Mom Braves Jail rather than Reveal Whereabouts of Molested Daughter
5th "History of the Crisis" Case: The Court Cabal Takes Off
A Boston mom chooses to be jailed for contempt rather than divulge the whereabouts of her daughter in our fifth “History of the Crisis” segment. Virginia’s ex-husband was sexually assaulting her 6 year-old on visits and she could bear it no more, so she chooses to brave incarceration to ensure her daughter’s safety.
Virginia got a ton of media attention. The New York Times and Boston Herald followed her case, along with a popular feminist publication called Sojourner: the Women’s Forum.
According to the Boston Herald:
Virginia was not the shy, reticent mother the system would have liked. She spoke to the press. She spoke out for her daughter.
She defied the system and made a public mockery of it by fleeing with her daughter, hiding Nicole and brazenly choosing jail rather than divulging her daughter’s whereabouts. She did all this to protect Nicole, to keep her child away from a man Nicole said had abused her.
Virginia’s case begins in the mid-’80’s, as did Dorrie’s and Karen’s, whose cases followed Dr. Elizabeth Morgan’s in the early ‘80’s. They all followed Mary Lou’s, which began in the mid-’70’s, the earliest documented Post-Separation Crisis case.
In this form of civil disobedience—hiding her daughter, Virginia followed in the footsteps of Dorrie, Elizabeth, and Karen. She was the first, though, to benefit from a more organized underground of child protectors started by Faye Yager after Karen’s case.
VIRGINIA’S STORY
Nicole was born in 1979, four years after Virginia married. Four years later, in 1983, Virginia was divorced.
When Nicole was six, she told her friend what her father was doing to her; her friend told her mother; her mother told Nicole’s mother; then Nicole told her mother.
Virginia did what any good mother would do. She kept her daughter away from the father at first. But Old Boy Judge Haskell “Hutchy” Freedman ordered Nicole visit the credibly accused molester father, supervised only by his mother, while the investigation was proceeding.
Now, judges aren’t stupid. They know men’s mothers have no power to stop their sons from sexually abusing their grandchildren, even if they wanted to. Not to mention, a grandmother does not stay up all night to make sure her son doesn’t sneak into the kid’s room.
Virginia abided that situation as she believed Nicole would be protected after the investigation confirmed the abuse. A psychologist at North Shore Hospital determined that Nicole’s father had been sexually abusing her since the age of three. CPS also substantiated Nicole’s disclosures of sexual abuse.
You would think that corroboration, along with Virginia’s belief in what her daughter was telling her, would be enough for a judge to find preponderance of evidence and protect her. It would—in any universe in which patriarchy was not in force.
COURT-APPOINTED CABAL
At this time, a new strategy was taking hold that would ensure—to the present day—men would continue to be entitled and empowered in the family: the insider [read: Old Boy friendly] court-appointed cabal. This cabal consists of two main professions: children’s legal representatives, such as attorneys or GAL’s, and mental health practitioners playing various roles, such as custody/parental evaluators and therapists.
Virginia’s case was the first to be subjected to the entire cabal which worked against her. Every one of them did their job covering up the abuse and steering the case to the father.
The evaluator, a psychiatrist, reported, “While we can find no evidence of sexual abuse or neglect, we do see signs of significant emotional stress…In the absence of any evidence of sexual abuse, we suggest that it is inappropriate and even harmful for Nicole's relationship with her parents to be based on this allegation." [emphases ours]
The GAL [guardian ad litem] followed suit and reported there was no evidence of abuse and the stress being caused by investigating it was the problem. The narrative was hereby officially formed and would become the go-to fiction for countless future cases: It was not the sexual abuse that was harming the child. It was the stress caused the child by the investigation and the fallout from it.
The narrative continues: So everyone just needs to put the abuse in the past and move on—for the child’s sake. And if mother refuses, she will be the one causing the child harm and will lose custody. Quite a handy weapon for silencing women and children.
Notice the win-win for the father. If mom shuts up, he can continue the abuse; if she doesn’t, she’ll lose custody and he can continue the abuse.
Notice also that the abuse will likely continue. Child molesters don’t just stop. So it is not really in the past and no normal person would agree that a child continuing to be sexually abused by a father was better than the child being interviewed about it. But the cabal is not composed of normal people. These are people who have sold their souls for a warm seat at the Old Boys’ table.
Another cabalist, a therapist, was appointed to treat Nicole. He did the job of what is now being called “reunification” therapy. During sessions over a period of months, with the father in the room, they actively manipulated Nicole into recanting the abuse.
At the trial in June of ’86, OB Judge Hutchy disregarded the significant evidence that Nicole had been sexually abused and rested his findings on reports by his trusted cabalists. He found there was no evidence the father had sexually abused Nicole and the “allegations” were groundless. [Mind you, Nicole did not “allege” abuse; she disclosed it. Using the word “allege” is a deliberate tactic to switch focus to the mother.]
OB Hutchy granted the father generous, unsupervised visitation with a cherry on top: the first visit with the father would be for 3 continuous weeks. This would, of course, give the father plenty of unfettered time to terrorize Nicole into silence. All part of the father molester enabling scheme.
GONE UNDERGROUND
So Virginia ran. She was not about to hand over her precious child over to a child molester for three weeks unsupervised—or ever.
It's either I'm abused or she's abused, and it's going to be me.
By this time, Faye Yager had her child protection network somewhat organized, so they disappeared into her “underground” and were spirited from one safe house to another.
Virginia surrendered to authorities the next year in March of ’87 but refused to say where Nicole was. Old Boy Hutchy jailed Virginia for contempt and threatened she would stay incarcerated until she produced Nicole.
Negotiations followed in which Virginia asked for a proper investigation of the sexual abuse by trauma experts, still thinking that would help. She did not yet realize it did not matter how much evidence there was—a mistake many mothers make until it’s too late.
NICOLE IS FOUND
Nicole was found later that year in North Carolina. She was brought back to Boston and placed into the custody of CPS. OB Judge Hutchy ordered Nicole to stay initially at the Cambridge Children’s Hospital to be evaluated for sexual abuse by a multi-disciplinary team.
At first Hutchy refused to free Virginia but soon apparently bowed to public pressure and ordered her released. The D.A. dismissed the kidnapping charges and said he would take on the child molestation case if Children’s Hospital found evidence. Spoiler Alert: they did; he didn’t.
The hospital team reported that Nicole had not wavered in her disclosures of the sexual abuse. Genital scarring consistent with sexual abuse was found. This confirms it was actual rape, not “just” molestation.
New cabalists were court-appointed who toed the party line: no abuse; move on.
At this point, it appears OB Hutchy was relieved of the case and the first known FOBAK (Female-Old-Boy-Ass-Kisser) judge was assigned. There was a two month trial, after which FOBAK Judge Mary C. Fitzpatrick found that the abuse could not be firmly established and gave the rapist father sole legal custody. Sole legal custody means, importantly, that Virginia cannot bring Nicole to a therapist who will listen to her and report if she discloses abuse. Silencing of Nicole achieved. The goal all along.
The Sojourner reported that the judge’s ruling “despite its twists and turns basically finds that sexual abuse…can not be firmly established by the court…From there to awarding sole legal custody may seem like a leap, but one Judge Fitzpatrick makes through a series of attacks on Virginia…” Imagine that: a FOBAK attacking a mother who is simply trying to protect her daughter.
According to the Boston Herald:
Virginia and her daughter Nicole prove not only that the system does not work, but that the system punishes those who don’t play by the rules.”
But that omits the most important word: those women. The system punishes women who don’t play by the rules, not men. [See our last column where Britney Spears says in her new memoir that she had to play by the rules or not see her boys: Britney: Trading her Freedom for Her Kids. And this is nearly 40 years later.]
Virginia did what she should have done. She went to the courts for help, but then found herself embroiled in a nightmare.
Virginia appealed. FOBAK’s judgment was upheld. Of course.
It is unclear whether Virginia was given supervised or unsupervised visitation or kept completely away from Nicole. What is clear is that both Virginia and Nicole were silenced about the sexual abuse and the father was enabled to continue to rape Nicole if he so chose.
BREAKDOWN
Virginia’s case brought about many firsts. She was one of the first mothers to be assisted in going into hiding by Faye Yager. “The Children of the Underground” would gain steam after this.
Virginia’s is the first case in which it became apparent that the weapon of choice of the OBN would be the judicial appointment of a cabal of insiders—children’s attorneys/GAL’s and mental health practitioners—who would systematically and methodically steer custody cases to the father. Before that, judges would have to, on their own, unjustly switch custody to fathers.
Cases like Elizabeth’s and Virginia’s, and many others by that time, were giving judges a bad name in the press. This new strategy gave them cover. All they had to do was rest their ruling on something(s) one of their very own court-appointees said.
Notice that the term “reunification therapist” was not yet in vogue. The mental health practitioner whose job was to get Nicole to recant the abuse and agree to visit or live with her father was simply her therapist. This is why banning reunification therapists or therapy will not make any difference.
Virginia’s case also established that Family Court appointees have immunity. She sued the evaluator, but the Appellate Court found that judicial appointees have immunity. They, like the judge, cannot be held accountable for any unethical, oppressive, or illegal malfeasance. This was the perfect, virtually insurmountable way to rig the system against women.
Thus, from the late ’80’s until the present time, women have been completely outgunned. Things were never the same for women fighting to keep and protect their children post-separation. But it is important to keep in mind that profiteering by court parasites, i.e. the “cottage industry”, is not the core cause of women losing custody. Judges were entitling men before the cabal, as is shown in our older “History of the Crisis” cases, and will continue, even if the cabal is eliminated.
Also, as stated above, Virginia’s case was the first one known to involve a FOBAK (Female-Old-Boy-Ass-Kisser) judge. All throughout history, there have been women who kiss Old Boys’ asses to gain in status, power and money. Female judges today are no exception, and Judge Mary C. Fitzpatrick performed in Virginia’s case. After she gave the father custody, she was promoted to Chief Judge.
Of course she was promoted. That’s the deal. This judicial POS gave a child to a rapist so she could climb the Old Boy ladder. To paraphrase U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright:
There is a special place in hell for women judges who sell out other women.
In ensuing years, FOBAKs would become increasingly prevalent. This is no accident. When it is a woman judge making findings against women, it obscures the fact that the cause is systemic male entitlement. Many mothers are fooled by this. Don’t be.
OF NOTE: OB Judge Hutchy himself went on to start an annual retreat for Family Court judges named after him.
IN CONCLUSION
Women began gaining substantial rights and freedoms in the early 1970’s which enabled them to divorce their husbands. That meant men were losing control in the area they wanted it most: over “their” women and family.
Hence, the backlash began.
Family Court became the means for men to continue their age-old control in the family. Tactics evolved for the next 20 years. By the early ’90’s, the Old Boy strategies were honed to a T. Judges controlled with carrots and sticks. Insider cabals rewarded for assisting in the agenda.
Done. Women were officially screwed from then on.
Men entitled & empowered. Women oppressed & disempowered. Children silenced & abused.
And nothing has changed. Because women have been fighting the wrong things—thanks to one of the most effective backlash strategies: convince women the Post-Separation Crisis is not a gendered issue. Divert them into calling for piecemeal, useless reforms within the Family Court system. When what is needed is an entirely new system.
Join The Women’s Coalition to fight for the power to keep and protect our children (and our money).
IN OTHER NEWS
SISTERS IN SOLIDARTY
Our next Sisters in Solidarity Forum will be next Saturday, November 11th, 1pm Pacific; 4pm Eastern; 9pm GMT/UTC.
In order to join the forum, you need to join Sisters in Solidarity. In order to join the Sisters, you need only want to engage in activism to end the Post-Separation Crisis and agree it is caused by systemic male entitlement, resulting in the disempowerment and oppression of women. We are mobilizing a counteroffensive to regain our long-lost power to keep and protect our children and our resources/money.
If you are interested in joining the Sisterhood, please read this column and watch this video powerpoint presentation. If you agree with the Women’s Coalition’s position on the crisis, fill out the form linked above and in the column. You will be sent the link for the zoom a few days before the forum (check alternate boxes and spam). Please do not share the link; the forum is only for Sisters.
You may also support the Coalition’s work through a one-time or recurring contribution at paypal.me/TheWomensCoalition
UTTERLY A N G E R I N G ... ... her struggle. Com'n, Mamas: NEW SYSTEM = N O W.
The only way women won't be punished for trying to protect their children is to eliminate family court. The only way children will be protected is to establish a new system. Family court judges must not have the power to endanger women and children. Women must be empowered to fight for a new system that protects our children. We can no longer play by the existing rules. We need new rules.
Women must focus on abolishing family court and establishing a new system.