Sitting outside the courtroom watching her, I could tell the alienator had something up her sleeve. It was July 23, 2015 and little did I know we had 16 months, 4 court appearances, several false accusations and many more empty bank accounts still ahead of us.
We’d been at this now for over 7 ½ years and little had been accomplished. Our previous GAL had failed us by not changing custody in 2011 when she had the proof and authority to do so. But then again, I wasn’t surprised after doing my research.
As it turns out, she’d been on probation when she was appointed to our case for failing to tell a dad about a court date. Her failure to apprise him of that date led to him losing his parental rights to his two children. The harsh punishment she’d endured entailed continuing to practice while on probation for a year and paying a $1,000 fine. I had little faith in her after finding out about her forgetful nature and lack of integrity. And here we still were 4 years later. Somewhere inside me, to this day, I blame her for the alienation that stole my husband’s relationship with his children.
We sat outside the courtroom watching the charade unfold. The alienator motioned her attorney over and made it apparent she had something urgent to tell him. When he sat down, she presented a folder full of what seemed to be enlarged pictures. Her facial expressions told me she had an agenda.
Staying one step ahead of the alienator had always been our strategy. She loved to blindside us with a false allegation just before entering the courtroom.
Keeping the pot stirred was her specialty.
Jack and I racked our brains trying to think like the alienator. We replayed every instance of the kids’ last visit over and over.
And then it came to me.
The previous weekend, Liam and our dog Gus had been playing at the lake. At one point, Gus had jumped up and bumped Liam’s leg when they were running through the water. This had caused Liam to slip and scrape the outside of his leg.
Just then, our attorney approached us and told us the alienator had brought pictures of the wounds Liam had sustained during the vicious dog attack while at our home the prior weekend.
Liam later told us that in order to obtain those pictures, his mother and sisters had called him names while holding him down when he refused to participate voluntarily.
He was 13-years old at the time.
I blame the system- if any scratch or bruise becomes a big deal and used in court, then it will. The judge should laugh it off as stupid to even bring up. I get bruises I do not even recall how they happened.