100's of Mothers Get Chance to Regain Custody after Evaluator Suspended
But Unqualified Appointees Isn't the Problem
Hundreds of British mothers now have a chance to regain custody and belatedly get justice following a court-appointed evaluator being exposed as unqualified and suspended. Possibly over a thousand.
This evaluator has conducted at least 1680 evaluations! So that’s lots of mamas who have the opportunity to get their babies back.
That’s the good news.
The bad news is that the mothers will likely have to appeal, and in the UK mothers must get permission. Then, if they get permission, they still have to win the appeal, a high hurdle. And then it’s back to Family Court, where a “qualified” evaluator will be appointed—and who will likely do the same thing, only with proper credentials.
But at least now there is a chance. If nothing else, these mothers, who’ve been so wronged in the Family Court system, can have a sense of empowerment by holding this disgusting evaluator somewhat accountable.
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism received permission to report anonymously on seven cases involving this evaluator. They published two articles this week, one focusing on the evaluator, the other highlighting a case in which the mother has filed permission to appeal based on the evaluator being unqualified. [See below for links.]
Kudos to the mother who discovered that Graham Flatman has been doing evaluations since 1997, despite being unqualified to conduct them. She filed a complaint with the regulatory board, which led to him being suspended for a mere six months—a slap on the hand, considering the devastation he’s caused to innumerable mothers and children. It is unclear whether she filed an appeal.
Following is the story of the mother who is appealing.
ANYA’S STORY
Anya* is from Eastern Europe. She began a romantic relationship in her country with James*, a British man, in 2012. Anya’s first language is Slavic.
They were married in 2014 and Helen* was born later that year. In 2015, they moved to England.
James was abusive, which caused their separation in 2016. Anya went back and forth between the UK and her native country a few times. There was no order in place preventing her from doing this, but this will be used against her since she did not ask for James’ permission. It is used to make her out to be uncooperative and a flight risk.
Anya was granted a Protective Order, which was soon dismissed. Helen came back from the first unsupervised visit with her father with bruising. Social services got involved.
In 2018, Deputy District Judge [DDJ] Mark [unknown first name], issued a Prohibited Steps Order [PSO] that prevented Anya from traveling with Helen without James’ and the court’s permission.
The respondent mother must not remove the child…from the jurisdiction …without James’s written consent or order of the court…Neither party shall apply for any passport, travel documents of any other form of identification for the child without the other parent’s written consent or order of the court.
This was the first step in the father and the court gaining control over Anya.
The first evaluator reported that Anya had made false allegations of abuse against James. Ironically, she complained that Graham did not have proper credentials, and he was discharged from the case. Little did she know, the next one would be unqualified too.
Judge Mark was promoted and Anya’s case was taken over by another DDJ—Michelle O’Leary, and shortly after that by yet another DDJ: Catherine Comiskey. 3 DDJ’s.
James filed for sole custody, alleging that Anya was emotionally abusing Helen. He also alleged she was “sabotaging” his relationship with her [stick a pin in that].
Graham Flatman was appointed as evaluator and a guardian ad litem was appointed to represent Helen.
It soon became obvious that Comiskey, Flatman, and the GAL were steering the case against her and to the father. She attempted to get them removed from her case, but no luck.
Flatman reported that Anya had “significant personality features in terms of being histrionic and narcissistic” [“mad and bad” in one sentence]. He said Helen had suffered emotional harm in her mother’s care due to a “lack of consistent attention to her needs which the father could better prioritize”. And the usual: Anya was manipulating and influencing Helen against the father [another pin].
Flatman recommends Anya get therapy and allow him access to her records to “monitor her progress”. This is a common strategy that enables the court and father to keep tabs on whether the mother is getting with the program or not (not to mention it’s a good way of spying on her internal thoughts/emotions).
And there was so much more. Gotta give this evaluator credit for his unbridled devotion to the agenda. He went above and beyond, throwing all the spaghetti at the wall in skewing the case to the father.
Of course, the GAL and social workers aided in the mission, also making Anya look bad and unworthy of custody. The usual co-conspirators.
By 2021, Judge Comiskey had made a plethora of false findings and used them to justify the inevitable orders for sole custody to the father. She restricted Anya to occasional supervised visits.
Anya requested permission to appeal a few times but always lost.
The case was transferred to Judge Louise O’Neill for the final blow.
COUP DE GRÂCE
Judge Louise O’Neill administered the final coup de grâce. This makes the fourth judge (not counting all the appellate judges) who’s gone along with the agenda to execute the great custody switch.
By this time, Anya was likely thoroughly traumatized by having lost Helen and so decides to go along to get along. In other words, the torture, intimidation, and degradation by all the colluders worked. She’s been told that if she agrees to go to therapy and not speak anymore about the father’s abuse or court injustice, she’ll get custody back. But that’s just another dirty trick the Family Court Cabal uses.
Judge O’Neill made similar findings to all the previous judges.
Fraudulent evaluator Flatman was on the stand for over three hours. Judge O’Neill now has egg on her face, since she complimented him so much.
Mr Flatman gave evidence for almost three and a half hours. He is a very experienced clinician and expert in his field.
O’Neill then goes on to say that Anya must be kept on supervised visitation because she is a “flight risk” and an “emotional risk” and has not “embarked on any therapy”. But she clarifies, even if there were no flight risk, supervision is still necessary because Anya may be emotionally abusive to Helen in the future.
Of course, alienation makes an appearance. Judge O’Neill finds that Anya attempted to alienate Helen from James but “thankfully” was not successful.
The reality in this case is that, thankfully, Helen was not turned against James. In short any “alienating behaviours” did not succeed in achieving “parental alienation”…
…It is more a testament to the strength of Helen’s bond with James and indeed to his resilience that Anya failed in alienating the child.
O’Neill’s entire basis for ordering Anya remain on supervised visits for four more years is that she is an “emotional risk” to Helen. Can you imagine a judge restricting a father to supervised visits because he’s an emotional risk to his child?? Never.
All professional witnesses are categoric that the flight risk plus the emotional risk, especially when Anya has not embarked on any therapy, are so serious that it is essential for there to be a very clear mechanism to intervene and prevent either risk materialising.
…even if there were no flight risk, the contact must be supervised professionally and translated. It is crucial to safeguard Helen…her needs and the need to avoid harm require the supervision....
Additionally, O’Neill prohibited Anya from making any more motions to attempt to regain custody or unsupervised visitation. This is a common form of disempowering mothers—bar access to the Court under the guise of it being harmful to the child.
I am satisfied that Helen will be harmed if further applications to court are made during the time that she is catching up with her progress.
There is so much more degrading of Anya and flat-out lying in O’Neill’s Findings, but you get the drift...
Judge O’Neill ordered that sole custody goes to James and Anya’s visits with Helen remain supervised for at least four more years.
Disgusting. Another woman judge selling another mother out. A special place in hell…
But in the end it is all very simple. Judge O’Neill was doing her job, just like judges around the world, in giving the father complete control over “his” daughter.
The same old irony: judges falsely find mothers to be alienating and then allow the father to alienate.
SUSPENSION & APPEAL
Fast forward to 2024 and a different mother files a complaint to the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) claiming the evaluator appointed to her case was not qualified to conduct evaluations. It turns out Graham Flatman is an educational psychologist, not a clinical psychologist and is only qualified to assess children, not adults.
The HCPC found Graham Flatman had misled and damaged the reputation of the court and had “potentially” harmed the mother. They asserted his “misconduct brought the profession into disrepute and had the potential to harm [the mother]”.
Flatman was suspended for six months—a slap on the hand, considering he is essentially guilty of committing fraud on the court in each and every one of the 1680 cases.
It is unclear what action the mother who filed the Complaint took after Flatman’s suspension. But when Anya found out about it, she requested permission to appeal Judge O’Neill’s judgment. It is pending.
TAKEAWAYS
Although it is great that this one fraudulent evaluator is being exposed and all these mothers now have a chance at justice, this needs to be put into the larger context of the Custody Crisis. Remember: the personal is political. It does no good to tell stories without linking them to the larger issue—and fighting for an effective solution.
Focusing on the fact that this particular psychologist did not have the proper credentials to assess adults makes it sound like he is just a bad apple. When, in fact, he was appointed just like all the others because he is known to go along to get along with the agenda to steer cases to the father.
No, neither evaluators, children’s attorneys, therapists, nor any other appointees are the problem. Judges simply appoint the ones they know will do what they want. This is gone into depth in the “Down the Court-Appointee Rabbit Hole”.
The reporting on this evaluator also touches on our upcoming Training & Qualification Rabbit Hole. This one is where mothers are convinced that if judges are just trained in domestic abuse and appointees are qualified, they would make the right recommendations and rulings. Hence, the prevalent activism for new laws calling for training and regulation.
But that has not in the past made, and will not in the future make, any difference in the Crisis. Because that is not why it is happening.
Whether trained or qualified—or not, they are all colluding in the goal of switching custody to the father. Judges appoint professionals who will lie and distort, then simply parrot their lies in the Findings and Orders (and usually add more of their own).
The important point is that judges and appointees are all in on it. Training will not help. They know exactly what they are doing.
MSM will not, cannot, tell you this truth. It would rock the world if the public became aware that highly esteemed judges are routinely deliberately removing children from loving mothers and enabling fathers to physically, sexually, and emotionally abuse and alienate them.
It is up to independent media to get the truth out so please Share this! [You can copy/paste the Substack url anywhere.]
LINKS
TBIJ ARTICLES:
NOTE: If anyone has pictures of the judges, send them to womenscoalitionintl@gmail.com and they will be added.
IN OTHER NEWS
SISTERS ENGAGING IN ACTIVISM!
If you’d like to engage in activism to end the Custody Crisis, join our activist group: Sisters in Solidarity.
More info about Sisters in Solidarity
JOIN the Discrimination Against Women in Family Court Lawsuit:
U.S. fill out this form
Other countries fill out this form.
More info about the discrimination lawsuit
NEXT SECTION OF THE SAGA IS OUT!
Shortly after Legion returns from her sneaky Spring visit with her boys, she gets through to Mirzah on the home phone. He tells Legion something happened to Jesse, but Herry said he can’t tell Legion anything about it or where he is; but says he would tell her if he thought Jesse were dying. Legion calls around every hospital and finally finds him at a psychiatric inpatient unit.
Apparently Jesse had gone for a long time without being able to get a good night’s sleep and had a mental health episode. Of course, this would never have happened if Herry had not taken him away from his beloved mother. One good thing to come out of it, though, is that Jesse finds a way to contact her on Mother’s Day—the first time in the six years Herry has kept the boys away from her.
In the last section, Legion tells Jesse that she is going to write a book so they will know the truth about how Herry took them away from her with lies to the court. Jesse tells her about a $100K movie deal Herry and his attorney had been negotiating about their case. Legion is horrified. He would have used it to make her look like a crazy, vengeful ex-wife, as he had done with the local newspaper article…But she is determined to outlast him and hold him accountable for the horrors he’s inflicted on the boys and her through a definitive exposé.
CHAPTER 28 of Mother-Fucking: The Saga of One Fucked Mother begins with Act III, Part 4 of “The Opera” from Book 3. The Opera has three Acts with five Parts—one for each of the three Family Court and two Appellate Court trials. Chapter 28 covers all of Act III: Part 4: the third Family Court trial, and Part 5: the second Appellate trial. This is a long chapter and will be published in newsletter-sized bites.
Dr. Blue’s novel is based on her own experience of the Custody Crisis. It uniquely conveys how Family Court judges are “mother-fucking” women—a form of systemic oppression—as protagonist Legion is systematically and methodically deprived of her children and money and reduced to “one fucked mother”.
Chapters are stand-alone interesting so you can begin reading anywhere. A Cast of Characters follows to help readers at any point. All published chapters are included in the Section: “Saga of One F**ked Mother” accessible on the top bar of the home page of Women’s Coalition News & Views. Sequential chapters are emailed out every Wednesday so make sure to subscribe if you haven’t yet!
TEASERS
Jesse at age 15½ began to lack large chunks of sleep––to the point that he actually became unable to sleep…Along with the insomnia, days and literally consecutive days of it that can stretch into nearly full weeks of it at a single clip, came for Jesse what comes for anyone in such a state––paranoia.
“If Jesse were, aaaah,… ah, if Jesse was, um … ah … ah, dying, ya’ know I’d tell ya’, don’tcha, Ma?! You know I would, don’tcha?! If he was dying, I would tell ya’, Ma.”
…when Jesse phoned me up that Sunday night in May, his late-at-night call to me had been the first Mother’s Day in six years’ worth of Mother’s Days that I had had a call or a contact or any form of a remembrance from him or from Mirzah or from Zane…
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