Mom jailed in battle over daughter
January 11, 1997, Toronto Sun, By IAN HARVEY
At the centre of a custodial battle her entire life, little Jenna, now 2, poses with mom Deborah Grenier in this Christmas 1995 photo. On Monday, Hamilton Judge David Steinberg sent Grenier to jail for five days after upholding father Wayne Allen's complaint he had been denied access to Jenna. Grenier was released from Jail on Wednesday.
For the first time in more than 20 years a mother has been jailed for denying access to the father of her child, a Hamilton lawyer says.
"I lost a job that I was to start Monday, Deborah Grenier; 33, of Hamilton said after she spent two nights in jail for contempt of court.
Hamilton Unified Court senior judge David Steinberg ordered Grenier to jail for five days on Monday. She was released Wednesday morning.
‘Greatest victory'
The case was pressed by the father of 2 year old Jenra, Wayne Allen, 35, also of Hamilton who represented himself in the battle that has raged since the toddler was born.
While men who fail to pay child support are regularly jailed for contempt, the last time a woman was jailed for denying access was more than 20 years ago, said veteran Hamilton lawyer Richard Gaasenbeek.
"A layman has scored the greatest victory in 25 years of family law," Gaasenbeek said when told of the case. "I'm going to invite him to lunch."
But now Allen himself risks being jailed for contempt. He says he's unable to pay $65 a month child support because he's not working full-time and, in any event, shouldn't have to pay because he's caring for his daughter 3 1/2 days a week.
"How does he get away with quitting his job and not paying support," said an angry Grenier who is on Legal Aid. "I'd like to be reasonable. I want my daughter to know who her father is. He should grow up and face reality- we have a daughter to raise."
Wayne Allen had complained about being blocked from several weekend visits, Steirberg upheld only the complaint about the weekend of Nov.21 a weekend Grenier claimed she went on vacation. Steinberg would have ordered her jailed Dec. 20 but set the case over to last Monday to avoid incarceration over the Christmas period.
Allen said he fathered the child after dating Grenier and although the couple briefly lived together, their relationship ended before the baby was born.
"But I want to be an active father" said Allen, a former line worker for Ford of Canada. "I got sick of being denied access and wanted to do something about it"
Bitter battle
The battle turned bitter from the outset when he claims he was denied the initial court ordered nine hours a week with new born Jenna.
The next hurdle was an allegation by Grenier of sexual abusing his daughter. It was found to be without foundation and prompted Judge P.H. Wallace to suggest it "was worse than mischievous…. that someone would "play the system in such a way is intolerable."
His predicament was also one of the cases cited by Senator Anne Cools to support her legislation to penalize those who knowingly perjure or make false allegations to the courts.
"It's long overdue because if a father can go to jail for not paying support the custodial parent should also face the same penalty for denying access," said Stacey Robb of Dads And Divorce Strategies, a self-help group that initially helped Allen with his case.
"Kids shouldn't be denied a relationship with their parent unless abuse is clearly proven."
DADS SEEK EQUAL CUSTODY NATIONWIDE
Suits Say Childs Best Interest Violates Parent Rights
American Bar Association
E-Journal Report
Dec. 17, 2004.
Seeking class action status in federal lawsuits filed in 46 states, an Indiana fathers rights group charges that gender bias against men influences custody and child support rulings.
Drafted by the non-lawyer president of the Indiana Civil Rights Council, the complaints argue that fit parents have a constitutional right to equal custody, but the "childs best interest" standard used by the courts often violates that right. Also, the complaints argue child support guidelines are unconstitutional.
"The state, as a whole, and by misusing the vague and inferior best interest notion, has been engaging in a standard practice of unlawful takings of the various rights to custody that should be constitutionally shared equally between natural fit parents who do not remain together," contends the complaint filed in U.S.
American Psychological Association
Dating Violence Statistics in the United States
Nearly one in 10 girls and one in 20 boys say they have been raped or experienced some other form of abusive violence on a date, according to a study released Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association.
INDEPTH: DAY CARE
Day Care in Canada
CBC Television News Online, February 9, 2005
It was first proposed in 1970 a program that would provide affordable day care across the country. It was promised when Brian Mulroney and the Conservatives swept to power in 1984. And again four years later.
By the time Jean Chretien's Liberals did some political sweeping of their own in 1993, promises of a national day-care strategy had fallen victim to the realities of a government wallowing in debt. With budgetary knives sharpened and drawn, day care would have to wait.
But the economic climate began to shift and in 1997, Quebec introduced its own day-care system, offering spaces at $5 a day. Demand quickly surpassed supply.
Other countries don't allow assaults on children
Like Britain, countries such as Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Austria had a defence to assaults on children similar to our s. 43. These defences were removed between 1957 and 1977. The criminal law of these countries therefore gives children the same protection from assault as it gives adults. Beginning with Sweden in 1979, these countries also amended their civil child welfare laws to expressly prohibit corporal punishment so that the public fully understood it was illegal.
Canadian Children's Rights Book
(Published May 2005)
Empowering Children:
Children's Rights Education as a Pathway to Citizenship
University of Toronto Press
Authored by Canadians, Dr. Brian Howe and Dr. Katherine Covell, Directors of the CBU Children's Rights Centre, Cape Breton University (CBU)
Ontario urged to help male victims of sex abuse
The Globe and Mail
March 7, 2005
Ontario's male victims of child sexual assault are being ignored by a provincial government that focuses all its attention on women, a newly launched lobby group that wants equitable funding argued Monday.
The group the Ontario Association of Male Survivor Services says that one man in five was sexually abused as a child and that ignoring the problem makes it harder for these men to recover.
"We've got to stop thinking that sexual violence is just a women's issue," said Rick Goodwin, executive director of the not-profit organization that will operate the lobby group, in a telephone interview from Ottawa. "In this day and age, that's absurd.".
The Issue of the Childs Right to Self Determination
The issue of child self-determinism has always been a central one in the struggle for children's rights. For virtually every other civil rights movement, it has been the discriminated themselves who have provided the drive towards liberation, and the ability to self-determine was assumed to be present. The Children's rights movement is fundamentally different, however, in that children, almost by definition, require somebody else to see to their needs until they are ready to assume control of their own lives. Read More ..
Anti-Bullying
Anti-Violence
Resource Guides
Elementary
Focus on Bullying: A Prevention Program for Elementary School Communities
Pleins feux sur l'intimidation: Programme de prévention l'intention des écoles élémentaires
Secondary
Focus on Harassment and Intimidation - Responding to Bullying in Secondary School Communities
"In a world darkened by ethnic conflicts that tear nations apart, Canada stands as a model of how people of different cultures can live and work together in peace, prosperity, and mutual respect."
Bill Clinton
(William J. Clinton)
42nd President of The United States of America
Why you shouldn't see VAGINA MONOLOGUES
Lesbian Pedophilia and the rape of girls
Don't attend performances.