the dispossessed children of these sad parents, who have been denied the checks and balances their parents’ love, care and protection could have provided.

No Parliamentary quivering bottom lips either, for the 5.2 million Australian men, women and children, who have been forcibly denied contact with their families since 1975, as a result of the Archaic Family Law legislation they created and continue to administer, via a number of Government agencies and bureaucracies.

Instead we find the Gillard Labour Government, using advocacy research provided by government funded self-interest focus groups, is proposing further amendments to the current Family Justice legislation, which will take it even further back into the horse and buggy days, ensuring the continued decimation of many more fragile family relationships.

Conveniently ignored are the rights of every child to a meaningful relationship with both of its parents, which is enshrined in the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, and to which the Australian Government is a signatory. Various wide ranging State Domestic Violence Legislation is being used to nullify and sabotage our National responsibility to uphold our UN duty of care obligations to the Nations’ children.

Great leaders are those who recognize the abuse of their constituents’ human rights as it occurs, and sets about correcting the wrong, not those that wake up 200 years after the event and grandstand with an apology.

Our first guest this week is John Flanagan who is Deputy Registered Officer, of the Non-Custodial Parents Party (Equal Parenting), and will discuss in detail the proposed Family Law Amendments [Family Violence] Bill, 2010. John will also discuss the Party’s Family Law Amendment submission and the Family Law Reform submission.

The Non-Custodial Parents Party (Equal Parenting) was formed in Australia in 1998. It is registered with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) as a political party. It has a large membership base consisting of divorced fathers, divorced mothers, second wives, grand parents  and other relatives who believe that all children have a right to be cared for by both their parents, in the event of separation or divorce.

The Non-Custodial Parents Party (Equal Parenting) has participated in all federal election campaigns since registration. We have fielded candidates for both the Lower House (House of Representatives) and the Upper House (the Senate) in four (4) States. We have achieved a consistent increase in the number of votes it has secured since its first campaign.

The core policies centre on the issue of family law reform, emphasising legislative changes in order to enshrine  a child’s natural rights to a meaningful relationship with both parents, and legal and procedural changes to ensure that the Child Support system is fair, equitable and aimed at fulfilling its primarily goal, that being to support the child/ren.

Our second guest is American Lawyer, Dr. Demosthenes Lorandos, who is a trial lawyer and a clinical/forensic psychologist who protects the rights of clients involved in complex, high-stakes legal battles. From home offices in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Washington, D.C., his work takes him across the nation, serving as criminal defence lawyer, custody lawyer, expert witness, of counsel lawyer, case strategy consultant, lecturer and author.

His legal and scholarly work on the psychology behind cross examination of experts, parental alienation and false allegations has earned him national recognition. This credibility allows him access to resources that another lawyer might not have — all in the name of protecting our clients.

His team handles litigation matters where others may fear to tread, across virtually every legal discipline, including criminal law and white collar fraud, civil litigation, matrimonial litigation and commercial litigation and appeals.

For instance, Dr. Lorandos has:

Elicited the truth behind false allegations of sexual assault when the prosecutors thought they had a lock, and revealed issues of how adults and counsellors “tainted” memories of small children to make it look like a parent or day care teacher had harmed them. He has also turned the tables on bad custody decisions and parental alienation through painstaking investigations and knowledgeable behavioural science

Dr. Lorandos has co-authored such works as Cross Examining Experts in the Behavioural Sciences, The International Handbook of Parental Alienation Syndrome, and Benchbook in the Behavioural Sciences.

Editor

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