| "You are in a system." These five words explain the | | | | earlier reference to this term. The word systemic is |
| nightmare that battered women encounter in divorce | | | | defined as "relating to or referring to the whole |
| court. Yet, in and of themselves, these words | | | | organism." |
| confuse them. | | | | I liken systemic abuse to any systemic disease. It |
| More often, they think that they are just dealing with | | | | erodes the very elements that sustain the organism. |
| "bad" attorneys or a court that is "failing" them. But, | | | | Systemic abuse, as I see it, is the manifestation of |
| the fact is that none of these elements actually | | | | abuse by that deemed to protect the abused. The |
| stand on their own. | | | | net result: the perpetuation of domestic violence by |
| The Legal-Psychiatric Network | | | | the very systems that purport to stop it. |
| Yes, it's true that many attorneys and custody | | | | With Distance Comes Objectivity |
| evaluators and even psychologists play each other to | | | | As I go back and read this earlier writing excerpted |
| leverage obtaining an alliance with the key to the | | | | above, even I realize that I was looking at the |
| marital estate. And often they do this without regard | | | | system as the "bad boys and girls not doing their |
| for the welfare of the family and its most vulnerable | | | | job." |
| members-abused children and battered women. | | | | How biased of me; how bruised I must have been. |
| But they do NOT act independently of each other. | | | | The truth of the matter is that in every industry |
| They represent a larger system in which each has a | | | | there are "bad boys and girls" and there are "good |
| role, each performs a function, each is a player in the | | | | boys and girls," and they work interdependently to |
| network. And what most people don't realize is that | | | | carry out the work of their respective industry. |
| each of these individuals is dependent on other | | | | Being in a System |
| members within the system to carry out their | | | | So what this means to you, as a litigant in a divorce |
| respective functions. | | | | proceeding with a batterer, is that you must see the |
| Systemic Abuse | | | | interconnection of the players in your divorce |
| If you have read my articles on legal abuse, you may | | | | proceedings. As you do, you will better grasp the |
| know of my reference to the term: "systemic | | | | underlying politics that drive the course of your |
| abuse." Let's first define "systemic" to understand my | | | | divorce. |