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Dr. Reena Sommer specializes in addressing issues pertaining to false allegations of child sexual abuse and also maintains several web resources like the website: Solutions4PAS

"A major thrust of Dr. Sommer's work is in the area of separation and divorce and assisting divorcing couples explore options in restructuring their lives. In the past, Dr. Sommer conducted court ordered custody evaluations and oversaw courted ordered supervised access. From time to time, Dr. Sommer is asked to provide expert testimony."

"Dr. Sommer is guided by the belief that children should not be denied a relationship with their parents simply because their moms and dads decide to divorce. She views her role as a family life consultant to help men and women develop effective parenting plans that make it possible for them to maintain a positive connection with their children."

I was able to pose a couple of questions, comments, but more importantly discovered an amazing resource for parents that suspect false allegations might come up from the other parent and shared it with those that were participating. I shared the resource below with Chrissy Chrzanowski, Tawnya Maddox, Dr. Amy Baker, Dr. Reena Sommer, and Katrina Daniels, whom I often refer to as the "Parental Alienation Task Force."

THE RESOURCE: DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN TRUE AND FALSE ALLEGATIONS OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE IN DIVORCE CASES: RESPONDING TO CRIMINAL CHARGES.

The article/study was authored Charles E. Bridges of Bridges, Nichols & Seibel. The link above is a repost of the original content at Delta Bravo, an affiliation of Separated Parenting Access & Resource Center (S.P.A.R.C.)

The introduction sets the tone of the piece:

"This article will focus on those procedures which may lead to false allegations of sexual abuse. By focusing on false allegations, I will be emphasizing what I believe are the weaknesses in the present system of identifying sexual abuse in children. My personal opinion is that the vast majority of sexual abuse allegations are true and that the dedication of the experts that I am critical of in this article has resulted in the conviction of sex offenders who might otherwise have gone free to abuse other children. So much deserved praise has been given these experts that I do not feel the need to say more. However, there has been so little deserved criticism of these experts that I do feel the need to criticize those procedures that can lead to false accusations of sexual abuse. False accusations can be devastating both to the innocently accused and to the child incorrectly diagnosed as a sexual abuse victim."

For anyone that might be facing the possibility of false allegations of child sexual abuse, know first and foremost that it is a very real threat and you could face jail time if the event is not handled correctly. It might not even be a bad idea to print out the report and pass it along or burn a copy of the talk show program "SplitNTwo" with Dr. Reena Sommer to a cd as a gift. Knowledge is power and making a mistake in handling false allegations can be devastating and cause the complete loss of your freedom and/or access to your children. No matter what, hang in there and share the information.

Harry Crouch of National Coalition for Men (a/k/a National Coalition of Free Men) joined host Lary Holland on Get Off The Bench Wednesday August 27, 2008. The discussion was simple, Men's Issues and a new approach to balancing the equality equation.

It is well understood that the area of gender discrimination and gender issues have been widely distorted by propaganda and misdirected federally funded programs, but many advocates don't seem to want to address the very real issues associated with "Mens' Issues." To those that don't want to stand up and help balance the media distortions and quiety tip toe around such issues "To hell with them," states Harry Crouch. Simply put, Harry Crouch exposes several key areas in the above episode of Get Off The Bench.

Harry Crouch is the current president of the NCFM-SD (National Coalition for Men in San Diego) and delivered a power message on Get Off The Bench. I encourage all to listen and help spread the messages that Men's Issues are quite real and help balance the gender equation by objective advocacy. It's not about being "anti-woman" it is about being "pro... man." No simpler explanation can be used.

If you are unfamiliar with Men's Issues, you can visit the California Men's Center website or watch the video below about the subject. It is a thoughtful and well guided piece on Men's Rights/Issues. Let me know what you think about Men's Issues via email at getoffthebench@familycourtreports.com. I will air some comments on our next show.

Youtube Link to Mens Issues Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57EWApOypIQ

The Improved Adoption Incentives and Relative Guardianship Support Act of 2008, also known as Senate Bill 3038 has two significant changes that you just might need to know about. Some people are calling for the complete annihilation of the Title IV-E Program, which as some of you already know funds the Foster Care and Child Protective Services related programs in the various states.

The original reference to Title IV-E is under the Social Security Act. You can find the complete text located at the Social Security Website or under the US Code. (Begins: 42 U.S.C. 670)

Under the Improved Adoption Incentives and Relative Guardianship Support act of 2008, funding will be continued for the program but two notable changes are also be amended to the program. This is absolutely necessary, since it is what most would consider an essential services program. Some organizations are inadvertently calling for the non-renewal, but this is neither feasible or logical. The Federal government MUST continue to fund the state program under the contracts.

In the past, the federal government would only begin making payments to the states in the event that a child was taken and then placed with a licensed foster care facility. As you can imagine, the result was that the states wanted to be paid and would automatically place a child preferentially with a foster care facility instead of a stable relative guardian.

The first key change that occurs should S.3038 be passed, as it is anticipated to soon, the state would begin receiving payments if a child was taken and placed with a stable relative guardian. This will yield a reduction to the state foster care caseload and likely save every state money, allow for reduction of foster care caseloads, and have positive effects for the children involved. The more important factor is that a removed child will be able to continue living with relatives until the reason for the taking is cured.

Also in the past there was not a solid requirement to use electronic databases to locate the second parent that may not have any knowledge whatsoever that their child was removed from a single-parent home. Under the Improved Adoption Incentives and Relative Guardianship Support Act of 2008 there will be a requirement to utilize the Federal Parent Location databases to find the other parent for placement, again increasing the likelihood of a child being placed with a relative instead of sometimes hazardous state care.

There are other significant changes to the program, including an increase in funding, but the results of this bill are likely to cause each state to pass a statute that refers to payment for relative guardian placement. In the near future if your state does not pass such a statute, we can help provide model language to get the job done.

Statistics for Joint Custody, IE: Joint Custody Statistics, are now available at a plain language website that you can reference in your rebuttals to propaganda that pops up from time to time on websites across the nation.

For the most part, there are distinct actions that can be taken in every State. Some of which includes requesting State Constitutional Amendments, Resolutions from Government Officials, and Statutory/Legislative requests to appropriate levels of government.

Children Need Both Parents can be referenced by anyone across the United States. If you have information that you would like updated, we will be expanding some simple references for judicial, legislative, and executive communications.

There are additional sites linked such as SplitNTwo.Com that should be reviewed as well for more official information and references. Let's spread the word. Tell two new people every day!

One of the Equal Parenting Bike Trek Riders sustained minor injuries when shoe laces became bound to a pedal while at rest. When I first heard of the injury, I was of course thinking what someone might look like after hitting the road at 55 miles per hour and was relieved to hear that was of course not the case! After a detour to a local medical center in Pennsylvania, all rides resumed on the road this morning. They are "heading into the major mountains now" stated Dan Diebolt, in a phone conversation this morning. They are right on schedule to be arriving in Washington DC on August 14, 2008 exactly one day ahead of the Family Preservation Festival 2008 National Civil Rights Event.

Also, a special announcement and newsletter was released from Family Court Reports, earlier today with final comments and an urgent call for help in several key areas.

You can view the critical newsletter at: http://www.familycourtreports.com/newsletters/specialannouncement-1.html

It is imperative that more people engage in direct action with their elected officials staffers and offices as well as increased attention to the media outlets. Using the special announcement as your guide will get you in contact with officials in a matter of minutes!

To make an immediate and necessary contribution to the Family Preservation Festival, please visit this State Contributions link, find your state, and click "chip-in." It is safe and secure and your identity will remain confidential.

Get Off The Bench will be hosting conference calls on both Tuesday and Wednesday to rally and direct any final soldiers for change and we look forward to helping! Live Call Ins at 8:05PM EDT via 724-444-7444 talkcast id: 43507 pin: 1+# and ask your questions live!

The Oakland County Press covers the Equal Parenting Bike Trek, Scott Hudson, and mentions National DC Event (dcfestival2008.com) in HUGE article just one day after the successful departure!

ACTION ITEM: Check it out below and fax it to a Michigan Legislator with the following message: BRING HB 4564 and HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NN TO A VOTE NOW!

GET OFF THE BENCH WILL BE HOSTING A SPECIAL SHOW WITH THE BIKE RIDERS ON SATURDAY NIGHT AT 8PM EST. TO CALL IN LIVE... FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS:

LIVE CALL INS: 724-444-7444
TALK CAST ID: 43507
PIN: Press 1+#

Reform, or is it?

On May 29, 2008, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signed Senate Bill 08-183 Concerning the Effect of DNA Evidence On Child-Related Orders. The act will take effect on August 15, 2008. Under prior Colorado law once a paternity judgement or final orders in a divorce had been entered regarding child support a man was required to continue paying regardless of what later genetic evidence revealed.

Getting some relief for paternity fraud victims in Colorado has been a six-year struggle and has resulted in twelve EJF newsletters on the topic of Condoning Slavery Under Color of Law.

State Senator Shawn Mitchell deserves much credit for sponsoring this bill and getting it through the Colorado Senate. We have been harshly critical of Senator Mitchell in the past on this issue but he has demonstrated both the intelligence and integrity to learn from his mistakes and try and help correct the problem.

Why is paternity fraud a problem?

• Since testing for paternity using genetic, or DNA evidence became widely available the laboratories doing such testing have consistently reported that ~30% of the men tested were not the fathers of the children in question. As of 2008 there are roughly 400,000 DNA tests done by laboratories yearly in the United States .


• Currently some 38% of children are borne out-of-wedlock nationally. Reportedly, two thirds of the children in California are now born to unwed mothers. Commonly in such cases the father is not present, is unknown (she was drunk or on drugs), or the mother had several sexual partners during her fertile period when the child was conceived.


• Evidence continues to mount that at least one third of married women have extramarital affairs ,making it impossible to assume a woman's husband is the father of her children.


• Child support enforcement (CSE) agencies have a widespread practice of arbitrarily selecting a man on flimsy or no evidence and imposing a default paternity judgement on him with little or no notice or proof. There are far too many cases of Manuel Nava becoming Manuel Navarro in the doltish hands of CSE bureaucrats eager to earn federal bonuses for making a man a "father" by judicial fiat.


• Only about 12 out of 100 children are born today to a couple who are legally married and remain so until their children reach majority.

Thus the potential for paternity fraud is huge and there is no penalty for a woman who commits it.

As a result there is a roughly one-in-three chance in a paternity case where the woman is asking for child support that the man named, either by the mother or CSE, is not the biological father of the child.

We also encounter far too many cases of married women using false allegations of domestic violence and restraining orders to keep their husbands away from the children when seeking child support in a divorce, often because she knows or suspects her husband is not the father. Again, our experience is that in contested cases where false allegations are used against the husband that there is about a one-in-three chance one or more of the kids aren't his.

Paternity fraud equals slavery

Slavery is defined as the state of a person who is a chattel of another and is a social-economic system under which certain persons - known as slaves - are deprived of personal freedom and compelled to work. Slaves are held against their will and are deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive compensation (such as wages) in return for their labor.

Clearly any man compelled by force to support a child that demonstrably is not seed of his loins, and imprisoned when he refuses, is a slave. Reasonable estimates suggest there are approximately 1.4-1.6 million men so enslaved in the United States today. This is an outrage that begs for redress, but dating back to 1857 in Dred Scott v Sanford, Plessy v Ferguson (1896), Korematsu v United States (1944), and continuing to the present day by forcing a man to pay child support to the biological father of his wife's child, the courts have historically supported slavery

As there is no punishment for a woman who commits paternity fraud, it is the perfect crime.

Remedies provided by SB08-183

As origi