Maternal Deprivation Research

There have been numerous studies regarding Maternal Deprivation, with a large source of information coming from Bowlby, based on Spitz and Goldfarb, and also from unethical animal experimentation. Overwhelmingly, research shows that severing this natural bond between a mother and child causes severe emotional and behavioral problems, such as depression and psychosis. The phrase maternal deprivation is the terminology used in the early work of psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, John Bowlby on the effects of separating infants and young children from their mother. Some of the research was previously used to discourage mothers from working or using childcare, but it seems important to revive these studies as children are being deprived of their mothers intentionally by abusive men who claim to be “parentally alienated” in an ongoing scandal that rivals that of the Catholic Priest sexual abuse cover up.  

Maternal Deprivation Abuse (MDA), has been identified as occurring with great frequency in legal proceedings, with specific unethical lawyers, psychologists, and judges perpetrating the the same scam on mother after mother with similar horrific results for the children. There has been death by suicide, suicide attempts, depression, academic distress, retaliation by a child against a PAS claiming father, and untold misery for the victimized children and mothers.

Based on Bolwby’s theories, Maternally Deprivation affects children as follows:

• Complete or almost complete deprivation could “entirely cripple the capacity to make relationships.”
• Partial deprivation could result in acute anxiety, depression, neediness and powerful emotions which the child could not regulate.
• The end product of such psychic disturbance could be neurosis and instability of character.(Bowlby J. (1951) pps. 11–12)

 

“Mother love in infancy and childhood is as important for mental health as are vitamins and proteins for physical health.” (Bowlby, 1953.)  Child psychoanalyst John Bowlby (1907–1990). 

 

Maternal Deprivation Abuse

Maternal Deprivation, or Motherlessness, is occurring with alarming frequency due to the unethical treatment of women and children in family court. Maternal Deprivation is inflicting abuse by severing the mother-child bond. It is a form of abuse that men inflict on both the mother and children, especially men who claim they are “parentally alienated” from their children when there are complaints of abusive treatment by the father.

Maternal Deprivation occurs when men seek to keep their children from being raised by their mothers who are the children’s natural caretakers. Some men murder the mothers of their own children. Others seek to sever the maternal bonds by making false allegations of fictitious psychological syndromes in a deliberate effort to change custody and/or keep the child from having contact with their mother when there are legal proceedings. A twisted form of Maternal Deprivation is to kill the children, so that the mother will be left to suffer. Sometimes there are family annihilation murders where the father kills the children and himself (or dies by cop), but the mother is not killed because she has received protective orders and her children have not as in the case of Jessica Gonzales.  

In seeking to define this form of abuse certain common elements are found in the Maternal Deprivation scenario as follows:

• History of domestic abuse that could be physical, psychological, sexual, and/or social abuse occurring on or off again, occasionally, or chronically which could be mild, moderate, or severe, including homicidal and/or suicidal threats. 
• Legal proceedings relating to abuse
• Hiring of “Fathers Rights” attorney
• Use of “Hired Gun” mental health professionals to make accusations of psychological disorder against the mother and children in deliberate effort to excuse abuse and change custody or grant visitation that is contrary to safety concerns. Another name for these unethical professionals are “Whores of the Courts“
• Raising claims of “psychological disorders” against the mother such as “Parental Alienation Syndrome” (PAS), Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome, Malicious Mother Syndrome, Lying Litigant Syndrome, Hostile Aggressive Parenting or any other mother-blaming psychological disorder that can be used by the unethical professional to re-victimize the victims.
• Infliction of “Legal Abuse” by continually and excessively filing motions so that the mother continually has to defend herself and her child(ren) causing financial and emotional devastation.
• Can occur in response to child support legal proceedings as retaliation.

The intent of “Maternal Deprivation” is to punish the mother and the child for revealing the abuse and to falsely claim that they are not abusive. This very commonly occurs as there are more and more “abuse-excuse” parental alienation accusing professionals who use this scientifically invalid theory over and over to achieve specific goals of the person paying them. Maternal Deprivation can also occur in response to child support legal proceedings. When occurring in this manner, Maternal Deprivation is a response to the financial demands as retaliation. Suddenly the father who had little prior involvement wants to take the kids half the time to avoid child support obligations, etc. When the men are really abusive, they ask for sole custody and demand the mother of the child pay them.

Although some people call this “Maternal Alienation”, a distinction needs to be made as the pro-pedophilia “Parental Alienation Syndrome” and the use of the word “Alienation” are most often used AGAINST battered women and abused children. There needs to be a distinction between the phony psychological syndrome and the intentional infliction of abuse on a mother and child by intentionally severing their natural bond. This distinction can best be made by NOT using the label of “Alienation” which will always be associated with the pro-pedophilia monster Doctor Richard Gardner.

Some of the characteristics of the especially heinous abusers who inflict Maternal Deprivation include but are not limited to the following:

• Angry
• Abusive
• Violent
• Coercive
• Controlling
• Threatening
• Intimidating
• Demanding
• Domineering
• Harassing
• Stalking
• Tyrannical
• Oppressive
• Forceful
• Manipulative
• Deceptive
• Unethical
• Un-empathetic (Lacks Empathy)
• Entitled
• Immature
• Self-centered
• Neglectful
• Guilt inducing
• Pushy
• Intentionally tries to humiliate mother and/or child
• Harsh, rigid and punitive parenting style
• Outrage at child’s challenge of authority
• May use force to reassert parental position
• Dismissive of child’s feelings and negative attitudes
• Vents rage, blames mother for “brainwashing” child and takes no responsibility
• Challenges child’s beliefs and/or attitudes and tries to convince them otherwise
• Inept and unempathic pursuit of child, pushes calls and letters, unannounced or embarrassing visits 

There is a distinct overlap of the intimate terrorist type domestic violence abuser with the Maternal Deprivation abusers as follows:

 

• Coercion and threats
• Intimidation
• Emotional abuse
• Isolation
• Minimizing, denying and blaming (Hallmarks of PAS)
• Using children
• Economic abuse
• Male privilege

The people who most often engage in Maternal Deprivation Abuse are most often: 

• Abusive men
• Vindictive second wives who don’t want to deal with the real mother of the children
• Paternal grandparents who raised dysfunctional children (abusers)

The effects of Maternal Deprivation often cause the children to become psychotic, depressed, and sometimes suicidal or to have suicidal ideations. Another terrible reaction is when the child retaliates against the parent who accuses Parental Alienation Syndrome as in a Texas case where the child killed his father. Other times when the Maternal Deprivation abuser completely takes over the will of the child by using brainwashing techniques similar to those used in prison camps where deprivation and isolation are used to force ideological changes in captives, these children often have a sort of trauma-bonding with the abuser and model their behavior. Sometimes these children will also abuse the mother in the same manner as the father. Another generation is created to carry on the abuse, and will likely do the same to their own spouse and children.

 

 

 

For more articles involving Maternal Deprivation:

Failure of Family Court System Leads To Death and Devastation

Doctor Who Intentionally Severs Bonds With Mothers Is a Monster

Child in imminent fear shoots father – vindicated in appeal – PAS fraud nightmare

Cincinatti PAS

VAWnet Joan Meier on PAS-Parental Alienation Syndrome & Parental Alienation: Research Reviews

And many more articles throughout Battered Mothers Lose Children to Abusers and all the links on the sidebar.

Maternal Deprivation Abuse will be featured on BMLCTA Blog in an effort to wipe out this heinous crime against mothers and children.

 

Doctor Who Intentionally Severs Bonds With Mothers Is a Monster

This Dr. Harry Harlow was not just unsympathetic, but a monster just like the unethical doctors who forcefully remove children from loving mothers by claiming parental alienation to give them to their abusers. Why do they do this? Because they get paid by the abuser to do this! It’s a fraud on the courts that needs to end!

From the Top Ten Unethical Psychological Experiments
The Well of Despair 1960

     Dr. Harry Harlow was an unsympathetic person, using terms like the rape rack and iron maiden in his experiments. He is most well-known for the experiments he conducted on rhesus monkeys concerning social isolation. Dr. Harlow took infant rhesus monkeys who had already bonded with their mothers and placed them in a stainless steel vertical chamber device alone with no contact in order to sever those bonds. They were kept in the chambers for up to one year. Many of these monkeys came out of the chamber psychotic, and many did not recover. Dr. Harlow concluded that even a happy, normal childhood was no defense against depression, while science writer Deborah Blum called these, common sense results.
     Gene Sackett of the University of Washington in Seattle, one of Harlows doctoral students, stated he believes the animal liberation movement in the U.S. was born as a result of Harlows experiments. William Mason, one of Harlows students, said that Harlow kept this going to the point where it was clear to many people that the work was really violating ordinary sensibilities, that anybody with respect for life or people would find this offensive. Its as if he sat down and said, Im only going to be around another ten years. What Id like to do, then, is leave a great big mess behind. If that was his aim, he did a perfect job.

Any doctor removing a child from their mother using the fraudulent theory of parental alienation or other phony psychobabble BS needs to be exposed for the monsters they are. They come up with phony rhetoric and say it in a convincing manner, much like they did back in Salem when they accused women of witchcraft.  

This Parental Alienation Custody Change Fraud is going to go down in history as one of the most unethical psychological social engineering experiments of all time. The scandal is on the same level as the cover up of sexual abuse by the Catholic Church. It’s time people start to wake up and recognize that these doctors are covering up for all types of domestic abuse against women and children for PROFIT.

If you click on the links regarding Dr. Harry Harlow, you will find out that he received awards from psychological associations. Maybe this will start to get people thinking that there are groups of people doing unethical experiments and they do support each other on their theories and cover up for each other. The APA also published the Rind Study which tried to justify child sexual abuse as being acceptable and not that harmful to children. There is a common thread between all of these sick studies that push quack theories to justify unacceptable behavior. Only with Parental Alienation Theory, the whole idea is to call the victims liars which re-victimizes them. All that is needed to do this is to pay an unethical doctor to testify who will ignore real evidence and substitute in their fraudulent rhetoric.

When people realized the horrible treatment of animals that Harlow inflicted, the result was an animal liberation movement. What needs to happen as a result of these unethical parental alienation scams is for children to have a liberation movement and demand to have rights to be heard and to make their own decisions.

And Intentionally Scaring Monkeys

Outrage: Protective Mom Jailed With $500,000 Bond

I know that many of you are aware of the crisis in our nation’s family courts – where abusers and even child molesters are winning custody while the parent who tries to protect the children from harm is punished, sometimes even jailed. 

I am writing today to ask your help in one such egregious case happening right now. 

My name is Shirley Riggs, I’m 39 years old and the mother of 4 beautiful children. I’m writing this inside the Thurston County jail, Olympia, WA, waiting for extradition to Kansas City, Missouri to face charges of custodial interference. My bond stands at $500,000 cash only. This secures that I as a mother will sit in jail because I chose to protect my children from further sexual abuse and because of a broken system. My heart aches for my children in a way few will ever realize…. …. My children and I have suffered great injustices in our lives in the past 4 years. We have been denied our right to due process and protection. Laws have been swept under the rug, resulting in my children being placed with their father and grandfather, who both have substantiated sexual abuse findings involving my oldest daughter. My children have been illegally ripped from the home, family, society, and way of life they love, the place they felt safest and the community they held so dear.

Shirley twice fled Missouri with her children to protect them from abuse when the family court failed to do so. Now, Shirley is in jail in Independence, Missouri, and the State has 2 court cases pending against her.  In the criminal case for custodial interference Shirley could spend up to 16 years in prison, if convicted.  In the second case the state is trying to permanently terminate Shirley’s parental rights and give custody to the abusive father.

You can help!  Visit www.StopFamilyViolence.org/551 to learn more about what is happening.

Read the excerpts substantiating the abuse, watch the video of Shirley on KCTV 5 news -where a retired judge went out on a limb to comment about the handling of this case.  Read about the blatant conflicts of interest that have put Shirley and her children in harms way and see how the bogus theory of Parental Alienation is the abuser’s favorite excuse.  

THEN TAKE ACTION!

Send a free, pre-written message to the new Missouri Governor, the new Attorney General, the new Director of the Department of Social Services, the Missouri Children’s Advocate and the Jackson County Prosecutor, urging them to drop the charges, return the children to Shirley, and investigate the actions of the Jackson County Children’s Division.  www.StopFamilyViolence.org/551  

LAST – Please forward this message to everyone you can, post it on blogs and message boards and do everything you can to help ensure that Shirley is released and reunited with her children. 

There isn’t much time – proceedings against Shirley begin in February!

Thanks for your quick response.

Together, we can.. www.stopfamilyviolence.org

Irene Weiser

And more on the background of this story:

ABUSE CONFIRMED

Don’t be mislead by the statements by the father’s lawyer and the Independence Police Department saying that there are no criminal findings of abuse and that the case is closed.  There are multiple reports finding that abuse has occured.  One wonders why the police failed to confirm the abuse that so many others had no problem seeing.

The March 2007 report from Oregon substantiating the father’s abuse, which was subsequently accepted and filed by the Missiouri Children’s division states that there is:

…reasonable cause to believe this referral is Founded for Sexual Abuse, Fondling, on Raymond Riggs for making his daughter … touch his bare penis.  The referral will be Founded for Sexual Abuse, Exposure and Voyeurism on Raymond Riggs for repeatedly showing his children pornography on the TV, computer and in Magazines.

Ray Riggs sought administrative appeal of this report and was denied. Currently he has an appeal before Judge Nixon – the same judge who ordered the unsupervised visits -  to reverse this finding; decision is pending.

A more recent report (1/29/08) by a therapist at the Synergy group home in Kansas City where the children were placed by the court states:

[The daughter] disclosed in the first individual session that her paternal grandfather “touched her in a private place”…..[ The daughter] seems very afraid of her father, paternal grandfather, and paternal aunt.  [The daughter’s] reports were very consistent with her siblings’ accounts of events, but [the daughter] and her siblings’ reports never seemed rehearsed.  Due to the behaviors displayed by [the daughter], and the consistency of the disclosures, my therapeutic judgment is that the abuse did occur when she was in the care of their father and grandfather.  I believe that having contact with anyone in the father’s family would be detrimental to [the daughter] and her siblings’ physical and emotional well-being.

A MISGUIDED COURT

Despite these findings, the Family Court’s order upon review advocating termination of Ms. Riggs’ parental rights, signed by Judge Nixon, says:

 •  the Court finds that …visitation with the parents…. including unsupervised and overnight visits… was reasonable….
 •  with regard to mother, the Court finds that permanency by way of Termination of Parental Rights is in the best interests of the children…..
 •  The Court finds continued reunification efforts of the children with the father to be in the best interests of the children…
 •  …visitation with the paternal grandparents…. may take place….and may include unsupervised visitation…

SERIOUS CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

The profound and blatant conflicts of interest in Ms. Riggs’ case make the State’s actions against Ms. Riggs highly suspect.

The father’s sister, Leslie Riggs, works as an attorney in the Jackson County office of the Missouri Children’s Division – the very office that has been investigating the abuse allegations against the father and grandfather and making recommendations that the mother lose her parental rights.

Until recently, Leslie Riggs lived in the same house with her father and brother, the substantiated abusers. 

The father’s first divorce attorney was a co-worker of Leslie Riggs who worked in the Children’s Division while representing Ray Riggs and while Riggs was being investigated by that office for child sexual abuse.  He resigned abruptly when threatened with exposure of the conflict of interest.  Riggs’ current attorney formerly worked in this same office.

Commissioner Molly Merrigan ordered  the investigation of sexual abuse allegations against the grandfather be transferred from Jackson County DSS to an independent agency because of conflict of interest re: Leslie Riggs.

Case was transferred to Cornerstone for Care in Kansas City, but abuse allegations were not investigated by them.  Instead, two other Jackson County DSS employees and co-workers of Leslie Riggs determined that abuse allegations against Al Riggs were unfounded.  This finding contradicts the substantiated determination in Oregon and the opinion of the children’s therapist at a court assigned group home in Missouri. 

Cornerstone regularly conducts Family Support Team (FST) meetings to oversee status of Riggs’ case.  Leslie Riggs regularly attends these meetings as a family member.  In addition, Leslie brings a friend, Maureen Patton, a social worker and frequent consultant to Jackson County DSS and the Family Court. 

Patton has written a letter to the FST members offering her professional opinion “as a friend”, suggesting that Shirley is not a fit parent, that Ray and Al do not fit the profile of sexual predators, that the children “have been coached to have negative feelings about the paternal side of the family” and that reunification with the father and his family should be encouraged.  Patton has also recommended consultation with specific experts, including psychologist Gregory Sisk who has diagnosed  Shirley with Borderline Personality Disorder despite normal mental health evaluations, and  Shirley’s court appointed therapist ,Karen Allen, who determined that Shirley committed Parental Alienation. 

Last, the attorney representing the Children’s Division in the TPR proceeding is Leslie Riggs’ supervisor.

All proceedings against Shirley Riggs should be halted and these blatant conflicts of interest should be independently investiated.

 

WRONGFUL JURISDICTION AND DUE PROCESS VIOLATIONS

At the time of the divorce proceedings in Nov 2006, Ms. Riggs had lived out of state for almost 3 years.  Further, Ms. Riggs had initiated divorce and custody proceedings in New Mexico in May 2005, and her husband had been served.  Last, Ms. Riggs raised the issue of her children being of Native American heritage but the court failed to follow through appropriately in notifying the Tribe. 

Although she was living in Oregon at the time, Ms. Riggs was given a mere 24 hours notice regarding the April 24, 2007 case management meeting during which Judge Nixon gave temporary custody to the paternal grandparents.  Further, there was no notice that a change of custody would take place at this meeting.  What’s more, the grandparents were not a party to the case, nor had the father or grandparents made any motion re: a change of custody.  Additionally, Ms. Riggs did not have competent representation at the meeting as her attorney withdrew just prior to the hearing, and someone else from that attorney’s office  who had never spoken to Shirley and was not assigned to represent Shirley attended instead.  Last, there were no allegations or findings that Ms. Riggs was an unfit parent stated at this meeting. 

In addition to the many egregious due process failures, the above facts suggest that there may have been violations of both the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act and the Indian Child Welfare Act which may render Missouri’s jurisdiction in this case unlawful. 

BAD SCIENCE

The basis of the court proceedings against Ms. Riggs is the belief that she has committed Parental Alienation – that she has turned the children against their father and coached them to lie about being abused.  In fact, Parental Alienation is a junk science concept that has been denounced by the National District Attorney’s Association , the National Council for Juvenile and Family Court Judges , American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association and more .  PAS is nothing more than a legal tactic, a shell game, used by attorneys to get their clients off the hook for allegations of abuse by shifting the court’s attention off the abuse claims and onto the motives of the person making the allegations.  There are several reports, from examiners in Oregon and Missouri, who confirm the children’s allegations of abuse.  The only people who are saying the abuse did not occur are connected to Leslie Riggs.   

BAD TECHNIQUE

There are recordings of the forensic interviews of the Riggs children from Oregon, where the abuse by both the father and grandfather was substantiated, and from Missouri, where allegations against the grandfather have been unfounded.   There is a striking difference in interviewing techniques between the 2 states: Oregon using an open ended technique designed to make the children comfortable and allowing them to talk openly; Missouri using a technique that makes the child noticeably uncomfortable and defensive and seems intended to cause doubt or confusion.

——————

ACT NOW!  CLICK HERE to send a free pre-written message to authorities, urging them to drop the criminal charges, halt the TPR proceedings, reunite Shirley and her children and investigate the conflicts of interest that have resulted in this shocking failure of justice.

 

And Shirley’s Tribe is also helping her:

http://www.operationmorningstar.org/

Shirley Riggs and Children Story Below… 

A Cherokee “Trail of Tears” Horror Story of Genocide compliments of Judge W. Stephen Nixon, a pro-pedophile sanctioning Jackson County Missouri Judge and his “Legal Harem” of men and women “State of Missouri Court Whores” who have deliberately chosen to lie about and abuse this family while the sexual abusers of the daughter (say father and grandfather) remain free complements of their “family (LESLIE RIGGS) friends”, the Independence Police Department and Prosecuting Attorney Cole Eason! 

Shirley Riggs Story…A Cherokee “Trail of Tears”   

Prosecuting Attorney Cole Eason was not supposed to be assigned to this case. In fact he is supposed to prosecute ‘SEX CRIMES” but…because of his “conflict of interest” relationship with pedophiles Ray and Al Riggs, he is ONLY prosecuting Shirley and making sure THEIR SEX CRIMES AGAINST HER DAUGTHER REMAIN COVERED UP!  

Yet, Eason and the “protect their pedophile brother in the Lodge” Independence Police Department will arrest on 8.30.07 and Eason will prosecute “other men” who are guilty of the SAME CRIME RAY RIGGS ADMITTED TO WITH HIS CHILDREN!  

Children of Cherokee Mother Shirley Riggs “Illegally Abducted” by the non-custodial “Protect the Sexual Abusers of” State of Missouri.  

Shirley has been jailed for close to 300 days, not allowed to contact with her children for close to 300 days, and has a $500,000.00 cash bond (more then Oklahoma City Bomber Timothy McVey) placed on her for rescuing her children from the pedophile father Ray and grandfather Al Riggs by Jackson County (Safe Haven for Pedophiles) Missouri 16th Circuit Court Judge, W. Stephen Nixon.  Nixon is planning on granting permanent custody of her children to the pedophile father. Nixon first revealed his personal sanctioning of the “sodomizing/sexual abuse of children” agenda in Sept. 01.  

Nixon, on April 24, 2007, issued a “void custody order” thanks to the lies of DFS ATTORNEY Arla Witte (which Nixon KNEW about) and proceeded to give custody of Shirley’s children to substantiated sexual abuser and pedophile GRANDFATHER, Al Riggs.   

This “pedophile sanctioning” Judge supports the following…. 

  •  the Court finds that …visitation with the parents…. including unsupervised and overnight visits… was reasonable….
 •  with regard to mother, the Court finds that permanency by way of Termination of Parental Rights is in the best interests of the children…..
 •  The Court finds continued reunification efforts of the children with the father to be in the best interests of the children…
 •  …visitation with the paternal grandparents…. may take place….and may include unsupervised visitation… 

 ”Free” and never arrested Sexual Molester of His Own Child, Ray Riggs! 

All of this has been done with the approval and recommendation of Guardian Ad Litem so called “protector of the children” Patricia Scaglia, who continues to make sure THE SEXUAL ABUSE OF SHIRLEY’S CHILDREN IS is HIDDEN, NOT BROUGHT UP IN COURT, and who will NOT allow the children to speak in court or see their mother, just the SEXUAL ABUSERS OF!. Shirley did not have a lawyer on April 24th, was not in court on that day and she and her children were not a resident of Missouri for 3 years.  

Click HERE to read the TRUTH about what has happened to Shirley Riggs and her children and by WHO…say Independence Police Department, the Jackson County Prosecutor, and the Missouri Department of “SS”ervices!   

Click HERE to see an investigative story by KCTV-5 Kansas City, exposing the LIES about Shirley Riggs and her case. Thank you Brenda Poor and Matt Stewart!