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September 29, 2008

What happens when an abuse shelter engages in conduct that is so unethical and bizarre that the public almost can't believe the magnitude of the travesty? Read on and decide for yourself.

Crystal D. Hall of McIntosh County, Okla. was the wife of James Hall and the mother of five. She also had a severe mental illness that required her to take anti-psychotic medications.

Sometime in mid-2005 Mrs. Hall became convinced that she and the children were being emotionally abused by James. In July of that year, Crystal's family had her admitted to a local mental health facility. And the state Department of Human Services took custody of the children.

What followed over the ensuing two and a half years was a series of legal maneuvers, investigations, jurisdictional disputes, hearings, appeals, and judicial reversals, all stemming from the unsubstantiated allegation that Mr. Hall was an abuser.

Of course county officials investigated the allegation, discovering no evidence of child abuse.

But the SafeNet shelter in Claremore, Okla. decided to get in on the act. The shelter's tax return reveals annual revenues in the neighborhood of $640,000. Oddly, the tax forms do not disclose the executive director's compensation package.

Told to always believe the victim, the SafeNet staff would not accept the decision of the county investigators. So the shelter went judge-shopping and soon filed an abuse complaint in another county.

It's no secret that judges often issue temporary restraining orders with no hard evidence. So over the next year the shelter obtained five temporary orders against Mr. Hall -- not once presenting proof of abuse.

Mr. Hall would eventually undergo four psychological evaluations, all of them declaring him to be a fit parent. One psychologist concluded, "There is no documented evidence that Mr. Hall has ever been physically or emotionally abusive to the children." Predictably, the SafeNet staff disagreed with the findings, even attempting to have one examiner removed from her position.

Crystal Hall was eventually discharged from the mental health facility and sent to live on her own. But her condition remained unstable, so SafeNet employees came to her house 3 times a day to make sure she took the medicines. Shelter staff also drove her to and from work and took her grocery shopping.

After months of legal wrangling and baseless accusations, Judge Gary Dean finally handed down his decision, which can be viewed here.

The judge first noted that "Mrs. Hall is a person with serious mental health problems. After approximately 2 ½ years of extensive counseling, through Safenet and other sources, the Court can see no progress on the mental health issues of the mother."

Pointing the judicial finger at shelter director Donna Grabow, the judge noted that "Safenet Services has been less than forthcoming in its reporting to DHS and the Court, and its credibility is questioned by the Court. One of the children has requested that the Court 'get Safenet out of our lives.'"

Then came Judge Dean's damning finding: "the claims of Crystal Hall as to abuse appear to the Court to have been manufactured or fabricated which resulted in her being eligible to receive services from Safenet Services."

In other words, SafeNet chose to reward Crystal Hall's lies by dishing out free services.

Finally Dean announced his decision, awarding custody of the children to Mr. Hall. Noting that the mother said she didn't want any contact with her five kids, the judge nonetheless granted her visitation rights.

The judge then ruled, "no representative of Safenet Services shall be present or have any contact with the children during the visitation." Driving home the point for emphasis, he wrote, "The mother or visitation supervisor shall not permit the present director of Safenet Services to have any contact with the children at any time, as requested by the attorney for the children."

A month later Judge Dean expunged all the restraining orders from Mr. Hall's record.

True, the shelter left Mrs. Hall in worse shape than when she first came for help. Yes, the shelter director was scolded for harming the parent-child relationship. And for sure, its machinations cost a man over $100,000 in legal fees.

But that doesn't mean the shelter staff aren't entitled to a helping of good old-fashioned fun.

So this past Saturday, SafeNet held a community fund-raiser. Themed "No More Bruises," the event featured music from the Law Dawgs and the Coo-Y-Yah Players. A $15 ticket entitled attendees to four carefree hours of barbecue, music, and dancing.

"It's a good fund raiser for women," explained SafeNet representative Susan Wolfenbarger. "It was a lot of fun last year."

Carey Roberts probes and lampoons political correctness. His work has been published frequently in the Washington Times, Townhall.com, LewRockwell.com, ifeminists.net, Intellectual Conservative, and elsewhere. He is a staff reporter for the New Media Network.

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