Hello and Welcome:
It is the middle of summer in the Low Country of South Carolina. The heat is oppressive, the mosquitoes are biting and many of us are already looking forward to the cooler days of September, Although we complain and look for the relief and sense of change with a new season, I have a lot to celebrate this month of July. It is a time of renewal and "new chapters" in my life! My first novel, Where Have All Our Daughters Gone, launches in mid-July from Warren Publishing, Charlotte, NC. So, while many may long for an escape from those long, lazy days of summer, I am relishing this moment and time in my life.
Although my novel is a fictional escape set in the traditions of the Low Country of South Carolina and the privilege of Naples, Florida, it also takes on serious issues - that of domestic violence, parental alienation syndrome and abuses in the family courts. These are not pleasant matters by any means, but they are unfortunately ones which have beset many families from all socio-economic levels. My book may never change the laws of the land, but I do pray that it brings awareness and light to the fact that many protective parents are cast as villains in the family courts. When these parents speak up to protect their children from abuses, they are unfortunately subjected to custody evaluations, reports by the guardian ad litems, and often times these "experts" are paid by the parent with the most money. The parent with the least contacts and finances often lose their children, but how do the children fare through all of this? It is documented that on an average, 58,000 children in America are sent annually by the courts to live with their abuser parent; they are nothing more than pawns in the system and often they are abused more so the form of neglect with issues of medical, education, and not allowed to continue a normal relationship with their other parent.
Clearly, the laws must change. In the Summer of 2018, we are hearing about the estrangement of parents and children due to immigration issues in America, but what about the parents and children who are separated due to lack of attention in the family courts of America? If a protective parent speaks up of documented and admitted abuse, how in the world could a family court judge consider a change custody? If the protective parent has no record of doing wrong, but only expresses their concern of safety for their child then no child should be taken - their voices should never be classified as parental alienation of the child.
As Forrest Gump would say, "that's all I have to say."
Blessings and take care,
Julie