Alienation campaigns never end, do they?

[DecentDad]

Soc,

Blessed be the peace of this post-judgment period.  Not.

You may recall that my (now 4 year old) daughter has been in therapy for the past year with some nut LMFT.

I've repeatedly advised that she doesn't have my consent to treat child, and repeatedly requested records, never got them.  I've had joint legal / joint physical marked ever since first orders in 2001 (though timeshare probably wouldn't have met joint physical challenge).  She sent me a letter saying that she'd meet with me to discuss but would not release the records.

Evaluator talked with her.  Noted her observations in his report, but largely dismissed them (e.g., LMFT couldn't even recall if child said allegations alone or with mother present).

After settlement at trial, I finally arranged to meet with her to find out why my daughter is in therapy.

I got the laundry list of allegations made by my ex.  This therapist bought the farm on everything from my ex.  Nothing I could say/show in the session (nor my wife, who also attended) would sway her.

After the session, I again wrote and asked for my daughter's records, gave her 30 days to provide them.  She never responded.

I filed a complaint with the state Board of Behavior Sciences, seeing four potential violations of professional code.  Hoping that she'd just quickly remove herself from the situation to avoid a mess, I advised her of my complaint, noting that if she resolved the four areas, it'd be an easy resolution.

After having met with her and seeing just how biased she is, I also decided to file the complaint to diffuse any report she makes against me and be able to cast it as retaliation.

State board replied, confirming that my complaint passed their initial review and they'd contact me with progress or need for more info.

She responded to me via certified mail, provided refund of my payment for the session with her (noting no admission of wrong-doing).  Instead of providing daughter's records that I requested, she provided a 2 page "treatment and diagnosis" summary of my daughter (i.e., daughter has "Adjustment disorder" due to my alleged poor parenting of her).

Her summary (thanks for that evidence of attempted alienation by mother!) is a lovely regurgitation of biomom's delusional allegations about what daughter experiences in my home, and therapist's diagnosis is based on that.  Therapist stands alone in her diagnoses.  Evaluator, pediatrician, preschool teachers all think daughter is healthy and well-adjusted.  Evaluator knew daughter was in therapy and didn't mention continuing it in his recommendations.

Obviously, my immediate goal is to get this whackjob out of my daughter's life.  If she concedes to stop treating daughter, I'm fine dropping the whole thing.

Per our prior discussion, I'm about to start private consultation with a PhD psychologist who does custody evals, who has authored a number of journal articles on child therapy during contested custody situations (i.e., the dangers present and precautions needed), and who was referred as having deep understanding of the complex dynamics of alienation issues.

1.  What legal options do I have to stop this woman's contact with my daughter?  If the state Board finds any merit to my complaint, I can take their findings and go for a TRO prohibiting contact between daughter and therapist, but anything else in the meantime?

2.  Am I missing a blaring opportunity or failing to take any precautions I should be taking at this point regarding this therapist?

Thanks for your thoughts,
DD

[Stepmomnow]

Soc


In California, based on the facts above, does a parent with joint legal have a right to prohibit a therapist or doctor from treating the child?

[socrateaser]

>1.  What legal options do I have to stop this woman's contact
>with my daughter?  If the state Board finds any merit to my
>complaint, I can take their findings and go for a TRO
>prohibiting contact between daughter and therapist, but
>anything else in the meantime?

As a general rule, the psychotherapist can withhold the records from you, only if he/she believes that releasing the records will cause a reasonable likelihood of substantial harm to the child. As she has already released a synopsis of her findings, I don't think that she can now support her burden to withhold the remainder of the records.

Since you've already demanded the records and have been refused, you're only remaining avenue, short of suing the therapist for malpractice, is to ask the court to restrain the mother from using this therapist. To do this, you would need to show that the therapist's evaluation is far removed from the findings of other experts, and so harmful to your relationship with your child as to not be in the child's best interests (or, even that it is likely to cause you and the child irreparable harm). I would need to read the findings of all the evaluators in order to be able to actually determine if I thought you have a case, but you can probably discern this yourself, if you remain objective.

>2.  Am I missing a blaring opportunity or failing to take any
>precautions I should be taking at this point regarding this
>therapist?

I don't really know. It doesn't seem like you're missing anything.

[socrateaser]

>Soc
>
>
>In California, based on the facts above, does a parent with
>joint legal have a right to prohibit a therapist or doctor
>from treating the child?

Depends on how the court order is written, but, if you have joint legal custody, you could ask the court to intercede, assuming that you can prove that the therapist's findings are substantially at odds with other experts.

[DecentDad]

So, I think your guidance is good for me, thanks.