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Holly Collins' children are no longer silenced thanks to the documentary No Way Out But One

2011-11-02T14:47:00.007-04:00

When I was little I used to ask my mom "Why won't the judge meet with us?" and "Why won't he listen to us?" Our young mother, desperate to protect us promised that someday a judge would listen to us. She kept her promise years later in a foreign country when a judicial tribunal in Holland insisted on hearing what my brother and I had to say.

Now again my mother has made good on her promise to have our voices heard with the recent release of an amazing documentary by Garland Waller and Barry Nolan No Way Out But One.

I just want to thank Garland and Barry and most of all I want to thank our Mom!

No Way Out But One - Screening on October 27 2011

2011-10-28T20:53:00.003-04:00

SCREENINGS

October 27th, 7pm at MIT
http://www.wifvne.org/

When I was ripped out of the safety of my mother's arms and given to my abusive father my mother made us a carbon copy of her hand. When I was sad I used to hide under my bed at my father's house and place my hand on my mothers hand and long for the day we would be reunited.

Holly Collins Documentary to Premiere in Boston!

2011-10-28T20:32:00.012-04:00

First Festival Screening of No Way Out But One to be at MIT

The Courts Called Her Crazy.

The FBI Called Her a Kidnapper.

Her Kids Called Her a Hero!

Screening of Award-Winning Documentary

Boston, MA – Production has just been completed on No Way Out But One, an independent documentary by Garland Waller and Barry Nolan. The film tells the incredible story of Holly Collins, a kidnapper to some and a hero to many. The film also examines the larger issue of the tragic failure of the family court system to achieve its most important mandate, to protect children.

In 1994, Holly Collins was a desperate mother determined to protect her children from abuse at the hands of their father. Believing that she had no other choice, Holly kidnapped her own kids, left everything behind, and went on the run. She became an international fugitive, wanted by the FBI. She became the first American to ever be granted asylum by the Dutch government as a result of domestic violence.

To capture the full story, the happily married team of veteran producers, Garland Waller and Barry Nolan, traveled to the Netherlands, Washington D.C., St. Paul, Minnesota, and Albany, NY. They used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain never before seen FBI files. They gathered extensive medical evidence, court records, and sworn affidavits. They drew on published research and interviewed witnesses, legal experts and doctors.

Rita Smith, the Executive Director of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence said of the film: "No Way Out But One is a compelling account of exactly why the family court system in the United States needs to be completely overhauled.“

Eileen King of Justice for Children said: “The quiet flame that lights No Way Out But One is Holly Collin's courage and fierce determination to protect her children from the violent abuse they were suffering in their father's home.”

For her work on the film, Executive Producer Garland Waller has already won the 2011 Distinguished Service Award for Excellence in Film and Media from the Institute on Violence Abuse and Trauma. No Way Out But One has been chosen to kick off this year’s Chicks Make Flicks Screening Series for Women in Film and Video / New England sponsored by the MIT Program in Women’s and Gender Studies on the MIT campus on October 27th at 7PM, Room 6-120 of Building 6. The screening is free and open to the public.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2038674816/no-way-out-but-one-a-story-of-love-and-justice/posts

Holly Collins Returns to the United States after 17 Years in Exile!

2011-10-28T20:17:00.012-04:00

A Final Shoot - A Remarkable Ending

"Last night - taking a break from the nearly non-stop editing - Garland Waller supervised the final shoot for No Way Out But One. And she had the chance to share a truly remarkable moment with Holly Collins, the subject of her film.

Just over 17 years after Holly Collins grabbed her children and fled the country to save them from a life of abuse - Holly came home to America.

Holly and her four young Dutch children arrived at Boston Logan Airport just before sunset. Her older children - the ones she saved from a life of abuse - will join her shortly. They will settle in a small little house that is all their own and write new chapters in what has already been an inspiring story.

The film will have its premier at the 16th annual International Conference on Violence Abuse and Trauma in San Diego on September 11th. To all those whose generosity, support, and kindness have helped make this film possible - you are our heroes. And we just can't thank you enough."

~Barry Nolan

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2038674816/no-way-out-but-one-a-story-of-love-and-justice/posts

Help Holly Collins and her children return home to the USA

2011-07-08T19:03:00.007-04:00

American family in exile desires to return home.

Holly Collins fled from the United States with her 3 young children to protect them from abuse and the injustice of the American family court system.

Holly and her children are the first known Americans citizens to receive asylum in another country. They lived in secrecy for 14 years until they were discovered by the FBI in 2007. In 2008 all criminal kidnapping charges against Holly were dismissed. Holly pled guilty to one count of contempt of court to which she replied “I admit to having contempt for the court which failed to protect my children.”

In March 2011 Holly Collins youngest American born child will be turning 18 years old! When he graduates from high school in June 2011 Holly and her children will return home to Marblehead Massachusetts.

Donations can be made out to CPPA with "Collins Fund" in the subject line. Checks can be sent to CPPA, POB 15284, Sacramento, CA 95851.

Donation can also be submitted through PayPal hollycollinshomecomingfund@hotmail.com

No Way Out But One goes to Minnesota

2011-07-08T18:42:00.014-04:00

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2038674816/no-way-out-but-one-a-story-of-love-and-justice/posts
"Garland and I are on a flight to St. Paul, MN - to do some of the last interviews - including a number of people who were involved in the case 17 years ago - people who were interviewed by the FBI - and people who helped Holly and Jennifer get all the charges dismissed - save one. Contempt of Court."

"Like a trip through Lewis Caroll’s Looking Glass, the Family Court System of Hennepin County Minnesota is a very strange world all unto itself. That is one of the things we discovered again and again on our final round of interviews for NO WAY OUT BUT ONE conducted in Minnesota last week.

Garland and I have just returned from an intense round of interviews where we spoke to a wide variety of people, from protective mom’s to trial witnesses. We tried to speak to the Judge, the Court appointed social worker, the father, the guardian ad litem and others in the Holly Collins case, but they all refused. Overlooking the shores of a peaceful lake, we interviewed attorney Connie Hope about what it was like for protective moms down in the trenches of the family court wars. She told us something that sadly we had heard before. She often advises her clients in the midst of a custody battle, not to raise the issue of domestic violence, even if there is credible supporting medical evidence. In the strange world of family courts, being a victim of domestic violence can somehow work against a mother’s chances of gaining custody of her children. As it did for Holly Collins. What we heard in Minnesota sadly comports what with we have found in the peer reviewed research about problems in the family court system. You can read a good sampling of that research on the NO WAY OUT BUT ONE web site under the “Issue” button.

Connie also told us that the FBI investigation of the Holly Collins case was extraordinarily intense and cast a chill over the community of those who are concerned about the issues of domestic violence and child abuse.

This trip and the long process of writing and editing the feature length version of NO WAY OUT BUT ONE has been made possible by the generous support of the donors you can see here on the Kickstarter site. Thank you all, from the bottom of our hearts."

~Barry Nolan

The FBI files on Holly Collins

2011-07-08T18:41:00.008-04:00

We finally obtained the FBI files through our Freedom of Information Act request!

Even more evidence proving that my mother is a hero!

I love you mom!

The Documentary About Holly Collins - No Way Out But One

2011-07-08T18:28:00.008-04:00

NO WAY OUT BUT ONE
A TRUE STORY OF FIERCE LOVE AND BLIND JUSTICE

No Way Out But One is a documentary that tells the story of Holly Collins, an American woman who was driven by fear, love and desperation to kidnap her own children and go on the run in order to protect them from a life of abuse. Wanted by the FBI, Holly left behind everything she owned and everyone she knew in an effort to keep her children safe. She became an international fugitive, eventually making it to Amsterdam. After spending 2 years in a refugee camp out in the middle of nowhere, living shoulder to shoulder with other desperate souls fleeing violence torn hell holes around the world, Holly became the first American woman to ever be granted asylum by the Government of the Netherlands, due to domestic violence. Though it focuses on the desperate measures that one woman felt she had to take to protect her children, it also exposes the problems that protective parents and vulnerable children are facing nearly every day in courtrooms across the country.

Garland Waller

Holly Collins had No Way Out But One

2011-07-04T20:11:00.002-04:00

by Garland Waller
http://www.nowayoutbutone.com/hollyjen.html

Holly Collins didn’t want to run away. In fact, she put it off until she could not live with herself unless she protected her children. She KNEW these children she so loved were being abused while in the custody of their father. They told her. They told the court supervisors. They told the guardian ad litem. But the Minnesota family court gave the father custody anyway.
“I just thought if you told the truth, you know, you would be believed. I always just told the kids, just tell the truth, so when the court didn’t believe us, I started going through all of our records.
Holly has stacks of records – legal documents, medical reports, as well as pictures the children drew which clearly showed abuse.

No Way Out But One expores how Holly, a battered woman, lost custody of her children is explored in detail. But it’s easy to see how, after a judge gave her ex-husband full custody, Holly would have been desperate.

It is important to acknowledge that kidnapping is crime. And the legal consequences for those convicted of kidnapping charges can be grave indeed. Holly will also be the first to tell you that their life on the run was hard on everyone. And she is aware that in a post-9/11 world of increased airport security, she and her children would never have made it out of the country. But to this day, Holly says her biggest regret was waiting as long as she did to take her children and run. She has other regrets of course. But then, just ask her to tell you about her children – all of them - and her face lights up.

July 30 2011 - Happy Gotcha Day Holly Collins!

2011-07-04T19:55:00.007-04:00

Today is our anniversary. 17 years ago my mother rescued us from our abusive father. We celebrated our freedom in a refugee center in Europe. I recently found the letter my mother wrote commemorating our first anniversary. It is a nice tribute to this hero who saved my life. Thank you mom!

June 30 1995,
Dear Loved Ones,

Merry Christmas! Seasons Greetings. Happy Birthday and warm wishes for all the other holidays we missed throughout this past year. It is our one year anniversary of freedom – how terrific! Life is truly wonderful! Aside from missing all of you, our lives are full of happiness and healing. We want to share our celebration with you. We hope you find comfort in our yearly update…

Personally I am learning to confront, accept and then let go of the past. I am emerging strong and remarkably sane. Again it has been confirmed that my children are not lying about the abuse and I am really not crazy. I guess I am still dependent on professionals to help me define reality. I always knew my children were telling the truth, but now I actually believe in my own sanity as well. I am beginning to enjoy life and I absolutely adore being a whole and complete mother again. I find great comfort in observing my children’s recovery. Their resilience is amazing. Zachary and Jennifer are transforming from scared, insecure, abused children into happy, self confident “normal” kids. Christopher is thriving being spoiled by his doting older siblings. As a family we are picking up the pieces of our shattered lives and therapeutically putting them back together one small step at a time.

I have to admit that this year has had its difficulties. When I was reunited with my children Zachary exclaimed in utter terror “If my Dad catches us he will beat us!” From that moment on any reservations that I had about my decision to flee were replaced by my obligation to protect my children. Jennifer and Zachary have repeatedly asked me why it took me so long to save them. The horror stories they have told me about the continued abuse fill me with terror and rage. I struggle with Zachary’s anger, Jennifer’s vulnerability and my own guilt for having left hem in danger based on my belief to uphold the law. I am embarrassed to think of how ignorant and naïve I was to have such a blind faith that justice, under those circumstances would prevail.

I can not go into details about how and where we are residing, but I can say that we have been given legal protection. We have a wonderful lawyer who found a legal way for us to live a safe, relatively “normal” new life. This situation is only temporary until my children’s safety can be guaranteed or until the Minnesota Court catches up to us and challenges this order. With all the trouble the Hennepin County family court system is having, it looks like we we’ll be safe for a while. Judge Porter’s publicized conflicts have only strengthened my case. As a family, we have decided that our priority is living as happily and as long as possible without getting caught. We are proud that we have made it this far. We managed to buy time. The children are getting older now. They can not be ignored any longer. Their voices have finally been heard. Please be reassured that I know now more than ever that I made the correct decision. Regardless of the consequences that I face in Minnesota, it is worth this past year along. For again, I have given my children life.

As I recollect over this past year I can not help being pulled back into the past. The terror of being battered still haunts me. The memories I once fought and refused to acknowledge are now bitter reality. I am still tormented by the actions of the court officers which nearly destroyed me and offered my children up for sacrifice. Someday they shall be held accountable. It is difficult to let go when I know that they are still destroying the lives of battered women and abused children. The legal justice system has to change. Women should not be further persecuted for being victims of abuse. Children should not be used as pawns in attempts to continue the cycle of domestic violence. Everyone, especially children have the right to live free from violence and fear.

I hope you understand why we cannot send pictures or have any other contact with you. We miss you all and we love you very much!

With Love, Holly Ann, Zachary, Jennifer and Christopher

Holly Collins journal entry on the eve before she Rescued her children!

2011-06-13T09:29:00.005-04:00

June 29 1994
My Dearest Zachary, Jennifer & Christopher
I pray to God that tomorrow I shall have you in my arms again. This is the last painful night without each other. I promise to protect you with my life! I have so many regrets and apologies but you have heard them so many times. Tomorrow is a new start. No longer a victim. I am strong. I am going to succeed. We are going to be happy. We are going to be safe. We are going to be together. I love you!
Love Mommy

No Way Out But One - Receives Award

2011-06-12T03:56:00.005-04:00

GARLAND WALLER PRODUCTIONS

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
June 10, 2011
(Boston, MA)

The producers of No Way Out But One are proud to announce that it has received a 2011 Telly Award. Telly Awards “honor the very best local, regional, and cable television commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions, and work created for the Web."

No Way Out But One tells the story of Holly Collins, the first American to ever be granted asylum by the government of the Netherlands as a result of domestic violence. In a desperate attempt to keep her children safe from an abusive father, Ms. Collins kidnapped her own children and went on the run. Hunted by the FBI, she used a loosely organized “protective moms” underground to escape and eventually made it to Amsterdam, where she first lived as a refugee, and was later granted asylum. Ultimately, she was vindicated and all charges against her were dropped.

No Way Out But One won in the short form documentary category. Work is now underway to expand it into a full-length documentary. Hundreds of pages of never before seen FBI files are now being carefully reviewed, and efforts are underway to recruit a cast of enormously talented, high profile vocal talents to help tell the story. Wendie Malick, currently starring in Hot in Cleveland, was the first to volunteer. More announcements will follow.

Garland Waller and Barry Nolan are the producers. Sid Levin of First Frame is the photographer. Erika Street is the editor.

Contact:garland@garlandwallerproductions.com

Congratulations Garland & Barry!

No Way Out But One Web Site

2011-04-18T21:49:00.004-04:00

THE PROJECT: No Way Out But One is a feature length documentary currently in post-production. It tells the story of an American woman accused of kidnapping her own children, a woman who fled the country and became the first American to be granted asylum by the government of the Netherlands on grounds of domestic violence. The 13-minute version presented here serves as a trailer for the feature and a documentary short. Read more here

THE STORY: In 1994 Holly Collins became an international fugitive when she took her three children and fled the United States to protect them from abuse. The family courts had ignored medical evidence of domestic violence and gave full custody of Holly's children to the man they named as their abuser – her ex-husband and the children's father. Wanted by the FBI, Holly became the first U.S. Citizen to receive asylum from the Netherlands. Read more here.

THE LARGER PICTURE: In No Way Out But One, Holly Collins shares a story that in many respects is like thousands of others. It is estimated that 58,000 children a year are ordered into unsupervised contact with physically or sexually abusive parents following divorce in the United States. Read more here.

IN THE END: Unlike so many of the other tragic stories happening around the country, Holly was able to protect her children and keep them safe. Despite all the harrowing trials, her story ultimately has a happy ending. Even though she and the kids had No Way Out But One.

Why Do Abused Women Stay? The Holly Collins Case

2011-04-15T06:35:00.006-04:00

http://alterwords.wordpress.com/2008/07/07/why-do-abused-women-stay/
Posted on July 7, 2008 by hysperia

Because this kinda thing happens to them when they leave:

After living quietly for 10 years in the Netherlands as an American granted asylum, Holly Ann Collins is suddenly making headlines in Dutch newspapers and a criminal case growing out of a bitter custody battle refuses to go away.

Collins became a focus of Dutch media attention as a U.S. “refugee” from domestic violence after a neighbor informed the FBI that she was living in Leiden, a town 12 miles from Amsterdam. That tipped off her location to authorities in Minnesota, where parental kidnapping charges against her are still pending from 1994, when she grabbed her three children and fled.

She may be the first American to receive amnesty in the Netherlands; no other case has been documented, according to Dutch newspapers. She was granted asylum in 1997 after she lived for three years in four different camps with Bosnian and Somali war refugees.

Her plight has captivated the international domestic violence community, with advocates, court observers and lawyers sharing the story in long chains of e-mail forwards and word of mouth.

Speaking softly into the phone from her home, Collins said the Dutch judge let her and her children stay in the Netherlands for humanitarian reasons after deciding their safety couldn’t be guaranteed if she returned to the United States.

“Then we were placed in a house, the kids were allowed to go to school and a normal life began,” she told Women’s eNews.

After avoiding the spotlight for more than a decade, she now faces a Minnesota prosecutor pressing ahead with the case against her, even though the Dutch amnesty protects her from deportation and arrest.

If she returns to the United States for trial, as a condition of bail Collins must agree to end all communication with her children, including her oldest who are now in their 20s. She fears that her youngest, Christopher, 13, could be placed into his father’s custody. The older ones would like to return to Massachusetts, a place they consider home.

Collins’ attorney, Alan Rosenfeld, who practices in Louisville, Colo., and has decades of experience defending battered women, picked up the case in March. The family was informed in May that federal kidnapping charges were dropped–although she still faces a federal charge of flight to avoid prosecution–but the state charges still stand.

Rosenfeld says although Collins’ asylum status makes her case unique, he doubts it will set a precedent for other domestic violence victims. Other than her status, it is tragically similar to the hundreds of abuse cases he has seen.

“We as Americans I think are good people and want to believe that our family courts do a good job of protecting children,” Rosenfeld said, “and so we close our eyes real tight in order to keep on believing that.”

Married at 17, Collins says her husband sent her to the hospital three times, bruised and bloody, within the first month of their wedding.

When she was five months pregnant with each child, she says her husband, who told her he didn’t like fat women, beat her more severely. A third pregnancy ended after another blow.

“That was just the way life was,” said Collins, who saw no use in leaving. She says the violence was well documented in court by doctors that treated her and her children.

By the time her next child, Christopher, was born, her husband had filed for divorce, and launched a custody battle. At first she received custody and he was granted visitation rights. Collins returned to him several times thinking the children were safer if she were around. “I really believed that I shouldn’t have left,” she said.

When state child protection officials threatened to charge her with failure to protect her children if she stayed with her abusive husband, she left permanently, received full custody but began to refuse to send the kids on visits to their father after they returned home with bruises.

She was then accused of parental alienation syndrome, a consistently discredited psychological theory where one parent is charged with trying to demonize the other parent. Although the judge acknowledged that Collins and the children were abused, he ruled that her husband’s physical abuse was easier to monitor than Collins’ emotional damage, she said.

“I’m not a likeable person,” Collins said quietly. “I’m whiny and I cry easily, and he’s smiley and happy and pats everyone on the back, and he’s everyone’s friend when you meet him.”

In the end, she lost custody of the two older children, who lived with their father for a year and a half. She was allowed supervised visits, and the children wrote her notes, leaving them in books, the bathroom and the refrigerator. “Help me,” they said, informing her when they would be home alone.

Eventually, she called from a pay phone and told them to meet her at a video store. They drove for an entire day. Collins cut their hair, died it black and slathered them with bronzing skin lotion.

They drove for weeks around the country. They got on a flight to New Zealand. Collins had read about the 1980s case of Elizabeth Morgan, a woman who accused her husband of sexually abusing their daughter and allowed her parents to take her to New Zealand, where they were allowed to stay.

They didn’t make it there and were apprehended during a layover in the Netherlands. While in jail with her children she appealed for asylum. “I just started rattling off everything I’ve seen in movies,” she said, and showed authorities a bag filled with court and medical records.

Following the amnesty, she met and established a new family with a Dutch man. Until six months ago, Collins thought she was the only woman to experience abuse and lose her children. Women started writing to her with their stories, she says, and “then I started feeling a little bit more empowered.”

After Collins permitted her daughter Jennifer to read the court documents, Jennifer became “disgusted,” as she wrote in one of more than 700 e-mails she has sent since November to politicians, advocates and anyone who might help her family.

“I just wanted someone to listen,” she said. “I wanted something to happen.”

But the Minnesota charges remain a concern. Hennepin County prosecuting attorney Elizabeth Cutter said an active warrant is out for Collins’ arrest and plans to prosecute if she steps on U.S. soil.

Rosenfeld, Collins’ lawyer, said talks with the prosecutor stalled after she made a condition of bail that Collins have no contact with her children when she returns to face trial.Cutter said this is a standard condition of bail, because she considers the children to be the crime’s victims.

He is not trying to persuade the authorities to drop charges, however.

“Let’s have all the evidence come out before fair people in Minneapolis,” he said. “If they find her guilty then they punish her. If they find her not guilty, then leave her alone.”

Marna Anderson, executive director of Watch, a program in Minneapolis whose members have observed court hearings for 15 years, said in Hennepin County courts said many of the problems relating to abuse cases persist.

“From what I’ve heard, it’s gotten worse,” she added.

Why do Battered Women Stay with Their Abusers? - The Holly Collins Case

2011-04-15T06:32:00.003-04:00

A few months after Holly Collins turned 22 years old she opened the front door of her family home in St Louis Park, Minnesota to Hennepin County Child Protection investigators. They made it known that they were aware of her husband’s abuse to her and her children, specifically citing a recent fracture to her little boy’s skull. This young mother was warned that if she didn’t flee immediately with her children and file for an Order For Protection her children would be removed from her care as well and there would be a procedure of Failure To Protect charges filed against her. This is one way to force a battered woman to leave her abuser and protect her children. One may think it is a bit harsh to threaten an abuse victim with criminal charges but perhaps necessary to protect her and her children.

It is incomprehensible that as a result of the Order For Protection, which was granted and forbade Mark Collins from abusing his wife and children, the father was simultaneously granted unsupervised visitation with the very children he abused. This girl, barely a woman couldn’t understand the ramifications of the family court system. Holly Collins sought out the Child Protection Investigators who forced her to take her children away from their abusive father and went directly to the Child Protection office in a panic begging them to protect her children. “This is why I stayed” She wept “At least I could protect the children MOST of the time. Now my children have to go alone with him and there is no one there to protect them.” The child protection desk agent was sympathetic but explained that once this battered woman took actions to protect her children and left her abuser the case was then transferred from Juvenile Court to Family Court and it was her duty as a mother to get the family court judge to protect her children.

In the meantime Holly’s young children would return from court ordered visitations battered and bruised. Holly’s little boy was treated by their pediatrician for injuries sustained from his father‘s abuse. The doctor’s report documents the bruises to the young lad and clearly states “Mother will be alert for abuse potential situation.” For 5 more years Holly Collins was alert and vigilant to protect her children but time after time and one court hearing after another Mark Collins somehow managed to convince the judge that Holly was trying to “Alienate” him from his children’s lives. Eventually a family court judge instructed Holly to take the children to the Boston Children’s Hospital to be evaluated by the Child Abuse Trauma Team and he simultaneously ordered a custody evaluation. Both Dr. Eli Newberger and the entire investigative team at the Boston Children’s Hospital found that the children and their mother were severely abused by the father. Back in Hennepin County the Family Court Investigator also confirmed domestic violence but conceded that Holly’s fear of her husband was although unwittingly was indeed interfering in the children’s relationship with their father. And just like that custody was reversed to the very man who terrorized, beat and battered this woman and her children.

Holly eventually fled the country with her children and was the first American citizen granted asylum in the Netherlands. After 14 years in hiding she was found by the FBI. After a lengthy investigation All international and domestic kidnapping charges were dismissed. When questioned by reporters in the lobby of the Minneapolis Court House Holly Collins responded that the biggest mistake she ever made was leaving her abuser.

Is this really the message we want to send to abuse victims?

written by Jennifer Collins

Rescued NOT Kidnapped: The Holly Collins Case

2011-04-15T03:57:00.015-04:00

http://www.examiner.com/domestic-violence-abuse-in-honolulu/rescued-not-kidnapped-the-collins-case
by Dara Carlin, M.A
Honolulu Domestic Violence & Abuse Examiner
April 13th, 2011 3:03 pm HADT

The email began with "My mother is a former battered woman who is the first American to receive asylum in Europe. My brother and I were abused children who were failed by the American Justice System, but fortunately we also received asylum in the Netherlands."

This introduction was asking A LOT of the reader to believe; "the first American to receive asylum in Europe"? Wasn't asylum something that people FROM foreign countries fled TO America FOR?

Then "abused children who were failed by the American Justice System"? Isn't the American Justice System for criminals? What were abused children doing in the system to begin with? And FAILED by it?

Followed by "but fortunately we also received asylum in the Netherlands".

The rest of the email - a cry for help from the now-adult daughter, Jennifer - talked about custody being given to their abusive father, "kidnapping" and going "underground", refugee camps, being discovered by the FBI, the Dutch government thwarting the United States extradition and remaining charges in a Minnesota family court.

According to Jennifer's email this all began in the year 1992 and now in the year 2008, she was asking for someones - anyones - assistance in helping her mom, Holly, answer to local and federal charges being pursued not by the FBI but by Minnesota's Hennepin County Attorney & the Hennepin County Family Court.

On September 21, 2008 Holly returned back to the United States to answer the charges that remained against her. http://www.citypages.com/2008-09-24/news/holly-collins-returns-after-14-years-in-hiding

Today - April 13, 2011 - Holly's story came to life in the 13 minute version of the full-length documentary NO WAY OUT BUT ONE now in post-production through Garland Waller Productions. http://www.nowayoutbutone.com/

Incredibly, the controversy over Holly's actions back in 1992 is nothing compared to the firestorm her case has ignited since she and her children were outted in 2007 by a neighbor in Holland. One of the key issues of the debate is this:

Did Holly Collins KIDNAP her children or RESCUE them?

According to the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary at www.merriam-webster.com, the definition of KIDNAP is "to seize and detain or carry away by unlawful force or fraud and often with a demand for ransom" while the definition of RESCUE is "to free from confinement, danger or evil: save, deliver".

The facts of the case (that include excerpts from court transcripts, court reports, etc.) have been posted by Jennifer on her website http://ca3cacaca.blogspot.com/ and clearly show that Holly Collins did not kidnap her children but rescued them.

Jennifer closed her first email describing her mom, Holly, as shy and insecure. In a subsequent email, she referred to her mom as her "kind, soft, sweet and gentle mommy" and I recall that description because Jennifer was talking about how nice it felt to be in her mother's arms.

This past January I had the pleasure of meeting Holly for the first time at The Battered Mothers Custody Conference held annually in Albany, New York http://batteredmotherscustodyconference.org/ and you know what? Jennifer's description of her mom was right on. :)

It's a real testament to Holly's character and spirit that after all the years of extreme brutality she endured, she could emerge as amazing as she is. Please check out the documentary NO WAY OUT BUT ONE to see what I mean for yourself at the You Tube link provided above.

No Way Out But One - The REAL Story About Holly Collins

2011-04-13T04:20:00.009-04:00

Holly Collins – The REAL Story is Released!

Garland Waller has produced an amazing short documentary about what REALLY happened in our case. Her web site No Way Out But One and the original documentary can be found at: http://www.nowayoutbutone.com/

The web site for the powerful new documentary film No Way Out But One tells the remarkable story of one woman's effort to save her children from a life of abuse.

In 1994, Holly Collins ‘kidnapped’ her children and went on the run. An international fugitive who was wanted by the FBI, she eventually became the first American to ever be granted asylum by the government of the Netherlands, based on claims of domestic violence.

Holly Collins' story is unique, but her struggle is a representative symbol for the thousands of women who must deal with the maddening injustices of a family court system that sentences an estimated 58,000 children a year to live with or visit with their abusers.

The web site has the 13 minute short version of the film. Work is now underway to do additional filming and to expand it to a feature length film. The site also has helpful links to a wide variety of resources for those who may find themselves in a similar custody crisis.

Take a look, let us know what you think. If the link above does not work, just copy and paste this address into your browser: http://nowayoutbutone.com/

No Way Out But One - The Holly Collins Story

2011-04-10T03:40:00.008-04:00

Holly Collins – Released from the Jurisdiction of the Hennepin County Family Court

2011-03-15T06:34:00.006-04:00

Happy 18th Birthday Baby Brother!

My younger brother turned 18 today! Unlike most kids eager to break free from parents who just don’t ‘get it’ my brother is relieved that this means that our mother has regained control. We are officially free from the Hennepin County Family Court System! Woooo Hooo!

Judge Charles A. Porter can no longer threaten my mother with incarceration or keeping her from her children if she doesn’t remain silent. For the first time, probably in her whole life, our mother, Holly Collins is finally free to speak from the heart. “I can’t believe it!’ She weeps “It’s over! I did it! I kept my children safe! It’s really over!”

For those of you who do not know our story, Holly Collins is the first American citizen (to our knowledge) who has ever been granted official asylum by another country. She has been hiding in silence in the Netherlands for 13 years until she was discovered by the FBI in 2007. Add another 4 years of living in exile waiting for her youngest American born child to age out of the American family court system. 17 years later and Holly Collins is a free woman! All kidnapping charges against her were dismissed and she is free to return home to the United States of America!

We are coming home!

~Jennifer

The Leadership Council Speaks up for Abused Children

2011-03-15T06:33:00.004-04:00

http://www.sfweekly.com/2011-03-09/news/sf-weekly-letters/

Seeking Justice

Thank you for this article: The scandal in family courts that leads to the tragic outcomes reported by Peter Jamison is a larger and more insidious problem than the Catholic priest scandal.

The research of the Leadership Council, our nonprofit clearinghouse for research on child abuse, suggests that 58,000 children a year in the United States are placed in the unsupervised care of abusive parents.

Congratulations to SF Weekly and Peter Jamison for this fine reporting. Only when public outrage reaches a tipping point will the necessary system reforms occur.

Joyanna Silberg
Executive Vice President
Leadership Council on Child Abuse & Interpersonal Violence

Fathers & Families Supports Wife Beaters!

2011-03-14T21:00:00.007-04:00

In this article Glenn Sacks, the executive director of Fathers & Families is quoted “To be clear, he says, "Not now or ever do we believe that wife beaters should be getting control of their children."

Guess What… HE LIED!.

My father was found in the Minneapolis Family Court and by the Minnesota court of appeals to have abused my mother.

Yet Fathers & Families publically supports this wife beater!

San Francisco Weekly Supports Child Survivors

2011-03-14T20:50:00.012-04:00

http://www.sfweekly.com/2011-03-02/news/family-court-parental-alienation-syndrome-richard-gardner-pedophilia-domestic-violence-child-abuse-judges-divorce/

Finally a reporter who dares to expose Family Courts Helping Pedophiles & Batterers Get Child Custody.

Dear Mr. Jamison,

My name is Jennifer Collins. My brothers and I escaped the American family court crisis by fleeing to Europe with our mother in 1994. We have been living in exile for almost 17 years. My little brother is just about to turn 18 years old this month and we are making preparations to return home to the United States.

My father severely abused me, my brother and even our mother in our presence. We’re not just talking about harsh words or a few slaps here and there. There were numerous broken bones to our mother, concussions, dislocated shoulder, knife wounds, burn wounds, etc… Our father even testified under oath that he “hit” and “punched” our mother and “broke her nose” on two separate occasions. He testified in court that he “dislocated her shoulder” while my brother and I watched in horror. He also admitted under oath that several times he threatened to “kill” me and my brother. Our father fractured my brother’s skull by repeatedly slamming him into the stairway walls. Our mother was only 22 years old when child protection threatened her with “Failure to Protect” if she didn’t leave our father and take us with her. However my father filed for custody in family court citing “Parental Alienation.” Despite all the evidence; medical records, child protection reports, police statements, witness affidavits, testimony of our pediatrician and our own testimony that our father was hurting us, the judge reversed custody. It was the worst day of my life.

Without warning we were ripped out of the safety of our mother’s arms and given to the very man who beat us and threatened to kill us and our mother. We were denied all contact with our mother in order for them to try to “severe the close bond with the mother.” That in itself was devastating. Eventually we had a few hours a week supervised visitation with our mom. During those visits we begged our mom to help us and protect us. I lifted my shirt to reveal bruises and welts on my back and bottom. I told my mother and the supervisors that my father and his girlfriend were “still hurting us!” I was scolded by the court supervisors: “You know you are not allowed to talk about those kinds of things anymore.” After 18 months and 8 days of torture, including our father suffocating us with pillows when we cried until we lost consciousness, we ran away. We ran to our mother and together we fled the United States of America.

Even though we didn’t have passports we found a way out of the United States and made our way to Europe. Our mother sought protection for her children and requested amnesty in the Netherlands. After 3 long years in various refugee camps and intense investigations form the Dutch Ministries we were awarded asylum. As far as we know we are the first Americans to ever be granted asylum in another country.

We hid in the Netherlands for 14 years and did not have contact with family or friends during that time in fear that our father would find us and kill us and/or our mother. In 2007 we were found by the FBI. After a lengthy investigation from the FBI and again by the Dutch Ministries our asylum was upheld and all national and International Kidnapping/parental abduction charges against our mother were dismissed.

Now our abusive father has allied himself with the Father’s and Families Organization and Glenn Sacks has launched a personal attack against us and our mother. Glenn Sacks admitted to asking thousands of the Fathers & Families followers to “investigate” our mother. Now he is calling for them to come forward and bombard your newspaper with thousands of letters hoping to intimidate your publisher to retract your story. This is a standard tactic of these bullies and abusers. I hope you won’t be intimidated.

There are various battered mothers organizations out there as well as this very powerful father’s rights organization. I am in the process of gathering hundreds and hundreds of kids together to form our own organization and to tell the truth about what is really happening to us in the family courts.

Will you please listen to us?

Sincerely,
Jennifer Collins
Executive Director
Courageous Kids Network.

Jennifer Collins New Executive Director Courageous Kids Network

2011-03-14T20:50:00.011-04:00

COURAGEOUS KIDS NETWORK
http://www.courageouskids.net/

"We are proud to announce that Jennifer Collins, the amazing advocate for children caught in custody scandal cases, has officially taken over the Courageous Kids Network. Jennifer will move this group to levels we never dreamed of. Congratulations, Jennifer!"

You Are Not Alone - Courageous Kids Network

2011-03-14T20:30:00.007-04:00

COURAGEOUS KIDS NETWORK
http://www.courageouskids.net/

Glenn Sacks, Fathers & Families.Org Conspire to Conceal Child Abuse

2011-03-14T20:26:00.035-04:00

Holly Collins is a heroic battered woman and protective mother who went through extreme lengths to protect her children. She left her home, family, friends, job, pets and even her country to shield her children from horrendous physical and emotional abuse. The abuse was so severe that another country had to intervene to protect the Collins children. After spending 3 years in various refugee centers in Europe and an intensive investigation from the Dutch Ministries Holly Collins and her children were granted amnesty. They are the first known American citizens to be granted official asylum in another country.

For 14 years Holly Collins and her children lived anonymously in The Netherlands. The children learned Dutch while attending a local Catholic school. They received academic scholarships to an International Academy and graduated with bilingual diplomas. They continued on to the University of Leiden and have excelled.

Jennifer has started her own organization to help children failed by the American family court system and she has been asked to take the lead of the Courageous Kids Network. So in all actuality Holly Collins accomplished her goal to keep her children safe and exceeded her own expectations to transform them into happy, healthy self confident young adults.

In 2007 the FBI located the Collins Family hiding in the Netherlands. Despite the American authorities’ attempts to have Holly Deported, The Kingdom of the Netherlands stood by its decision to protect these children and their mother. After a thorough investigation from the FBI all domestic and international kidnapping charges against Holly were dismissed.

Now that her youngest American born child has turned 18 years old and aged out of the family court system, Holly and her children are coming home!

Of course there is an angry ex-husband who was found by several different judges to be an abuser. Mark Collins has found allies in Father’s rights organization that supports Fathers regardless of their criminal records and abusive history! Glenn Sacks the executive director of Fathers & Families.Org is self appointed as the personal spokesman for Mark Collins and his wife Rena Peters Collins. The new Mrs. Mark J. Collins supplied Fathers & Families with sealed court documents which (despite a gag order) Glenn Sacks has made public. He picks and chooses to release only partial information to try to discredit Holly Collins and her grown children. Mr. Sacks has deliberately misrepresented facts and circumstances in the Collins case and has fabricated excuses for Mr. Collins’ abuse. Glenn Sacks blatantly lied and knowingly made false statements concealing Mr. Collins abuse and fractured skull to the young Collins boy. Glenn Sacks and Fathers & Families.Org actively and knowingly conspire to conceal child abuse.

Shut Down The Charley Project

2011-03-14T20:26:00.034-04:00

Meaghan Good (25 years old) is the sole administrator of The Charley Project, a missing person’s site. The problem is that Meaghan is mentally ill and has been in and out of mental institutions in the last few years. She has accused her doctors of kidnapping her and committing her without due process, even though she was threatening to kill herself as well as expressing homicidal thoughts.

Part of her mental illness is her obsession with gore, horror and abuse. She admits that she is addicted to the tragedies of others. Meaghan taunts the families and loved ones of missing persons who do not want the postings on her disreputable site. Another poor family is the recent victim of The Charley Project as Meaghan herself describes in her latest blog:

The Charley Project
Groan. Another lawsuit threat.
April 12, 2011 by Meaghan

I get really tired of people threatening to sue me who apparently either don’t have the slightest comprehension of the relevant laws, or assume that I don’t.

The more so because all this person had to do was make a polite request, and I would have accommodated her. There was no need for threats.

I’ve actually stopped counting the number of lawsuit threats I’ve gotten. Ten or twelve by now, I think, but I’m not sure.

What is The Charley Project? Fraudulent Missing Children's Web Bog

2011-02-19T17:36:00.034-05:00

At first glance The Charley Project appears to be a reputable site dedicated to locating missing and exploited children, but in all actuality it is disaster tourism gone virtual. On the home page it clearly states that The Charley Project “does not actively investigate cases; it is merely a publicity vehicle for missing people.”
An in-depth investigation reveals that it is nothing more than a perverse obsession of a mentally ill woman who admits to being addicted to horrendous stories of rape, sexual abuse, missing children and the torture of holocaust victims. The Charley Project does not deserve notoriety for exploiting the suffering of these victims. However it should be exposed for inflicting addition pain to abused, murdered and missing children and their family members.

The Victims
I have been contacted by several abuse victims (both children and adults) who have reported their further victimization by The Charley Project. Several of the cases listed on the Charley Project are from victims who do not want the added publicity. Many abused children have requested that The Charley Project remove their stories from the site. In fact these cases have already been removed from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. However The Charley Project founded and administrated solely by the 25 year old Meaghan Good continues to publicize the tragedies of these victims against their will.

Parents of raped, abused and murdered children have also begged the administrator to delete their children’s names, yet again The Charley Project refuses to comply. It is scandalous that a site with its self proclaiming dedication to victims refuses to respect these victims right to privacy. And the heartlessness is astounding. A mother of a missing child recently died of cancer and the Charley project captioned her death as “Another one bites the dust.” I find it absolutely disgusting!

Slander / Libel
The Charlie Project contains voluminous false and libelous content. In December 2010 a blog posting on The Charley Project reveals: “Another lawsuit threat – *yawn* ” The administrator recalls “I stopped counting some time ago, but I must have received over a dozen lawsuit threats by now.”

Victims families write that The Charley Project’s entries of their family members are “cruel and in poor taste.” The Charley Project response was “This was a lie — I didn’t say ANYTHING” And yet case after case when victims prove the false reports on The Charley Project the administrator makes one excuse after another. “Some people might have reason to dispute me, but it seems to me that they are really overreacting.”

In another case The Charley Project states: “One mother of a missing child was extremely angry because I said some things about her in the case file, not good things that were untrue. This wasn’t my fault — it was my source, a newspaper article that was incorrect.” I can’t believe that The Charley Project claims that they were not at fault for publishing false information because they merely reprinted another article without researching the validity of the content. This is exactly what they have done with our case. Meaghan Good admits that she merely read the article from Glenn Sacks and re-wrote it in her own words. She said that she is not responsible for her false statements. She said it is up to me to send her my private documentation to prove that her information is wrong.

In a blog post the administrator of The Charley Project(Meaghan Good) writes “One young woman was practically frothing at the mouth, all capital letters and lawsuit threats etc., She said she felt like her privacy had been violated.” Meaghan Good then states that “I was not trying to ruin her life, and all she would have had to do was ask me politely to take it off.” However The Charley Project keeps ignoring my and my brother’s polite requests to remove our story from their site even though our case was removed from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children almost 4 years ago back in 2007.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has been intervening now. “Another parent of a missing child was upset by what I’d written and actually contacted the NCMEC to ask me to remove a few sentences from the case file.” Perhaps I should also contact them to see if they will intervene. They should know the added turmoil The Charley Project is causing Missing and Exploited Children. In sheer desperation many victims have threatened The Charley Project with legal rectification but simply do not have the emotional strength and financial resources to pursue a retraction. In December 2010 The Charley Projects finds this amusing and boasts “No, I haven’t gotten any since last week’s lawsuit threat.”

Connection to the Collins Case:
Last year The Charley Project published a false article about me and my brother. The administrator, the author of the article Meaghan Good admitted that she read another article about our case and then rewrote her own article based on this 3rd person information, which my brother and I have publically disputed. The Charley Project publicized “The evidence clearly shows that Holly Collins is a whack-job who emotionally abused her children and turned them against their father, who was a decent man and a good parent.” And further embellishes that “almost every single doctor, therapist, and judge involved in the custody dispute concluded this.”

This short summation contains several bold face lies:
- My mother is definitely not a ‘whack job’.
- My mother certainly never abused any of her children in any way.
- My father Mark Collins is certainly not a “decent man and a good father.”

The judge found that my father was an abuser! My father admitted that he hit my mother and broke her nose on several occasions. He even testified under oath that he dislocated her shoulder in front of me and my brother. That is enough to demonstrate that he was not a good father. A good father would not abuse his children’s mother in front of them!

Since The Charley Project refuses to respond to my brother’s and my request we have also put in a complaint with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. If you conduct your own search on the NCMEC and type in my or my brother’s name you will get a notification of “0 Results” We are not missing!

Disclaimer:
The Charley Project offers a flimsy disclaimer: “The Charley Project can only be as accurate as its sources, most of which are online ones.” The administrator continues “Although I try my very best to be as accurate as possible, I usually have no way of fact-checking and have to depend on others to tell the truth to me.” This girl is my age and I don’t know if she is naïve or manipulative. She admits that “the website is a strictly amateur effort and I am not a journalist or private detective or professional of any kind.” She admits herself that she is obsessed with this site and retelling the gory details of unspeakable crimes.

This makeshift disclaimer ends by stating that “If you find an incorrect statement, contact me, and I will promptly make amends.” However the administrator plays God and places the burden on the victims to prove the inaccuracies and further demands that the victims that have been wronged send private documents to prove the falsities.

Defense:
The administrator of The Charley Project taunts abuse victims with a despicable representation of anticipated defense. “Well, to begin with, Your Honor, I put the information up in good faith. I received it from a credible source, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. It was also reported in several news agencies. I had every reason to believe this information was true, and, Your Honor, the plaintiff has yet to produce any evidence that it was not.”

History:
The Charley Project began as the Missing Persons Cold Case Network founded in 2001 by Jennifer Marra. In 2003 it was taken over by an 18 year old girl Meaghan Good from the Venedocia Ohio. I admire anyone who is genuinely interested in helping abused, exploited and missing children. However the founder/administrator has no desire to help these children, she admits that she is addicted to morbid stories abused, missing and murdered children. What appears to be a missing person’s resource site is a compilation of sloppy regurgitations of various articles which begin with “I found this article…”

The Administrator:
Meaghan Good is the founder and sole administrator of The Charley Project. This mentally unstable 25 year old self professed “story teller” and “professional insomniac” describes her infatuation with morbid stories of missing, raped, sexually exploited and murdered children as well as the inhumane horrors of the holocaust.

Who is Meaghan Good?

Meaghan Elizabeth Good was born on October 5, 1985 and raised in a hic Midwestern town she recalls lacking any traffic lights. She boasts that she never attended high school but managed to attain a GED and is trying to take college courses in between institutionalizations. She currently resides with her boyfriend Michael Lianez when she is not institutionalized. Meaghan Good admits that she has no personal experience with having a missing loved one, but became interested in missing people in 1998 when she was 13 years old which over the years developed into an obsession. Meaghan Good is very troubled young lady but this is no excuse for her to exploit the misfortunes of abuse victims.

On The Charlie Project blog Meaghan credits her brother Ian Good for being her brilliant web master and then in December she states that “My abusive brother didn’t show up, and I was very glad.” Unlike Meaghan I do not challenge victims. If she says her brother is abusive who am I to question her? I just do not understand why she doesn’t offer others the same courtesy.

Addicted to Disaster:
Meaghan Good admits that she is overly interested in missing people and addicted to the gory details of rape, sexual abuse and kidnappings. On February 9, 2011 she blogs that: “Holocaust and Missing People stuff actually does not depress me. In fact I find those subjects intensely interesting.” When challenged by a follower Meaghan replies “I’m very sure my Holocaust reading does not cause depression in me, because about two years ago, for two weeks I conducted a scientific experiment.” In which she read stories of the “Holocaust, the rape of child, the mutilation of several other children, and graphic descriptions of: several shootings, a double hanging, and an old woman being gassed at Auschwitz and the cremation of her body…and the day that I read that book I was remarkably cheerful” This is so disturbing. No wonder why she was institutionalized for being a threat to society.

Hypochondriac/ Munchausen’s?
The Charley Project has become a platform for this Munchausen’s like Hypochondriac to rant and rave to a semi-sympathetic audience. On February 4, 2011 Meaghan made an entry that when she didn’t get an appointment she desired she writes “I became hysterical and started cussing and sobbing and weeping etc.,” She complains of headaches which everyone knows is an expected side effect of lack of sleep, yet this Munchausen’s candidate demands test after test and when the results are negative rather than finding comfort on February 8 2011 she complained “the MRA came back absolutely normal, to my extreme distress. I was really hoping they would show some big dramatic thing the neurologist could work off of, but no.” Time after time various neurologists have told her that there is nothing wrong with her but she just made a new entry that “I will have to add the neurologist to the growing list of doctors who have no idea what’s wrong with me.” It’s not just headaches either. She constantly complains “I’m sick again” from “I’ve got a wretched head cold and none of the usual over-the-counter things have helped” to "uncontrollable headaches." She claims that she is a “professional insomniac” who “sleeps 20 hours a day.” Now she has another aliment “I’m worried about tearing up my liver from all the Tylenol in it, and so on and so forth.”

Bulimic?
It’s difficult to try to decipher what is real but Meaghan Good also suffers from Bulimia. Again in a very unprofessional posting on The Charley Project: “December 14 2010 My mother heard me vomiting in the bathroom just now and came in to ask what the matter was. I told her I had eaten an entire family-size box of macaroni and cheese in one sitting and believed it was a mistake.”

Drug Addict / Substance Abuse?
It’s difficult to tell if the somatic complaints are a result of substance abuse. I do not understand the unprofessionalism that blog postings on a missing persons website include “Last night I partied with my boyfriend and two of his roommates and the guy from the apartment downstairs, who came up for awhile. I had five shots of vodka and became quite drunk but woke up with NO hangover.” And other confessions from December 17 2010 that she broke into her parent’s house at 2:30 in the morning when her parents were sleeping: “I slipped out of my boyfriend’s house and drove for an hour to my parents’. They were asleep and I hoped very much that I would not wake them. I didn’t. I sneaked inside, went to the place where Mom stored all of my dead grandmother’s numerous very powerful prescription painkillers. I took some and then went back to Michael’s apartment.” Then she has the nerve to complain in a bold headline on The Charley Project site that the Doctors “tried to make me go to rehab.” Maybe this woman should be locked up!

Mental Illness?
In a recent blog entry on the Charley Project site the administrator Meaghan Good describes her struggle with depression and proclaims to sleep “20 hours a day.” She recently wrote that “My anxiety and melancholy over the last several weeks has become obvious to everyone by now.” Meaghan Good writes disturbing entries “The insane ramblings of a lunatic mind.” She explains “I felt like shooting myself just to get it over with, and “I saw no future for myself or for anyone else.” Days later tries to gain sympathy though the Charley project site for her recent institutionalization and claims that her doctor had her “kidnapped and thrown in the loony bin without due process." Even though The Charley Project is supposed to be a professional site dedicated to Missing Children the administrator uses this public forum for her own narcissistic rants. She admits her manipulation to prevent medical professions from “interrogating my friends about my supposedly abnormal behavior.” Regarding a blind date she writes “After a disastrous face-to-face visit with an online friend who was freaked out by my behaviors.” She writes that at the hospital “I was in screaming” and “the physician’s assistant was deeply concerned by behavior. The P.A. questioned me about my antidepressants and said, 'Quite frankly, you’re acting very oddly.' I tried to explain that what he was seeing — which was me trembling and rocking back and forth — was quite normal for me and something I pretty much always do when I’m under stress."

As if this isn't disturbing enough the sole administrator of the Charley project writes “I had a complete emotional collapse and became a danger to myself and others and had to be briefly institutionalized.” Unfortunately she excuses these drastic measures by claiming that she was “thrown in the loony bin without due process.” In December 2010 she wrote about her “‘annual review’ with the psych clinic where they basically measure how crazy I am this year as opposed to last year.” This is obviously a mentally ill young woman who is desperately crying for help. I feel sorry for her and I have questioned whether or not I should publish this article. I don’t want to hurt anyone. However this administrator on behalf of a public missing person’s organization is misusing the intention of the site for her own personal profit at the expense of abused children.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?
Meaghan Good has been with her boyfriend Michael D. Lianez since she was 17 years old and he doesn’t even support her delusions. On The Charley Project Meaghan Good writes “Identity theft strikes again — someone has been using my credit card in Oklahoma and California. (Michael told me it was probably me and I just forgot about it.) So the card company of course blocked my card and I didn’t find this out until I was in the grocery store attempting to purchase more orange pop. I left empty-handed, puzzled and embarrassed.” Then she writes that someone sent her contacts a letter trying to scam money from them. “Am sorry i didn’t inform you about my urgent trip to London, i don’t have much time on the PC here, so i have to brief you my present situation which requires your urgent response actually, I had a trip to London but unfortunately for me all my money got stolen at the hotel where i lodged due to a robbery incident that happened in the hotel… so please can you send me 850 Pounds or any amount you can afford so when i return back i would refund it back to you as soon as i get home, Am so confused right now and don’t know what to do.”

Rather than sympathize with the victims Meaghan Good writes “Nobody who knows me would believe that email. Anyone who does deserves to pay a 850 pound “stupidity tax.”

Net Worth

The charley project is valued at $10,733 and receives over 1000 views per day. It is about time that it is exposed for what it really is. Ever since The Charley Project posted this (false)article about MY family it's traffice has increased significantly. Now we all know what her motives are.

Contact
The Charley Project http://www.charleyproject.org/
Server IP Address: 64.69.41.217
Server IP Decimal: 1078274521
The Charley Project 15276 Main Street (PO Box 647)
Venedocia Ohio US 45894
Phone: 1-419-667-3131
Email:administrator@charleyproject.org
Email: Good_128@hotmail.com

What do I do if The Charlie Project's Administrator is Mentally Ill?

2011-02-19T17:36:00.027-05:00

What do I do now?

When abuse victims came forward that a missing persons’ site The Charley Project was abusing its position and causing further trauma to abuse victims I remember knowing what it felt like when they published lies about me and my family. I decided to thoroughly research the Charlie Project and I found many problems with the site especially the behavior of Meagan Good, the sole administrator.

I found out that she is mentally unstable and has been institutionalized. Meaghan gives different accounts of whether she was voluntarily admitted or forced against her will.

The sad part is that she has recently told me that she is a victim of abduction and rape. She believes that I can not hold her responsible for her actions because she is also an abuse victim.

I genuinely feel bad for her but this really isn’t a valid excuse - Is it?

My father abused me, my brother and my mother yet Meaghan Good has no problem invading our privacy, saying that we are lying and printing false statements about us.

I have no intention to question the validity of Meaghan’s Kidnapping claims, although she does accuse her doctors of kidnapping her and locking her in an institution without just cause.

So what do I do?

All I want is for The Charley Project to retract it's false article about us. I am no longer missing and wish to be removed from this missing persons website. I want Meaghan Good and her friend Annie Keller (For the Lost) to leave me, my brother, my mother and other abuse victims and their families alone.

Is that too much to ask, even of a mentally ill person?

The Charley Project - Personal Web Blog of Meaghan Good

2011-02-19T17:36:00.018-05:00

Written by Meaghan Good

"I am the sole webmaster/owner/creator/administrator/whatever of The Charley Project, one of the largest missing persons databases on the internet. I live and breathe missing people. On my website I only write the facts of a person’s disappearance, not what I think about it. But I can’t help forming opinions, about specific cases and about missing people in general, and that’s what this blog is for."

But see that is not true! Meaghan has written seveal lies about our case! Even though I have confronted her about her inaccuracies in MY case she refuses to retract them from The Charley Project website.

I know that many of you said that I should ignore her. However I can not let her lies remain unchallenged, especially since some people may misinterpret this site as a legitament Missing Persons Site.

The Charley Project - Harming Abused Children

2011-02-19T17:36:00.013-05:00

Dear Meaghan,

Please remove the libelous article you wrote about us from your site and retract the horrible lies you have published, all of which you know are untrue.

Your unwarranted exploitation and deliberate publication of false statements regarding to our private affairs with which the public has no legitimate concern, and the wrongful intrusion into our private activities has caused us mental suffering.

We are hoping you will do the right thing on your own or will seek rectification for the damages you has caused.

Sincerely,
Jennifer & Zachary Collins

The Charley Project Hurts Missing Children and Their Families

2011-02-04T16:25:00.009-05:00

When I was 9 years old, my brother (11) and I ran away from our abusive father to the safety of our mother. We went on the run together and we fled the United States. We received asylum in the Netherlands and hid for 14 years until we were found by the FBI.

I understand why missing children sites became involved and posted the standard flyer from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. When I was interviewed by the FBI the agent assured me that he would see that the various organizations would be notified of our safe return, not only that but he would make sure they removed our case from their publishing.

There were dozens of hits to my and my brother’s name and within days they trickled down to just a few, one of them being The Charley Project. I contacted the administrator Meaghan Good from Ohio but she refused to remove us from the site. In stead she wrote a hurtful article about us which was filled with untruths and outright lies.

I have written Meaghan Good at The Charley Project many times but she still refuses to rectify the inaccurate statements she made in her article. I really don’t understand how a missing person’s site can go out of their way to hurt the victims they claim to be helping.

~Jennifer

A Convenient Excuse to Child Abuse - Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy

2011-02-03T04:23:00.006-05:00

The other day I had a routine dentist appointment with the same dentist I have had for over 10 years. She knew that I was allergic to latex but apparently forgot and accidently used a latex appliance in my mouth. At the time I didn't know. I trusted my dentist. Within minutes my mouth and face swelled up. My throat began to close and I had difficulty breathing. I had my epi-pen by me but it was giving insufficient relief. I called my mom and she came immediately. There was a doctor on the scene within minutes but her injections to offset the allergic reaction in combination with pure shots of adrenaline were not sufficient to keep throat from closing. I was rushed by ambulance to the emergency room. Even the triage doctors and internists on call were uncomfortable combating the anaphylaxis on their own. I went into shock and was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit.

I am not looking for sympathy at all. I have been living with life threatening allergies since I was 2 years old, when I ate a chicken mcnugget at McDonalds and started to turn blue. My young mother (only 21 years old) assumed that I was chocking. It wasn’t until I passed out that an older adult at the restaurant grabbed me, ran with me down the street with my limp body in his arms to the pediatrician on the corner. Dr. Estrin determined that I wasn’t choking at all. I was suffering from anaphylactic shock caused by a severe allergic reaction. We were new to Minnesota and didn’t have a family doctor lined up yet. My parents decided to stay with the pediatrician who saved my life.

Throughout the years my mother and father would be told that my brother and I were some of the most allergic children these experts have ever seen. Of course there were skeptics who doubted that we could be so allergic, until they too eventually witnessed an allergic reaction themselves.

But now, my father and his personal advocate Mr. Glenn Sacks have decided themselves that my brother and I do not have allergies at all. They claim that we are the victims of a malicious mother suffering from the delusions of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy; a rare disorder where a parent invents and fabricates an illness in their child to gain attention. My father even had a custody evaluator suppose that this was true after he brought it to her attention and she read 6 (yes SIX!) whole articles about this new fascinating excuse to child abuse.

Abusive fathers and lawyers all over the United States are embarking on a new witch hunt to conveniently explain away credible allegations of child abuse.

Glenn Sacks is a fair weather opponent, who surfaces every now and then when he is afraid that my mother, a recovering battered woman is being believed by the general population. Mr. Sacks spreads lies and tries to detract the attention away from the truth that abusive fathers are using a catchy phrase called parental alienation and accusing good, loving, protective mothers of Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy to deter attention away from their abuse of their own children. After all, once a woman has been accused of being crazy who is going to listen to her allegations of abuse against her child’s father?

I am recovering now and a little wiser from this last scare, but angrier than ever that my father has the nerve to claim that I am not allergic. I have recently received word that there has been numerous ambulance calls made to 2 Hawthorne Avenue in Salem N.H. to my father’s parents home apparently for anaphylaxis reactions my Grandmother Collins has had as well. Shame on you Dad! And shame on Mr. Sacks for spreading lies for the sole purpose of trying to discredit another validated battered woman.

2011-01-29T06:34:00.008-05:00

Holly Ann Collins

Abductor 30-Jun-94,

HennepinCounty, MN –

Located: The Netherlands –

Arrested –

Plead Guilty

Saturday morning at 10:30am: I am at my mom’s house for the weekend. I have been researching private investigators for the last few weeks and taking virtual crash courses on how to find someone/anyone from the comforts of my own home. In my dorm room I have a recycled old laptop which is sufficient for getting out essays needed for college. I need to get home to Mom’s house and the state of the art computer propped against the partition between the kitchen and dining area. My younger siblings regularly assist me on the latest techniques they’ve learned at grammar school. I sit in awe, trying not to drop pieces of egg from my sandwich on the key board and the little fingers from my siblings reach in front of me and reveal secret commands on the screen in front of me.

Suddenly my little sister squeals “Hey that’s mam- maah” in half Dutch and half American English. In my search to try to find evidence of the abuse that caused my mother to flee with me to the Netherlands 17 years ago I accidentally found a photo of my young desperate mother forcing a smile when her heart was breaking for witnessing the abuse of her children.

“AB- DUCK- TOR” my little sister sounds out phonetically. “Does it say that Mam- maah is a Duck?” she questions in Dutch. I smile, hug my little sister and send her back to Saturday morning cartoons. I survey the living room to make sure that no other sibling’s curiosity is peaked. I promised my mom that I would shield them from the abuse I endured at the very same age they are now. I hear the muffled sounds of my mom moving boxes in the attic as we prepare for our return to the United States of America, 17 years after she fled with her first born children to protect them from abuse.

Its surreal looking at the photo from the old missing flyer that were distributed by “do-gooders” who probably never knew that the pretty young mother on the wanted poster was actually a hero who left everything behind to protect her children. I smirk in defiance as I read the white tag across her photo “Located” and bright yellow notification underneath with bold black letter “NEW” Instantaneously I feel a tinge of irritation when I scroll below to discover in red letters “Located: The Netherlands – Arrested – Plead Guilty” Yeah Right I mutter and my little brother laughs to my sisters "Jennifer is talking to herself”

It wasn’t too long ago that I sat in the back of the Hennepin County court room surrounded by journalist frantically scribbling down events as they unfolded. The court room was silent except for the intermittent sniffles from family, friends and even the venerated domestic abuse advocates. We all stared at the back of this little woman and then up at the stern cold judge who towered over her. Asking her what her plead was. There was such intensity in the air as my mother chocked out word by word “I admit to having contempt for the court which failed to protect my children.” I just wanted to jump up and yell "you go mom!” but I was caught off guard by the panic stricken face of the defense attorney when my mom asked the judge if she could say one more thing. My mom turned her back on the judge and misguided justice system once again and looked directly at me. For the first time I saw what she had be complaining about for years that even though she was young she felt so old. “I just wanted to say” she chocked out “that” she hesitated “to my children… that even to this day I believe you!”

Another Saturday tainted by my past I think as I wipe the tear from my face. How I hate them all for what they did to us; the judge, the guardian ad litem, the custody evaluator, etc, etc.. A father’s rights zealot contacted me yesterday half apologizing for publishing a defamatory article about my mom 2 years ago. Only to strike out at me one email later because I was not forgiving enough and somehow filled with anger and hate towards men. I wonder if any of that statement was true. I realize that I have suppressed anger but I have to keep it in check because that emotion is monopolized by my older brother and I have been pushed into the more noble role of “seeker of justice” yet today all I really want to do is scream the truth! That I want revenge!

I know that is worse than cursing but today I am choosing to be politically incorrect. After all if the judges and court appointed lawyers in our case can still lie and cover up child abuse then why can’t I scream this one time that LIFE ISN’T FAIR!

Jim Seas Child Abuse Conspirator - Located

2011-01-26T11:11:00.021-05:00

I found one of the guys who is responsible for ruining my childhood. James E. Seas (Jim Seas) from Katahdin Inc and Chrysalis.

Of course he won’t return my emails. He has even blocked his email address.

Jim Seas has also adopted kids and I can’t help but look at it from a kid’s point of view. Did this guy also abuse his power as a family court representative to steal other kids away from a loving mother? We can prove that he made false testimonies in our case. And we are going to make sure he is held accountable!

One thing that Mr. Seas didn’t consider: Abused Kids eventually grow up (if we are lucky.)

We want justice!

Minneapolis Supervisor James E. Seas is Exposed for Conspiring to Conceal Child Abuse to the Collins Children

2011-01-26T11:11:00.016-05:00

Well I found the visitation supervisor from Minneapolis who lied to the court when I was young and conspired to conceal the abuse to me and my brother. Once we indentified his name it was easy to track him down. He is a known troublemaker, calling the police several times in the same day just to complain.

Over the last 2 years James E. Seas aka JES also violated client patient confidentiality and made (FALSE) statements to the media.

This is the same guy who also made libelous comments on various web sites!

We tracked him down and I gave him the opportunity to explain his side of the story to me (email below.) Of course he didn’t respond.

Now it is up to the attorneys to hold him accountable. I found the witnesses and I have the evidence. We are coming after you now Mr. Seas!

Dear Mr. Seas,

Well I finally found you.

Do you remember me? My name is Jennifer Collins. You were the visitation supervisor at Katahdin when I was a little girl.

I am trying to put the puzzle pieces together of how my father got away with abusing me and my brother for so many years.

You say that you really care about kids and you are willing to help me find the truth! I hope you mean that. I would like to understand how everything happened the way it did.

Will you please explain your position? This is not intended for public use. I just want answers to my past so I can process a most painful childhood.

Sincerely,
Jennifer Collins

* Please note that even though I found out the names of his children I did not post them as he did of my younger brother.

We found the visitation supervisor - Jim Seas!

2011-01-23T09:36:00.007-05:00

Hello Everyone, I am so excited to tell you that we found him! We found the visitation supervisor from Katahdin Inc!

His name is James E. Seas from Minneapolis Minnesota.

In all fairness I want to give Mr. Seas a chance to explain his side of the story.

Maybe he was misdirected from someone from the family court & he was just doing his job.

I want to thank everyone for you help. I can’t believe how fast this moved.

At least I am one step closer to getting answers.

~Jennifer

Abused Children Seeking Justice

2011-01-22T06:05:00.003-05:00

Holding Visitation Supervisors Responsible for Concealing Child Abuse

Hi everyone this is Jennifer,

I need to track someone down and I was wondering if anyone knew how I could find this guy. I have been thoroughly going through the court records from my childhood and I came across evidence that family court evaluators, the guardian ad litem and the visitation supervisors conspired to cover up physical abuse to me and my brother!

I already knew that something like this happened because I was there! But now I have the PROOF! My mother couldn’t understand how different court officials were conspiring to conceal child abuse. She was a young mother who feared that no one would believe her so she bought a tape recorder and started secretly taping the custody evaluators, guardian ad litem and the visitation supervisors.

The tapes have been transcribed and I have the court transcripts to compare side by side! I can prove that many different agents of the family court perjured themselves under oath and conspired to conceal child abuse!

One of the visitation supervisors (only identified as JES) has contacted Glenn Sacks himself and has been making false public statements about our case. It is time for him to be held accountable for his lies now and his actions to cover up child abuse then. How do I find this guy?

His alias is: “JES." He lived in Minnesota. He lived in Minnesota. He worked for Katahdin Inc visitation supervisors in Minneapolis MN.

His email address is: jesmpls@gmail.com"

His IP address is: 69.11.128.26

He describes himself as: "an advanced education, a degree and years of experience in working with and advocating for children, women and families.” And… “I too am a single parent who as adopted children from foster care."

It is about time this guy is held accountable for his lies.

Here are few examples of his signature. I can also supply more handwriting examples because I have pages of handwritten visitation reports.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,
Jennifer

Battered Mothers and Custody in the U.S. Courts

2011-01-21T09:58:00.005-05:00

Tovah Kasdin, Esq., Program Manager, Jewish Women International

This January I attended the Sixth Battered Mothers Custody Conference: Solutions in Albany, New York. The thing that struck me most powerfully was that this was more than a conference. It was a grassroots movement that brought together battered women, survivors, advocates, activists, attorneys, professors, social workers, psychologists, family members and supporters to focus national attention on the injustices suffered by protective mothers when family court judges take their children away – and place them in the hands of their abusers. The judges who make these decisions – often in conjunction of custody evaluators, guardian ad litems, and other family court professionals – either don’t understand or don’t want to understand the short and long term traumatic effects of domestic violence on the victims and their children.

The injustices that occur in family courts across the United States can be shockingly extreme – participants recounted many cases in which judges ignored documented physical and sexual abuse of victims and their children at the hands of their abusers and still gave custody of the children to the abusers. This is the norm and not the exception of battered women’s experience in the family court system across the United States.

Throughout this weekend, riveted in intensity, empathy, inspiration and action, battered women revealed their stories at dinner, in the hallways, getting drinks of water. These protective mothers are frantically searching for anyone and everyone who can help them use the legal system to get their children back from their abusers. Can you imagine the trauma and agony of being battered, having your children unjustly taken away from you when you have done nothing wrong, and trying to convince a legal system that you and your children are the victims and need the court’s protection from the abuser?

As a former domestic violence prosecutor and attorney who has represented battered women in custody cases, I facilitated a workshop titled “Making the Case: How to Use the Criminal Justice System to Positively Impact Child Custody Decisions.” While I could offer some tips and best practices on navigating the criminal and civil legal systems to help women present the best cases in family court, the landscape of an uneducated, biased and legal system which very much values fathers’ participation - even in domestic violence cases – over victims’ safety needs, leaves women - who often have exhausted their financial resources and are forced to represent themselves in custody cases– with few avenues to correct these systemic injustices.

Holly Collins is one woman who could not stand by and allow her husband to continue harming her children, Jennifer and Zachary, when the family court judge gave him custody. He had battered her and her children, even breaking Zachary’s skull. The triumphant, tear-filled highlight of this conference was hearing from Jennifer Collins, a young woman who lived underground with her brother and mother for 14 years in the Netherlands when her mother fled with them to escape the horrific abuse of their father and a U.S. court system that did not protect them. In 2006 the FBI located the children in the Netherlands and demanded the return of Holly and her children. The Dutch government demanded an independent investigation, which determined that abuse had occurred, and Holly and her children were granted asylum indefinitely. Eventually – after a grassroots activist campaign – all federal and state charges were dropped against Holly.

As I sat and listened to Jennifer’s incredible journey of triumph over tragedy, the only question that kept going through my mind is, “Why do many family courts in the United States continue to get it wrong, and why do these courts seemingly care more about protecting the abuser than the abused?”

There are many notable efforts that have been underway to help correct the injustices that battered mothers are experiencing in our family courts. To become more involved in advocating for battered women who have experienced these legal injustices, contact Irene Weiser at Stop Family Violence and Professor Mo Hannah who is the leader of the Battered Mother’s Custody Conference. And for resources to help battered women navigate the court system, visit JWI's resource directory.

http://www.jwi.org/Page.aspx?pid=974

Holly Collins Featured at Battered Mother's Conference

2011-01-20T19:04:00.017-05:00

Jan. 21, 2011
by M. C. Moewe

Former fugitive Holly Collins recalled the day her panicked young
daughter clung tightly to her skirt, begging a court official not to
make her go live with her abusive father.

“It was the worse day of my life,” said Collins, speaking publicly for
the first time Saturday in Albany, New York, at the 8th Annual
Battered Mothers Custody Conference. “The guardian ad litem pulled her
fingers one by one off my dress.”

In 1994 the mother left the U.S., kidnapping her two children rather
than follow the judge’s orders to give the kids to the man they said
abused them.

Collins found an odd champion – the Netherlands, a small country that
granted Collins and her two children political asylum from the abuse
they were suffering in the United States.

Fourteen years after kidnapping her children, the FBI found Holly
Collins and made a request to the Dutch government to extradite her
back to the U.S.

Dutch officials declined the request, and in 2008 a settlement was
reached in U.S. courts dropping the U.S. kidnapping charges.
Jennifer Collins, once the panicked little girl begging her mother to
protect her, spoke via Skype from the Netherlands. “Only sixty-six
more days until our baby brother turns 18 and we are free from the
U.S. Family Court System,” said Jennifer, now 25. “I promise, one day
I will be the biggest, baddest child advocate that you have ever
seen.”

Advocacy is the theme for this year’s conference, which touts the
slogan Join Up! The Unity Conference. The event is organized by Mo
Therese Hannah, a professor and activist.

Karin Huffner, has launched the Legal Victim Assistance Advocates, a
group dedicated to training advocates. Information on the group can be
found at http://www.lvaallc.com/.

“Holly’s story is remarkable, but there are thousands and thousands of
families and children who are victims of the family court,” said
Garland Waller, a professor and producer who is filming a documentary
about the Collins family.

About 20 mothers stood during a Friday session, when Lundy Bancroft,
an author who has written books such as The Batterer as Parent, asked
mothers to stand who have been court ordered to have only supervised
visitation or no contact with their children.

“In criminal court there are procedures you have to follow,” Bancroft
said. “Moms are stunned to get into family court and discover they are
in kangaroo court.”

Bancroft stressed the need for parents supporting each other and
promoting activism. “It is important to keep battling against
isolation,” said Bancroft, who acknowledged that retribution for
protest is a real problem. “Moms should start having demonstrations
with their faces covered. I think that will be very powerful.”
Holly Collins is sometimes perplexed by the attention she is getting
for protecting her children. “I just did what any one of you would
do,” she said.

She does not recommend that protective mothers try to duplicate her
15-year ordeal, especially with the new laws enacted since the
September 11th terrorist attacks.

“I’m lucky, but the bar has been set so low,” Holly Collins said. “I
think being lucky should be never being abused.”

http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/med/collins2.html

STOP PAS RECTIFICATION EXPERIMENTATION

2011-01-20T19:04:00.012-05:00

Reversing Custody to "Alienated" Parents is Destroying Children!

Zachary and Jennifer Collins Before and After custody was reversed to their abusive father.

All over the United States family court judges are reversing custody to men who have been accused of abusing their own children!

In 1992 my brother and I were ripped out of our mothers arms and given to the man we identified as abusing us, our own father.

Even if the judge didn't believe our abuse allegations he NEVER should have ripped us away from a loving mother to rectify what my father claimed to be "Parental Alienation".

Being separated from our mother, having all contact with her severed and suddenly losing our primary parent undermined our ability to bond with anyone for the rest of our lives.

It is time to stop experimenting on innocent children. Ripping children away from mothers whom they are clearly bonded with is inhumane!

And just think... what are the consequences if these children are telling the truth of being abused?

Children Against Court Appointed Child Abuse ~ CA3

The 8th Annual Battered Mothers Custody Conference

2011-01-16T12:22:00.007-05:00

by Mary Moewe

Former fugitive Holly Collins recalled the day her panicked young daughter clung tightly to her skirt, begging a court official not tomake her go live with her abusive father. “It was the worse day of my life,” said Collins, speaking publicly forthe first time Saturday in Albany, New York, at the 8th AnnualBattered Mothers Custody Conference. “The guardian ad litem pulled her fingers one by one off my dress.”

In 1994 the mother left the U.S., kidnapping her two children rather than follow the judge’s orders to give the kids to the man they said abused them. Collins found an odd champion – the Netherlands, a small country that granted Collins and her two children political asylum from the abuse they were suffering in the United States. Fourteen years after kidnapping her children, the FBI found Holly Collins and made a request to the Dutch government to extradite herback to the U.S. Dutch officials declined the request, and in 2008 a settlement was reached in U.S. courts dropping the U.S. kidnapping charges.

Jennifer Collins, once the panicked little girl begging her mother toprotect her, spoke via Skype from the Netherlands. “Only sixty-sixmore days until our baby brother turns 18 and we are free from theU.S. Family Court System,” said Jennifer, now 28.

“I promise, one dayI will be the biggest, baddest child advocate that you have ever seen.”Advocacy is the theme for this year’s conference, which touts the slogan Join Up! The Unity Conference. The event is organized by MoTherese Hannah, a professor and activist Karin Huffner, has launched the Legal Victim Assistance Advocates, agroup dedicated to training advocates. Information on the group can befound at http://www.lvaallc.com/.

“Holly’s story is remarkable, but there are thousands and thousands offamilies and children who are victims of the family court,” saidGarland Waller, a professor and producer who is filming a documentary about the Collins family.

About 20 mothers stood during a Friday session, when Lundy Bancroft, an author who has written books such as The Batterer as Parent, asked mothers to stand who have been court ordered to have only supervisedvisitation or no contact with their children.“In criminal court there are procedures you have to follow,” Bancroft said. “Moms are stunned to get into family court and discover they arein kangaroo court.” Bancroft stressed the need for parents supporting each other and promoting activism. “It is important to keep battling against isolation,” said Bancroft, who acknowledged that retribution for protest is a real problem. “Moms should start having demonstrations with their faces covered. I think that will be very powerful.”

Holly Collins is sometimes perplexed by the attention she is gettingfor protecting her children. “I just did what any one of you would do,” she said. She does not recommend that protective mothers try to duplicate her 15-year ordeal, especially with the new laws enacted since the September 11th terrorist attacks. “I’m lucky, but the bar has been set so low,” Holly Collins said. “I think being lucky should be never being abused.”

Jennifer Collins Reflects on Battered Mothers Custody Conference 2011

2011-01-16T12:21:00.015-05:00

On Saturday afternoon January 9th 2011 I sat in the living room of our family home in the Netherlands intently listening (via the internet) to my mother giving a live presentation at the Battered Mothers Custody Conference in Albany New York.

As I watched my little brothers and sisters cheerfully distracted in a board game I was engrossed by my mother’s words of how she sacrificed everything she had to rescue her two fragile children from abuse. My mother’s words rang in my ears as the headset muffled the laughter from my siblings. My youngest sister is exactly the same age that I was when I was being severely abused by my own father. I looked at her tossing her hair as she laughed carefree at our brother’s jokes and I remember how different my life was at that age. Life was hell back then. My father was beating me and my brother, and even worse we thought that our mother had abandoned us.

I listened to my mother profess how hard she tried to rescue us and it still surprises me today because it doesn’t coincide with my own memories. I remember doubting and yet believing at the same time my father and his wife as they insisted that if our mother really loved us she would come get us because Lord knows that they didn’t want us. I remember crawling underneath my bed and pulling out a crumpled piece of paper I had hidden which had a copy of my mother’s handprint. I would lie on the floor with my little hand on the carbon copy of my mothers and muffle my cries for my mommy. I would sing songs she taught us and pray to God as she instructed but it eventually got to the point where it was futile. I watched my brother deteriorate, loose faith, shut down emotionally and become full of anger and hate.

I listened to my brother's words through the headset as he spoke after our mother explaining how he is still coping with his anger. I choked back the tears as he recalled his childhood memories of blaming our mother for every bad thing which happened to us and I cringed when he called her a liar because “if she wasn’t capable of protecting us then she never should have promised she would in the first place.”

When I hung up the phone I realized how lucky we were to get away. How distant that world of abuse and betrayal was from the life our mother stole back and recreated for us. Here I was safe in Holland and I realized that we were given a second chance. I feel indebted to my mother and I so desperately want to honor her courage by being a voice for other children who are not as lucky as my brother and I were.

As my mothers attorney said in his follow up after my mother and brother “once a child has been abused there is no justice” The abuse can never be undone. But we can prevent it from being compounded.

I still haven’t found a way to articulate how devastating the family court's actions were to me and my brother. It is inhumane to rip a child out of a loving mother’s arms under the guise of “restoring a father’s rights.” The misdirected law reforms should not be about whether a father (or a mother) has a right to be in their children’s lives. It should be about children having the right to be safe, happy and secure.

Being abused as a child was devastating but being ripped away from our mother, having the contact with our primary parent severed and the maternal bond we shared destroyed is what has damaged me most. I am determined to find a way to be a voice for the child I was and for the children who are now...

~Jennifer Collins

CA3 - Children Against Court Appointed Child Abuse

How did an American Battered Woman Holly Collins Receive Asylum in the Netherlands?

2011-01-16T12:21:00.010-05:00

How did an American citizen receive Asylum in the Netherlands?

So many people have recently asked us how were we granted asylum in the Netherlands.

To explain this we need to understand the basic Dutch premise that “Child abuse is every form of violent interaction of a physical, psychological or sexual nature either directly or indirectly forced upon a minor aged child by the parent(s) or any person with whom the minor child has a dependent relationship with or is not freely impendent from which serious damage is or could be inflicted to the minor child in the form of physical or psychological injury.”

There is a further assumption that “Pertaining to domestic violence, child abuse is including the witnessing of domestic violence.” There was supporting evidence of physical injuries to my mother’s nose and my fathers sworn testimony that he injured (perhaps even broke) her nose on several different occasions. The family court evaluator in the United States testified that in her professional opinion she believed that these injuries were the result of domestic violence. The American judge in our case found that my father committed domestic violence. Our father even testified that he dislocated our mothers shoulder in front of us children, therefore meeting the requirements of the Dutch definition of child abuse.

In addition The Hague Convention clearly states that the “Court's may refuse to return a child to a Petitioning parent and that child's home country under the Hague Convention if it finds that ‘there is a grave risk that if returned child would be expose to physical and psychological harm or otherwise placed in to an intolerable situation.” The Dutch Ministries thoroughly investigated our case for 3 years. My brother and I made it clear that we were very afraid of our father because “he hit, punched, strangled and threatened to kill us and our mother.” My brother remembered my father slamming him into a wall and then having to go to the hospital and the doctors telling our mother that his skull was broken. Because of our American nationality even the Dutch National Health Inspector general reviewed all the evidence as well. It was also remarkable that the Dutch Ministries believed that we would be in physical and psychological danger if we were returned to our father’s care.

As far as certain skeptics who have claimed that my brother and I may have been brain washed by our mother, it is remarkable that for over 18 months my father had sole custody of me and my brother. We had severely restricted contact with our mother that was limited to a few hours court supervised visitation per week. If there was any brainwashing or alienation it was done solely at the hands of our abusive father and yet we still ran away from him.

I am 25 years old now and my brother is 27. We have been living on our own since we were each 18 years old. We are capable of articulating how we remember our childhood and we should be believed at our own word!

~Jennifer Collins

Glenn Sacks Director of Fathers & Families Continue to Bully Battered Women

2011-01-14T17:41:00.023-05:00

Glenn Sacks likes to attack already vulnerable battered women like Holly Collins. Shame on Sacks!

Ah... Disgruntled Sacks is Back!

The 8th annual Battered Mothers Custody Conference was held in Albany New York on January 7-9 2011. It was most powerful and the overwhelming consensus is that Change is Imminent! This revives some hope in battered women and abused children all over the United States who have been inadequately protected from known abusers.

However the father’s rights guys or more accurately, the Father Supremacists aka the abuser supporters, were in a frenzy trying to discredit and detract from the public uprising of united citizens standing up against child abuse in the family court system. It is pathetic that these Father Supremacists forced their way into a New York hotel where vulnerable battered women were staying for the conference. They cornered, scared and re-traumatized women in the hallways and their hotel rooms, sending them terrified, crying and running for help.

My 27 year-old brother, who agreed to speak out just this once about our case to put his point of view on the record actually came to their rescue. He is a ‘normal’ guy who doesn’t understand the ins and outs of the father’s rights issues. He told me “This is bullshit! Normal fathers don’t act like this!” The problem is that the fathers rights groups are deceptive and try to stir up support from all American men claiming that they are nobly pursuing what is right and just for all fathers, but how is terrorizing domestic violence survivors who are gathering peacefully for inspiration and healing a noble pursuit?

I am all for the rights of ALL fathers and mothers who do NOT abuse their children. Children deserve to have GOOD fathers in their lives! They deserve to have GOOD mothers in their lives! But the rights of abusive fathers (and mothers) should NEVER be put above children's’ right to be SAFE and taken care of!

I find it humorous that the Fathers and Families site published an article the very next day on January 10th 2011. In big letters Glenn Sacks writes that “Misguided DV Groups Back Discredited Battered Mothers Custody Conference” Don't you find it a little funny, if not insolent, that the "almighty Glenn Sacks" personally concludes that "I say therefore it is"? HE writes that the BMCC is "discredited" but who exactly is discrediting this national conference where all of our nation's best domestic violence experts are gathering freely on their own dime to donate an entire weekend of their time during the middle of winter in Albany, NY? To me that sounds like committed individuals and professionals who believe in the work they do!

Glenn Sacks claims that Barry “Nolan read Holly’s description of her case and also does so in the film. He is apparently unaware of much of the facts and history of the case.” I wrote to Barry Nolan to ask him his opinion of Glenn Sacks' accusations. Mr. Nolan responded that he will be personally addressing Glenn Sacks' false allegations against him and his wife Garland Waller.

Glenn Sacks also criticized my mother's attorney, Alan Rosenfeld: “In his speech at the BMCC he says he took the case pro bono after many in the domestic violence establishment urged him to. Like Nolan, he is apparently unaware of much of the facts and history of the case.” C'mon everybody – Do you really think that Glenn Sacks is going to know more about the facts of our case then our own attorney whose been given access to EVERYTHING?

Again, I asked Attorney Rosenfeld to comment and he replied "I am proud that I helped ensure that Holly wasn't punished at all for her alleged kidnapping. Specifically those charges were dismissed."

I also went through my old e-mails and I came across a mail from Attorney Rosenfeld when Glen Sacks attacked my mom in the past. On October 8th 2008 Attorney Rosenfeld responded "if Holly and Jennifer want me to I would be willing to dare Sacks to get the players from Minnesota who claim to him that Holly and her children were not abused, to waive their various immunities and statutory defenses and have the truth about the claims of abuse be determined in a court of law. Presumably there would be none of them that would step forward to take that dare.” I can tell you right now YES! This is something that my mom, my brother and I want. So come on Mr. Sacks produce your witnesses!

Now Glenn Sacks is claiming to know firsthand what happened during the interviews he was not present for and is writing as if it were fact! “the case’s custody evaluators noted “in response to routine questions about custodial plans, Holly stated ‘I’ll make the biggest media circus out of this if I have to. I’ll do whatever it takes if Mark gets custody.’”

How can anyone call anything a “routine custody evaluation” when there is abuse and custody evaluators are threatening to give custody to the ABUSER? REMEMBER… the judge found that my father Mark Collins was an abuser!

Sacks then wines that “Holly Collins’ claims about her high-profile custody case are disputed by her own mother, grandmother, sister, brother, former in-laws, her ex-husband and his wife, numerous doctors, Guardians ad Litem, social workers, mental health professionals and all seven judges who have heard this case.”

What Mr. Sacks conveniently fails to mention is:

1.) That I provided copies of correspondence my mother had with my grandmother in which my grandmother admitted to physical abuse in our family.

"Dear Holly ... I view life very differently from you. For example, when I was young, my mother worked at night and I stayed alone when I came home from school. My mother punished us by hitting us with my father's razor strap... and when she hit us kids, we had black and blue bruises for a month… But my mother did the best she could under those circumstances... at that time. My mother never said she was sorry, nor have I ever asked her to say she was sorry... Hopefully, you can understand that Gram did the best that she could do in raising me... I did the best that I could do in raising you... and you will do the best that you can for your own children. None of us will even be close to perfection! ... Love Mom" (Email from Eleanor Gallagher dated February 2009)

2.) My mother’s sister came forward and issued a statement that she was also abused. Then my mother’s mother (Eleanor Gallagher) wrote an email threatening my mother’s siblings:

“Attached (just click on the attachment above) are the orders from the MN Court finding Holly in contempt for violating the orders issued by Judge Porter. It appears that Holly maybe in a lot trouble for not abiding by the orders… This is just a reminder that in your case... all the records have been sealed and the Court Ordered states: " That there be not reproduction of or reference to any materials contained within the records on file with the Court in this matter or with the aforesaid agencies/persons, his/her agent, or any agency absent a Court Order to the contrary." …if you, or Michael... or your father, or Holly Collins, violate the court order cited above, I will bring the matter before the court and request charges of Contempt of Court be brought against anyone who violates the order. Have a good day! Love, Mom” (eliegallagher Tuesday, January 27 2009 9:11AM Subject: Holly found in Contempt of Court)

Oh my Goodness... this is too funny! My grandmother threatens her own children with lawsuits and ends the threat with "Have a good day! Love Mom." Why do you think the Gallaghers are so afraid for the court records from my mother and her siblings’ childhood to be released? Doesn’t it also appear to you that they are trying to conceal child abuse? Oh and by the way… my mother’s brother’s name is Michael! He is also forbidden by the Gallagher’s to come forward about the abuse.

3.) My own father testified that he broke my mother’s nose several times and dislocated our mothers shoulder in front of us.

“The two broken noses occurred when we were first married in my parents’ house" It is almost humorous that my father describes how it happens: "I rolled over asleep in bed.” (File No. DA157327 court transcript 06/07/1989 pg 5)

"Her shoulder was dislocated just fooling around. I don’t know how to explain this. We were wrestling.” ( File NO. DA171721 court transcript 01/08/1991pg26)

Attorney: "The dislocated shoulder was a wrestling episode? Was anybody else present during that, do you remember?"

Mark Collins: "Just the children." ( File NO. DA171721 court transcript 01/08/1991 pg 36)

Look at this! My father admitted to dislocating his wife’s shoulder in front of his own children! Can anyone imagine how terrifying this was on two young children to witness their father hurting their mother like that, to hear her screams of pain? Witnessing our father abusing our mother was extremely traumatizing!

Okay so my father’s parents don’t want to believe that their son is an abuser! But they weren’t in the room were they? Their own son testified that they weren't there! Let's think about that last one for a moment: What mother wants to believe she raised a monster? I can't help but wonder if Sacks' own 82 year-old mother struggles with those same feelings of guilt; does she read her son's webpage where he disparages women and exalts men who do the same? What mother would be proud of her son for dispatching his agents to a battered mothers conference to further terrorize the participants who have gathered there and then report about it as if he's accomplished something grand? Does Sacks feel that being the bully on the playground is rewarding and feels oh so good?

The rest of this comment by Glenn Sacks is proven falsehoods! Glenn Sacks claims that numerous doctors disputed my mother’s claims of abuse. That is such a lie! How can he unabashedly invent and perpetuate these lies? The social workers and mental health professionals supported my mother and not my father at all, but Sacks gets away with telling such lies because ABUSERS are used to not being challenged. Challenge an abuser and you won't get a respectful debate - you'll incur their wrath and vile, condescending words for daring to contradict or defy them!

Glenn Sacks states “Hennepin County Family Court services found that Holly Collins suffers from multiple mental disorders, including Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy (MSbP)” This is EXACTLY my point all along! - A Hennepin County Family Court Services evaluator thought that our case had similar characteristics to 6 (six) articles that she read! Six articles! NOT ONE psychologist, psychiatrist or doctor ever said that my mother suffered from any mental illness and certainly NOT MSbP, which although a rare mental health disorder, is curiously over-diagnosed in all too many domestic violence survivor cases. In fact, the very experts in MSbP all vehemently denied that this was a MSbP case!

Glenn Sacks lies again stating that “The Court of Appeals noted that 'the children have adjusted well to the new custody arrangement' in Mark Collins’ care and that 'the children’s health has improved. The court said that Holly Collins’ accusations that Mark Collins and his current wife were abusing the children were 'found to be without substance,' and that the lower court’s finding that Holly Collins’ care 'endangered [the children's] physical and emotional health' was 'supported by evidence in the record'.”

The court of appeals never investigated the facts! They just checked to see if procedure was followed - that's all folks! Look very closely at Glenn Sacks sentences - he keeps inserting half-phrases of sentences and distorts their whole meaning.

Sacks boasts that “Inside Edition was scheduled to air a report on the Holly Collins case on 11/12/08 but decided not to, apparently due to their doubts about Collins' credibility.” In truth Glenn Sacks has no idea why the story didn’t air! The producer assured us that it wasn’t about our credibility at all! Isn't it interesting to find that Sacks first boasted that it was the father and families success in bombarding a studio with threats that made them successful in keeping the story off the air? Now he claims something different. What was the real reason Mr. Sacks? (And not to belabor a point, but do peaceful men and good fathers resort to bombarding and threatening to get their way?)

Glenn Sacks writes “In January of 2009, Fathers and Families released an exhaustive, 11,000 word analyses of the court records and documents in the case.” This is so stupid! This is his own article that he (Glenn Sacks) concocted himself! He got a fathers’ rights group to publish it without any research of their own into our case! Moreover, what NORMAL person would know that there are 11,000 words contained in an analysis? Sounds like someone doesn't have anything better to do with their time... If we count up the numbers of words in my 5 part investigation of Glenn Sacks I bet it would have a double word count to Sacks article. Does that mean that I can then claim to be the EXPERT on how disturbed Glenn Sacks is?

Glenn Sacks writes that his “analysis, which can be seen here exposed the Holly Collins case as a complete fabrication.” I still marvel that a man with absolutely NO ACCESS to any of the relevant, CONFIDENTIAL documents can boast such preposterous claims! Worse is that some people actually believe the stuff that he spews!

I found it most interesting that Glenn Sacks writes “In our Report we…” Really? I didn't see any co-author credits to his verbal diarrhea (but then again, abusers HATE sharing the spotlight...) This is Glenn Sacks' report yet he makes it look like Fathers & Families is also a party to this defamation of character. Again - typical of abusive behavior: abusers like to stir up trouble and be at the center of the drama so long as they're not caught and held personally accountable for their words and actions...

And then my personal favorite: Glenn Sacks keeps blaming my mother for my posts! Again… this is MY website, Mr. Sacks. Why do you insist and persist in chasing after traumatized and battered women? Shame on you!

Sacks states that my mother made “Extensive, utterly fictitious personal attacks on Fathers and Families Executive Director Glenn Sacks, including attacks on Sacks’ 82-year-old mother.” To be explicitly clear so there can be no misinterpretation, my mother did not write about Glenn Sacks and his mother. I DID! What I wondered aloud about and asked was “Was little Glenn abused by his own mother when he was a child or is he angry with her for not protecting him against an abusive father?” In absence of information the only thing I can do is wonder and ask, yet Mr. Sacks interprets this as an "attack" - as a psychology major, this is all just simply FASCINATING stuff...

Glenn Sacks states that during my mother’s presentation at the BMCC she “referenced Fathers & Families and said 'On their website they posted that I should be gang-raped as an appropriate punishment.' This is false—nobody associated with Fathers and Families has ever or would ever say such a thing or anything close to it.” Here he goes again - it's always GOT to be about Glenn Sacks... even when he is wrong!

If you click on the link http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/11888924 and go directly to 51 minutes and 20 seconds, you can hear for yourself that my mother did NOT say a thing about Glenn Sacks or the Fathers & Families Organization! She specifically says “Humiliating details of abuse to me and my children have been splattered all over the news by SOME fathers’ rights organizations” There are so many different fathers’ rights organizations out there. Why does Glenn Sacks automatically think that he holds the monopoly on them all?

I remember vividly when Glenn Sacks personally posted this and other violent comments from one of his followers. I was so upset when I first read that a father’s rights organization was promoting gang rape! Again… Normal fathers’ would NEVER do this! I contacted several reputable professionals and directed them to the exact link.

From my e-mail from February 2009
“there are several fathers’ rights activists who are furious that our case has challenged their cause and that I am demanding that children come first, before mothers and before fathers! These organizations are known for supporting batterers and child molesters openly. A popular fathers’ rights advocate, Glenn Sacks has launched a full fledged personal attack against our family. He has recently printed a lengthy article full of half truths and outright lies. I am trying to find out if he can also be held accountable for his blatantly false, slanderous public statements. Now his followers are threatening that I should be “deprogrammed” and my mother “gang raped” as a punishment for denying my father his rights to his children. It is disgusting and terribly frightening."

Glenn Sacks received so much condemnation that he finally removed the violent postings. At the very top of Glenn Sacks latest attack he writes “Fathers and Families Executive Director Glenn Sacks.” Sacks links himself to Fathers & Families by claiming to be the executive director therefore providing the connection as I cited. Thanks Glenn for clearing that up for us.

And again… my brother's fractured skull apparently still confounds Glenn Sacks who keeps searching for an alternative reason for why my father fractured my brother’s skull. Despite the medical records that I supplied to Mr. Sacks myself, here is what he continues to claim:

"At the BMCC, Holly Collins claimed that Zachary got a skull fracture while trying to protect her from Mark Collins’ attacks. Actually, the injury occurred when Zachary fell forward on a ride in an amusement park–Holly Collins sued the amusement park for the injury and obtained a large financial settlement.”

There were no broken bones at the amusement park ride in 1987; an X-ray confirmed “No broken bones!” yet Glenn Sacks, who wasn't there, just makes this stuff up as he goes along - just like my abusive father! Hey - wait a minute! If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck what do ya’ think it is...???

Glenn Sacks then goes on to try to portray Jeff Imm as a victim of alienation when in fact my mother and brother have begged Jeff to come visit him. This is the same baby that Jeff Imm claims isn’t his child. How can Fathers & Families have it both ways? If a man denies he's the father and doesn’t want anything to do with his child, how can he claim alienation? Actually, this classic problem - a father denying paternity and not wanting anything to do with his child - is how and why so many father-friendly programs and initiatives came about to begin with. But, like the folks who infiltrated the Battered Mothers Custody Conference the Father Supremacists similarly infiltrated, corrupted and exploited the good cause of keeping good fathers connected to their children - so actually Glenn Sacks and his followers are making the very problem they claim to want to resolve even worse by their "activism" in trying to help. Fascinating the extents that Mr. Sacks will go to deem himself the "King of Everything".

My father’s abuse to my mother, my brother and me was extensive. There are numerous incidents that the almighty Sacks has not heard about yet. For example my father killing my unborn sibling is not a new tale as Sacks now claims. It was documented years ago. My mother finally has the courage to stand up to all the horrid abuse from my father. Of course Glenn Sacks likes to find the most painful ways possible to hurt already battered and abused women.

When my mother first read Glenn Sacks' article, she was saddened that he was still full of lies and half-truths, but I am not surprised. I'm actually wondering what took him so long? I wrote several detailed articles about Glenn Sacks' (lack of) character last year: Did you notice that he never responded? But… he has the nerve to go after a battered woman who merely tells what happened to her.

Here are the links again for those of you who want confirmation to what a creep this guy is (just in case there's someone with any doubts...)

The REAL Glenn Sacks - College student, Jennifer Collins investigates the unethical columnist who has been virtually stalking her and her family. (Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, content & conclusion)

http://americanchildrenunderground.blogspot.com/2010/02/real-glenn-sacks.html
http://americanchildrenunderground.blogspot.com/2010/02/college-student-jennifer-collins.html
http://americanchildrenunderground.blogspot.com/2010/02/real-glenn-sacks-iii-by-jennifer.html
http://americanchildrenunderground.blogspot.com/2010/02/real-glenn-sacks-part-iv-child-abuse.html
http://americanchildrenunderground.blogspot.com/2010/02/this-is-real-glenn-sacks-part-iv-by.html
http://americanchildrenunderground.blogspot.com/2010/03/directory-of-jennifer-collins-5-part.html
http://americanchildrenunderground.blogspot.com/2010/03/conclusion-of-real-glenn-sacks.html

Glenn Sacks never even addressed any of these issues! I guess there's just no disputing the truth...

Glenn Sacks goes about attacking professional after professional: doctors, lawyers, advocates, psychologists, etc, etc… As far as I remember this is an abusive lazy loser who stays at home and milks off his hard-working wife! Must be nice to recline and pass judgment upon others...

Like he does again: "A professor, film producer, and promoter of the Holly Collins hoax in her upcoming film No Way Out But One. At the conference, Waller held a screening and discussion of what she describes as an 'An Independent Documentary on Holly Collins - The First Woman to Be Granted Political Asylum on Grounds of Domestic Violence'. Waller’s contention that Collins was 'Granted Political Asylum on Grounds of Domestic Violence' is false. Collins was not granted political asylum—she lost her asylum case, but won a subsidiary suit asking she be allowed to remain in Holland anyway on humanitarian grounds. In other words, her asylum attempt failed, but the Dutch government was unable to deport her for medical reasons, among others. Collins soon had four children in four years with a Dutch man who worked at the camp for illegal immigrants where she was being held–once Dutch children were involved; there was little chance of Collins being deported."

So Sacks claims that my mother won asylum for having 4 children in 4 years by a Dutch man. Funny how he calculates this considering my little brothers and sisters were born AFTER my mother received asylum!!! But he goes on:

"While Collins was in Holland, anti-immigration sentiment led to many changes in the law, starting in 2001. One of these changes was that they erased some of the distinctions between the different classes of immigrants, so Collins’ green card does read “Asiel” (Asylum). This is rich! Glenn Sacks claims to know more about asylum in the Netherlands then the Dutch Asylum attorneys. His self importance never ceases to amaze me. By the way… if Glenn Sacks would have done any proper research at all he would have discovered that the Dutch residency permits are RED and NOT Green!

And… Sacks continues to babble: “Holly Collins and (apparently) Waller promote the view that American authorities tried to extradite Collins to the US based on pressure from Mark Collins but that Dutch authorities found that Holly had been a battered wife and, in Holly’s words, “Netherlands, a tiny little country–stood up to the United States of America” to prevent her extradition. In reality, American officials did not try to have Collins extradited: few if any officials were even aware that she was in Holland.” C’mon Sacks no one believes you that the American authorities did not know that we were in the Netherlands. There were many highly publicized articles including “Battered Woman Becomes American Refugee in Amsterdam” splattered all over the front pages of the Minneapolis City Pages on July 30, 2008!http://www.citypages.com/2008-07-30/news/battered-woman-becomes-american-refugee-in-amsterdam/Just because Glenn Sacks didn’t know about our case it doesn't mean that everyone else didn’t!

Glenn Sacks concludes: “Fathers and Families has always been concerned about and stood against domestic violence” Yet on their own site they posted several comments threatening violence against me and my mother! There is absolutely no consistency (or truth) to what Glenn Sacks continues to blab on about regarding our case. He was not there, has never been a party to the case, has never had full access to all the documents involved and has thrown himself into the spotlight (no one to my knowledge ever LEGALLY asked or paid him to investigate our case) simply to reach his "20 minutes of fame" (because 15 minutes will not do if you're Glenn Sacks). I find Mr. Sacks' sentiments against domestic violence to be disingenuous since he condones, rather then condemns, the actions of those who would seek to disrupt a peaceful conference dedicated to those who escaped situations he wouldn't have the wherewithal to survive himself and then take the time to mock, ridicule, write it all up and post it. Yes, you must feel very good and proud of yourself for berating battered women and those who assist them - thank you, Mr. Sacks, for reminding us all that you're the spokesman for all that is wrong with the human race.

The most important evidence that Holly Collins saved her children from abuse is to look and listen to her children NOW. My brother and I are adults. We have clearly articulated that we were both abused by our father and that our mother is a HERO for rescuing us!

We'll say it again… Thanks Mom!

Holly Collins Son Returns Home to Marblehead Massachusetts

2011-01-14T17:36:00.013-05:00

My brother returned home to Marblehead Massachusetts for the first time in 18 years.

Our Grandpa was waiting with the last school photo he had before we were stolen away.

On June 30 1992 we left Marblehead Massachusetts to go to Minnesota for a visit with our father. Even though our father called weekly and threatened to kill our mother and kidnap us the judge felt that our one year break from him was more than enough time to heal from his abuse. There was a bogus 'Parental Alienation' accusation against our mom and we were suddenly ripped out of her arms without warning. They didn't even give us a chance to say goodbye to our mom, our home, bedroom, friends, school, teachers, classmates, Grandpa, Grandma, toys or even our dog, cat, rabbit and pet turtle.

Our fragile childhoods were destroyed that day! All we had left were broken promises from our mother that ate away at us "Just tell the truth and everything will be alright." But is wasn't all right as our father pointed out to us over and over again while reminding us that our mother was a liar and didn't really love us. As time passed we started to believe him.

Somehow our mother's determination to protect us from abuse was labeled worse than the actual abuse she tried to shield us from. We were not allowed to see her, touch her, feel her, hear her or be comforted by her. There was a hole in our hearts and a longing for our mommy and the way life used to be in Marblehead. There was complete silence which was reinforced by our father and his new wife taunting us "If your mother really loved you she would be here!" How we hated them all!

My brother and I still try to make sense of it all. We are still recovering from the damage that was done by having our childhoods stolen away from us. No... I'm not talking about the 16 years of life on the run with our mom after she rescued us. It's the two years of Hell prior to that when our father was determined to destroy our mother by taking her children away from her and keeping us from her out of malice as he felt she had done.

We are still looking for answers for those who destroyed our childhood but it is of little comfort knowing that they can never be held responsible for violating the law and our civil rights. So we are picking up the pieces of a once shattered life and finding our way back home one step at a time.

Our father has rallied up extremists who are more concerned with punishing our mother for standing up to a broken system then they are about helping my brother and I heal. If they were truly concerned they would embrace us and have empathy for our suffering. They'd help us get on with healing. Instead they taunt us and we are accused by these zealots of being either brain washed or just plain old lying about the abuse that we suffered.

But those family and friends who remember the abuse, who fought for our safety all those years ago, who held vigils and rallies to try to set us free from abuse... they are still there waiting for us to return home. Just as our beloved Grandpa who still carries around the last school photos we gave him once upon a time almost 18 years ago.

I just saw the video of my brother standing in front of our old home on 234 Washington Street in Marblehead Massachusetts with the exact same color on the shingles as I remember. Our mother asked him what he was feeling. He replied "I just had to see that it really existed and that it wasn't all just a dream."

Holly Collins' Son Speaks Out Against Child Abuse

2011-01-14T17:26:00.011-05:00

My big brother spoke out at the 2011 Battered Mothers Custody Conference 2011. It took a lot of courage. I am so honored that he is my brother.

Hi, My name is Zachary and I'm the oldest son of the infamous Holly Collins. I've been asked multiple times to speak my mind concerning this subject and until now I've been pretty successful in turning each of these requests down. My sister Jennifer has wanted to save the world ever since she was a little girl. I'm afraid I'm a bit more selfish than that; all I've ever wanted is to obliterate my past from memory, though admittedly this hasn't solved all of my problems either.

Ever since it was revealed that we had been hiding in the Netherlands, I assured myself that I wouldn't be discussing any of my experiences with the public. No matter how many speeches and appearances my mother and sister would be making at conferences such as this one, I didn't feel threatened by their increasing popularity, because I wouldn't be sharing any of my emotional crap.

Of course, in the back of my mind I knew that I would eventually have to break this promise to myself. Since the load of BS directed at my sister by certain male figure-heads (who won't have the honor of being named in this speech) my Big Brother instincts told me it was finally time to lend little sis a hand. Mind you, I'm not saying Jennifer NEEDED my help, so don't anyone go getting me in trouble. I don't quite know how to go about dealing with an ignorant male chauvinist, and anyhow I think Jennifer meant for me to share something that most of you could relate to, instead of getting down on the same levels as those...

One thing I do know about is anger. Ever since I was old enough to grasp the concept of anger, it's been eating away at me. I never really stood a chance. I had been exposed to this miserable emotion from such a young age, though it didn't consume my being till the day that custody of my sister and I was awarded to my abusive father. Ironically, rather than vent my rage at the bastard who installed this heinous trait within me, I blamed my mother for every bad thing that happened from then on. 'If she wasn't capable of protecting us , then she never should have promised she would in the first place... the liar!'

I'm a grown man now, and intelligent enough to know that my mother isn't to blame for the actions of a corrupt court-system or a hot-headed coward, but it's not that simple. As a child I was taught that it was acceptable to take my anger out on those who couldn't protect themselves, while I was simultaneously taught that I should never, ever, ever talk to my mother that way... or my sister... or my dog... or my Nintendo. But I wasn't going to cry every time I got a funny feeling in my toe. Crying made me sad, and that made me angry. But I wasn't allowed to get angry! So eventually I learnt the art of bottling it up.

When you've been holding as many bottles as I have, for as long as I have, you drop a few from time to time. Sometimes you drop a lot, and that's when a hurt and confused sibling is left wondering how spilling a drink can trigger an explosive fit of cursing. With so much experience in the matter you'd think I'd learn a thing or two. And all I can come up with is "I'm sorry", "I know its wrong", "I can't help it". My mother one day lovingly explained to my younger brother who is autistic, that "Zachary is having a bad day because he also is kind of autistic. Sometimes he just doesn't understand why he's angry." No one like me deserves such a convenient excuse, but I couldn't think of a more perfect explanation for those who'd think it inconceivable that a 6 year old could be so angry that he would repeatedly bash his own head into a wall.

This is not to say that there's no hope for me, or for any of your angry little boys and girls. The psychologists and therapists who treated me as a child, a teenager and a young adult, I hate them all, but thanks to them I've been able to recognize my anger and control it to a certain degree. Because of my mother and the people who helped us I have a wonderful life and a loving family. And I have a beautiful and understanding German fiancée waiting for me in the Netherlands, whose only flaw is that she still doesn't know that I don't deserve her.

I can't help any of you get your children back, or compare in the slightest to my sisters determination and generosity. I only hope that these words have given you some understanding as to why you have such an angry child. I hope these words will help you to understand that you are not to blame for these crimes committed against your families. But most of all, I hope you realize, when you finally get those kids back, that eventually they will stop blaming you and, eventually they too will understand why they USED to be so angry.

Holly Collins Presents at the 2011 Battered Mothers Custody Conference

2011-01-13T12:55:00.017-05:00

"People Like Me"
I have been working for months on some sort of presentation that I could give today that would be unemotional and factual so I would be considered a valuable asset to this conference. Just a few days ago I learned that my attorney was able to make arrangements to be here as well and he reminded me “don’t be afraid to tell how you feel.” So the day before I left I was in panic searching through court files and old journals to try to find the words of what I was feeling and I came across this entry that I made when my children were actively being abused in 1994. It was right before I decided to rescue them and go on the run. It’s called “People Like Me”

My name is Holly Collins. I am a battered woman and I always thought that was DIRTY word and that ‘People Like Me’ are not special, social or likeable. Heck, we don’t even have the right to be. There is something about me that makes other people upset and makes them think that I owe them whatever they desire and demand. I wish I knew what was wrong with me and why I tend to bring out the worst in people.

I was severely abused as a child. The physical abuse was terrifying. The sexual abuse was debilitating. The verbal abuse was defeating. I don’t agree that verbal abuse is worse than the physical. It’s the beating that will kill a child. It’s the rape that scars forever. It all feeds each other. It’s the combination of terror, enforced by immense physical pain and unbelievable cruelty which influences the person I am today. I know I am responsible for whom I am supposed to be, but sometimes I also think that it’s just too late. I was only a little girl when I was told by my own parent “You are not lovable, hell you are not even likable.” And ‘People Like Me’ somehow believe it to be true.

When I was a kid I tried to escape the abuse in many ways, but somehow always ended up back in the hands of my abusive parents. When I was 17 I became pregnant and married a violent man. I thought that I was lucky to get away. Even though he beat me severely and put me in the hospital 3 times in the first month we were married, he still wasn’t as frightening as my parents. I was 17 years old, 5 months pregnant and I accepted that this was just the way life was for ‘People Like Me.’

My husband was in the military and we moved around. I never had the chance to make friends and I always thought that was because of the moves, but I realize it was because of his isolation. He made sure that I had no one except him. The abuse escalated to such severity that I am still ashamed to reveal. During one beating when I was 5 months pregnant, I fell to the floor and he started kicking me in the stomach. I knew that I should have stood up, but I just gave up at that point and I felt so guilty that I was not a good mother because I did not protect my unborn baby. I began to hemorrhage and when I got to the hospital, the ultrasound confirmed that my baby was dead.

My husband worked in the military hospital and his superiors were contacted because they suspected abuse. My husband was clever and calculating. Instead of curbing his abuse, he came up with this bizarre idea that I had a disease which caused spontaneous bruising. He would suddenly punch me in the face and then tell me it was for my own good so the doctors would realize that I had this disease and could they find a cure.

One night when my husband was beating me as usual, I just couldn’t keep my cries silent. I knew that I was being selfish, but I just didn’t want to risk dying alone that night. My 4 year old little boy came to my rescue and tried to protect me and his own father beat him so severely that he fractured his skull. Again I knew it was all my fault and that 'People Like Me' don’t even deserve to be a parent.

I sought the advice from our priest who told my husband that he had to move out and seek professional help. My husband hired an attorney who drafted papers giving him unsupervised visitation. That scared me more than anything so I took him back. Then the priest or doctors made a report to child protection. Child protection threatened me that if I didn’t leave then they would take the children away and I would be charged with “failure to protect.” Because 'People Like Me' are supposed to protect their children.

When I left for good, the case was transferred from Juvenile court to family court and right away the children were forced to go alone with him. I went child protection and begged for their help. I begged them: “I told you this is why I wouldn’t leave him. I told you… Now there is no one there to protect my children.” They just dismissed me that it wasn’t in their hands anymore and said that I needed to tell the judge, but the judge wouldn’t listen. Because 'People Like Me' make other people uncomfortable when we describe horrific abuse that no one wants to hear.

My children came home with bruises and stories of beatings and torture. My son blamed me many times “My dad hit me because of you. I got in trouble because of you...” No one would protect my children and I just couldn’t bear to send them alone with someone who was hurting them. I couldn’t believe what happened next. HE called the police claiming that he was the victim of a vengeful ex-wife. They would enter my home, pull my children out from underneath their beds and hand them to the man who was beating them. My daughter would cry so hard that she would throw up. Instead of confirming the children’s fears the police reports were used as evidence that I was uncooperative. And that is how 'People Like Me' find them selves at the mercy of their abusers again.

Even though the judge found that my ex-husband was abusive he was angry at me for my incomprehensible fear. I have the court transcripts of the judge actually saying “I’ve seen him and I’ve seen her. She was shaking like a scared little bird. I thought he had just beat her with a belt and then I find that they have been divorce for 2 years and that is not the behavior of a woman who has been divorced for 2 years”. And that is how 'People Like Me' loose custody of their children.

And now I have to admit that I don’t even know if there are any other 'People Like Me.' Society shuns me because 'People Like Me' do not loose their children unless they have done something terribly wrong. I keep trying to figure out what I did so wrong. It must be all my fault. My children are being abused and I can’t find a way to protect them. They look at me with such desperation and betrayal that I am the one person that should be helping them but I don’t.

I don’t know how to fix it but all I do know is that I can not stand by here and do nothing as my children also become 'People Like Me'.

Holly Collins Fights Family Court Injustices

2011-01-13T12:53:00.017-05:00

Battered Mothers Fight Human Rights Injustices

Political initiatives are reflected in the progress of landmark legal cases in human rights; follow the outcome of cases such as Jessica Ruth Gonzales v. USA, as well as other international cases concerning domestic violence under consideration by the Inter America Human Rights Commission. The U. S. Supreme Court upheld the Castle Rock, Colorado Police Department’s refusal to enforce a protective order against Simon Gonzales that resulted in the murder of their three children. Gonzales (now Lanahan) is protesting the violation of her human rights.

As the first U. S. Citizen to receive political asylum from The Netherlands, Holly Collins and her three children fled the United States in 1994 to be free of domestic violence when they could not obtain protection from family courts. Ms. Collins plans to return to live in the U. S., just as her youngest child reaches adulthood. How our country responds to the knowledge that a mother was forced to flee her own country for protection will be an important barometer of progress.

http://nhereyes.blogspot.com/2011/01/author-lundy-bancroft-teaches-battered.html

Holly Collins to Speak at 2011 Battered Mothers Custody Conference

2011-01-13T12:53:00.015-05:00

The 8th annual Battered Mothers Custody Conference.

Conference Presenters:

HOLLY COLLINS
ZACHARY COLLINS

The journey would take them to Indian reservations, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, and finally to the Netherlands. There Holly and her children would become the first American family to ever be granted political asylum by the Dutch government on the grounds that they were fleeing domestic violence and that their safety could not be assured if they were to be returned to the United States.

Once in the Netherlands, Holly and children were first sent to live in a refugee center, where they lived shoulder to shoulder in dorm-like quarters with a ragged collection of truly desperate souls from third world countries like Sudan and Somalia. After two years of life among the refugees, Holly was granted full asylum and was sent to live in a housing project. She would live “below the radar” for the next 14 years. And then, after all those years, the FBI finally found them and came knocking on the door.

But by now, Holly’s American children were over 18, and had “aged out of the system”. The Child and Family Court system back home in Minnesota, the one that had once ordered the minor children to go to live full time with Holly’s abusive ex-husband, no longer had any jurisdiction over them. And when the FBI interviewed the children they said that in their eyes, their mother was a hero who had saved their lives. The FBI dropped the case.

Holly obtained attorney Alan Rosenfeld back in the states who eventually arranged a plea bargain on the remaining state charges against Holly. If she would come back and plead guilty to contempt of court, all other charges would be dismissed. Holly agreed, saying that she did indeed have contempt for the court that ordered her children to live a life of abuse.

Despite her life on the run, Holly Collins was somehow able to preserve an enormous volume of court transcripts, medical records, news accounts and correspondence that support her account, and the accounts of her children and give vivid detail to each twist and turn.

In the end, what could have been a crushing family tragedy becomes a happy story. Holly’s has been exonerated. Her children thrive. And they look forward to returning home, to America. But none of it happened by accident. This story ends happily because of the singular character of Holly Collins, protective mother, kidnapper, international fugitive, and ground breaking asylum seeker. It ends happily because of Holly, a woman who is described by her Dutch Asylum lawyer, as “a lioness.” And that she is.

Introduction written by Barry Nolan

Holly Collins - American Mothers Political Party

2011-01-13T12:52:00.010-05:00

Battered Mothers: No longer silenced.

"Ironically, the U.S. was once seen as a safe harbor and respite from injustice in other parts of the world. The U.S. was petitioned as the grantor of political asylum to world citizens suffering from unfair political and legal persecution. Yet, the tide began to turn when the first U. S. citizen was granted asylum from the United States by The Netherlands in 1994.

Holly Ann Collins appealed for protection from an abusive ex-spouse and the right to raise her three children in The Netherlands. Scheduled to appear this weekend, Ms. Collins and her son Zachary Collins will discuss their experience. Now grown, Ms. Collins’ children serve as advocates for the plight of children caught in the middle by the court systems. Her daughter Jennifer Collins founded CA3, “Children Against Court Appointed Child Abuse” in 2008."

http:///

Mother & Daughter Holly Collins & Jennifer Collins Speak Out Against Domestic Abuse

2010-12-05T16:27:00.017-05:00

National Alliance to End Domestic Abuse
Domestic Violence, Abuse and Child Custody Webinar December 2, 2010

Join us as we hear Jennifer Collins, who at age 7, was abused by her father and ran away with her mother and siblings to the Netherlands to avoid being placed in the custody of her abusing father. Listen to her story and learn of the travails she and her family endured in order to escape the court ordered custody given to her father. Jennifer’s story does not seem real.

How could her visitation supervisors ignore her cries for help?
How could the courts give custody of her to the father that had kicked, strangled and beaten her repeatedly?
How could she and her mother and siblings be put in jail?

Listen as Jennifer tells us her story and learn how after 14 years of living abroad in anonymity, Jennifer and her family are now preparing to re-enter the United States. Jennifer’s story is one of many who show how our courts have failed battered children by returning them to their abusers.

Leading the discussion, Mo Therese Hannah, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at Siena College in Loudonville, New York; Psychotherapist; Co-editor of Domestic Violence, Abuse and Child Custody: Legal Strategies and Policy Issues; Chair for 8 years of the annual Battered Mothers Custody Conference (BMCC) helps us understand how domestic violence professionals; advocates, attorneys and social workers can help battered women and their children as they face contested child custody cases in family court.

What you will learn?

What indicators of domestic violence and child abuse are common in contested child custody cases?
Why do abusive men seek custody of their children?
What does the research say about the effects on children of witnessing domestic violence?
Of being legally separated from a protective mother?
Why have accusations of “parental alienation” become so commonly used against protective mothers?
How should attorneys for battered mothers respond?

Domestic Violence Abuse & Child Custody Jennifer Collins, Holly Collins & Dr. Mo Hannah

2010-12-05T16:27:00.014-05:00

http://jwi.peachnewmedia.com/store/streaming/seminar-launch.php?key=3LshdDpeRBDH6dDPl2I1B8PhL8ylSgTZ0XLJxcHwCdY%3D

Shared Parenting with an Abusive Parent Doesn't Work

2010-11-13T17:53:00.006-05:00

Shared Parenting Best For… (Fathers!)
and not at all for Children!

Picture by Jennifer Collins ~10 years old

"Shared Parenting" is not in the Best Interest of Children

2010-11-13T17:35:00.004-05:00

Other governments are finally getting it! Shared Parenting does not work when there is domestic violence of any kind! Now it is time for the United States to enforce the protection of American Children!

Overhaul of family law gives children priority
http://www.couriermail.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/overhaul-of-family-law-gives-children-priority/story-e6frer7o-1225952251213

PROPOSED changes to the Family Law Act will offer unprecedented protection to children who have at times been treated as ''chattels'', a Queensland MP says.

Shayne Neumann, with 20 years' experience in family law, says the planned changes released yesterday are a fundamental shift away from the interests of parents back to the interests of children.

''Children are not chattels and these changes recognise that,'' he said.

The Commonwealth Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, and NSW Attorney-General, John Hatzistergos, released an outline of the proposed changes.

They radically alter the approach taken in 2006 under the Howard government, which changed the Family Law Act to emphasise shared parenting.

The 2006 laws were championed by men's rights groups and were seen to better serve fathers seeking access to children after divorce or separation.

Crucially, under the proposed changes a court would be forced to put a child's protection from potential abuse above all considerations, even the child's right to have a relationship with both parents.

Mr Neumann, the Labor member for Blair, said the push by fathers' rights groups had driven the law too far towards parents' rights.

Under the changes, family violence would be redefined to recognise forms other than assault, sexual abuse or sexual exploitation.

The new definitions include a long list of criteria, including any behaviour that torments, intimidates or harasses a family.

''If a child is being forced to clean up blood after mum has been hit, for example, I believe that is a form of violence,'' Mr Neumann said.

He said a secondary effect would be that mothers would be protected from violent partners because they would be restrained from having relationships with anyone who posed a threat to the child.

''I think these changes will benefit everyone because, ultimately, they will lead to better parenting from both mothers and fathers.''

Mr McClelland said he wanted laws ensuring child safety concerns outweighed the need for a child to have a meaningful relationship with both parents.

''The courts will be required to have regards to, first and foremost, the welfare of the best interests of the child.''

The draft legislation is open for public comment until January next year.

Who is Jennifer Collins - American Refugee

2010-10-29T09:54:00.004-04:00

When I was a little girl I told my mother that my father was abusing me and my brother during visitation. My mother believed me and my brother because she was also abused by my father and she witnessed my father beating my brother and fracturing his skull. After my parents divorced the judge couldn’t understand why my mom was still so afraid of my father. Court transcripts reveal that the judge described my parent’s custody case as: “I have seen him and I have seen her. She was shaking like a little bird and I thought she had just been beaten with a belt. Then I found out they have been divorced for 2 years and that is not the behavior of someone who has been divorced for 2 years.” He ignored evidence that my fathers abuse to my mother and her children continued and even escalated after the divorce.

Even though several judges found my father to be abusive the judge presiding over the custody case chastised my mother “It’s about time you get over the abuse!” The court determined that our mother’s fear of our father was interfering in his relationship with us and the judge reversed custody of me and my brother to the very man who was abusing us.

The worst day of my life was when I was 7 years old and the court officer pried my fingers off of my mothers dress. I was kicking and screaming "Mommy help me!" when he handed me over to my abusive father. My father’s abuse continued and all contact was severed with our loving mother. The abuse was unbearable but it was even worse to loose our loving mommy.

Eventually we were allowed to have minimal supervised visitation with our mother. During the court supervised visitation I lifted my shirt to reveal the welts, bruises and strap marks on my back and bottom. I told my mother and the supervisors “He is still hurting us!”

The supervisor gasped then scolded me “You know you are not allowed to talk about those kinds of things anymore!” After 18 months and 8 days in our fathers house my brother and I couldn’t take the abuse any longer. We ran away from our fathers’ house to our mother.

It was very difficult but our mother (who was only 28 years old) found a way to smuggle us out of the country. We made it to Europe where we were apprehended and arrested for inadequate travel documentation. We were put into a jail cell with our mom and baby brother. My mother applied for asylum in the Netherlands and we spent 3 years in refugee camps until we finally won our case in 1997. We are the first Americans to receive asylum in another country!

After 14 years of living in anonymity we were found by the FBI and suddenly woke one morning to news crews camped outside our home in the Netherlands. My mom returned to the United States to face criminal charges and all kidnapping charges against her were dismissed. She refused to apologize to the judge and pled guilty to one count of contempt of court to which she replied “I admit to having contempt for the court which failed to protect my children!”

My mom was permitted to return to the Netherlands and we are living in exile waiting for my younger brother to turn 18 (in 5 months) so he will be free from the judge in Minnesota. At the American Consulate office in Amsterdam we have undergone the re-identification process and our American citizenship has been reinstated. I just received my first American passports a few days ago.

After sixteen years of exile we are finally preparing to go home!

I just received my first American Passport

2010-10-29T03:10:00.010-04:00

One step closer to coming home!

Americans living in Exile for 16 years: My mom, big brother and I have officially reestablished our identity, and our American Citizenship has been reinstated! We have just received our first American passports. My Dutch born brothers and sisters just received their American citizenship and American passports as well. We are still waiting for our brother Christopher to turn 18 in 5 months so he will finally be safe from his father and the corrupt Hennepin County family court. Then we can all return home to the United States together! I can't wait! It will be one big celebration!

American Refugees in Europe

2010-10-28T14:02:00.013-04:00

Posted by: Jason Dzubow Oct 29, 2010 at 06:05 AM

Jennifer Collins has a blog about her experience as a refugee in the Netherlands. It is definitely worth a look--
http://americanchildrenunderground.blogspot.com/

My name is Jennifer Collins. I am the daughter of the woman you mentioned in the article, American Citizens Seek Asylum in Great Britain. My mother, Holly Collins was the first American to be granted asylum in another country.

I don't know how it works in Great Britain but we certainly didn't have a "posh" stay in the Netherlands refugee camps. I vividly remember being hungry and embarrassed that my shoes had holes in them and that my mom had to wash out our few pairs of socks and underwear in the bathroom sink. She worked hard scrubbing floors and toilets for 50 cents and hour to feed us.

It is important to remember that we were granted asylum because my father was dangerous and had vowed to murder my mother, my brothers and me. He testified that he strangled us kids and broke my mother’s nose several times. He attacked her with a knife and fractured my 4 years old brother’s skull in a drunken tirade. Yet the local family court felt that my mother's fear of my father was interfering in his relationship with his children.

We lived in anonymity for 14 years until we were found by the FBI. It is important to mention that the United States dropped all federal criminal kidnapping charges against my mother. She refused to apologize to a egotistical county judge who was out for revenge and voluntarily plead guilty to one count of contempt of court as noted in the court records: "I admit to having contempt for the court which failed to protect my children."

We are still residing in the Netherlands and will be eternally grateful for grating us asylum despite our privileged American nationality.

All children have the right to be safe!

Kind Regards,
Jennifer Collins

Abused American Children receive Asylum Status in Holland

2010-10-28T14:02:00.010-04:00

This is my response to the article about American refugees:

One of the refugee camps in the Netherlands where the Collins family was held.

My name is Jennifer Collins. I am the daughter of the woman you mentioned in the article, American Citizens Seek Asylum in Great Britain. My mother, Holly Collins was the first American to be granted asylum in another country.

I don't know how it works in Great Britain but we certainly didn't have a "posh" stay in the Netherlands refugee camps. I vividly remember being hungry and embarrassed that my shoes had holes in them and that my mom had to wash out our few pairs of socks and underwear in the bathroom sink. She worked hard scrubbing floors and toilets for 50 cents and hour to feed us.

It is important to remember that we were granted asylum because my father was dangerous and had vowed to murder my mother, my brothers and me. He testified that he strangled us kids and broke my mother’s nose several times. He attacked her with a knife and fractured my 4 years old brother’s skull in a drunken tirade. Yet the local family court felt that my mother's fear of my father was interfering in his relationship with his children.

We lived in anonymity for 14 years until we were found by the FBI. It is important to mention that the United States dropped all federal criminal kidnapping charges against my mother. She refused to apologize to a egotistical county judge who was out for revenge and voluntarily plead guilty to one count of contempt of court as noted in the court records: "I admit to having contempt for the court which failed to protect my children."

We are still residing in the Netherlands and will be eternally grateful for grating us asylum despite our privileged American nationality.

All children have the right to be safe!

Kind Regards,
Jennifer Collins

Holly Collins Protected her Children by Leaving the Country

2010-10-28T12:46:00.015-04:00

Family Court in America:

"Jennifer Collins and her brother were abused by their father and yet the Hennepin County Famiy Court (Minnesota) awarded him custody. Their mother, Holly Collins, fled with them to protect them from further abuse. They were granted asylum in Europe."

American Refugee in Holland - Holly Collins

2010-10-28T12:46:00.012-04:00

Here's an interesting little article about American refugees in foreign countries. I am proud of my mom for being mentioned again for her accomplishments. The reporter misses the main point by trying to make it appear that life as a refugee is posh. Everyone knows that living in a refugee camp is anything but luxurious. My mom worked hard in the refugee camps scrubbing toilets and floors for 50 cents and hour.

I do agree with Donna Covey, the chief executive of the refugee Council in the UK, who says: “No country is safe for every person all of the time. Those with a genuine need for protection, whatever country they are from, should have the right to claim asylum in a place of safety.” And… that is why my mom, Holly Collins is the first American to be granted asylum in another country. Thanks again mom!

Oct 25, 2010
American Citizens Seek Asylum in Great Britain
http://blogs.ilw.com/politicalasylum/2010/10/american-citizens-seek-asylum-in-great-britain.html

We usually think of the United States as a country where people fleeing persecution come to seek asylum. But sometimes, American citizens flee their country in search of safety elsewhere.

The British Daily Mail reports that five Americans currently have asylum cases pending in the UK. The cases came to light earlier this month when a whistleblower, Rory Clarke of the National Asylum Support Service, made the information public. According to Mr. Clark, the Americans are in Great Britain to take advantage of the posh benefits available to asylum seekers. These benefits include free housing and healthcare, and £35 per week. In some cases, asylum seekers can receive benefits for years before their claims are rejected. Mr. Clarke says that he was so shocked by this abuse of the system that he resigned his job.

The five Americans are not the only U.S. citizens to seek asylum abroad. The Guardian reports that between 2004 and 2008, 45 Americans (and 15 Canadians) filed for asylum in the UK. All 60 cases were rejected.

The basis for most claims was not revealed. However, a US government source said the American applications were most likely submitted by self-declared “political refugees” claiming they faced discrimination under the administration of President Bush. An on-line posting by an alleged American refugee claimed that he was seeking sanctuary in Scotland because he had been “persecuted as a political dissident against US government war-mongering.”
According to the Guardian:

A small number of Americans have successfully claimed asylum abroad over the past few decades. In 1997 the Netherlands granted asylum to Holly Ann Collins, together with her three children, when they claimed to be fleeing domestic abuse. The family had spent three years living in four different Dutch refugee camps before their application was approved [she returned to the U.S. in 2008 where she pled guilty to contempt of court]. In June 2008 Texan mother Chere Tomayko and her two daughters were granted asylum in Costa Rica, also on the grounds of abuse.

There also have been cases recently of Americans seeking asylum in Canada in order to avoid service in Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, there is a website devoted to war resisters in Canada.
While the idea of U.S. citizens seeking asylum abroad seems a bit suspect, I suppose I agree with Donna Covey, the chief executive of the Refugee Council in the UK, who says: “No country is safe for every person all of the time. Those with a genuine need for protection, whatever country they are from, should have the right to claim asylum in a place of safety.”

Longing to go home to Marblehead Massachusetts

2010-09-30T04:33:00.014-04:00

Kidnapped children long to return home to Marblehead Massachusetts

On June 30 1992 I left my home in Marblehead Massachusetts to go to Minnesota for a scheduled visit with my father. Even though I was only 7 years old at the time I knew, suspected or feared that I would never return home to 234 Washington Street in the old town of this quaint little New England seaside village. 18 years and several journeys later we are finally preparing to go home to Marblehead.

I remember my mother promising me that summer that we would be coming home after a short visit to Minnesota but at the same time my father had an entirely different promise. He promised that we would never see our mom again. He threatened that he was going to kill us or kill her but he was determined to destroy our mother one way or another and he almost succeeded.

Two months before our departure for the dreaded visit my father he would call our home in Marblehead every Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Sometimes he was friendly. He would ask how our day at school was and he would tell us that he loved us and that he missed us. He would regularly end the conversation by cursing and threatening to kill our mother. When I cried he threatened that if I hung up the phone he would tell the judge that our mom wouldn't let us talk to him and then he could take us away from her. So I would stand there in my soft cotton white nightgown with pink roses, staring out at the clock on the steeple of Abbot hall listening to words and scenarios that would inspire nightmares in grown men. Sometimes my father would shout "tell her... tell her now!" I remember standing there with one barefoot rubbing the other. "Tell her!" he'd holler "Or I will come down there now!" I could barely get out the words through my tears "Mommy he says he's gonna’ kill you again!"

"How can he keep doing this?" she screamed and fell to the ground by my feet, crushing one of my toes. I stood there looking at my crumpled mother on the floor, listening to my father's violent words in my ears, wondering when would be a good time to pull my little foot out from underneath my mom. Things became more confusing when I once saw my 9 year old brother throw one of his new toys on the floor. I wondered why he would break one of his favorite toys. I felt abandoned when my mom got up and went to my brother and hugged him. I felt bad for him because he was standing there with tears running down his face holding the toy he just broke. My mom didn't even get mad at him. She hugged him and comforted him but I felt like I was left alone in the grips of a monster.

“Mommy” I squealed just to make sure that she wouldn’t forget about me. Of course she came running, almost tripping over my brother as she dragged him under her arm. She ducked her head to peek through the living room window of our second story apartment to the clock on the steeple of the town hall. The big hand was nearly approaching the 3 but it wasn't time yet. Our mother wasn't allowed to take the phone away from us anymore, even when our father was swearing at us and threatening to kill us or her. My mom whispered for my brother to take the phone and I buried myself in her lap. I would routinely put my hands over my ears so I wouldn't have to hear my father's threats to my beloved brother.

A few minutes later mommy whispered "Okay it's time." My brother blurted out "Its 8:15 -bye" and he hung up the phone and let loose like it was going to bite him. Our mommy had a standard regiment of apologizing for our father and for her inability to protect us from him. She would chant over and over again "It's okay... you are safe now." Eventually our sobs would subside and I would dare to open my eyes. I would search for a view of the town clock to be reminded that it would past bedtime and I would stare at it wondering how much longer mommy would let us stay up for extra hugs and cuddles.

The calls kept coming twice a week. The death threats continued and the old clock on the steeple of the town hall became our savior. The minute when the 'big hand reaches the three" we were allowed to break free from our father's verbal abuse. Despite the biweekly tirades we received from our father we loved life in Marblehead.

Marblehead was good to us. The very day we moved into Marblehead the local paper showed up unexpectedly taking photos and welcoming us to our new life without violence. Our mom began smiling, laughing, making jokes and making friends. We didn't have a lot of money but our mom was resourceful. She would buy material that was on sale and make matching mother and daughter dresses and even matching shorts for my brother. One of the boutique owners across the street from our house marveled over our outfits and made an agreement with our mom that she would make dresses to sell in her store and we would be able to keep the extra beautiful fabric for ourselves. I had the nicest dresses from the whole school. Sometimes my mom would even receive a cash bonus and she would take us directly to the ice cream shop or the pizzeria on the corner.

Our mom had also created her own healing plan for us. After school we walked to the waters edge every day. We gathered stones and then we assigned them the name of something that was bothering us and then pitch them one by one into the ocean. "I didn't like it when my dad kicked me in the head." I don't like it when my dad hits me." I am afraid when my dad says that he will kill my mommy." Each time my brother and I dared more and more. Sometimes I would hesitate and look at my mother and wonder if I really dared to mention the times my father would suffocate us. I didn't want to hurt her but I was in the process of purging. I felt bad for her when my brother once said "I don't like it when mom doesn't protect us." For a while our confessions escalated and we confessed all of the horrible things our father did to us but eventually we ran out of horror stories and made normal kid complaints like "I don't like going to bed early." And "I don't like eating vegetables."

Life in Marblehead was peaceful and the happiest I had ever been in my young life. Once we had found safety it was unimaginable that we would have to go alone with our abusive father again. I am grateful that we had that time to heal and that I have fond memories of my childhood but it made it all that more painful when the judge reversed custody to our father citing that our mom was interfering in our relationship with the man who beat us. I lost everything that day; my home, my bedroom, my dog, my town my mom and whatever self confidence I had.

After 18 months of begging our mom to rescue us and court supervisors ignoring our bruised and battered little bodies, my brother and I ran away from our fathers house and met our mom at the local video store. I begged my mom to take us back to our home in Marblehead but she told us that it wasn't our home anymore. Our toys were packed up and in storage and we were going away where they could never find us. We ended up in a refugee camp in Europe and three years later became the first American to receive asylum in another country. We lived in anonymity for 14 years until we were found by the FBI. All kidnapping charges against my mother were dismissed and we finally got up the courage to report at the American embassy in Amsterdam where we started the re-identification process. Tears filled my eyes when I was sworn in and congratulated for being an American again.

Things are coming round and I am awaiting the arrival of my first American passport. I am proud to be an American and I am excited that I will finally be able to come out of exile and return to the only home I have known, Marblehead Massachusetts.

Americans in Exile trying to get home to the United States

2010-09-30T03:11:00.012-04:00

We have been busy applying for our birth certificates, social security cards and even our American passports. We have been plowing through all of the bureaucracy and it has paid off.

We have met the first requirements of the RE-IDENTIFICATION process. Today we were sworn in as Americans!

We will always be grateful to the Netherlands for protecting us but we are still Americans and we want to go home!

My big brother is also an American AGAIN!

Child Abuse Victims Seeking Justice

2010-07-26T01:05:00.006-04:00

The 25 and 27 - year old victims of a vicious child abuse custody case are seeking justice 18 years after custody was reversed to their father who they accused of abusing them when they were children. Now they and other child abuse victims are coming forward demanding answers and changes.

Over 2 decades ago in 1990 Jennifer and Zachary Collins told their mother Holly Collins that their father was hurting them during visitation. Holly Collins only 24 years old at the time believed her children because she was also abused by their father/ her ex-husband Mark Collins, Maple Grove Minnesota. After several orders for protection were granted and a thorough investigation into all the allegations of abuse and counter claims from Mark Collins that Holly was an unfit mother, a family court judge Michael Davis issued a finding of domestic violence. Despite his finding of abuse in the very same order Judge Davis decided that the mother was emotionally unstable and reversed custody of the 7 year old Jennifer and 9 year old Zachary to their father, the very man who this judge found to be abusive.

How is this possible?

That is what Jennifer, Zachary and countless other abused children want to know. “Everyone knew that our father was hurting us!” insists Jennifer “But court officials just covered it up because they did not like that our mother was so frantic, desperate and emotional.”

When challenged abou being angry Jennifer Collins replies: "Yes I am angry. Nothing's changed and kids are still being handed over to known abusers."

Holly Collins and her children celebrate 16 years of freedom!

2010-07-21T00:07:00.006-04:00

HAPPY GOTCHA DAY!

It has been 16 years since our mom rescued us!

June 30 2010

I have recently received another package of documentation from the United States. I still can't believe that this young mother (my mother) managed to rescue her kids from their abuser and flee to another country and be the first American to ever receive asylum in another country.

Looking through the records I realize that my mom was younger than I am now when she was forced to protect us from our father’s fists. After my father fractured my brother’s skull this young battered woman/girl of only 22 years old did what she was supposed to do. She left her abuser!

She worked several jobs, enrolled in university, and raised 2 young children by herself as she also tried every legal avenue possible to protect her children from abuse. When the American Justice System failed her and her children this young mom got up the courage to take her precious children away from the man who beat her and threatened to kill her. She was so brave!

Think about how selfless she was… She left everything behind – EVERYTHING! She didn’t even have contact with her family or friends for over 14 years. And she is still living in exile until her son (my younger brother) turns 18 and is protected from this vindictive judge in Minnesota.

Now that all kidnapping charges against her have been dropped it has been confirmed that she really is a (s)hero.

Of course my father and his supporters are still belly aching about how my mother got away with something but everyone else knows the truth. –

Holly Collins is a Hero!

Thank you Mom!

Even on the run we were happier than we were with our abusive father.

Searching for Jim Saas, Jim Sass, Jim Sas, Minnesota

2010-07-14T12:47:00.018-04:00

Does anyone know how I can find out the identity of this visitaiton supervisor?

His name is: Jim Sass, Jim Saas, Jim Sas, etc...

His alias is: “JES."

His email address is: jesmpls@gmail.com"

His IP address is: 69.11.128.26

He describes himself as: "an advanced education, a degree and years of experience in working with and advocating for children, women and families.” And… “I too am a single parent who as adopted children from foster care."

It is about time this guy is held accountable for his lies.

Here are few examples of his signature. I can’t make out exactly what his name is. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,
Jennifer

Visitation Supervisor Still Obsessed with Holly Collins 17 years later

2010-06-29T17:09:00.009-04:00

You haven’t heard from me for a while and now a man from the past is trying to stir up trouble again. He just doesn’t stop harassing us in public!

There was an incident 17 years ago when a visitation supervisor got caught in his lies while trying to frame my mother. I think he even got fired for this incident. He has been obsessing over my mother for years. Now out of the blue he posts a new comment on internet:

IWASTHERETOO Says:
June 24, 2010 at 5:44 pm

Jennifer,

As the court – visitation supervisor who documented that asthma attack – let me set the record FULLY correct and straight as you have a view of what happened that is incorrect.

Your MOTHER fed you a pasta dish that was covered in tomato sauce and she caused you to have an attack – I and the other worker documented it and wrote up the paperwork – and you were MADE sick by your mother!!! You have memories that are embedded in your head by your mother that have a slanted view of Mark and EVERYONE who didn’t agree or back up her presentation of what goes on. It’s called Personality Disorder…and she plays the victim very well…and the chaos that she continues to surround herself in is where she feels comfort.

I pray for you and Zach and also Chip – there is MUCH pain to go around here and I’m sure for years and years, your anger, pain and confusion will go on and on and on…much like your song during visitation…”Some where out there…” – until you can resolve this and MOVE ON!!!

First of all I remember my father's physical abuse as clear as can be! I also specifically recall that my father would blow smoke in my face before visitation and tell me to ask my mother for my asthma medication. One time during visitation I was having difficulty breathing and I asked/begged the supervisors for my medicine. After pleading for help to breathe the supervisors finally told my mother to give me an inhaler.

A few days later one of the supervisors issued a false report claiming that my mother gave me the medicine without permission. Our visitation was terminated and there was an emergency hearing before the judge. An advocate who picked up my mother from visitation (for her own protection from my father) witnessed the conversation between my mother and the supervisor. My mother was upset because I came into the visitation in an asthma attack. The advocate testified that the supervisor admitted to her that he gave my mother permission to give me my medicine.

The judge found that the supervisors new claims were false and we were suddenly allowed to have even more extended visitations with our mom. This supervisor was reprimanded and lost his job.

A few years ago this same visitation supervisor violated confidentially laws and posted comments on the internet to try to discredit my mother in a public forum. He is obsessed and then he even tried to discredit me as well. There are so many lies that he has told. Now he claims that my mother made me ill by giving me tomato sauce. He has done his homework because it is clearly published on my site that I was allergic to RAW tomatoes when I was a kid. What we ate during visitation was never the issue. This guy is twisting the facts and trying to confuse the public to try to cover up his lies.

This visitation supervisor doesn’t know us at all. He supervised a few visitations with us and our mother over 17 years ago. He witnessed us cry and beg our mother to rescue us from our father. Every single report that he made of visitation he wrote that my mother exhibited “Appropriate Behavior” EVERY SINGLE TIME!!! I have recently received copies of these reports.

Now this same man suddenly claims that “you were made sick by your mother.” If that was true then that surely would have been “inappropriate behavior!” He said himself in an earlier post that he was a mandated reporter and if he witnessed abuse he would have had to report it to child protection. Guess what - he NEVER made a report to child protection!

This stranger claims that my mother has a personality disorder. LOOK at all the records – NOT ONE single psychologist, psychiatrist or mental health professional ever diagnosed my mother as having a personality disorder! - NEVER!!!

My mother has been diagnosed over and over again as having “Post Traumatic Stress” caused by years of severe abuse!!! However for years now that is not even the case. My mother has been diagnosed as being emotionally healthy for years and years!

It’s funny that this man who met my mom a few times over 17 years ago claims that “she plays the victim very well.” No… she doesn’t ‘play the victim.’ She WAS a victim! The judge found that my mother was a victim of my father’s abuse!!!

It’s quite interesting that this stranger from 17 years ago now claims “the chaos that she continues to surround herself in is where she feels comfort.” This is so far from the truth! He knows absolutely nothing about my mother. How dare he continue with his lies? My mother and siblings are living in a quiet little town in the Netherlands. She is so happy and the children are thriving. My mother’s success is the ultimate proof of her resilience.

I think it is interesting that this man concludes that “there is much pain to go around here.” That was true in the past because my father BEAT me, my brother and my mother! It was extremely painful. Guys like this that defend my abusive father made it even more difficult to heal, but you know what… I am healing and it’s not so painful anymore.

I am moving on and that is something that my father and his friends just can’t accept.

A Battered Woman's Daughter

2010-03-22T12:59:00.000-04:00

Dear Domestic Violence Advocates,

My name is Jennifer Collins. My mother was a battered woman 20 years ago. After my father beat her up (AGAIN) and fractured my 4 year old brother’s skull at the same time, she did what she was supposed to do (and told to do by child protection) and she left my father. Somehow my father was able to get unsupervised visitation with me and my brother. When we confided in our mother that he was still hurting us she just couldn’t bring herself to force us to go alone with this monster. Our father went back to court and actually got custody. At first we weren’t allowed to have any contact with our mother at all. Then during a court supervised visitation I showed her the bruises on my back and bottom and told her and the supervisors that my father was still hurting us. Visitation was somehow terminated again.

My mother tried everything possible to protect us and when the legal system failed us over and over again she ‘kidnapped’ us (actually we ran away to her.) We fled the country and were granted asylum in the Netherlands. We are the first Americans to ever be granted asylum in another country!

We lived in secrecy for 14 years until two years ago when we were found by the FBI. We were terrified! I contacted every organization I could think of and followed up on every referral I was given. Even if we didn’t fall under your specialty or jurisdiction you took the time to help, listen, support or send me in the right direction.

Last year my mother returned to the United States to face charges. All of the kidnapping charges against my mother were dismissed. She pled guilty to one count of Contempt of Court to which she bravely replied “I admit to having contempt for the court which failed to protect my children!” We returned to the Netherlands and are living in exile until my little brother turns 18 (only one more year to go!)

When we return to the United States I am determined to help children who are in the same position that I once was.

I just want to thank you for all your help and to remind you that sometimes there are happy endings.

With my love and gratitude,
Jennifer Collins

Americanchildrenunderground.blogspot.com
CA3CACACA.blogspot.com

Tell Me Again... What is Parental Alienation Syndrome?

2010-03-13T06:49:00.003-05:00

First of All... Parental Alienation is NOT a recognized Syndrome!

I have seen this drawing from my brother for several years now, but I never fully looked at it and realized how it is such a clear depliction of how domestic violence affects children.

PAS is nothing more than an Abuse Excuse

CA3 - A Place for Chidren of Abuse

2010-03-13T03:03:00.004-05:00

My name is Jennifer Collins. When I was a little girl I was abused by my father. When my mother tried to protect my brother and me, my father accused her of “Parental Alienation.” The court found that both of my parents were correct; my mother was right that my father was abusive and my father was right that my mother was keeping us from him. So… the court decided that the current custody agreement wasn’t working and they reversed custody to the very man who was beating us. How do I sanely explain what insanely happened to me? How do I make sense of something that can’t be rationalized? Even now, it seems unreal - except I know what happened to me and the court documents show that this "drama" is really a documentary.

"Happy childhood" - I've wondered a lot about that throughout my life. Does that mean the same thing for everyone? Is a "happy childhood" a break in between beatings or is it never being beaten at all? My father used to beat me and my brother. Just as (or perhaps even more) traumatizing was watching my father beat up my mother. It wasn’t just a quick smack or just one excessively hard blow. He would go on and on for what seemed like an eternity; tormenting her, slapping her, yelling at her, punching her, kicking her, pulling her hair, etc… I used to hide in the closet with my brother and it wasn't for a game of "Hide & Seek". We would leave the door open a little bit because I was afraid of the dark. Through the crack, we would watch with horror the savage abuse of our poor, sweet, loving mommy. That memory alone has scarred me for life.

When my father repeatedly slammed my 4 year old brother into a wall and fractured his skull, that is where it all should have ended, but it was only the beginning... Child protection was called by our priest or the doctors. (I still can’t figure out who was the first one to call because that is kept anonymous.) My mother was threatened that if she didn’t leave our father, we would be taken away and she would be charged with “failure to protect.” She did what she was told to do; she fled with us and filed for a temporary Order for Protection which was extended for a year.

As a child I thought what happened up until this point was both of my parents' responsibility. This is a common mistake also made by many professionals and the public who fail to understand the abuser is solely responsible for his actions. Once the court system “took responsibility” for the safety and well being of my brother and me, they must share the blame for failing to protect us since they were completely aware of my father’s abuse. Even though it was my father's fists and his ongoing use of violence against us, he was allowed to hurt us under their "watch." So from this point on, I hold the court 100% responsible for every ounce of terror, trauma and injury we suffered at our father's hands! Although my mother was awarded custody of us, despite my father's well-known and well-documented use of force and violence against us, my father was somehow awarded unsupervised visitation with my brother and me! This is our entry into the “INjustice System” (as I experienced it.) How could this happen? The search into answering that question became the root of my investigation and examination of our family court system, which subsequently led to the creation of my organization CA3 – Children Against Court Appointed Child Abuse.

My mother was only 22 years-old when she fled from my father’s violence yet she was even willing to return to my father when she came to understand how she had been betrayed by the system that was put in place to protect her and her children. Can you imagine escaping abuse, then coming to the realization that it was safer for your children if you went back to your abuser because you could distract some of the abuse away from them? This young battered woman was overwrought with guilt because we were forced to go alone with our father on visitations which left us facing the brunt of his anger since she was no longer there to protect us from him. My father continued to beat us and threaten our mother that he was going to kill us and himself so she would have to suffer for the rest of her life. This scared the heck out of all of us! Time after time my father would hold his hand or a pillow over my face and suffocate me until it “all turned black.” Every single time he had me gasping for air I thought I was going to die. Now that I am older I realize how close he came to really killing us.

My father’s abuse continued up until my brother was 9 years-old and I was 7. We would beg our mother not to send us with him. She tried to protect us and let us stay home, but then our father showed up at our home with the police. They would enter our home, search for us and literally pull us out from under our beds where we were trying to hide to find safety - then the police would actually hand us over to the man who was hurting us! Sometimes our mom gave up and would just hand us over to him with tears running down her face, apologizing and trying to explain that she didn’t have any other choice. We were two terrified little kids who couldn't understand WHY our mom, who loved us so much, wouldn’t protect us. Regardless of all the evidence and witnesses to the facts of our abuse, our father filed for a reversal of custody claiming that our fear and unwillingness to go with him was actually caused by our mother's use of “parental alienation” against him. In another step deeper into the injustice system, we were ripped away from our mother and forced to live alone with our father!

Considering the circumstances, you'd think my father would at least try to put on a good show with the court’s oversight, but he continued to severely beat us regardless! The GAL’s "sage" words did little to help us: “Visitation with the mother is to remain supervised as long as the children keep reporting abuse.” Can you believe it? All my father had to do to keep control was to make sure that he kept beating us and he had it writing! This is 100% the fault of the court. I would show up at court supervised visitation with my mother and lift up my shirt to display the welts and bruises on my back and bottom that my father had left on me saying “He’s still hurting us.” Everyone gasped but did nothing. They'd tell me “You are not allowed to talk about those kinds of things anymore.” That is what I call “Court Appointed Child Abuse” - when the legal authorities KNOW that a child is being abused and does not do a thing to protect them. I thought what happened to me and my brother was unique but through research, I learned that thousands of children each year are court ordered into such abuse!

Having survived this nightmare, I’m sure you can understand that I wouldn't wish such a fate on any child. Can you imagine how I felt when I discovered that it's still going on in family court cases all over this country? Mind you, these are DOMESTIC VIOLENCE cases where violence, abuse and trauma were the reasons for the divorce and disintegration of the family in the first place!

Something has to be done! It is up to us grown children of abuse to come forward with our stories of how the system failed us. Then we need to demand change! That is how CA3 “Children Against Court Appointed Child Abuse” was born. Many people, even some politicians, are starting to take notice. Let’s join together to stop the CA-CA!

Please send me your story to me at: CA3CACACA@hotmail.com

Sincerely,
Jennifer
CA3CACACA.blogspot.com

Children Against
Court Appointed
Child Abuse

Thanks Mom!

2010-03-12T05:03:00.004-05:00

This is my mother's favorite commercial. I just thought I would take a minute and thank her again for everything she has done for me!

I love you mom!

Glenn Sacks Teaches PAS to his Own Children

2010-03-10T06:03:00.006-05:00

I just read part 3 of "the real Glenn Sacks by Holly Collins (Jennifer Collins) and damn that girl can write. After reading all three, the most prevelant point that I see, besides the most obvious that he hates women, is that his children don't like him. What he teaches as "PAS", his own children exhibit towards him. The Sacks children watched their father demean their mother, and women in general. Their entire lives have been devoted to a controlling father who clearly forced his selfish wants and needs above the needs of his children. While he wrote, spoke, and taught men "his side", he was miserably failing as a father. Being a father is not overpowering your children with your own needs, and it most certinally is not taking complete control over the family. Now that he has written about his life as the primary care giver to the children while in a marriage, and he ruled the roost in every step possible, doesn't everyone now see that what he claims is PAS is what he did to his own family???

http://www.randijames.com/2010/02/glenn-sacks-get-served.html

List of Countries Protecting American Domestic Violence Victims

2010-03-09T05:50:00.005-05:00

Countries which have offered protection to Abused American Women and Children:
New Zealand
The Netherlands
Costa Rica
Italy
Switerland
Sweeden
Ireland

Countries that do NOT offer refuge to American Domestic Violence Victims:

England
Canada
Mexico

Another Country Refusing to Extradite American Domestic Violence Victims

2010-03-09T05:48:00.004-05:00

Irish judge refuses to extradite American woman and her children to the U.S.
By DONAL THORNTON 02/12/10

A High Court judge refused to extradite a woman and her family to the U.S.

The Irish High Court has refused to allow an American woman and her mother to be extradited to the US.

The woman breached an access order by taking her children out of their home state to Ireland. The woman and her mother are of Irish descent, and the Irish court has refused to reveal their identities. Judge Michael Peart refused the U.S.'s request to extradite the women and stated that the alleged offences had no grounding under Irish law. The women have refused to return to America, and the daughter said that her ex husband is extremely violent and she was concerned about the safety of her family. The woman was allegedly beaten frequently by her husband, and one of her daughters was also allegedly abused by her father.

In 2005, a U.S. court granted the father weekend access to his two children. On April 3 that year, the children failed to appear at an agreed pick up point. It was later discovered that the children had relocated to Ireland with their mother and grandmother. Shortly thereafter, the mother and grandmother were charged with "intentionally and knowingly retaining" her two children on April 3,2005. However, there were no facts to prove that the mother knowingly or intentionally retained the children on the mentioned date. If the mother and grandmother were found guilty of the crime in the U.S., they would serve a jail term.

To extradite the women, Judge Peart had to be satisfied that the offence in question would amount to a criminal offense in Ireland.

The mother of the children told the court that she was frequently abused by her ex husband during their marriage. She also told the court that he tried to run her down in his truck, and claimed that his new wife had stabbed her while her ex-husband looked on.

The women and her two children are now permanently living in Ireland.

Another Article Discrediting Glenn Sacks

2010-03-09T05:47:00.003-05:00

Glenn Sacks Gets Served by Domestic Violence Survivor
UPDATED!! 2/15

Jennifer Collins has done a great write-up on the "father's right's" coward, Glenn Sacks, that has continuously vilified her mother, Holly Collins. Holly Collins fled to the Netherlands with her children after the Hennepin County Minnesota family court system awarded child custody to a man who abused them all. Glenn Sacks accuses the mom of fabricating the abuse and continues his vengeful attack on Holly's grown daughter, Jennifer. He insists that Jennifer is suffering from parental alienation syndrome (although "psych" "diagnoses" cannot be made without a "professional" interviewing and evaluating all parties) and lying about the past abuse.

Read Jennifer's two-part piece:

The Real Glenn Sacks

and

College Student Jennifer Collins Exposes the Real Glen Sacks

If you are unfamiliar the the entire ordeal, it would help if you read some of the other posts she has done in which she describes how Glenn Sacks has assaulted her family.

I can only admire the courage Jennifer has continue to exhibit in battling this coward and his minions. Many have told her to stop, because he will cause her more harm, but I can understand that when someone just lies so damn much, you can't help but to defend yourself. Glenn Sacks is a bully and most people don't stand up to bullies. But this isn't grade school.

After reading both of Jennifer's pieces, the conclusion I have come to is that Glenn Sacks has very poor self-esteem and resulting extreme projection issues. I mean, it's really, really bad. So bad that I wonder if secretly he believes all these bad things about men...you know, deep, deep, down inside. He must know, deep, deep down inside, that all of the men that flock to him can't possibly all be falsely accused, or "robbed" of their parental relationships.

For now, I'm going to jump on the train of pscyhoanalyzation...shit, everyone else does it!

Glenn Sacks is indeed a bully.

The entire article can be seen here:
http://www.randijames.com/2010/02/glenn-sacks-get-served.html

Conclusion of "The Real Glenn Sacks" Investigation by Jennifer Collins

2010-03-07T07:59:00.017-05:00

College student, Jennifer Collins investigated the unethical Father Supremacist columnist, Glenn Sacks.

Glenn Sacks had a sad childhood. His father was a workaholic and was never around. Glenn resented his mother for her use of physical discipline and her lack of enthusiasm about parenting (because she was bedridden with cancer.) Although his parents fought in front of him and his sister, Glenn Sacks is still under the illusion that he had "a perfect family life". He was a lonely child, very unpopular at school and embarrassed by his father. From information provided by some of his former classmates, I learned that Glenn Sacks was very insecure especially when the other children made fun of him for his rather large nose and tall posture which may have been the cause for him to stand/walk hunched over. It is truly pitiful how unhappy Glenn Sacks was as a child. High school was no better and unbearable for Glenn who was the butt of many tasteless pranks. He had a falling out with his father and was not at all close with his own mother.

Glenn Sacks then went onto University where he felt persecuted just for being a guy. After feelings of guilt regarding some sort of sexual incident, he changed colleges. Sacks went to UCLA where he received a degree in Latin American studies. Sacks became a teacher but he was not happy in the classroom. His painful past was too much for him to bear. He also taught at the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Perhaps that is where his fear that one of his former students will file charges against him for rape stems from. I don’t know exactly what sort of sexual assault Glenn Sacks committed in his past, but it appears to haunt and be following him wherever he goes.

Glenn Sacks married and had a son, yet he was very unhappy with fatherhood. His son had severe discipline problems and Glenn Sacks relays that he found parenting to be a “hollow, joyless fatherhood”. Using the excuse that grading papers was beneath him, Sacks quit his job and then a depressed Glenn hid at home while his wife worked.

Many years later Sacks had a daughter and he decided to dedicate everything he had to this precious little girl - but he eventually lost site of appropriate parent-child boundaries and became over enmeshed with the poor child.

In 2001, even though Glenn Sacks was still hiding at home, he dumped his 3 year-old daughter off at day care so he could have more time to devote to his hateful, anti-women, anti-mother propaganda. He founded GlennSacks.com which is nothing more than a self-made website that spews his gender-biased babble.

Glenn Sacks prides himself as being a self-proclaimed "investigative journalist" yet does nothing more than sit at home alone all day looking up the daily news then rambling on about how this or that situation reflects a conspiracy against all men while his wife, the breadwinner of the family, admirably works providing for her family's needs while his kids are in school.

Glenn Sacks has aligned himself with male zealots, father’s rights attorneys and father supremacists making it abundantly clear to his wife that she may never leave him and that divorce is absolutely out of the question. He backs up his position by making it clear that the children belong to him and if his wife ever leaves him, he will take the children away from her. Glenn Sacks has publically humiliated his wife over and over again yet he professes to have a "happy marriage" - I think someone needs to tell Mr. Sacks that a happy marriage is about putting someone else before, NOT beneath, yourself.

Sacks joined forces with "Fathers and Family" in 2009. Fathers and Families boasts that they have “the largest membership base, the highest media profile, the most funding of any family court reform organization.” Their mission statement in principle is actually quite honorable: “Fathers & Families improves the lives of children and strengthens society by protecting the child’s right to the love and care of both parents after separation or divorce. We seek better lives for children through family court reform that establishes equal rights and responsibilities for fathers and mothers.”

However under the "leadership" of Glenn Sacks, the new Fathers & Families sets out to destroy and discredit child abuse victims who come forward with accounts of abuse perpetrated by their fathers while kids who come forward with accounts of abuse by their mothers or other females are embraced.

You would think that a fathers organization would embrace all abused children and would be leading the charge to reform the behavior of their violent and abusive peers who give fathers a bad name. You would think that a fathers organization would lead by principle, honor and example, showing the world how wonderful non-abusive fathers are - gentlemen raising gentle men.

Thankfully, with a new editor in charge and new policies being enforced in the beginning of 2010, it appears that Sacks is being weaned out.

It is obvious that the Sacks family experiment where mommy works long hours, over time and attends law school in the evening so her husband can attempt to fulfill her role in their children's lives by playing Mr. Mom has failed causing severe emotional problems for their pre-teen daughter. The temper tantrums her father groomed her for by creating a dependency upon him are exploited by him on the internet in his attempt to prove what "a loving understanding father" he is by giving into her demands. Sadly, this just shows the world how far he'll go to get attention and documents his inappropriate parenting behavior.

Sacks infatuation and exclusivity with his daughter is highly disturbing and reflects factors identified in covert incest. Strangely, Sacks has admitted that one of his greatest fears is being arrested for raping one of his daughter's friends and has made public statements saying if his wife ever brings his daughter to an emergency room doctor to be evaluated for sexual abuse, Sacks will “blow his head off” referring to the treating physician.

In the meantime Sacks teenage son displays much animosity towards his father. His son has made it abundantly clear that he is ashamed to be seen with his father in public and has referred to his father as "a loser" on several occasions. As always, Sacks tries to gain sympathy by portraying himself as the wounded victim of his son’s distain and advertises his own insecurity by constantly pulling at the audience for praise and reinforcement, referring to himself all to often as "a loser" and pitying "the plight" of his children. Sacks writes: "if I were him, I wouldn't want to be seen with me, either... "

When his children do something wrong, Sacks explains with delight how “I can hardly wait...” when they've “expected to be punished” so he can say to wait “for your mother to see when she gets home from work" to them. He has substituted the old saying "Just wait till your father gets home!" and frightens the children he loves so much by threatening them with their mother?

Sacks rallies abusive fathers and offers support and understanding for their abuse of children! He publically states that he believes in hitting children as a form of punishment!

If a child comes forward with abuse allegations against a man Glenn Sacks searches for any inconsistencies in their accounts, whatever they may be, and then tries to discredit the child! Although Sacks himself asks for forgiveness when he makes a mistake he is quick to condemn everyone else whose ever made a mistake and refuses to listen to anyone else's explanation but his own.

If Glenn Sacks wasn’t such a hypocrite who sanctions and promotes child abuse, I would have to feel bad for him since he fails at everything he does - from being a teacher, husband and father.

On a lighter side, I almost felt bad for the guy sometimes for his sheer cluelessness. Sacks is attempting to gather a collection of bedtime stories which he intends on republishing. His target audience is 8-10 year old children. Background: “I'm starting a blog-based collection of bedtime stories for children… The core of these stories will be those I tell my 9 year-old daughter. She's pretty demanding. She's only 9, but she enjoys learning about adult issues.”

Here are a few examples: (Maybe we're missing something here in the Netherlands, but is this an appropriate bed time story for a 9 year-old? My mom said she would never tell it to the little kids at night and probably not during the day either!)

Glenn Sacks Bedtime Story #1
One of the things that happens sometimes that's bad is racial profiling. That's when police judge somebody by their race instead of who they are as a person. And sometimes they do bad things to black people because of it. One example is what happened to Joe Morgan. He flew in on a plane to Los Angeles. He got off the plane and was making a phone call when a cop came up to him, grabbed him from behind, threw him on the floor, and handcuffed him behind his back. Imagine how humiliated he was lying on the floor of the airport with his hands behind his back, all the passengers staring at him. They arrested him because he fit the profile of a black drug dealer…

Glenn Sacks Bedtime Story #2
Roberto Clemente was a great outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates during the 1960s… There was a terrible earthquake in Managua… He said, "I will go down there myself… So Clemente got on the plane, too. But the plane was overloaded with supplies and weighed too much. They shouldn't have had so much, but Clemente wanted to bring as much as possible to the people suffering in Nicaragua. The plane crashed, and Clemente was killed…

Now I don’t know if this is a cultural difference because, although American, I was raised in the Netherlands. I have 4 little brothers and sisters between the ages of 8-12 and my mother and (step)father would never tell such disturbing stories to them. I am all for everyday heroes but this poor little Sacks girl! With stories like these at bedtime, what chance does she have for a healthy, normal childhood?

Since Glenn Sacks wants true stories which teach a morale lesson, how about the bedtime story of my life? (I sent him a copy as he requested at glenn@glennsacks.com but I guess he just hasn’t gotten around to adding it to his collection yet...)

Jennifer Collins bedtime story#1
Sometimes people need to stand up for themselves, no matter how powerful or rich or famous the person treating them badly is. Kids need to respect adults, such as their parents and teachers, but only if these grown ups respect the kids too. Sometimes kids need to stand up for themselves like the story of a little girl named Jennifer.

Many years ago there was a little girl named Jennifer. She lived with her mommy and daddy and her brother. Jennifer’s daddy had a problem though. He drank too much beer and took pills that made him mean. Jennifer’s daddy used to hit her mommy all the time. Sometimes he hit Jennifer and her brother too. One night the dad hurt Jennifer’s mommy and brother so bad that they both had to go to the hospital. Jennifer went with them and she was so scared to see all the blood on her mommy’s face again! Then police came and made the daddy leave because he was too angry. But then Jennifer’s dad got a bad lawyer to help him lie about all the mean things he did...

Then there was this really bad man name Glenn Sacks who also started helping the dad get away with his lies. Glenn Sacks was very mean to Jennifer and said very bad things about her and her mommy even though Jennifer never did anything to Mr. Sacks and he didn’t even know her! This made Jennifer very sad at first but then she got mad and decided to take a stand! Jennifer exposed the really bad man for who he was so he couldn't hurt other people's feelings and families as badly as he had hurt Jennifer's.

Jennifer grew up to help other kids who were being scared and hurt by mean adults and the corrupt family court system. Jennifer, her brother and mommy all got to live happily ever after because the bad men couldn't destroy the truth and they had each other to love forever and ever and ever. The End.

Directory of Jennifer Collins 5 Part Investigation of the Real Glenn Sacks

2010-03-07T07:57:00.014-05:00

In a 5 part series, a university student and child abuse survivor Jennifer Collins investigates the unethical men's columnist (Glenn Sacks) who has been virtually stalking her and her family.

Part I
Preface
Introduction
Anti-Education
Employment (Or lack thereof)
Fatherhood
Parenting Problems
Power And Control

Part II
Do not hate your father
Hate your Mother
It's Okay to Hate Women
Resent Your Wives
Stay At Home Dads
Boys are not Stupid
Boys will be (bad) Boys
Push Girls out Windows
Strong vs Abusive fathers
Distortion
Dumb Dads
American Conspiracy Against Men
Abuse of Power

Part III
I chose my children names
Primary caregiver
Paternal Gate-keeping
Teaching His Son to Disrespect Women
Raising His Son to be an Abuser
Yes Master
It Sucks Having a Dad
Dad is a Looser
Hostile Children
Favoritism In The Sacks Family
Setting Up His Daughter for Dependency on a Man
Kids Don’t Need Dads Like Glenn Sacks
Making Kids Afraid of Divorce
No Need for a Protest To Protect Girls
Inappropriate Parent-Child Boundaries Abound
Puppet Child
Over Enmeshed
Humiliating Pregnant Teen
Those Who Live In Glass Houses

Part IV
Forced Marriage
Minimizing Domestic Violence
Blaming the Victim
Do Not Arrest Batterers
Defending Wife Beaters
Defending Child Sex Abusers
Attacking Protective Parents
Defending Child Rapists
Defending Child Abusers
Minimizing Child Abuse
On Parental Alienation

Part IV
Readers Urged to Investigate Cases
Lie to Prove HIS Point
Opportunist
Opinion Poll Says
Boys Egos above Girls Saftey
Kidnapping Justified for Men Only
Abusive Mothers
Afraid of Being Charged With Child Rape
Covert Incest
Fathers & Families Site Promoting Violence
Cleaning up Fathers & Families
Fathers Rights Above Children’s Safety
Truth never damages
Disclaimer
Final thoughts

This is the Real Glenn Sacks Part V by Jennifer Collins

2010-02-23T12:23:00.025-05:00

College student Jennifer Collins completes her investigation on the unethical men’s rights columnist who has been invading her family’s privacy. (Part 5)

Sacks Asks Readers to Investigate Cases
With a topic as sensitive as gang rape, Glenn Sacks asks his readers to investigate! “I was surprised and disturbed by the (gang rape) case, and asked one of my most intelligent readers, Stan Eads, to review the information in the case”1

Despite Glenn Sacks bogus disclaimer: "I did not ask him to find reasons why the feminists are wrong--I told him, ‘what you find is what you find.’"This is exactly what he did in our case!: "Volunteers Needed for Parental Alienation Project." Again, Glenn Sacks did a shout out to thousands of readers to investigate our case! “Now here's my question--would anybody (or group of two or three people) like to investigate the Collins case for me? To be clear, I do NOT want people who will go in with the intent of proving Holly Collins to be a liar and Jennifer deluded--I want the truth, whichever way it falls. If you find that what Holly and Jennifer claim happened is true, I will make it clear that this is your finding. I will publish your results here on my blog with full credit to you if you wish.”2

I personally responded to Glenn Sacks. I shared the facts of our case with him. He just ignored everything I said! Looks like Glenn Sacks is not a man of his word after all!

Lies to Prove HIS Point
Glenn Sacks: “I investigated the case because misguided and misled domestic violence and feminist advocates are citing it to support the family law changes they seek. These changes will unwittingly make it easier for women (or men) to employ false accusations of abuse against their spouses or former spouses in order to win custody, and will make it even harder for fathers (and mothers) to fight parental alienation.”3 Glenn Sacks actually equates parental alienation with child abuse prevention!

In our specific case Glenn Sacks consciously decided to defend my abusive father at all costs. He ignored the most important factor: that my brother and I are grown and can articulate exactly what happened to us when we were younger. That doesn’t seem to matter to Glenn Sacks. He is determined to promote his cause, even if it means supporting a child abuser and forsaking the child victims! As the documented and legally undisputed victims in this case, my mother, brother and I are the experts in what happened on our case and our truth should be considered above and beyond the false statements made by Glenn Sacks in his sadistic attempt to try to defend my father.

Glenn Sacks: “Holly Collins has repeatedly made accusations of domestic violence or child abuse to a variety of courts, and courts have continually rejected her claims.”4 That is so not true! Our mother was granted several Orders for Protection which were further extended for a year each time!

Glenn Sacks: “Holly Collins has repeatedly accused Mark Collins of fracturing their son Zachary's skull in a violent rage. However, the injury was sustained by Zachary when he fell forward on a ride in an amusement park.”5

Glenn Sacks built his whole case against my mother on this lie he bought from my father. Mr. Sacks, shouldn’t you be angry that my father made a complete fool out of you by getting you to buy into his lies and worse, get you to publicly endorse them? How humiliating! Moreover I absolutely disproved Glenn Sacks lies with the medical records and x-ray reports from the amusement park incident that documented that there were “no broken bones.” I proved beyond a shadow of doubt that the medical records clearly showed that my brother’s skull was broken accompanied by swelling of the soft tissue as a direct result from the incident where my father beat up my brother.

Glenn Sacks: “When Holly was 16 years-old she had a dispute with her mother, who wanted her to finish high school before getting married to Mark Collins. As a result of this dispute, Holly desired to live with her biological father, from whom Eleanor Gallagher was divorced.”6
Again Glenn Sacks makes up things that aren’t even there let alone true. I guess he is confident that no one will challenge him. My mother met my father when she was 16 years old. She was living with her father as early as May 1982. She became pregnant when she was 17 years old. That is when the subject of marriage came up. My brother wasn’t born until almost a year later in April 1983. Sacks math and lies just don’t add up at all!

Glenn Sacks: “The Guardian ad Litem conducted a custody evaluation. During this custody evaluation, Holly made no accusation of abuse against either her mother Eleanor Gallagher or her stepfather Tom Gallagher. Yet a decade later she accused both of them of having abused her while she was a child.”7

I have seen the court records where custody of my mother was reversed to her biological father in 1982 because she admitted to abuse from her mother and step-father. There are even reports from my mother's high school teachers describing the abuse. I find it highly suspicious that Glenn Sacks make such a bru-ha-ha over other people supposedly making up false allegations when that’s all he ever does. And then, not only is he allowed to get away with it but his followers admire him for it?!

I know that Glenn Sacks is an opportunist that had to get in on a ‘hot’ story. He really missed out on a perfectly good case of a father wronged by the system here with my grandfather. My mother’s mother, Eleanor Gallagher was accused of child abuse when my mother was a kid. She went to all sorts of lengths to keep her exhusband away from his children. My mother even testified in court that her mother and stepfather abused her as a child. Custody was finally reversed to my mother’s father. Now Sacks suddenly allies with an abusive woman. It is so suspicious! It goes to show that Glenn Sacks is not concerned first and foremost with father’s rights. He is main priority is how he can personally capitalize on a hot story.

Glenn Sacks: “Holly invented mythical food allergies for the children which were contradicted by many medical professionals. Once custody of Zachary and Jennifer was switched from Holly Collins to Mark Collins, the allergies soon dissipated.”8

This is blatantly false! The pediatrician referred us to a pediatric allergist because I had an allergic reaction at McDonalds when my parents were still married. After performing independent medical tests our allergist wrote a report saying that we were the ‘most allergic patients he had ever seen.’ What was my mother to believe? If she didn’t trust the doctors and follow their advice you can be sure my father and Glenn Sacks would accuse her of being a bad and neglectful mother. Zachary and I still have allergies and our doctor in Holland has publically stated that we are in fact the most allergic patients her clinic has even seen! I heard that my father’s mother, Mrs. Gerald W. Collins from Salem N.H.9 has had severe anaphylactic reactions to various foods and almost died on several occasions. Their neighbors report several ambulance visits due to her allergies and asthma attacks. Gee “Dad”… I wonder where my allergies came from. Shame on you for using our medical condition as another way to abuse us!

Just in our case alone I have proven over and over again that Glenn Sacks is a liar. Nothing Glenn Sacks writes can be believed.

Opportunist
Glenn Sacks exploited my mother, my brother and me just to gain additional publicity for himself to satisfy his insatiable need for attention. Glenn Sacks wrote over 6 articles over our case, attacked our mother in more articles and even referred to her unrelated articles! Several of Sacks unrelated articles end with “To learn more about the Holly Collins case, see my findings on it here.”

Sacks commented “The Holly Collins custody/parental abduction case is perhaps the most prominent custody case in the media at this moment”11

Heaven forbid a story of that magnitude not includes Glenn Sacks! Shrugging off the criticism, Sacks feverishly works to transform his “15 minutes of fame” into a full-time soap box gig so he can continue to keep his self-serving discussion of other men's and fathers' issues perpetuated. Judging from the attention his campaign gathered, the near-celebrity status he has maintained since, and the hundreds of fan letters he receives weekly, his strategy seems to be succeeding. PT Barnum once said “There’s a sucker born every minute”; sad how they all seem to congregate around and follow Mr. Sacks.

Disturbingly, Wikipedia announced “Sacks is also known for the campaign he waged against Holly and Jennifer Collins, mother and daughter granted asylum in the Netherlands American Family Receives Asylum in Europe, Holly Collins returns after 14 years in hiding. He has published numerous articles on Holly and Jennifer Collins: Numerous Parallels Between McCarty, Collins International Abuduction Cases, The Feminist Family Law Movement Fires Back over Holly Collins Case… Jennifer is an adult and has requested an apology for what appears to a logical person to be a personal attack on Jennifer, Jennifer Collins: ‘Glenn Sacks owes my family an apology over Controversial Parental Alienation Case’. To date, no apology has been published by either party.”12

He even used my brother’s name to tag his articles even though my brother personally asked him to respect his privacy!13 – THAT’S the lengths Glenn Sacks will go to to assure his place in the spotlight.

Could it be that there has been a protest to the manner that Glenn Sacks tags his articles? “As many of you have noticed, lately we've been resolving some technical issues with the tags…” Which have now been removed from the website.”14

After Glenn Sacks exploited our names over and over again, he claimed that he could not be held liable (even though we proved he blatantly lied in his articles) by suddenly claiming that we were public figures. Our intent was not to stay in the public eye and my mother proved this by immediately going back to her quiet life in the Netherlands despite Glenn Sacks constantly trying to goad her out into a public debate.

Opinion Poll Says
Truth and Justice: Family Court Reform “Sacks and Leving do not support their claims with facts, as I personally have looked up some of their claims and found that the actual studies did not support what they wrote, and some of their true stories are actually fiction, as they put disclaimers near the end, stating that this is how ‘some men feel’. Gotta read that fine print hidden in the body of their lengthy FR manifestos.”15

Ms. Grieco of NOW says Glenn Sacks is a 'women-bashing, backlash shock-jock radio host."16

“when men like Sacks broadcast misinformation, skew statistics, and attack women's rights in order to advance their own cause, they are only harming everyone's agenda.”17

Boys Egos Above Girls Safey
Most people agree that young women who are starting college and are away from the protection of their parents for the first time in their lives should be educated about self-protection. But not Mr. Sacks! He objects that “in the first week of college orientation, 'they' hand out pamphlets about rape on college campuses and it says 1 out of 4 will be raped, blah blah blah,"18 Yes, Glenn Sacks actually says “Blah Blah Blah”! Sacks argues that by trying to protect young women from rape and physical attacks we upset young men: "Bang! Eighteen-year-old guys, right from the beginning, are stigmatized, vilified, lied about."19 How can Glenn Sacks be so desensitized to rape especially when he has a pre-teen daughter himself!

The truth according to (Warshaw, Robin 1994 "I Never Called It Rape"): “In a study of 6,000 students at 32 colleges in the US, 1 in 4 women had been the victims of rape or attempted rape.” Glenn Sacks calls these statistics “Preposterous” and “Absurd,"20

The truth according to Sacks: “it's not true that 1 out of 4 female college students is a victim of attempted or real rape.”21

Who’s telling the truth here? You decide!

Kidnapping Justified for Men Only
Sacks writes “Fathers & Families has an interesting new piece on Clark Rockefeller’s apparent abduction of his 7-year-old daughter during a supervised visitation… I condemn Rockefeller’s actions. However, his possible mistreatment in his divorce also bears mention.”22

I find it odd the cases Glenn Sacks decides to stand up for. This ‘Rockefeller’ guy has several different aliases, no social security number and refused to reveal his true identity during the custody hearing.23 The couple wasn’t even married! This is the type of character that Sacks chooses to report on, suggesting that his ‘mistreatment’ in a divorce somehow softens his actions. He wasn’t even legally married to the child’s mother!

Isn’t it interesting when a man undeniably kidnaps his child during supervised visitation, Glenn Sacks refers to it as an “apparent kidnapping” however in my personal case when we (my brother and I) as adult children admit that we ran away, Sacks immediately reports my mother as kidnapping us without the softening of ‘apparent’ which he allotted Rockefeller. “Holly Collins kidnapped her two children and took them to Holland in 1994”24 All parental abduction charges against my mother were dismissed and therefore she is NOT guilty of the false allegations of kidnapping Glenn Sacks has personally lodged against her. Ooops, I forgot – if it’s a man making an accusation, it can’t be a false allegation because according to Glenn Sacks only women lie, right?

Abusive Mothers
Despite case after case where there is documented abuse, Sacks continues to defend male abusers. However if there is a case where the abuser is a female, Sacks is all too happy to capitalize on another story of an abusive mother. It shouldn’t matter what the gender of a child abusers is! This isn’t a gender partisan issue - all child abuse is wrong!

Afraid of Being Charged With Child Rape
The more I dug into Glenn Sacks personal life the more worried I became. Glenn Sacks is afraid of being arrested for the rape of a child. “my 16-year-old son and my 10-year-old daughter have their friends sleeping over at our house all the time. So four years from now one of my daughter's friends can claim that I raped her and on her word alone I'll be thrown and held in prison?”25

Are “normal” dads worried about this? I asked several men myself (including my step-father) and they all said that the only reason why Glenn Sacks worries about this is because there is probably some truth to it. I wonder if someone should warn the other parents at the Sacks daughters’ school. It appears that Sacks might be setting up his defense already for the day when a teenage girl comes forward and says “Glenn Sacks raped me.” Then he’ll be able to say “See I knew this was going to happen! That is why I wrote about it.” Is Glenn Sacks already working on his get out of jail free card?

Covert Incest
Covert Incest was defined in the 1980s as "an emotionally abusive relationship between a parent and child that does not involve sexual intercourse."26 Covert Incest refers to a form of emotional abuse in which the relationship between a parent and a child is inappropriately sexualized without actual sexual contact. Over and over again Sacks obsession with his ‘close’ relationship with his daughter grows more and more disturbing:

"A man never knows what love is until he has a daughter."

Glenn Sacks reports that his wife “says my daughter took one look at me and thought, ‘Sucker! All I have to do is smile at this big, dumb guy and he'll give me whatever I want.’ Probably true.”

“As soon as she could indicate a preference or talk, she usually wanted daddy in the middle of the night”

“These times with my daughter… were the greatest of my life.” (Curiously ignoring the fact that Sacks has another child as well.)

“For me, being at home with my young daughter has been the greatest, most fulfilling experience of my life”

“I supervise the children on a day to day basis and I make sure that things are done the way I want them done.”

“I've been able to enjoy with my daughter, as well as countless other magical, irreplaceable moments”.

“My favorite thing is when I put her to bed, tell her stories and she falls asleep in my arms. For the first nine years of her life, she fell asleep in my arms like that practically every night.”

“And there's nothing better in the world than when my little daughter walks up to me, puts her hand on my shoulder and says ‘every night I go sleepies right here’."

Sacks: “Listen, then tell me again how kids don’t need their dads… “Hi Daddy it’s me. I just want to say that I love you and I miss you a lot (sobbing). Bye.”

Next call. “I miss you so much I really do. I miss you! When can you come home? I miss you! Call me back as soon as you get to NY or to LA or Burbank wherever. Just call me! Okay? Anytime, just call me! Call Me!”

“it makes my daughter very nervous. She said ‘I'm not ever going to lose you, am I daddy?’ I reached back and held her hand and said ‘no’.”

Covert Incest involves similar interpersonal dynamics as a relationship between sexual partners. Problems between parents often facilitate Covert Incest; as the parents distance themselves from each other both physically and emotionally, one parent may begin focusing on his/her child. The child becomes the surrogate partner and source of emotional support for the parent. It is described as an over enmeshed parent responding to a child's love with adult sexuality.

There are many red flags when I read Glenn Sacks reaching out to his followers asking for some sort of recognition for his deepest inappropriate feelings for his own daughter. “As a parent, have you had the following experience?”27

Sacks “Watching her I was overcome with my love for her, as I often am. I called her over and tried to explain how special times like these are for me, how lucky we are to have each other and to have had these 10 years together.”28

No, Glenn Sacks is not expressing his love for his wife. He is professing his love for a 10 year-old child and he interrupts whatever it is she was doing in order to tell her this!

Sacks: “there's a part of me that wishes that for five minutes I could be talking to the adult version of my daughter. The 40-year-old mother who could for that moment understand how I felt as a parent, instead of how my daughter feels as a child.”29

Why is it always about Glenn Sacks and validating his feelings, his wants, his needs, his observations, his opinions? Why isn’t he sharing his thoughts and feelings appropriately with his wife instead of fantasizing about his daughter being a 40 year-old mother who in his mind will act as his confidante? And then Glenn Sacks worries about being charged with child rape! “one of my daughter's friends can claim that I raped her and on her word alone…”30 I find it terribly frightening that anyone is leaving their little girl alone with Glenn Sacks!

Fathers & Families Site Promoting Violence
Sacks endlessly obsessed over the saying on a t-shirt, calling it “male bashing” which he says leads to “many boys feel(ing) the deck is stacked against them” which in turn becomes his excuse for young men to retaliate against young women. Sacks himself promotes the very violence that he issues slight disclaimers against!

On a more personal note, Glenn Sacks didn’t object to but allowed, encouraged and actually posted a comment on his site from a guy saying that my battered mother should be “gang raped” for running with her children to protect them from a court recognized abuser! THIS comment written in anger is ok with Mr. Sacks but “Boys are stupid; throw rocks at them” written in jest on a kid’s t-shirt is not?!

Of course Mr. Sacks will try to explain it away with his boomerang theory. Look at his point of view about our personal case: 'If a woman takes a mans kids away from him because he is beating them then the woman should be punished in the most deplorable manner; such as being gang raped and thrown into prison.'

Glenn Sacks didn’t remove this offensive remark as well as other threats from his angry followers from his site until there was a public uprising against the violence the Father’s & Family site was promoting.

I have to believe that the majority of men do not realize what Glenn Sacks is promoting. I am all for father’s rights! Children deserve to have a good father and good mother in their lives. However Glenn Sacks systematically and emphatically supports abusive fathers, like my father who beat me, my brother and our mom in front of us as well! I sincerely doubt the general population of men and dads would want this guy speaking for them on their behalves.

Cleaning Up Fathers & Families
Father’s & Families is trying to clean up this site. “An Announcement Concerning Blog Comments & letters to the editor” saying that some commenters “seems to be incapable of complying with our posted blog rules.”31 Uh, that’s what happens when you deal with abusers and batterers Mr. Sacks – they IGNORE all posted rules, guidelines and (court) orders.

Here are a few examples of comments placed on Glenn Sacks/Father’s & Families site about the child psychologist, Dr. Silberg who helped me through my mother’s criminal case.

Tommy says "Silberg is a blood-thirsty feminist who wants to further the subjugation of men under the current legal system of family law and divorce court."32

Roy replies “You know, you are never going to get laid with that kind of attitude. You need to find a kinder and gentler way of describing women. I like to use terms like parasite, vampire, predator, raunch girls, etc. You can call a woman any of these names and they will still go to bed with you."33

Could it be that there has been a protest to the manner that Glenn Sacks tags his articles? “As many of you have noticed, lately we've been resolving some technical issues with the tags and the comments, and to do so we have removed both from the website.”34

Fathers Rights Above Children’s Safety
Glenn Sacks regurgitates story after story of how men are wronged by family courts and society in general. Even in the most obvious cases of child abuse and murder Glenn Sacks finds himself siding with the abuser and murderer!

Sacks even capitalized on a case where a man killed his entire family sensationalizing this tragedy with his headline “Even When I Couldn't Be Less Surprised.” Sacks basically allied with the murderer. At the end of the article he has a one sentence disclaimer, but it is not very believable: “What (the murderer) did was absolutely unforgivable under any circumstances. However, given the number of these stories I hear, it's not surprising that once in a while there's a guy who's going to react this way.”35

Truth Never Damages
Glenn Sacks has the audacity to quote Gandhi: “Truth never damages a cause that is just.”36 Glenn Sacks uses horrendous details of rape and sexual abuse to humiliate abuse victims under the pretence that he only prints the truth and the truth can’t hurt. It is despicable that Glenn Sacks humiliates a rape victim with true details of the rape! Glenn Sacks distorts the truth and outright lies over and over again. Yet he has the nerve to point to and accuse innocent victims: “one way for Stop Family Violence to start would be to publicly disavow false accusers such as Collins”37

Disclaimer
With Glenn Sacks history of denouncing every bit of abuse my brother and I suffered as children because of an article I wrote 1994 instead of 1984 (it was a TYPO folks! I hit the wrong key!) the main point of the story was referring to a well documented incident. To be specific, the first documented incidents of abuse by my father of my mother occurred in 1982. The first documented incidents of abuse by my father of me and my brother occurred in 1987. Child protection became involved in our case in 1987 before my parents were even divorced. We received several Order for Protections against our father before the custody hearing even began in 1992.

Final Thoughts
Considering all the serious issues Glenn Sacks seeks to address, I just find it mind blowing that Mr. Sacks dedicates so much time and gets so riled up over the saying on a t-shirt. Remember “As the father of an 11 year-old boy this shirt makes my blood boil….degrading boys, insulting them, making our schools a hostile environment for them–we’re not taking it any more.” How is it that Mr. Sacks is such a staunch opponent to the way little boys are treated in public school when so many little boys are treated much worse by their own fathers in their own homes? I invite you to take a really good look at the drawings my brother did as a child. Good men and fathers don’t need Mr. Sacks because good men and fathers would never cause a child to be this afraid of them.

Index
1http://glennsacks.com/blog/?p=1183
2http://glennsacks.com/blog/?p=2788
3 http://glennsacks.com/blog/?p=3271
4 http://glennsacks.com/blog/?p=3265
5 http://glennsacks.com/blog/?p=3265
6 http://glennsacks.com/blog/?p=3265
7 http://glennsacks.com/blog/?p=3265
8 http://glennsacks.com/blog/?p=3265
9http://www.whitepages.com/search/FindPerson?firstname_begins_with=1&firstname=gerald&name=collins&where=salem+nh
10 http://glennsacks.com/blog/?p=3322
11 http://www.glennsacks.com/blog/?p=3265
12 http://wpedia.goo.ne.jp/enwiki/Glenn_Sacks/?from=websearch
13 http://glennsacks.com/blog/?p=3265
1402/06/2010 http://glennsacks.com/blog/?p=4565
15 http://truthinscotsthistle.blogspot.com/2006/07/rebuttal-to-glenn-sacks-on-pas-article.html
16 http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0331/p16s01-lihc.html/(page)/2
17 http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0331/p16s01-lihc.html/(page)/2
18 http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0331/p16s01-lihc.html/(page)/2
19http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0331/p16s01-lihc.html/(page)/2
20 http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0331/p16s01-lihc.html/(page)/2
21 http://glennsacks.com/blog/?p=1860
22 http://blogwonks.com/2008/07/30/rockefeller-kidnapping-case-what-else-bears-mention/ 23 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clark_Rockefeller
24 http://glennsacks.com/blog/?p=3082
25 (1/16/09): http://glennsacks.com/blog/?p=3220
26 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covert_incest
27 http://glennsacks.com/blog/?p=2309
28 http://glennsacks.com/blog/?p=2309
29 http://glennsacks.com/blog/?p=2309
30 (1/16/09): http://glennsacks.com/blog/?p=3220
31 father and family stop comments
32http://glennsacks.com/blog/?p=2799
33http://glennsacks.com/blog/?p=2799
34 02/06/2010 http://glennsacks.com/blog/?p=4565
35 http://www.glennsacks.com/enewsletters/enews_5_3_06.htm
36 http://www.menstuff.org/columns/sacks/04.html
37 http://glennsacks.com/blog/?p=4029