United Way of Central Indiana - Assault on Judicial Integrity by Child Custody Evaluators - Part XIV

In the last posting I stated that I would provide an explanation of how harming children can be profitable to the sponsors of Child Advocates, Inc. I sought comment from the sponsors whom I told I would “publish responses unedited in their entirety.” I begin with the United Way of Central Indiana whose response concludes this article.

Imagine for a moment that the tires on your automobile were indestructible – no blowouts, no wear, never need replaced. Similarly, that the oil never needed changed, electrical components never faltered, rust didn't happen, rubber didn't dry and crack, and, just like the '59 Fury; Christine, when collisions occurred a soothing talk would prompt the vehicle to reform itself.

As you cruise through town look for the places that service automobiles; quick lube shops, tire stores, auto parts stores, service stations and dealerships. Look for automotive maintenance items in department stores. The automotive manufacturing, maintenance and repair industry is huge. Also, consider that insurance rates would drop, collisions from mechanical failure would cease as would roadside breakdowns. Fewer tow-trucks, no insurance adjusters, fewer emergency vehicle runs, fewer hospital admissions, less physical therapy, and etc. Our current economy is highly dependent upon automotive decay and collisions. In short, car crashes keep America running – financially.

Now think about children. Well adjusted children coming from supportive healthy families experience the best outcomes. When that structure breaks down there is a general correlation to child well-being. Thus, when family discord and conflict is reduced or eliminated childhood well-being rises. Just like automobiles, the decay and collisions that children experience can be quite expensive to treat or repair.

Compared with children in married-couple families, children raised in female-headed households are more likely to drop out of school, to have or cause a teen pregnancy and to experience a divorce in adulthood.[fn1] Thus, evaluators who recommend sole custody to the mother regardless of parental fitness produce, overall, more negative outcomes for children. In a 1997 study of evaluators, nearly half of the abuse allegations (physical, sexual, emotional abuse with family member not specified) were seen as false or inflated (LaFortune & Carpenter, 1998). In only 20 percent of cases that included allegations did evaluators find clear evidence of abuse.[fn2] That is saying evaluators did not dispute abuse allegation in over half the cases where alleged abuse occurs but only find evidence in 20 percent of cases. Thus children are likely to be unnecessarily deprived of the beneficial impact of a significant relationship with the accused parent.

The services that the United Way provides are primarily that of a gatekeeper. They perform community assessments, train nonprofit agency staff and promote positive opportunities for youth. Certainly a large portion of their program recipients are persons servicing children of broken homes, many of whom may suffer the consequences of an improper custodial placement. I have participated in numerous activities sponsored by the United Way of Central Indiana and find them to be quite valuable. That makes it even more unsettling that I must reveal this lack of concern for the well-being of children affected by the recommendations of Child Advocates, Inc., employees.

As a non-profit the United Way may not be seen as having an incentive to inflate its budget. It must spend the money it takes in though. Expenses include regular operations costs, salaries and distributions to other agencies. Unlike for profit corporations the United Way does not have shareholders and the executives do not receive “profit distributions” but only draw salary. Also unlike most for profit corporations the executives at United Way have no at risk capital. They draw money from the United Way without risk of loss of their own money. The only risk is reductions in donations that would affect executive compensation upon dissolution of the agency and their temporary displacement until a position at another nonprofit becomes available.

Non-profits generate income (donations) through marketing of the services provided and population served. Generally there is a correlation between population served and donations received. From a psychological perspective people are less inclined to see abstract connections which have to be attempted by marketing experts trained in psychology. As an example I'll use the American Cancer Society whose mission is to eliminate cancer in humans. If cancer rates increase it is expected that contributions would increase whereas if rates plummeted so would contributions. However this is counter-related: an increased rate correlates to failure of the agency and wasted money, whereas a decreased rate indicates success and money well spent.

Past measures indicate that the higher the rate of perceived need the greater the contributions. Child Advocates, Inc., and The United Way both have a financial incentive for the population of harmed children to increases. By contributing to Child Advocates, Inc., an agency which has demonstrated an intention to cause harm to children whose parents are divorced or separated, the United Way helps to increase the population of harmed children and its perceived need.

Both Brian Moore and I contacted Christie Gillespie [christie.gillespie@uwci.org], Director of Agency Services at the United Way of Central Indiana. I apprised her of the Moore v Moore case and detailed the lies propounded by Child Advocates, Inc., for the purpose of prolonging the litigation and harming the Moore children. I closed my request with “I welcome any comment that you may wish to offer about your relationship with Child Advocates, Inc., and your participation in their scheme to falsify evidence and prolong a custody battle to the detriment of the Moore children and ultimately all child whose parents are engaged in child custody disputes. I will publish responses unedited in their entirety.” That was sent over 30 days ago.

It is unfortunate that I am becoming more jaded by the lack of responses from any of the sponsors of Child Advocates, Inc., but it is supportive of what a marketing professional who once provided professional services to non-profit agencies told me: they don't want to see the problems eliminated, they thrive off of the public attention to the problem.

As promised here is the response from the United Way of Central Indiana;




notes
1] Amato, P. R. (2005). The impact of family formation change on the cognitive, social, and emotional well-being of the next generation, The Future of Children, 15(2), pp. 75–96.
2] Child Custody Evaluators’ Beliefs About Domestic Abuse Allegations: Their Relationship to Evaluator Demographics, Background, Domestic Violence Knowledge and Custody-Visitation Recommendations, 2012. Daniel G. Saunders, Ph.D., Kathleen C. Faller, Ph.D., Richard M. Tolman, Ph.D.]

If you are involved in a child custody battle and would like to gain insight into the thinking of the opposing party, that party's attorney and the judge then please visit my website and contact my scheduler to make an appointment to meet with me.

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More information about child custody rights and procedures may be found on the Indiana Custodial Rights Advocates website.

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