Why family court corruption has thrived in the land of wealth and comfort
The failure of public outrage in the face of mass injustice is brought about by naked lies and larceny committed in the course of family court litigation involving true allegations against false allegations that result in the transfer of children to the custody of well documented abusers.
A source of great concern to me is the willingness of good people to submit and surrender to the false and humiliating accusations of documented predators and to withdraw into the shadows and darkness of defeat when the lives of children are at stake. This has always been a source of profound concern to me and a subject of study, scrutiny, and deep sorrow.
I never considered myself anything other than a hard worker dedicated to the interests and empowerment of my clients. I could never imagine any other course of character or path of engagement in conducting one’s life.
My career began as a witness to my own father’s heroism and that of his sisters who served as medical workers in World War I.
Growing up, I did not realize my father’s work ethic was extraordinary. He made house calls at all hours of the day and night to patients in what were considered dangerous neighborhoods.
He carried a gun because he traveled with a full medical surgical theater of drugs, emergency surgical implements, units of oxygen, a nurse, and a chauffeur. On an occasion when an interloper attempted to break into the car, my father shot the would-be thief in the head. When the police came, they asked if he wanted to press charges, while treating the wound.
My father also treated the local police in our Queens community where his private practice was part of the medical service provided by the hospital he founded with his siblings in the early 1940’s. His engagement in his work was seven days a week quite literally until the day he died.
My father stopped to assist with car accidents or where public catastrophes were in process. On a dirt road on a late night as we were driving from NY to our home in Fishkill, NY, a young man was frantically waving our car down on a dark road. His brother was in distress, and he desperately needed help. The young man was in beginning stages of cardiac arrest. My father administered whatever medical care he could which was considerable on that dark road with only headlights and flashlights to assist.
The young man died on the road that night as we waited for police and ambulances, but this event was familiar to me as I had witnessed so many similar interventions as part of my life. I had no idea until many years later that this form of service was not routine.
As far as I knew, work, fidelity, honesty and integrity were the norm. I thought lying, cheating and infidelity were part of acute mental illness or rare criminal behavior.
My father wanted to attend law school after medical school. He wanted to become a judge. He was fascinated by the law, inspired and mesmerized by jurisprudence. As a result, he served on the draft board for military service. I was deeply moved by the decisions he had to make when sending young men to service.
With a life full of experience my father died at the age of 78 on a late Sunday afternoon.
He returned home from a full day of medical practice and laid down to rest before dinner, anticipating the enjoyment of watching the TV show 60 Minutes. It appeared that he closed his eyes and quietly slipped away, painlessly and simply with no drama – a fitting end to a life of service.
While reflecting on my life with my father as a dedicated, decent, compassionate human being, I have considered the presence of officers of the court who wield the type of power and influence literally over life and death not so unlike the practice of physicians such as my father. My first response to the experience of facing authority figures whose failure of character, decency and compassion know no bounds to the destruction that they willingly, eagerly, and often gleefully dispense was one of shock disbelief and a sense that this must be an anomaly. I was soon moved to grief, despair and ultimately an emergence of increasing rage and resolve that these acts of cruelty could not persist and could not be allowed to destroy the lives of so many children and families. Ultimately, I came to view this in the context of anticipating the demise of a democratic society.
With this epiphany experienced, the road forward seemed unambivalently clear and the methods to be developed explored and ultimately implemented.
The work of the Foundation has been engaged by very few brave people and many distressed, devastated and bereaved parents who have experienced the unconscionable suffering and misery of children lost in what appeared to be an unsolvable battle.
The Foundation does not view the battle, or the elements required to defeat ignominious authority, as beyond reach.
The ark of the universe bends towards justice. My father was living proof of the spirit of hard work and integrity. The Foundation is committed to continuing that path.
