It's good to read a story like this one that actually makes sense (Courier News, 11/10/09).  It's not fraught with silly claims or absurd reasoning.  No misinformation, no disinformation. 

Back in April of 2000, a Kane County, Illinois judge issued an order in the custody case of two children of Crystel Strelioff and her ex-husband Brian Strelioff.  From reading the article, it looks like the order gave her custody, him visitation and included a clause prohibiting her from moving out of the jurisdiction without prior court approval.

Crystel did exactly that, though, in 2004, when she moved to California with the children.  In February of this year, a Kane County jury convicted her of four counts of child abduction and last Friday she was sentenced to three years in prison less 185 days for time served.  She was also required to pay her ex-husband $73,340 in restitution.  A family court judge has placed the only child who is still a minor in the custody of Brian Strelioff.  A court psychologist described Crystel's abduction as "a form of parental alienation" aimed at Brian.

How sensible.  A mother abducted two children and was actually punished by a criminal court.  A family court called the behavior what it was, "parental alienation," and placed the child in the father's custody.  No one claimed phantom child abuse by the father.  No one manufactured any statistics about men relentlessly menacing children.  No expert witnesses explained how every act of maternal kidnapping is in some way justified.  No one claimed, against mountains of contrary evidence, that parental alienation is a scam cooked up by evil advocates for fathers' rights.

Think of it: a crime, due process, reasonable punishment and paternal custody.

It shouldn't amaze me, but it does.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 13th, 2009 at 7:43 pm and is filed under Crime/Criminal Justice System/Police, Parental Kidnapping. You can trackback from your own site.