Dear Mr. Jeffrey Dinetz:

My organization, Mothers in Crisis Coalition, just heard the news today that your radio station canceled the show on family court corruption, to the detriment of the public and concerned citizens.

As a journalist and researcher, I encourage you to review the facts relating to the ongoing crisis in family court and human violations being committed under the guise of Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS). Please continue to report and expose this critical issue for thousands of families in your area and across the nation. This topic is NEWSWORTHY and has attracted already a large audience to your show: "A Citizen's Voice," with Fred Flannigan. You will be receiving other letters from members of our organization and large coalition of victims, advocates and concerned citizens, encouraging to continue to present this family court crisis.

Please take the time to review these important facts; Commissions by: The US Dpt of Justice, The American Bar Assoc. The American Psychological Assoc., and many other leading experts, continue to WARN regarding the harms and risks of applying this pseudo condition to custody cases, especially, when there is evidence of domestic violence, like in Alec Baldwin's case.

Parental Alienation, is a serious, highly controversial and dangerous trend for women and children, victims of abuse and violence in our country.

In 2004, I founded an organization called, Mothers in Crisis Coalition, based from Florida, with members all across the United States; Our main objective is to continue to gather data, document cases and research viable solutions to this devastating crisis for children and their protective parents in courtrooms across our nation.

What I have seen through years of research and documentation, is no less significant than families ripped apart by abuse of power in pre- war or war-like conditions. This ongoing judicial crisis has attracted International attention. Attorney, Dianne Post, filed a Human Violations Complaint with an International Commission and is awaiting response or relief for these victims.

In a July 2008 news story, Costa Rican authorities, provided immediate asylum to an American mother and her child, deeming her custody court case, a crisis and humanitarian emergency for these victims.

As recent as of September 2008, women and victims relating to the same, court related travesty of "Parental Alienation, " filed a complaint through the U.S. Department of Justice and are awaiting an evidenciary hearing regarding this UNPRECEDENTED crisis in America.

The tragic truth is that death rates due to domestic violence has more than doubled in the last several years. Children continue to be ripped apart from their protective parents and their pleas for help, continue to silenced through this UNRECOGNIZED syndrome, called Parental Alienation.

As a leader of a growing group of victims across the nation, I encourage you to take the lead in denouncing ANY form of abuse, but ESPECIALLY, abuse against CHILDREN, the most helpless and vulnerable segment of our population.

For any REPUTABLE, media outlet, to minimize, excuse or "dignify" ABUSIVE fathers, like Alec Baldwin, is not only a "barbaric" position for a reputable outlet to take, but also a very dangerous stance, with serious or potentially, tragic consequences.

The danger is real, as reports continue to support the statistics of increased deaths and domestic violence for women and children across our nation. To take this issue lightly is irresponsible; To dismiss research and warnings from leading authorities is NOT what the American public EXPECTS from a reliable media source.

Findings from Dr. Paul Fink, former President of the American Psychiatric Assoc. explain: "Science tells us that the most likely reason that a child becomes estranged from a parent is that parent's own behavior. Labels, such as PAS, serve to deflect attention from those behaviors."

Retired, Louisiana's 5th Circuit Court of Appeal, Judge Gothard, states, "PAS has caused emotional harm, physical harm and in some cases, even death to children."

Dr. Joyanna Silberg, Ph.D., a Clinical Psychologist and Executive Vice President of the Council, notes that the recent case of Darren Mack, who was accused of shooting his custody judge and stabbing his wife to death, is one of many tragedies related to PAS theory and dangerous consequences.

In light of these and many other reports, statistics and violent crimes throughout the nation relating to custody cases, the American Psychological Association, issued this warning, as recent as 2005:

"The American Psychological Assoc (APA) believes that all mental health practitioners as well as law enforcement officials and the courts, must take any reports of domestic violence in divorce and child custody cases seriously. An APA 1996 Presidential Task Force on Violence and the Family noted the lack of data to support so-called "parental alienation syndrome," and raised concern about the term's use. However, we have not official position for the purported syndrome.

As a leader for the National Org. for Women, Fl Chapter, Child Custody Committee Chair and after meeting with hundreds of Florida women and children pleading for help, statistics don't lie or support Alec Baldwin's excuse for abuse or intimidation on his own minor child, in or outside of court.

For years now, I have personally listened to children and their protective parents cry out for help, to no avail. I have sat at police stations where children are exchanged for custody and/or visitation and have seen them, ripped apart from the arms of their protective parent, as they cry helplessly and frantically, being forced to go with their abusers, based on PAS reports and court orders.

Last year, I interviewed the mother of a teenage boy in Florida. She talked about her son, who after being forced to live with his abusive and estranged father, ended up in the E.R. after a suicide attempt. The judge in this case, went as far as to even issue an order NOT allow to the mother to visit her own son in the hospital. After her son's release from the hospital, the boy attempted to escape again from the father, back to his mother's care. The boy was ordered to be picked up by the police back to the father's custody, where he failed school and became seriously depressed and ill with stress-related symptomatic conditions, while reports of concern from school officials and others involved accomplished very little to improve this boy's life to the way it was before involvement from the courts. This travesty and life altering, custody imposition, again, based on the purported PAS theory against the mother, as the primary caregiver of the boy for years.

My question to Alec Baldwin, is why not look into the reason(s) why his child may be afraid of him or why that child may not want to correspond with him, instead of blaming the child for her REACTION to the continually abusive or offensive treatment she receives from her father.

Interestingly enough, " through my years of study and research of this devastating issue, is that as PAS grows in popularity, so does the BARRIER, for children to testify in court, even as they become older; young adults or teenagers, and permitted by the law. When the laws are ignored, when children are FORCED to go with their estranged or abusive parents, it is the DUTY of the citizens, the media and QUALIFIED professionals, to "step up to the plate," and participate in remedies. To look the other way, not to report the facts, these travesties, will hold you accountable as part of the problem and not the solution.

The cost of silencing children through custody evaluators and PAS, marks a new Millennium of "Dark Ages" and "Judicial Inquisition" for children who are victim of abuse in our country. As a national and reliable source of news and information, I hope that you cover this important story accurately by presenting the facts from leading EXPERTS, professionals and RELIABLE authority in our nation.

To provide misleading information, based on angry and defensive excuses or OPINIONS, regarding abuse through the courts and PAS, may bring devastating consequences to thousands of children trapped in a cycle of violence, with only one way out: Accountable reporting, from outlets like you and community involvement.

Thank you for your time and consideration. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or need additional information at 813-610-2842.

Sincerely,

Mari Fernandez,
Mothers in Crisis Coalition, Founder
Fla. N.O.W., Child Custody Committee, Chair