FACSIMILE

[11] eleven- pages with cover sheet

Date of transmission: January 3, 2008

RE: CASE NO. 96-D-217

‘FORMAL REQUEST TO ‘SAFE VISIT’ FROM CLAUDINE

DOMBROWSKI-[MOTHER] DATED 1-03-2008’
(FILED FOR THE COURT RECORD)

From: Claudine Dombrowski

Fax: 888.330.2059 Phone: 785.845.3417

to:
* Safe Visit: Topeka KS
Fax: (785) 234-5466

* Clerk of the District Court

[Please file on court record- Case. No. 96-D-217]
Fax: (785) 291-4908

* Domestic Filings
Fax: (785) 291-4911

Courtesy Copies: Clerk of the District Court, Governor [grants], Dorthy Halley
[executor of grants] Attorney Generals Office, Jacquie Spradling [KS Domestic Violence
task Force], Battered Women’s Justice Project, Sandy Barnett; Kansas Coalition Against
Sexual Assault Domestic Violence; Shawnee County District Attorneys Office’s,
Battered Women’s Task Force, KOVA, Sen. Vicki Schmidt, Rep: Jim Morrison, Sen.
Derek Schmidt, Sen. Jan Pauls [Judiciary Cmtee]Family Court Reform Coalition,
StopFamilyViolence.org, Jackie Williams, Battered Mothers Custody Conference, Judge
Johnson, Don Hoffman, Mary Jill Dykes-GAL.

***********

An error does not become truth by reason of

multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error
because nobody will see it. -Mahatma Gandhi
***********
 January 3, 2008

To: Safe Visit Staff –Topeka KS

[a Recipient of State and Federal Funding en re- [a]Child Access Visitation Center of the
Federal HHS ‘fatherhood initiatives’ program which discriminates against mothers and victims
of violence –Feb. 2006 discrimination suit Wade Horn and CRC]

RE: Supervised Visitation- between Claudine Dombrowski, [a [14] fourteen year

and recurring victim of domestic violence] and her daughter, Rikki Dombrowski.
Visit scheduled for Jan.13, 2008.

THIS IS A FORMAL REQUEST served on all relevant ‘parties’ that [mother/victim]

requests the rescheduling of her ‘supervised visitation’ with her now 13 year old
daughter, scheduled from Jan 13, 2008 Sunday 4pm-5 pm; to any time in the week of
January 14, 2008.

This request comes as the ‘mother’ is a presenter at the Fifth Annual Battered Mothers
Custody Conference in Albany, NY Jan. 11 thru 13, 2008.
www.BatteredMothersCustodyConference.org

The national conference joins mothers and top leading experts of the nation in exposing
the methods used by abusers to obtain and maintain control over there victims of
violence such as this mother and child’s own experience, via the misappropriations of
funds from Federal and State funded agencies such as ‘Safe Visit’ which is tantamount in
maintaining further ‘control’ of a known, admitted and convicted ‘perpetrator’ of
violence towards mother and child which continues to separate a victim of domestic
violence and her daughter going on [8] eight years for ‘no reason’ other than to further
the agendas of the abuser and those who continue to ‘profit’ from continued abuses
through a ‘system’ that was supposed to ‘protect’.

I have attached the schedule of the Fifth Annual Battered Mothers Custody
Conference for your connivance.

Claudine Dombrowski

Cc: Clerk of the District Court, Governor [grants], Dorthy Halley [executor of grants] Attorney
Generals Office, Jacquie Spradling [KS Domestic Violence task Force], Battered Women’s
Justice Project, Sandy Barnett; Kansas Coalition Against Sexual Assault Domestic Violence;
Shawnee County District Attorneys Office’s, Battered Women’s Task Force, KOVA, Sen. Vicki
Schmidt, Rep: Jim Morrison, Sen. Derek Schmidt, Sen. Jan Pauls [Judiciary Cmtee]Family Court
Reform Coalition, StopFamilyViolence.org, Jackie Williams, Battered Mothers Custody
Conference, Judge Johnson, Don Hoffman, Mary Jill Dykes-GAL.
 The Fifth Annual

BATTERED
WOMEN, ABUSED
CHILDREN,
and
CHILD CUSTODY:

A NATIONAL
CRISIS V:
Help, Hope,
& Empowerment
www.BatteredMothersCustodyConference.org

Fifth Annual Battered Mothers Custody

Conference
Battered Women, Abused Children, and Child Custody: A National
Crisis...

January 11th-13th, 2008

Friday Evening through Sunday Evening
Clarion Hotel and Conference Center
 Albany, New York Phone: 518-438-8431
Litigating Custody with Batterers: Information and Resources
PBS 2005 Documentary, Breaking The Silence...Children's Stories
2008 Conference Announcement and General Information
Conference Brochure and Mail-In Registration
Online Registration
Presenters
Schedule
Become a Co-Sponsor, Advertiser, or Exhibitor
"Children Taken By The Family Courts" Quilt
Silent Auction
About the Conference
The 2007 Conference
2007 Truth Commission Findings and Solutions

“Help, Hope, and Empowerment”

January 11th - 13th 2008 Friday Evening – Sunday Evening

The Albany Clarion Hotel and Conference Center Albany, New York
Visit www.batteredmotherscustodyconference.

For additional information, hotel reservations, and conference registration.

Limited scholarships will be available to assist battered mothers to attend the conference.
Come join with mothers, advocates, and professionals from across the nation to hear and
dialogue with. .

Wendy Murphy, Angela Shelton, Lundy Bancroft, Toby Kleinman, Joan Zorza, Diane and
Kristen Hofheimer, Nancy Erickson, Barry Goldstein, Robin Yeamans, Garland Waller,
Seth Goldstein, Geri Stahly, Joy Silberg, Rita Henley-Jensen, Renee Beeker, Dianne
Post, Marcia Pappas, Ben Atherton-Zeman, Wendy Titelman, and many others who are
working to combat the legal injustices facing protective mothers in the nation's
family/divorce courts.

*The Conference includes presentations, round-table discussions, and question & answer
sessions with nationally-distinguished professionals whose work is focused on resolving
the complex issues facing battered women as they strive to protect themselves and their
children in and out of court during custody and visitation disputes?

It is open to lay persons, and of special interest to advocates, social workers,

psychologists, attorneys, judges, legal personnel, and others involved in the issue of
battered women's and abused children's legal and civil rights violations by family courts,
DSS, and other government systems.
 SCHEDULE
Registration: Friday, January 11th, 4:30 - 6:00 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 11th, evening

Opening Session with Angela Shelton and Lundy Bancroft

6:00 - 7:30 Angela Shelton
7:45 - 9:15 Lundy Bancroft
Saturday, January 12th,
Morning Session

8:30 - 9:30 Opening Keynote Address: “And Justice for Some”

Wendy Murphy, Esq.
9:30 - 10:15 Keynote Address II: Toby Kleinman, Esq.

10:15 - 10:30 Break

10:30 - 11:15 DV LEAP Presentation: Elizabeth Liu, Esq.

Throughout the country, battered mothers and children have
been subjected to unjust court processes that have violated their most
basic due process rights and resulted in abusive fathers gaining
custody of their children. Because the problems are so widespread,
and state courts are failing to respond, DV LEAP and other leaders in
the field have become convinced that this problem must be brought to
the Supreme Court. In December, 2007 DV LEAP and George
Washington University Law School hosted a Symposium to bring
together leading Supreme Court lawyers, with domestic violence and
child custody experts from around the country. The goal of the
Symposium was to air the issues to the media and public, and to
educate domestic violence lawyers and Supreme Court Litigators on
means of increasing the chances of getting one of these cases to the
Supreme Court.

11:15 - 12:00 ABA Commission on DV: Rebecca Henry, Esq.

Implementation of the ABA’s new Standards of Practice

for Lawyers Representing Victims of Domestic Violence,
Sexual Assault and Stalking in Civil Protection Order
Cases. Adopted by the American Bar Association House of
Delegates in August 2007, these black letter Standards of
Practice are intended to improve the quality of legal
representation of victims of domestic violence, sexual assault
and stalking; to enable lawyers to effectively, ethically, and
holistically represent victims in civil protection order cases; and
 to raise awareness about the need for high-quality
representation for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault
and stalking in civil protection order cases. Our hope is that the
Standards (and additional commentary) will be integrated into
trainings for new and/or pro bono attorneys representing victims
in protection order cases and provide guidance for organizations
advocating for victims of domestic violence. This session will
provide an overview of the Standards and discuss ways to
integrate them into representation of DV/SA/Stalking victims. To
review an electronic version of the Standards, go to:
http://www.abanet.org/domviol/docs/StandardsCommentary.pdf

12:00 - 12:30 Discussion and commentary: Nancy Erickson,

Esq., Joan Zorza, Esq., and Barry Goldstein, Esq.

Saturday, January 11th

Afternoon Session

12:30 - 1:30 Lunch w/Garland Waller

Small Justice, Debating Richard Gardner, and Tethered to
Abuse
During this presentation and discussion, Garland Waller
will show clips of Small Justice and Debating Richard
Gardner as well as a short work-in- progress, Tethered to
Abuse .

1:30 - 2:00 Free time, book sales, silent auction, etc.

2:00-3:30 Concurrent Workshop Session 1

1. Kristen Hofheimer, Esq., and Diane Hofheimer: Pro Se

Moms: Handling Your Case

2. Rebecca Henry, Esq., ABA Commission on Domestic

Violence: Strategies for Finding a Lawyer.
Women Work! and the American Bar Association Commission on
Domestic Violence recently partnered to produce Finding a Lawyer, a
tip sheet which helps survivors of domestic violence understand the
basics about finding and working with a lawyer. This workshop is
designed to empower victims and advocates to know when and what
kind of lawyer they need, how to find one, how to maximize the
relationship, and how to operate without one if necessary. The goal is
to de-mystify the legal process for non-lawyers. To see a copy of the
tip sheet upon which this session is based, go to:
http://www.abanet.org/domviol/CDVeNewsletterFall2006_files/findingal
awyer.pdf
3. Rita Henley Jensen: Journalism on child custody problems

4. Angela Shelton: From Darkness to Light

5. Casey Keene & Kathlene Russell: We Are a Team:

Empowering Battered Mothers AND Their Children
Through a series of snapshots, this mother/daughter team
recounts and reflects on their experience as survivors of domestic
violence. Casey shares diary entries and written memoir excerpts that
illustrate her experience as a child exposed to domestic violence.
Kathlene draws on the stories to describe the parenting challenges and
important lessons learned as a former battered mother of three.
Together, their poignant story captures feelings of fear and
powerlessness, balanced with the strength of survival through
partnership. Highlighting the importance of the mother/child bond, this
team draws on their combined experience of 21 years in the
movement to end domestic violence to describe helpful interventions
and a framework for promoting resiliency in children exposed.

3:30 - 3:45 Break

Saturday, January 11th, Afternoon Session

3:45 - 5:15 Concurrent Workshop Session 2:

1. Wellstone Institute: Digital Story Telling

This workshop will describe how survivors can create stories
about harmful custody decisions to be used for grassroots lobbying
and educating of legislators. The workshop will include the showing of
six of these stories. A brochure about the digital stories will also be
available.

2. Geri Stahly: Research on Protective Parents: An Update

3. Barry Goldstein, Esq: Custody Visitation Scandal Cases

4. Dianne Post, J.D. and Irene Weiser: Questioning custody

evaluators when you are pro se
The presenters will explain and illustrate a newly developed
manual to help women without attorneys respond to custody
evaluators from the first suggestion to have one appointed to the final
closing argument. In addition to outlining the structure of the manual
and how to use it, attendees will practice cross examination. A CD of
the manual will be available.

5. Kathleen Russell, Producer, with Karen Anderson & Connie

Valentine: "Family Court Crisis: Our Children at Risk”

5:15 - 5:45 Break

5:45 - 7:00 p.m. Dinner & Keynote Address 3: Richard Ducote,

Esq.

Sat. evening, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Concurrent Session

7:00 - 8:30 Ben Atherton Zeman: “Voices of Men”

"Voices of Men" uses humor and celebrity male voice
impressions to educate about domestic violence, sexual assault and
other forms of men's violence against women. Icons of masculinity are
interspersed with video public service announcements with anti-
violence messages. Some of these videos contain graphic images - for
this reason, use self-care in deciding whether to attend.

Saturday, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Professional Practice Workshop 1

A. Seth Goldstein, Esq. What is sexual abuse? Why isn’t

it believed when allegations arise in custody cases?
In thousands of cases around the world allegations of child
sexual abuse arise in the context of child custody litigation. However,
too often, merely because they arise in this forum, the claims are
disbelieved.
There are attorneys, therapists, psychologists and other
professionals who now specialize in “false allegations” of abuse in
custody cases. One has only to look on the Internet to see how much
this industry has proliferated. Whereas false allegations do sometimes
occur, the research reveals that the incidence of truly groundless
allegations, made for the purposes of gaining advantage in the custody
matter, occur no more frequently than in the general population. The
reliance upon unsupported theories of falsity often cause the family
courts to render faulty decisions.
In the mean time, children who are really being sexually abused
in these cases are suffering because they are neither being protected
by the official government agencies responsible for intervention in
these matters nor the family courts who ultimately hear the custody
matter.
This seminar will define what sexual abuse is and outline the
parameters of what constitutes a true and false allegation.

Saturday, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Professional Practice Workshop

Session I

B. Joy Silberg, Ph.D.: Retaliation Against Professionals

Working with Protective Mothers
Sunday, January 13th
Morning Session

8:30 - 9:30 Main Session: Karin Huffer and Robin Yeamans,

Esq.:
Don’t Let the System Do You In!

9:30 - 11:00 Empowerment Workshops Session 1

1. Sharon Araji, Producer, showing the documentary, “Listen

to Our Voices: Domestic Violence, Contested Custody, and
the Courts”
“Listen to Our Voices: Domestic Violence, Contested Child
Custody and the Courts” is a one-hour video presentation that focuses
on what happens when protective parents who have been
victims/survivors of domestic violence become embroiled in contested
custody cases. It features interviews with Tanya Brown (Nicole Brown
Simpson’s sister), victims/survivors of domestic violence who
were/are in contested child custody cases, officers of the court (judges,
attorneys, DV police court assistants) and Robert Geffner, expert on
the effects of witnessing domestic violence on children. Following the
video presentation, the audience will be invited to comment.

2. Wendy Titelman: Building a Bridge for Healing

 This is an interactive workshop getting to the heart of your
emotions brought on by life circumstances. Together we’re going to
define the essential elements in getting past turmoil and devastation
and crossing over the bridge to a fuller and more meaningful life.
Come prepared to heal.

3. Patricia Duff and Thomas D. Shanahan, Esq.: Legislative

Initiatives

4. Sheila Scoville, Ph.D.: Alternatives to the Courts: When the

System Can't or Won't Deal with the Issues of Domestic
Violence and Child Custody.
We will look beyond the current judicial bureaucracy and legal
system to focus instead on other societal structures
and government agencies with the authority and initiative to provide
protection outside the legal structure of criminality and blame, and
look at the issue outside the framework of gender and
patriarchy. Specific agencies will include the National Institute of
Health, to address the issue as a threat to the health and lives of
American women and children; next, within the context of the current
Equal Rights Amendment initiative to guarantee women as well as men
equal rights, freedoms and protections under the Constitution; and
finally, to look at the various national and international agencies
focusing on the rights of children to live free of violence, domestic
terrorism, and slavery, and whether the Department of Defense and
Homeland Security should also be providing funds and expertise on the
domestic front. A list of websites and publications will be available
to those attending.

Sunday, 9:30 - 11:00 Professional Practice Workshop Session

II

1. Tovah Kasdin, Esq. Making the Case: How to Use the

Criminal Justice System to Positively Impact Child Custody
Decisions
This workshop will explore the critical connection between the
criminal and civil systems and how working with the prosecutor from
an early stage can have a positive impact on child custody cases. Now
more than ever in a climate of mandatory arrest, dual
arrest and no drop policies, battered women are often unprepared for
the effect that a criminal outcome can have on their child custody
decisions. This workshop will offer
concrete steps that battered women can take at an early stage to
cooperate with the prosecutor to ensure a full disclosure of the history
of violence so that the prosecutor can better understand the criminal
system’s impact on them as well as their children in future custody
decisions.

2. Joan Zorza, Esq. PAS and the Friendly Parent Concept

This workshop will deal with the two concepts that probably hurt
mothers more than anything else in custody disputes, particularly
when her partner is abusing her or any children in the family. Both
concepts were created by Richard Gardner to disparage the credibility
of women and bolster prejudice against women. As a result, this
workshop will explain what Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) and the
more benevolent sounding Friendly Parent concept (FPC) are, how they
each hurt women and children, why many courts and mental health
practitioners involved with custody disputes find them so attractive to
use, and what everybody should know about Richard Gardner to be
suspicious of anything he created and promoted. It will also discuss
how PAS has been discredited within the mental heath system, and
how PAS has been repeatedly reformulated with other names to try to
resurrect it. The workshop will also explain how mothers can minimize
their risks of these concepts being used against them, and how to
prepare cases to maximize their chance of winning, if not at trial, then
on appeal. A slide show will be available online for viewing or
downloading by following the links at
www.batteredmotherscustodyconference.org. There will be time for
mothers to discuss what they have found helpful and other strategies
that might help mothers and children, both in individual cases and with
courts and legislatures.

Sunday, 11:00 - 12:30 Empowerment Workshops Session 2

1. Carroll White and Annette Zender: Retaliation against

Protective Mothers in Family Court

2. Patti Jo Newell, New York State Coalition against Domestic

Violence, and
Leslie Durham and Mikisha Hooper, National Domestic Violence
Hotline
As advocates, we recognized the importance of more fully
understanding the issues surrounding child custody and domestic
violence in order to provide better crisis intervention services to our
callers. In this workshop, we will share what we have learned about
safety planning, coaching and validating women in crisis facing
custody battles. The objectives of this workshop are to facilitate
sharing among advocates about their experiences and to provide them
with tools and information that will enable them to:
• Validate survivors facing custody cases,
• Coach survivors on how to seek support and legal assistance and
how to prepare for and appear in court, and
• Safety plan around custody exchanges, visitation, and mediation.

3. Patricia Jackson Hatami: Winning Strategies: In Court and

Out
of Court
This workshop will assist you in maintaining your power base in
the face of
overwhelming circumstances. Legal procedures such as those
involved in the
family court system are designed to weaken your sense of self and
destroy
self-worth. This workshop will help you to re-discover the power and
well-being that resides within you as well as share pragmatic actions
that
can strengthen you and your ability to protect your children, no matter
what stage of the process you are in.

4. Renee Beeker: National Family Court Watch Project:

Providing Help, Hope & Empowerment for the Crisis in our
Family Courts

5. Doreen Ludwig: Pro Se Workshop: Representing Yourself in

Court

This workshop will be an informative and educational adventure

into family law and self-representation. Good resources will be shared
for those representing themselves, considering going pro se, or
interested in educating for better communication with attorneys. We’ll
start with a discussion of the trial court and continue with writing and
researching an Appeal. We’ll discuss the Federal Court System and
filing in the United States Supreme Court. Time permitting we’ll
attempt case specific problem-solving and brainstorming.
Doreen Ludwig has represented herself in Pennsylvania for two
years, written four appeal briefs, filed a Federal Civil Liberties suit, and
appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

12:30 - 1:30 Lunch

Sunday afternoon, 1:45 - 3:15 Empowerment Workshops

Session 3
1. Dara Carlin, M.A.: Walking the Gauntlet: Coping, Healing,
and Dealing after Leaving
Living with domestic violence is one thing, but having to live with
it after you've left is another and if you didn't get pushed to the brink
of insanity while you were with him, chances are you'll be pushed to
the brink after you've left. Living your life after domestic violence is
not as easy as it sounds; if you have children in common with your
abuser, your journey into the unreal - "walking the gauntlet" is just
beginning. This workshop will offer practical suggestions and survivor
stories to help you cope, heal and deal until the system designed to
protect us and our children actually does so.

2. Tammy Searle: Parental Abduction

The proposed ALEXIS Alert System will work in conjunction with
the AMBER Alert System in reporting the abduction of a child. The
ALEXIS Alert System will also be a database that will have all Child
Custody and DV orders so that law enforcement and judicial officers
can view in real time what the current orders are. This will greatly cut
down dual jurisdiction issues and conflicting orders. It will also assist
our military personnel and others in dealing with unauthorized move-
aways. We assist with information on Parental Abduction, recent laws,
"courtroom/legal" kidnappings and the application of the UCCJEA.
AlexisAlertSystem.org

3. Juva Poindexter: Gathering Evidence

4. Claudine Dombrowski and Tracy Hommel: The Power of

Networking

3:15 - 5:00 Before You Go Home: Networking with Others

across the Nation