Shockome Order

shockome-order.pdf

Tim's Side

I was pretty surprised when Newsweek published the article in the September 25 edition, "Fighting Over the Kids," by Sarah Childress. After all, I'd thought the Genia Shockome story had gone cold; that she'd been abandoned by the activist machine that adopted her once her usefulness ran out with the exposure of the facts of the case. That was May 2005, but there she was again, in a story in Newsweek.

When her story first broke, it was the kind of copy an editor dreams of: a mother of two, seven months pregnant with a third child, sentenced to 30 days in prison for contempt of court. Her crime? She had the audacity to interrupt a judge about to award custody to a batterer. This was clear evidence that our culture's callous disregard for women and institutional support of domestic violence are indeed an epidemic and a crisis in need of immediate redress.

But I knew differently because I'd seen the 55 page court decision that summarized the entire case, spanning years and characterized by Tim Shockome's lawyer, Philip Kenny and most other officers of the court, as the worst divorce case they'd ever seen. There is much more to this case than has been reported by Trish Wilson or Mo Therese Hannah or any of the other host of amateur writers and political entrepreneurs who attached themselves to the drama. But most surprising is Sarah Childress. After speaking with Philip Kenny and confirming that he had in fact spoken to Sarah and provided to her a copy of the court decision, it's difficult for me to accept that Ms. Childress did anything other than willfully misrepresent this story -- an odd thing to do for a professional journalist with a solid reputation, writing for a publication like Newsweek. She's hung her reputation on Genia Shockome, and I wonder if the hundreds of letters that Newsweek has received have her wondering if that was a mistake. Needless to say, I'll be thinking of this story whenever I read anything Ms. Childress writes again, or for that matter, if I pick up Newsweek in the dentist's office.

The story isn't sexy or shocking or ground breaking investigative journalism. It's just plain sad, and there's a little boy and little girl living in Texas right now who are painfully aware of how their mother is slandering the name of their father and how a national publication like Newsweek is helping add to the unjust grief they've already experienced.

I urge anyone reading this, to please take a few minutes to read the entire 55 page decision (linked above), which portrays a much more complex situation than has been reported elsewhere.

In the past year and a half, there've been some serious allegations about Tim Shockome leveled ultimately by Genia, and disseminated by the media and blogosphere. It's time to take a look at these allegations and shed some light on Tim's side of the story.

Let's start with the Newsweek article http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14870310/site/newsweek/

In her article, it's apparent that Sarah Childress implies an awful lot, but is careful not to say anything really about Tim. She mostly demonizes him through association with the subject, assuming from the start that Genia is truthful and qualifying most of the unsupportable claims with phrases like, "she says." So first to examine are the premises of the article, which are that Tim Shockome is a batterer, and that the judge awarded him custody based on parental alienation syndrome (PAS).

First, there is nowhere in the court decision that supports the idea that Tim Shockome ever committed any act of physical violence against his wife or abuse against his children. During the custody trial, Judge Amodeo employed the expertise of seasoned domestic violence advocate and researcher, Meg Sussman, a licensed psychologist experienced in custody evaluations involving domestic violence and child abuse. Upon completion of her evaluations of the children and the parents, Dr. Sussman concluded that the allegations were unsupported and that custody should remain with Tim. She further concluded that Genia should continue to have her visitation supervised.

The restraining order entered against Tim was for allegedly calling Genia 25 times in one day and banging on her door and cursing. This order was simply allowed to expire on its own. The only witness to the alleged incident failed to show up to testify. Nowhere in the course of this trial was there ever a single supported incident of physical violence against Genia or the children.

Second, there is nowhere in the court decision that references PAS or Richard Gardner, or anything similar. Genia lost custody of her children mainly for her refusal to adhere to any of the orders of the court. It's important to remember that Genia actually started out this case with primary physical custody of the children with the terms of the joint custody arrangement contained in a detailed agreement. Genia honored the agreement for only eight days. But this was just one incident among many, and indeed, the court decided the case based on several factors.

Taking this case as a whole, it should be clear to any reasonable person that Judge Amodeo, far from being the monster portrayed by bloggers, journalists and activists, took great care and consideration in this custody determination and should be commended for refusing to fold to misinformed popular pressure. A quick Google search of the term "Shockome" reveals a trail of slander of Amodeo second only to Tim Shockome.

Childress did, however, allow one blatant lie slip through her careful editing. She states that Genia has been barred from seeing the children. This is completely untrue. Genia is, in fact, allowed to see the children whenever she wants and was implored to do so at her appeal by Justice Sandra Miller. The terms of visitation are simple: Genia must arrange to see them at a supervised visitation center (names and addresses of two were provided to her. She has chosen not to contact them). Tim Shockome pays for the plane ticket. In fact, Genia has only seen the children twice in the last two years -- in March, 2004 and August, 2005 -- by her own choice. This choice is described by Genia and her attorney, Barry Goldstein, as a “strategy” similar, apparently, to the strategy of refusing to pay child support.

Here are a few of the more heavily trafficked links in support of Genia and defamation of Tim and Judge Amodeo:
http://trishwilson.typepad.com/blog/2005/05/more_on_the_gen.html

http://www.thelizlibrary.org/outrage/shockome.html

http://redstatefeminist.blogspot.com/2006/09/newsweek-genia-shockome-and-glenn.html

http://www.judicialaccountability.org/articles/motherfightforkidsjailed.htm

http://www.scamsandscandals.com/genia.html

http://www.batteredmotherscustodyconference.org/genia

If you read the 55 page decision and then read some of this stuff, it's hard to imagine that anyone who wrote these articles read the decision. But I believe most or all of them did.

In reading through this court decision, one thing becomes obvious: many opposed to the reform of parents’ rights in America have no problem with willfully misrepresenting facts in an effort to gain the support of reasonable people for a cause which is hardly reasonable. If there is anything to come from this bit of investigation I’ve done and the few paragraphs I’ve written, I hope that it is that Tim and the kids – and even Genia – will be able to get on with their lives without interference. The children are reaching an age now when their friends and schoolmates are surfing the internet and will likely come across some of the vitriol being spewed by Genia and those who provide her with a soapbox to do it. Maybe having the facts of the case out there will impede the use of this family as a point of rhetoric. By all accounts, the children are doing well in Texas and would very much like to see their mother. Perhaps if she is no longer enabled by the cast of loonies who trot her out, she’ll choose to do the right thing, abandon her “strategy” and get on a plane to Texas.