Editor’s note: Resource Perspectives features articles written by members of Lovefraud’s Professional Resources Guide.
Rebecca Potter works as a licensed mental health counselor in West Palm Beach, Florida. She can be reached at: tlc211@gmail.com.
Judge William Adams shown beating his daughter with a belt on YouTube
By Rebecca Potter
Rebecca Potter profile in the Lovefraud Professional Resources Guide
As I saw the following video and commentary on CNN last night, I could not sleep. It appears that the sheriff in the town of Rockport, Texas has received countless calls of concern about Judge William Adams, who was shown beating his daughter with a belt on YouTube. Judge Adams is a family court judge. People were concerned about this judge being allowed to make decisions about the welfare of children. Judge Adams has three years left to make decisions about the welfare of families in Rockport, Texas.
Here’s the YouTube video: Judge William Adams beats daughter for using the Internet
Judge Adams feels that he was fairly disciplining his daughter for downloading music from the Internet. When I saw this video of his daughter, who has cerebral palsy, she was being beaten with a belt as she begged for him to stop. The daughter had set up her computer web camera as she felt the beating coming. Recent comments from the judge indicate that he sees nothing wrong with how he abused his child. News stories indicate he has left town, and officials are stating that he will not preside over cases that involve children.
Family court ignores the physical and emotion affect of abuse on children
Current research is able to document the effects of child abuse on the brain. As a professional, when I testify in court regarding the damage to children from trauma and abuse, I am not taken seriously. The judges feel that there is no physical damage, and they say permissive parenting by the protective parent is the cause of acting out behaviors of children. Meanwhile, current research shows that 60 percent of children who experience trauma and abuse will develop a substance use disorder.
Unfortunately, many of us have had to appear before judges like the Texas Judge Adams who feels justified to whip (beat and attack) his daughter with a belt, as she had been caught downloading music. These judges discount the scientific research and evidence of physical abuse causing permanent brain damage.
Hanley Center currently researching the effects of substance use and trauma on brain health
Brain scan technology is showing evidence of physical scars that occur in the brain after trauma and abuse. I attended a lecture by Dr. Barbara Krantz, Medical Director of the Hanley Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. Brain imaging is being used in her facility. It is now possible to document what drugs and/or alcohol have been consumed based on the areas of the brain that show injury in brain scans. What also was shared was the difference in the hippocampus of an abused child and the hippocampus of a child who did not suffer abuse. This is the proof of permanent physical damage to the brain of a child who has been abused. Often these children medicate the emotional pain with substance use.
Practicing Mental Health without a license
Family judges are practicing mental health without a license. This practice by family court judges is dangerous to the health of our families, our nation and our financial well-being
- Many of these judges are unaware of current research.
- Judges do not allow children to testify or be a part of the court hearings that determine their well-being
- Children and protective parents are developing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Additionally, when a judge has a tendency for personal pathology, they relate to the litigant who is also shares the personal pathology traits. These disordered individuals agree in the harsh punishment, punishment that does not fit the crime. This is the philosophy of control and dominance. These judges discriminate against the protective parent because they have not processed very personal feelings, and the protective parent is unbearable to their own personal philosophy. The judges are able to make decisions that affect the mental health of a child without the ability to understand their own personal opinions and processing of their own injuries. Readers will want to read articles on www.highconflictinstitute.com to understand the ignorance of judges who are confronted with the high conflict divorce and custody cases.
I have worked in the mental health field, and have had years of training to separate my own personal views and judgments from the individuals that I treat. This discernment and ability to separate your personal opinions and judgment comes from intensive personal training, supervision and counseling. Judges are exposed to mental health issues of families and children. They have not had this training and they are unable to provide a competent decision in these cases. In my opinion, I feel that Family Court judges are being asked to practice the profession of mental health without the proper training.
Judges use of defense mechanisms to insulate themselves against protective parents
When an individual does not have the training, supervision and experience to understand their use of defense mechanisms (your own dysfunction and personal defects), the individual blames and targets the individual who reminds you of your emotional pain. The use of these defense mechanisms allows an individual to insulate themselves from the pain, guilt, and shame.
Often times, the judges are so angered by the protective parent that to further insulate the judge, the protective parent is thrown in jail, or worse, the children are taken away and given to the parent with whom the judge can relate and identify. There is further emotional and financial pain placed upon the protective parent. The protective parent and children are damaged by the trauma of the court and develop complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
In my opinion, this is use of a defense mechanisms to project blame and repress the protective parent. If the children are removed and the protective parent is placed in jail, the judges do not have to face their own dysfunction. The saying, “out of sight, out of mind” is the attitude of a dysfunctional individual who wants to keep memories, fears, guilt and shame repressed.
Behavioral Research
Typically, all behavior research has demonstrated that punishment does not achieve a reduction in undesirable behavior. Punishment will actually increase the behavior. The individual who is punished will become more rebellious, fearful and sneaky. There are some severe situations in which punishment is used to extinguish a behavior. The use of punishment must be reviewed by other professionals to determine the effectiveness of the punishment and the safety of a plan that is put in place.
Overseeing the Family Court System
The children who are exposed to court and legal trauma are developing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. They have been exposed to a war and punishment. The children are left in a state of hopeless despair, fear and victimhood. There is no committee of professionals who oversee the effect of the Family Court decisions on families and children.
I honor the courage and strength of the judge’s daughter for exposing his abuse to the nation. I feel inspired by this brave young girl’s courage and write about this very controversial topic to inspire our nation to band together to write letters and support each other as we attempt to change this ignorant archaic system used in our courts.
One person will not be able to change this system. It is time to band together and develop a plan to insist that the judges no longer have the only authority to make decisions for families. We must also insist that psychologists who depend on the court for fees are not allowed to diagnose a traumatized parent as a personality disordered parent. It takes a trauma specialist to diagnose this disorder and protective parents are often diagnosed with personality disorders. This has become a major epidemic in the American judicial system, an epidemic that has serious legal, health and financial consequences to our nation. We need to demand committees of independent professionals be involved in Family Court decisions.
Nolife,
you have described my mother. She had a “favorite” child. She stopped beating us when we were bigger than she was. She is the sweetest granny to her grandkids, and she is mostly quite loving to everyone – now.
It’s just a different mask. They use whatever methods of control they can get away with. Watch for other red flags of narcissism and manipulation. Tigers don’t change their stripes, they just camoflauge themselves.
Dear Nolife,
I am glad that you have your divorce now and are doing better. There are somethings that are “acceptable” in some cultures that are not acceptable in western culture. For example multiple wives are acceptable in some cultures and in ours not, or sex outside of marriage is not at least “openly” acceptable, though of course it IS DONE, and a high percentage of men and women cheat on their spouses.
You deserve to be treated with dignity not abuse, either emotional or physical. STAND UP for that and never again allow anyone to treat you with abuse of any kind. God bless.
Hi Skylar,
She has changed, probably because the rest of the kids have their own families, and I am the only one that drives her around, take her go shopping/dinner, even out traveling etc. She is very happy in her gardening, and taking part in charity works too. I know it wasn’t right for her to vent on me, but at least my siblings was not treated the same. I have forgiven her.
Dear Ox Drover,
Yes, I actually grow stronger after attending Uni in the US. I learnt to stand up for myself and I know that I do not need my mum/ex to validate my existance/value. No matter what culture, cruelty and abuse of any sort should never be deem acceptable.
I also know now, that to be capable of loving others, I have to be capable of loving myself first.
Lastly, it’s a comfort to have you guys in this world. It is a better place now, so please stay as long as possible 🙂
Love
I see no one has posted here in a while, but this is a topic I think has to stay in the spotlight. The victimization of protective parents and children, even here in Canada is absolutely leudacrist!
Perniciousfamilycourts above describes it perfectly in an above post.
Does anyone know if any groups or committees have since been formed? Donna?
Do you know anything of this?
Has anyone considered a private members bill? I don’t know much about the subject. I guess I’m just reaching for something, anything. Some way to get the ball rolling. Here in Canada, there is alot of awareness on the subject of out dysfunctional judicial system. You cannot mention the subject to any canadian without them telling you a heart breaking story about someone they know, or themselves, being raped by our family courts… And then people have the nerve to ask,
“What’s wrong with kids today??” Gee!!! I wonder!!!!
I feel the biggest challenge in this isn’t so much that people don’t want to do anything to change it, it’s more that no one knows what to do about it.
But, if we can figure out some small way to get the ball rolling, and somehow raise public awareness of said ball rolling, the snowball effect will be enormous.
Donna, I have a few other ideas that I would like to bounce off you aswell, that I will tell you in a personal email.
On a side note, there is a little story I’d like to share. I’ve been meaning to share this for a while but kept forgetting. The above posts reminded me.
A couple of years ago, I met my ex’s brother’s gf for the first time. They are married now, and expecting their first baby in for months. I now firmly believe she is a psychopath. When I met her, I had no idea what that even was. Just the hollywood version. Lol. But that night, after working about 14 days strait of 12 plus hour days, was sitting in the lazy boy, reclined, relaxing, eyes closed… And then I got this eerie feeling like I was being watched, more like I was being looked through, if that makes sense. So I opened my eyes, just slightly at first, and what I saw, startled me a little, causing me to open my eyes completely to be sure of what I saw. There was the gf, standing in front of me, starting, just like I had felt, right through me. But what really startled me was the look I saw in her eyes. It was the emptiest darkest most evil thing… It was like staring into an evil black hole. It scared me, and gave me chills in a way I’ve never felt before, or since. It only lasted a second. It was she had taken off the mask, thinking I wouldn’t see because I was sleeping. After, she went back to being the sweet caring girl she had been before. But what I saw, that look, haunted me for a long time. But I kept quiet. (so no one would think I was crazy! Lol.) That is, at least until my then fiancee (the path who drove me here) said to me that she had a very bad feeling about this girl. And I told her about what happened. Ironic really.
But it wasn’t until about two weeks ago that I found out about some things that she had done to betray me, and I started looking back at past behavior, looking for why she had done this. At this time, I had totally forgotten about the look. But then all of the red flags I had over looked started jumping out at me. I thought, could it be? And then I remembered the look from years before. And that’s when it really hit me. But wow, even now, anytime that memory of her stare comes to mind, it makes the hair on my neck stand on end. So creepy.
Anyway, curious if anyone else has ever caught a glimpse of this look in their spath’s eyes. ??
I would also like to suggest, if you have not yet watched the video, don’t. I cried my eyes out and will be mad as hell for probably days. Oh, to have ten minutes alone with this judge…
Such a shame. My prayers are with the family.
Has anyone heard any update in this case?
W8ting, it’s recognized by the “experts” as “The Predatory Stare.” Lights are on, but nobody’s home. It’s like looking into windows on an abyss – there’s NOTHING behind the windows. In the book/movie, “Jaws,” Captain Quinn talks about the appearance of a shark’s eyes and how empty and souless they appear, “Like a doll’s eyes,” is how he described it.
It’s odd that you mention this, because the gf of the homeowner where I’m staying has the same “stare.” I’ll be speaking, and she’ll be looking directly into my eyes, but there is absolutely NO feedback, at all. VERY creepy.
Truthspeak,
I too have seen that blank stare in my exspath. This was something different. It was like a sense of being in the presence of evil. She scares me. I feel so sorry for her husband. I’ve seen him go from an energetic, positive, outgoing individual, to barely existing. He has not yet even allowed himself to take notice. She has sucked all the life out of him, and their child isn’t even born yet. They just got married in December/11. It’s so sad to watch someone else get destroyed the way I’ve been, and all I can do is sit back and watch. And be there to help him up when he gets discarded.
Texas Judge Who Beat His Daughter With A Belt To Be Reinstated
Judge William Adams has been on paid leave since last November, when a video of him beating his 16-year-old daughter with a belt was uploaded to YouTube. He is now being reinstated to the bench
http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/texas-judge-who-beat-his-daughter-with-a-belt-to-b
Link supplied by a Lovefraud reader
You know my P son is in prison in Texas for murdering a girl. I am begging the parole board to keep him in prison….hell, they may not only let him out, they may put him on the family court bench.
Don’t you just love this? His punishment was a year’s paid vacation.
Oxy, what punishment do you think they’ll give your P son? 70 virgins to kill?