Family Law Task Force getting flak for recruitment, ‘insider’ panelists

Via Marc A. Article here. Fred Sottile of Fathers4Justice Los Angeles, who is quoted, is also an officer of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Coalition of Free Men and a recipient of NCFM's Award of Honor for 2008. Nice going, Fred! -- Marc | Excerpt:

'A Task Force created to address alleged widespread problems in the state family courts system is taking flak from the same groups who have been calling for reforms.

Such criticism was widely expected when the Elkins Family Law Task Force was created last May. Men’s and women’s groups have been fighting a highly-politicized battle for years over problems in the courts that decide divorce and child custody proceedings.
While advocates on both sides agree that there are numerous serious issues in the family courts, they often have opposing views on what those problems actually are. But they do seem to agree that the process has been too closed, that there have been problems with a series of focus groups and that the Task Force includes far too many insiders. The 38 members include 16 judges, 12 attorneys, 10 staff members of various family courts—and no advocates or family court litigants.

“When you ask that same entity to investigate itself, and then you put on the panel judges who have historically protected the institution and themselves over the public good, how much substantive change is really going to occur?” said Patty Bellasalma, president of the California National Organization of Women (CA NOW).'