tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125220381040097197.post8447484384674573524..comments2023-10-24T11:55:57.073-04:00Comments on Maine GALert: “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then, Maine’s children win”.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00116455297447458871noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125220381040097197.post-3951505476472865162012-06-25T06:38:34.939-04:002012-06-25T06:38:34.939-04:00There are a number of abuses of psychology that ta...There are a number of abuses of psychology that take place in Maine Courts:<br /><br />1.) The use of shallow "psychobabble" to label parties and to wrap bias towards one party in psychological terms. <br /><br />2.) the recommendation of "counseling" as a "good thing" with no problem specified, no goal in mind, no duration, no end point described. It is like random prescription of antibiotics for no medical reason. It might help somehow.<br /><br />3.) Anger management recommendations that fail to differentiate between normal anger and pathological anger. Some anger is fully normal in a divorce and therapy is not indicated for normal emotion. Anger management sounds good, but no one can really manage pathological anger or psychotic anger in a few outpatient counseling sessions.<br /><br />4.) Co-parenting counseling is likewise misguided in that it forces people whose divorce is itself a statement of inability to co-parent. Co-parenting is another pseudo fix which fails to recognize the fact that sometimes one of the partners can't co-parent due to mental illness, drug or alcohol issues, personality disorders, etc. Some of those so afflicted can't co-anything.<br /><br />5.) All of these psychological "fixes" are conducted by counsellors low down on the mental health food chain, who charge fees which impose additional financial burdens to couples already burdened. They become a form of court imposed fine on people who are struggling in many ways.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125220381040097197.post-53218698556089500822012-06-17T18:39:01.502-04:002012-06-17T18:39:01.502-04:00The JB is running a 3 rd rate MH Clinic as lawyers...The JB is running a 3 rd rate MH Clinic as lawyers, GALs and Judges talk psychobabble, prescribe counseling, anger management, co-parenting, etc. with no goals, no assessment along the way and with great conviction. What is supposed to happen with these therapeutic, judicial "vitamins"? Hey, a blind shot in the dark, multivitamin can't do any harm, can it?<br /><br />And consumers pay through the nose for these mandated, non-specific therapies. Shall we consider it a form of judicial punishment for getting a divorce?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125220381040097197.post-25843670464198392842012-06-13T16:34:56.790-04:002012-06-13T16:34:56.790-04:00The Maine GAL program defies common sense. Some o...The Maine GAL program defies common sense. Some of the poster child cases like Douglas vs Douglas are so loaded with psycho babble mumbo jumbo as to sound like witchcraft. It is hard to believe that educated judges take this sort of thing seriously and troubling to read that they base judgements on it. In "D vs D" the husband was described by a GAL as "caustic and controlling". This, it seems, was one of the reasons for disfavoring him in unsupervised visits with his child.<br /><br />How many men and women in the entire US might be described as "caustic and controlling"? Thousands! Hundreds of thousands! Some of these "caustic and controllings" are still married and in daily contact with their kids. Heavens! Shouldn't we go on a national hunt for "caustic and controlling" parents and, in their "child's best interest", and remove their children from this psychobabble danger? Notify Children's Protective service quickly. This and other shallow, personality labels, are presented by GALs with a straight face in court, and judges nod and take it seriously, when they should fall off the bench in a laughing fit. "Too take charge, might be bad for the child" was another, similar reason used to deny custody. <br /><br />These are all pseudo psychological formulations from junior mental health professionals that sound better than just saying, "I don't like this person!" They would be hysterically funny but for the fact that they are used to very destructive effect to deny custody and visitation in court and judges seem to take them seriously. <br /><br />There are numerous similar, nonsensical formulations, which are perceived as so damaging to a child that visitation and custody might be fraught with imagined dangers. Real dangers: high risk symptoms visible on a child's body often are minimized. But allegations of "caustic" are serious stuff!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125220381040097197.post-52694471924876270082012-06-13T06:59:26.463-04:002012-06-13T06:59:26.463-04:00At the present time it is a guessing game. What a...At the present time it is a guessing game. What are the Judicial Branches' standards of practice for GALs? Let's see: breathing, eating, walking, skills in psychobabble, and fee collection, good at quickly saying "in the child's best interest" when criticized.<br /><br />Do judges read the GAL statutes? Do they ever correct GAL's performance? Do they keep records or issue "report cards" on GALs in their courts? How would judges rate the GALs he./she works with in his/her court, A, B, C, D, F ? Do judges notice frequent combinations of GAL/lawyer patterns- GAL/lawyer almost a team? Way too busy for this sort of thing. Way too impartial. Brain dead?. Oh yes, and it wouldn't be" in the child's best interest".<br /><br />The JB ought to do a survey of district branch coziness. Consumers could suggest survey topics.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2125220381040097197.post-33550962328175441472012-06-11T19:59:12.746-04:002012-06-11T19:59:12.746-04:00It would be nice if the Judicial Branch listed GAL...It would be nice if the Judicial Branch listed GAL behaviors that they consider violations of ethics and statutes- and the discipline in each case. What behaviors merit a reprimand? What actions would require "supervised practice"? And what would lead to loss of license as a GAL- temporarily or permanently?<br /><br />Instructions on how to make a complaint would help too.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com