Shelter sued

Shat terd

Men

The hidden half of domestic violence

Shelter Sued

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The following story caught my eye as twice in my career I've worked at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod. The Oceanographic is located in Barnstable County.

My first awareness of the civil liberties issues involved in domestic violence cases came from a 1994 editorial in the Cape Cod Times. They were calling for the replacement of juries with a three-judge panel.

Then, as now, juries rarely convict in "he said/she said" cases and just down the road from Plymouth radical feminists wanted to put a stop to such heresy. Of course, it isn't that much further to Salem and witch hunts are nothing new to Massachusetts.

One of the unintended consequences of the domestic violence laws is that all too frequently when allegations of domestic abuse or violence are made, child protective services also investigate. Tom and Nev Moore present some excellent, although that hardly seems a suitable term for such horror, case histories of children being seized screaming from their parents arms at

and their site is recommended to anyone involved with child protective services or issues of domestic violence.

DHS here in Colorado also seizes children from their parents in similar situations. This occurs frequently enough that it is an item on the agenda of the new DV offender management board formed as a result of the passage of Colorado House Bill 00-1263 last year.

I'm sure there are many shelters for battered women that do yeoman service for the community. But evidence continues to mount that all too frequently such shelters are simply government-funded centers for the propagation of radical feminism and the destruction of families. For example, see Donna Laframboise's article "One-stop divorce shops" at

Anyone with similar stories is asked to contact me or Justice for Families mailto:justiceforfamilies@hotmail.com The only way we will put a stop to these atrocities is by exposing them to the light of day.

Charles E. Corry, Ph.D., F.G.S.A.
455 Bear Creek Road
Colorado Springs, CO 80906-5820
Telephone: (719) 520-1089
Facsimile:         (719) 328-1588
eFax:              (509) 472-5275
AIM:               drcecorry
E-mail:         mailto:ccorry@pcisys.net
Home page: http://boulder.earthnet.net/~ccorry

Reproduced under the Fair Use provisions of 17 USC Sec. 107 for noncommercial, educational use.

A suit was filed yesterday by a former client of a battered women's service center in Barnstable, Independence House, Nev Moore, President of Justice for Families.

Moore claims she was forced by DSS to accept services and attend meetings at Independence House against her will.

When she initially refused to attend, DSS took her children and placed them in foster care to force her to comply with their demands. She was to later discover that approximately two-thirds of Independence House funding comes from DSS. She believes that due to Independence House's financial dependence on DSS, they collude with the Department to force clients to accept services, and they help DSS open new cases by betraying women's confidentiality.

Moore claims this not only boosts DSS's cases, but pads Independence House's client numbers and artificially inflates the domestic violence statistics. These statistics are then used by DSS and Independence House to plead for more money from the legislature.

Since her own case has been publicized, Moore has received numerous calls from other women who claim that they also were forced by DSS to attend Independence House, under threat of losing their children. Their confidential conversations at Independence House meetings were also disclosed to DSS.

Independence House support groups are held behind closed doors, and a confidentiality notice is read at the start of each meeting that assures the women: "What's said in here, stays in this room."
"DSS told me that I would not get our daughter home until my attitude changed and I showed them that I had 'accepted the message' of Independence House. Attending wasn't enough - I had to 'prove' to DSS that I had 'accepted the message' - whatever that means," says Moore.

"What DSS used against me was that I complained in the Independence House meetings that I did not want to be there and was being forced to attend through intimidation, threats, and coercion. I said in the meetings that they needed to remove the word 'Independence' from their title. Their motto is 'Independence House: the Freedom to Make Your Own Choices' - well, my choice was not to be there.

"Independence House did everything to me that they claim would be control and emotional abuse if a man did it. I felt so violated. Our little girl suffered terribly. Independence House, of all places, should understand that when a woman says 'no' - it means 'no.'"

The suit, which was filed by Attorney Greg Hession of Belchertown in Barnstable Superior Court, alleges civil rights violations and unfair trade practices, breach of confidentiality, and resulting emotional abuse.

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Charles E. Corry, Ph.D., F.G.S.A.
455 Bear Creek Road
Colorado Springs, CO 80906-5820
Telephone:     (719) 520-1089
Facsimile:        (719) 328-1588
eFax:              (509) 472-5275
AIM:               drcecorry
E-mail:        mailto:ccorry@pcisys.net
Home page: http://boulder.earthnet.net/~ccorry
Domestic Violence Against Men: http://www.dvmen.org