Here & Now - No Way Out But One
Film about Holly Collins saga screens at BU
Robin Young, of WBUR’s “Here & Now,” hosted a screening at BU this week of “No Way Out But One,” a new documentary about Holly Collins, an American woman who kidnapped her own children to save them from a life of domestic violence. (Pursued by the FBI, Collins eventually fled the country and was granted asylum by the Netherlands.) The film was part of “Women Take the Reel,” a Boston-based film fest focused on movies written and/or directed by women. The film was produced by BU professor-filmmaker Garland Waller and her husband, former TV host-journalist Barry Nolan
Robin Young, of WBUR’s “Here & Now,” hosted a screening at BU this week of “No Way Out But One,” a new documentary about Holly Collins, an American woman who kidnapped her own children to save them from a life of domestic violence. (Pursued by the FBI, Collins eventually fled the country and was granted asylum by the Netherlands.) The film was part of “Women Take the Reel,” a Boston-based film fest focused on movies written and/or directed by women. The film was produced by BU professor-filmmaker Garland Waller and her husband, former TV host-journalist Barry Nolan
ABUSIVE PARENTS BEWARE...
Children Grow Up and We're Gonna' Tell!
For years Glenn Sacks and Father’s and Families swore up and down that my brother’s skull was fractured at an amusement park. They called my mother a liar again and again. They said that if my brothers skull was not fractured in 1986 (when my father claimed) and it was in fact broken in 1987 (as my mother and brother insisted) it would be easy for me (my brother) to obtain all of the medical records and prove it. Okay… so I DID THAT! I proved that there was no way that my father was telling the truth because I posted the medical records from 1986 which clearly stated that x-rays were conducted and there were “NO BROKEN BONES”! I also posted the results from my brothers x-rays from 1987 which confirm his skull was fractured. It should have ended there. I proved my father and Glenn Sacks and Fathers & Families were all liars!
Now it is happening again… Mike D. Glenn Sacks, Fathers & Families claim that MANY different mental health professionals testified that our mother had/has MSbP. That is a lie! This time the proof is on you!
Only one person, ONE! Susan DeVries the family court custody evaluator said that she read 6 articles about MSbP and said that our case could fit some of the symptoms. She testified under oath that she was NOT familiar with MSbP, that she did NOT have the qualification for making such a diagnosis and that her only information came from rading 6 (SIX) articles. Are you kidding me? Judge Davis even retracted his findings the following week after he reversed custody and clarified that he never intended to diagnose my mother with any mental illness, especially MSbP.
My father, Susan DeVries, Glenn Sacks and now Mike D (who cowardly refuses to come forward with his true identity) continue with further lies suggesting that my mother was a doctor shopper but the evidence already proves them wrong!
We had ONE pediatrician in Minnesota. Dr. Estrin. I adored him! He referred us to ONE pediatric allergist Dr. Blum. Dr. Blum determined that we were “some of the most allergic children he has ever seen”. Where is the doctor shopping? (Again… to make things crystal clear… Our pediatrician told my mother to take us to this specific pediatric allergist. She did what she was told!)
When we moved to Massachusetts we had ONE pediatrician Dr. Louden. He referred us to a local allergist who was a grouchy old man. We saw him ONCE for ONE consultation and my mom was uncomfortable around him and told Dr. Louden. So Dr. Louden referred us to a pediatric allergist Dr. Polmar at the Boston Children’s Hospital. My father convinced Dr. Polmar that my mother was over reacting to our allergies and asked for some sort of other explanation. Dr. Polmar suggested that we could have dermographism, highly sensitive skin.
What should this young mother do? She had TWO doctors who she trusted saying that her children were severely allergic and a new doctor saying that maybe her kids had some other medical disorder.
She decided to get an independent evaluation at Tufts University who determined that our Doctors in Minnesota were correct!
So what did my mom do next? She went back to Dr. Polmar at the Boston Children’s Hospital and she even agreed to have us evaluated there by their psychologists. (By the way…The Boston Children’s Hospital Child Abuse Trauma Team, headed by Dr. Eli Newberger confirmed that my brother and I were telling the truth about the abuse!)
My pediatrician Dr. Vrouwenvelder and allergist Dr De Groot in The Netherlands have also confirmed our allergies. Dr. Vrouwenvelder personally witnessed me in anaphylactic shock.
It is most remarkable that our mother tried everything to get us back and safe. She voluntarily submitted to several psychiatric evaluations to determine if she suffered from MSbP or any other mental illness. They all concluded that she did NOT!
Thank God our mother was determined to protect us from all of my father’s abuse and sacrificed everything to protect us!
It is bizarre how these angry men are claiming that they know what really happened to me and my brother because they read articles from Glenn Sacks who got his information from an abuser. They keep forgetting that my father was found to be an abuser! They are all supporting a known wife beater. That says a lot about their character!
For years Glenn Sacks and Father’s and Families swore up and down that my brother’s skull was fractured at an amusement park. They called my mother a liar again and again. They said that if my brothers skull was not fractured in 1986 (when my father claimed) and it was in fact broken in 1987 (as my mother and brother insisted) it would be easy for me (my brother) to obtain all of the medical records and prove it. Okay… so I DID THAT! I proved that there was no way that my father was telling the truth because I posted the medical records from 1986 which clearly stated that x-rays were conducted and there were “NO BROKEN BONES”! I also posted the results from my brothers x-rays from 1987 which confirm his skull was fractured. It should have ended there. I proved my father and Glenn Sacks and Fathers & Families were all liars!
Now it is happening again… Mike D. Glenn Sacks, Fathers & Families claim that MANY different mental health professionals testified that our mother had/has MSbP. That is a lie! This time the proof is on you!
Only one person, ONE! Susan DeVries the family court custody evaluator said that she read 6 articles about MSbP and said that our case could fit some of the symptoms. She testified under oath that she was NOT familiar with MSbP, that she did NOT have the qualification for making such a diagnosis and that her only information came from rading 6 (SIX) articles. Are you kidding me? Judge Davis even retracted his findings the following week after he reversed custody and clarified that he never intended to diagnose my mother with any mental illness, especially MSbP.
My father, Susan DeVries, Glenn Sacks and now Mike D (who cowardly refuses to come forward with his true identity) continue with further lies suggesting that my mother was a doctor shopper but the evidence already proves them wrong!
We had ONE pediatrician in Minnesota. Dr. Estrin. I adored him! He referred us to ONE pediatric allergist Dr. Blum. Dr. Blum determined that we were “some of the most allergic children he has ever seen”. Where is the doctor shopping? (Again… to make things crystal clear… Our pediatrician told my mother to take us to this specific pediatric allergist. She did what she was told!)
When we moved to Massachusetts we had ONE pediatrician Dr. Louden. He referred us to a local allergist who was a grouchy old man. We saw him ONCE for ONE consultation and my mom was uncomfortable around him and told Dr. Louden. So Dr. Louden referred us to a pediatric allergist Dr. Polmar at the Boston Children’s Hospital. My father convinced Dr. Polmar that my mother was over reacting to our allergies and asked for some sort of other explanation. Dr. Polmar suggested that we could have dermographism, highly sensitive skin.
What should this young mother do? She had TWO doctors who she trusted saying that her children were severely allergic and a new doctor saying that maybe her kids had some other medical disorder.
She decided to get an independent evaluation at Tufts University who determined that our Doctors in Minnesota were correct!
So what did my mom do next? She went back to Dr. Polmar at the Boston Children’s Hospital and she even agreed to have us evaluated there by their psychologists. (By the way…The Boston Children’s Hospital Child Abuse Trauma Team, headed by Dr. Eli Newberger confirmed that my brother and I were telling the truth about the abuse!)
My pediatrician Dr. Vrouwenvelder and allergist Dr De Groot in The Netherlands have also confirmed our allergies. Dr. Vrouwenvelder personally witnessed me in anaphylactic shock.
It is most remarkable that our mother tried everything to get us back and safe. She voluntarily submitted to several psychiatric evaluations to determine if she suffered from MSbP or any other mental illness. They all concluded that she did NOT!
Thank God our mother was determined to protect us from all of my father’s abuse and sacrificed everything to protect us!
It is bizarre how these angry men are claiming that they know what really happened to me and my brother because they read articles from Glenn Sacks who got his information from an abuser. They keep forgetting that my father was found to be an abuser! They are all supporting a known wife beater. That says a lot about their character!
No Way Out But One - Sparking interest at Law Schools around the US
Stanford Law School Center for Internet & Society
By Documentary Film Program on March 29, 2012 at 12:00 am
In 1994 Holly Collins became an international fugitive, hunted by the FBI after she grabbed her three children and went on the run. Holly felt she had no choice after a family court had dismissed her as crazy, ignored her children’s pleas, Holly’s broken nose, her son’s fractured skull, her daughter’s graphic pictures and mounds of medical evidence and gave full custody of Zackary and Jennifer to their abusive father. Holly came to believe she and the children had No Way Out But One.
She fled the United States and made it to Amsterdam where she blurted out a plea for asylum, based on the fact that she was fleeing domestic violence and would not be protected if she were returned to the US.
At first, she and her children were placed in a refugee center with other poor souls fleeing violence torn hell-holes from around the world. Living shoulder to shoulder with people learning to use indoor plumbing for the first time in their lives, Holly and her kids made the best of it. At least they were safe. Holly eventually became the first U. S. Citizen to be granted asylum by the government of Netherlands.
She lived a quiet, low profile life for the next 14 years, until the FBI agents came calling. Hoping to return Holly to the United States to face kidnapping charges, they interviewed her now grown children. They told the agents that far from being their kidnapper, their mother was their savior and their hero.
Eventually, all charges against Holly were dropped, save one: contempt of court. Holly readily acknowledged that after all she and the children had been through, she did indeed have “contempt of court.”
The Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School is a leader in the study of the law and policy around the Internet and other emerging technologies.
http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blog/2012/03/no-way-out-one
By Documentary Film Program on March 29, 2012 at 12:00 am
In 1994 Holly Collins became an international fugitive, hunted by the FBI after she grabbed her three children and went on the run. Holly felt she had no choice after a family court had dismissed her as crazy, ignored her children’s pleas, Holly’s broken nose, her son’s fractured skull, her daughter’s graphic pictures and mounds of medical evidence and gave full custody of Zackary and Jennifer to their abusive father. Holly came to believe she and the children had No Way Out But One.
She fled the United States and made it to Amsterdam where she blurted out a plea for asylum, based on the fact that she was fleeing domestic violence and would not be protected if she were returned to the US.
At first, she and her children were placed in a refugee center with other poor souls fleeing violence torn hell-holes from around the world. Living shoulder to shoulder with people learning to use indoor plumbing for the first time in their lives, Holly and her kids made the best of it. At least they were safe. Holly eventually became the first U. S. Citizen to be granted asylum by the government of Netherlands.
She lived a quiet, low profile life for the next 14 years, until the FBI agents came calling. Hoping to return Holly to the United States to face kidnapping charges, they interviewed her now grown children. They told the agents that far from being their kidnapper, their mother was their savior and their hero.
Eventually, all charges against Holly were dropped, save one: contempt of court. Holly readily acknowledged that after all she and the children had been through, she did indeed have “contempt of court.”
The Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School is a leader in the study of the law and policy around the Internet and other emerging technologies.
http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blog/2012/03/no-way-out-one
American Refugees in The Netherlands - Meet the Collins Family!
Boston University Magazine
http://buquad.com/2012/03/29/no-way-out-but-one-a-reflection/refugees-in-nl-all-4-1/
http://buquad.com/2012/03/29/no-way-out-but-one-a-reflection/refugees-in-nl-all-4-1/
Boston University - No Way Out But One
‘No Way Out But One’ Screened Again: A Follow-Up
The Quad, Boston University's Independent Online Magazine
By Lauren Michael Mar 29th, 2012
On March 28, I saw No Way Out But One for the second time. This time the screening was sponsored in part by the CAS Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program as a part of Women Take the Reel, a film festival celebrating Women’s History Month through screenings of films written, directed, and/or produced by women.
The 6 p.m. screening included a Q&A featuring Professor Waller; Barry Nolan; Lundy Bancroft, an author and consultant on domestic abuse and child maltreatment; Dr. Eli Newberger, the Collins children’s former pediatrician at Children’s Hospital in Boston; and Holly Ann Collins herself. Robin Young of WBUR’s Here and Now moderated.
Since last December, the documentary has been screened at the Institute on Violence, Abuse, and Trauma (IVAT) Conference. It has also won several awards including an Award of Excellence for Feature Documentary from the Accolade Film Awards. At the end of the evening, it was announced that copies of No Way Out But One would soon be distributed to every member of Congress.
Throughout the Q&A, the panelists stressed that while Holly Collins’ story is unique, the situation from which she and her children escaped is not. A few of the panelists cited corruption in the family court system as a key problem; others pointed to lingering traces of misogyny in court practices. They all agreed, however, that we need to first raise awareness of the injustice in the family courts if we want to find a practical solution to the problem.
And Holly Collins? She wants to do more to help others who have been hurt by the family court system, but for now she’s enjoying the wonderful life she’s always wanted.
The Quad, Boston University's Independent Online Magazine
By Lauren Michael Mar 29th, 2012
On March 28, I saw No Way Out But One for the second time. This time the screening was sponsored in part by the CAS Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program as a part of Women Take the Reel, a film festival celebrating Women’s History Month through screenings of films written, directed, and/or produced by women.
The 6 p.m. screening included a Q&A featuring Professor Waller; Barry Nolan; Lundy Bancroft, an author and consultant on domestic abuse and child maltreatment; Dr. Eli Newberger, the Collins children’s former pediatrician at Children’s Hospital in Boston; and Holly Ann Collins herself. Robin Young of WBUR’s Here and Now moderated.
Since last December, the documentary has been screened at the Institute on Violence, Abuse, and Trauma (IVAT) Conference. It has also won several awards including an Award of Excellence for Feature Documentary from the Accolade Film Awards. At the end of the evening, it was announced that copies of No Way Out But One would soon be distributed to every member of Congress.
Throughout the Q&A, the panelists stressed that while Holly Collins’ story is unique, the situation from which she and her children escaped is not. A few of the panelists cited corruption in the family court system as a key problem; others pointed to lingering traces of misogyny in court practices. They all agreed, however, that we need to first raise awareness of the injustice in the family courts if we want to find a practical solution to the problem.
And Holly Collins? She wants to do more to help others who have been hurt by the family court system, but for now she’s enjoying the wonderful life she’s always wanted.
Holly Collins - No More Playing by the Rules
NO WAY OUT BUT ONE
Wednesday - March 28, 2012
6-10PM
Boston University, COM Auditorium, Room 101, 640 Commonwealth Avenue
The Courts Called Her Crazy.
The FBI Called Her a Kidnapper.
Her Kids Called Her Their Hero.
Suppose a family court judge gave custody of your children to a man you knew was beating them. What would you do? Until 1994, Holly Collins had played by the rules. That changed when a judge gave custody of her children to their father, the man who had fractured her son's skull. No Way Out But One explores a shocking national scandal that is also a national secret - that men who beat their wives and children usually get custody when they go after it in family courts. Holly Collins was able to do what few women have been able to do. She successfully kidnapped her children and went underground. Ultimately she became the first American to be granted asylum by the Dutch government on grounds of domestic violence. BU's Professor Garland Waller is the producer.
Wednesday - March 28, 2012
6-10PM
Boston University, COM Auditorium, Room 101, 640 Commonwealth Avenue
The Courts Called Her Crazy.
The FBI Called Her a Kidnapper.
Her Kids Called Her Their Hero.
Suppose a family court judge gave custody of your children to a man you knew was beating them. What would you do? Until 1994, Holly Collins had played by the rules. That changed when a judge gave custody of her children to their father, the man who had fractured her son's skull. No Way Out But One explores a shocking national scandal that is also a national secret - that men who beat their wives and children usually get custody when they go after it in family courts. Holly Collins was able to do what few women have been able to do. She successfully kidnapped her children and went underground. Ultimately she became the first American to be granted asylum by the Dutch government on grounds of domestic violence. BU's Professor Garland Waller is the producer.
Holly Collins' Children Will Be Heard!
Reel women
Robin Young of WBUR’s “Here and Now’’ will moderate a panel after the screening of “No Way Out But One,’’ a documentary by filmmaker and Boston University professor Garland Waller. The free screening and panel take place Wednesday at 6 p.m. at BU’s College of Communication auditorium at 640 Commonwealth Ave. “No Way Out But One’’ is about Holly Collins, an American woman who flees a life of abuse and goes on the run with her children. She becomes an international fugitive, wanted by the FBI, and the first American to be granted asylum by the Dutch government. Panelists include codirectors Waller and Barry Nolan, Holly Collins, and Eli Newberger of Harvard University and Children’s Hospital.
The screening is part of Women Take the Reel, a festival of films by women presented by Boston University’s Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program and the Graduate Consortium of Women’s Studies.
See www.bu.edu/wgs.
---------
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
No Way Out But One Screening
NPR's Robin Young hosts the screening of "No Way Out But One", a controversial new documentary that tells the story of Holly Collins, an American woman who kidnapped her own children to save them from a life of abuse. Pursued by the FBI, Holly fled the country and became the first American woman to ever be granted asylum by the government of the Netherlands, due to domestic violence. The film is being presented as part of Women Take the Reel, a Boston-based film festival focused on movies that are all written and/or directed by women. Immediately after the film, Robin will moderate a discussion with the filmmaker Garland Waller; Dr. Eli Newberger of Harvard and Children’s Hospital; and Holly Collins. This event is free and open to the public.
Start Time: 6:00 pm
Ends Time: 10:00 pm
Location: COM 101
Robin Young of WBUR’s “Here and Now’’ will moderate a panel after the screening of “No Way Out But One,’’ a documentary by filmmaker and Boston University professor Garland Waller. The free screening and panel take place Wednesday at 6 p.m. at BU’s College of Communication auditorium at 640 Commonwealth Ave. “No Way Out But One’’ is about Holly Collins, an American woman who flees a life of abuse and goes on the run with her children. She becomes an international fugitive, wanted by the FBI, and the first American to be granted asylum by the Dutch government. Panelists include codirectors Waller and Barry Nolan, Holly Collins, and Eli Newberger of Harvard University and Children’s Hospital.
The screening is part of Women Take the Reel, a festival of films by women presented by Boston University’s Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program and the Graduate Consortium of Women’s Studies.
See www.bu.edu/wgs.
---------
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
No Way Out But One Screening
NPR's Robin Young hosts the screening of "No Way Out But One", a controversial new documentary that tells the story of Holly Collins, an American woman who kidnapped her own children to save them from a life of abuse. Pursued by the FBI, Holly fled the country and became the first American woman to ever be granted asylum by the government of the Netherlands, due to domestic violence. The film is being presented as part of Women Take the Reel, a Boston-based film festival focused on movies that are all written and/or directed by women. Immediately after the film, Robin will moderate a discussion with the filmmaker Garland Waller; Dr. Eli Newberger of Harvard and Children’s Hospital; and Holly Collins. This event is free and open to the public.
Start Time: 6:00 pm
Ends Time: 10:00 pm
Location: COM 101
No Way Out But One - A Story of Love & Justice
A TRUE STORY OF FIERCE LOVE AND BLIND JUSTICE
A Documentary project in Boston, MA by Garland Waller and Barry Nolan
No Way Out But One is a documentary that tells the story of Holly Collins, an American woman who was driven by fear, love and desperation to kidnap her own children and go on the run in order to protect them from a life of abuse. Wanted by the FBI, Holly left behind everything she owned and everyone she knew in an effort to keep her children safe. She became an international fugitive, eventually making it to Amsterdam. After spending 2 years in a refugee camp out in the middle of nowhere, living shoulder to shoulder with other desperate souls fleeing violence torn hell holes around the world, Holly became the first American woman to ever be granted asylum by the Government of the Netherlands, due to domestic violence. Though it focuses on the desperate measures that one woman felt she had to take to protect her children, it also exposes the problems that protective parents and vulnerable children are facing nearly every day in courtrooms across the country.
A Documentary project in Boston, MA by Garland Waller and Barry Nolan
No Way Out But One is a documentary that tells the story of Holly Collins, an American woman who was driven by fear, love and desperation to kidnap her own children and go on the run in order to protect them from a life of abuse. Wanted by the FBI, Holly left behind everything she owned and everyone she knew in an effort to keep her children safe. She became an international fugitive, eventually making it to Amsterdam. After spending 2 years in a refugee camp out in the middle of nowhere, living shoulder to shoulder with other desperate souls fleeing violence torn hell holes around the world, Holly became the first American woman to ever be granted asylum by the Government of the Netherlands, due to domestic violence. Though it focuses on the desperate measures that one woman felt she had to take to protect her children, it also exposes the problems that protective parents and vulnerable children are facing nearly every day in courtrooms across the country.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2038674816/no-way-out-but-one-a-story-of-love-and-justice
New Documentary - No Way Out But One
New Documentary by BU Professor Tackles Flawed Family Court System
By Lauren Michael Dec 5th, 2011
In 1992, Holly Collins went to a Minnesota family court intending to secure full custody of her two children, Zackary and Jennifer. She had believed that if she told the truth–that her ex-husband had repeatedly abused her and their children–everything would be okay. But her evidence of abuse, including several medical records and the children’s statements that they always feared visiting their dad, were repeatedly rejected by the court. Her husband claimed she was lying and trying to alienate their children from him. Then, like thousands of battered women each year, Holly lost full custody of her children to their abusive father.
After two years with limited supervised visitation, in which the children weren’t permitted to discuss the ongoing abuse, Holly decided to do something. One day, she asked her kids to meet her at a video store near their dad’s house. They got into a car and started driving. They tried going to Canada, Mexico and Guatemala. Knowing the FBI was searching for them because Holly had in fact kidnapped her kids, she decided to try escaping to Australia or New Zealand. They managed to sneak through airport security without passports and got onto a flight to Amsterdam. There, they were detained and sent to a refugee camp. Years later upon finding a lawyer willing to take her case, Holly became the first U.S. citizen to be granted asylum by the Netherlands on the grounds of domestic violence.
For COM Professor Garland Waller, Holly Collins’ story was the perfect outlet for her to make a documentary on the shortcomings of the American family court system. “My first documentary was about three women who all lost custody of their kids to men who had battered them and sexually abused them,” she said to me when I interviewed her last Thursday. The documentary was never aired for the public, however, because people considered it way too controversial.
“I thought, I know this is an issue that is going on in the family courts, every single day,” Professor Waller explicated. “How can we do a story on this issue of domestic violence and child abuse that people will want to see; that will have a story that has a beginning, middle, and end; that has a hero; and that doesn’t make them feel suicidal at the end?” That’s why she decided to center her film around Holly’s story. ”Holly is one of the few women who has been able to save her children from years of being abused,” she affirmed.
On December 2 at 7pm in COM 101, Professor Waller and her production team screened the film No Way Out But One for a packed lecture hall of students and faculty. The hour-and-a-half long documentary, which was followed by a Q&A session, follows Holly’s story and also outlines the grievous problems 0f the American family court system. Made for under $40,000, the not-for-profit film was a way for Professor Waller and her husband Barry Nolan (who also produced and narrated the film) to make a difference.
“This is what I do to give back,” she explained. “Some people work for charity, some people give to the United Way, but this is what I do.”
As the documentary cites, each year 58,000 children are placed in contact with an abuse parent after divorce, and batterers win custody in 70% of family court cases where abuse is involved.
Holly Collins with her children outside the refugee camp in the Netherlands. Photo courtesy of Garland Waller and Barry Nolan
Professor Waller also cited the lingering gender bias in the family courts. “Courts do not have to consider domestic violence in their rulings, ” she said. “Now that is anti-woman, because it’s usually the women who get beaten up.” Money, she says, is also involved. “The men who want custody are the ones who can afford to have the kids, and you have to be able to pay the court costs,” she explained. “This is something that doesn’t happen in poor families…it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay all these people.” If the father is paying for the court evaluator, she says, often they’ll skew the evidence in his favor.
But even in ugly divorces, she says, usually the parents still want to do what’s best for their children. “When there are cases that involve domestic violence and child abuse, that is not the case,” she explained. “Women often get custody when there’s not domestic violence. But oddly, a batterer is more likely to go after custody than a non-batterer. So its a very complicated issue.”
Since the release of No Way Out But One, Professor Waller and her husband deal with angry father’s rights groups every day. These groups, like Fathers and Families, make an impassioned–if not entirely factual–argument for why they believe the Holly Collins case is a hoax. “After a nice review in a Boston Magazine blog, many pro-father’s rights men were highly critical,” she explained, but “none of them had seen the film and none of them had access to all the thousands of pages of legal documents and medical records and correspondence from experts and FBI documents that we had.” Many of these documents are shown and quoted in the film.
In their writings against Holly Collins, father’s rights groups cite Parental Alienation Syndrome, which means that a mother is trying to alienate her children from their father. Though it is not accepted as a legitimate diagnosis by the American Medical Association or the American Psychological Association (the psychologist who first wrote about PAS had conducted no actual studies), in family court it is often used to legitimize giving custody to an abusive parent.
L to R: Jennifer Collins, Barry Nolan, Professer Waller, and Holly Collins. Photo courtesy of Jessie Beers Altman
As Nolan puts it, “these are people who do not and will not respond to evidence, or facts, or medical records, or court transcripts, or expert testimony if it does not fit their preconceived notions.” The groups say that Holly fabricated the evidence of her husband’s abuse, but in reality false allegations of abuse are very rare.
“Holly may not be perfect, but she was clearly a battered woman who only wanted to protect her children from abuse,” Professor Waller affirmed.
Still, this is an issue that has mainly been ignored by the mainstream media. “The mainstream media is terrified of getting sued, and this is a subject where everybody sues everyone all the time,” she explained. “It’s all he said/she said…so the mainstream media says, this is a mess and we’re not going to get into it. Just as the mainstream media did not cover pedophile priests abusing children, just as for years they did not cover the things that were going on at Penn State, it is the same thing only worse by thousands in terms of the children who are being abused.”
Many years after their mother kidnapped them, the Collins kids, now adults, are healthy and grateful for everything their mother has done for them. Jennifer Collins, Holly’s oldest daughter, is the executive director of Courageous Kids, an organization for young adults who suffered from court injustice as children to speak out and share their stories.
“I guess for me, the most important thing is that I would like people to realize that this is a national issue that is not going away until people begin to understand that in a family court, if you beat your wife and abuse your child, and go after custody, most of the time you will get it,” Professor Waller concluded. “I want to live in an America that protects the children.”
For more information about the film, go to http://www.nowayoutbutone.com/index.html.
By Lauren Michael Dec 5th, 2011
In 1992, Holly Collins went to a Minnesota family court intending to secure full custody of her two children, Zackary and Jennifer. She had believed that if she told the truth–that her ex-husband had repeatedly abused her and their children–everything would be okay. But her evidence of abuse, including several medical records and the children’s statements that they always feared visiting their dad, were repeatedly rejected by the court. Her husband claimed she was lying and trying to alienate their children from him. Then, like thousands of battered women each year, Holly lost full custody of her children to their abusive father.
After two years with limited supervised visitation, in which the children weren’t permitted to discuss the ongoing abuse, Holly decided to do something. One day, she asked her kids to meet her at a video store near their dad’s house. They got into a car and started driving. They tried going to Canada, Mexico and Guatemala. Knowing the FBI was searching for them because Holly had in fact kidnapped her kids, she decided to try escaping to Australia or New Zealand. They managed to sneak through airport security without passports and got onto a flight to Amsterdam. There, they were detained and sent to a refugee camp. Years later upon finding a lawyer willing to take her case, Holly became the first U.S. citizen to be granted asylum by the Netherlands on the grounds of domestic violence.
For COM Professor Garland Waller, Holly Collins’ story was the perfect outlet for her to make a documentary on the shortcomings of the American family court system. “My first documentary was about three women who all lost custody of their kids to men who had battered them and sexually abused them,” she said to me when I interviewed her last Thursday. The documentary was never aired for the public, however, because people considered it way too controversial.
“I thought, I know this is an issue that is going on in the family courts, every single day,” Professor Waller explicated. “How can we do a story on this issue of domestic violence and child abuse that people will want to see; that will have a story that has a beginning, middle, and end; that has a hero; and that doesn’t make them feel suicidal at the end?” That’s why she decided to center her film around Holly’s story. ”Holly is one of the few women who has been able to save her children from years of being abused,” she affirmed.
On December 2 at 7pm in COM 101, Professor Waller and her production team screened the film No Way Out But One for a packed lecture hall of students and faculty. The hour-and-a-half long documentary, which was followed by a Q&A session, follows Holly’s story and also outlines the grievous problems 0f the American family court system. Made for under $40,000, the not-for-profit film was a way for Professor Waller and her husband Barry Nolan (who also produced and narrated the film) to make a difference.
“This is what I do to give back,” she explained. “Some people work for charity, some people give to the United Way, but this is what I do.”
As the documentary cites, each year 58,000 children are placed in contact with an abuse parent after divorce, and batterers win custody in 70% of family court cases where abuse is involved.
Holly Collins with her children outside the refugee camp in the Netherlands. Photo courtesy of Garland Waller and Barry Nolan
Professor Waller also cited the lingering gender bias in the family courts. “Courts do not have to consider domestic violence in their rulings, ” she said. “Now that is anti-woman, because it’s usually the women who get beaten up.” Money, she says, is also involved. “The men who want custody are the ones who can afford to have the kids, and you have to be able to pay the court costs,” she explained. “This is something that doesn’t happen in poor families…it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay all these people.” If the father is paying for the court evaluator, she says, often they’ll skew the evidence in his favor.
But even in ugly divorces, she says, usually the parents still want to do what’s best for their children. “When there are cases that involve domestic violence and child abuse, that is not the case,” she explained. “Women often get custody when there’s not domestic violence. But oddly, a batterer is more likely to go after custody than a non-batterer. So its a very complicated issue.”
Since the release of No Way Out But One, Professor Waller and her husband deal with angry father’s rights groups every day. These groups, like Fathers and Families, make an impassioned–if not entirely factual–argument for why they believe the Holly Collins case is a hoax. “After a nice review in a Boston Magazine blog, many pro-father’s rights men were highly critical,” she explained, but “none of them had seen the film and none of them had access to all the thousands of pages of legal documents and medical records and correspondence from experts and FBI documents that we had.” Many of these documents are shown and quoted in the film.
In their writings against Holly Collins, father’s rights groups cite Parental Alienation Syndrome, which means that a mother is trying to alienate her children from their father. Though it is not accepted as a legitimate diagnosis by the American Medical Association or the American Psychological Association (the psychologist who first wrote about PAS had conducted no actual studies), in family court it is often used to legitimize giving custody to an abusive parent.
L to R: Jennifer Collins, Barry Nolan, Professer Waller, and Holly Collins. Photo courtesy of Jessie Beers Altman
As Nolan puts it, “these are people who do not and will not respond to evidence, or facts, or medical records, or court transcripts, or expert testimony if it does not fit their preconceived notions.” The groups say that Holly fabricated the evidence of her husband’s abuse, but in reality false allegations of abuse are very rare.
“Holly may not be perfect, but she was clearly a battered woman who only wanted to protect her children from abuse,” Professor Waller affirmed.
Still, this is an issue that has mainly been ignored by the mainstream media. “The mainstream media is terrified of getting sued, and this is a subject where everybody sues everyone all the time,” she explained. “It’s all he said/she said…so the mainstream media says, this is a mess and we’re not going to get into it. Just as the mainstream media did not cover pedophile priests abusing children, just as for years they did not cover the things that were going on at Penn State, it is the same thing only worse by thousands in terms of the children who are being abused.”
Many years after their mother kidnapped them, the Collins kids, now adults, are healthy and grateful for everything their mother has done for them. Jennifer Collins, Holly’s oldest daughter, is the executive director of Courageous Kids, an organization for young adults who suffered from court injustice as children to speak out and share their stories.
“I guess for me, the most important thing is that I would like people to realize that this is a national issue that is not going away until people begin to understand that in a family court, if you beat your wife and abuse your child, and go after custody, most of the time you will get it,” Professor Waller concluded. “I want to live in an America that protects the children.”
For more information about the film, go to http://www.nowayoutbutone.com/index.html.
Professor Garland Waller on her Documentary No Way Out But One
Professor tells the story behind her documentary
http://www.bu.edu/com/2011/11/22/prof-garland-waller-tells-story-behind-her-documentary/
http://www.bu.edu/com/2011/11/22/prof-garland-waller-tells-story-behind-her-documentary/
When Prof. Garland Waller first conceptualized her documentary, No Way Out But One, she did not imagine a project of such enormous magnitude. Originally created as a 15-minute short film, Waller’s award-winning movie about love, courage and perseverance grew into a feature-length documentary.
The film tells the compelling story of divorced mother, Holly Collins, and her fight to free her children from the custody of her former husband, their abusive father. Accused of kidnapping her own children by the FBI, Collins went on the run, ultimately fleeing with her children to the Netherlands where she become the first American woman to win asylum by the Government of the Netherlands, on the basis of domestic violence.
While Collins and her family are a unique case, Waller, who produced and directed the documentary, strives to shed light on the larger issue at hand: domestic violence and child abuse. An estimated 58,000 children a year are ordered into unsupervised contact with physically or sexually abusive parents following divorce in the United States.
“My commitment”, said Waller, “is to broaden awareness of the fact that if you beat your wife and abuse your children in America you are more likely to get custody than not, and I believe this is such a shocking fact, not a make believe opinion that most people have no idea about.”
While Waller’s passion was a driving force behind this documentary, she was not alone in its making. Her husband, Barry Nolan, a television writer and reporter, co-wrote and co-produced the documentary. Waller also said that the movie is truly a reflection of COM, with six students and alumni involved with the production and promotion process. Waller was quick to thank the following: Erika Street, editor; Olivia Neir, web designer and creator; Celia Hubbard, production assistant; Rebecca Wilkinson, production assistant; Jessie Beers Altman, production assistant and second camera in Amsterdam; and Gonzalo Accame, Washington, D.C. videographer.
No Way Out But One debuts at Boston University Dec. 2, 2011 at 7 p.m. in COM 101.
The film tells the compelling story of divorced mother, Holly Collins, and her fight to free her children from the custody of her former husband, their abusive father. Accused of kidnapping her own children by the FBI, Collins went on the run, ultimately fleeing with her children to the Netherlands where she become the first American woman to win asylum by the Government of the Netherlands, on the basis of domestic violence.
While Collins and her family are a unique case, Waller, who produced and directed the documentary, strives to shed light on the larger issue at hand: domestic violence and child abuse. An estimated 58,000 children a year are ordered into unsupervised contact with physically or sexually abusive parents following divorce in the United States.
“My commitment”, said Waller, “is to broaden awareness of the fact that if you beat your wife and abuse your children in America you are more likely to get custody than not, and I believe this is such a shocking fact, not a make believe opinion that most people have no idea about.”
While Waller’s passion was a driving force behind this documentary, she was not alone in its making. Her husband, Barry Nolan, a television writer and reporter, co-wrote and co-produced the documentary. Waller also said that the movie is truly a reflection of COM, with six students and alumni involved with the production and promotion process. Waller was quick to thank the following: Erika Street, editor; Olivia Neir, web designer and creator; Celia Hubbard, production assistant; Rebecca Wilkinson, production assistant; Jessie Beers Altman, production assistant and second camera in Amsterdam; and Gonzalo Accame, Washington, D.C. videographer.
No Way Out But One debuts at Boston University Dec. 2, 2011 at 7 p.m. in COM 101.
Holly Collins' children are no longer silenced thanks to the documentary No Way Out But One
When I was little I used to ask my mom "Why won't the judge meet with us?" and "Why won't he listen to us?" Our young mother, desperate to protect us promised that someday a judge would listen to us. She kept her promise years later in a foreign country when a judicial tribunal in Holland insisted on hearing what my brother and I had to say.
Now again my mother has made good on her promise to have our voices heard with the recent release of an amazing documentary by Garland Waller and Barry Nolan No Way Out But One.
I just want to thank Garland and Barry and most of all I want to thank our Mom!
No Way Out But One - Screening on October 27 2011
SCREENINGS
October 27th, 7pm at MIT
http://www.wifvne.org/
When I was ripped out of the safety of my mother's arms and given to my abusive father my mother made us a carbon copy of her hand. When I was sad I used to hide under my bed at my father's house and place my hand on my mothers hand and long for the day we would be reunited.
Holly Collins Documentary to Premiere in Boston!
First Festival Screening of No Way Out But One to be at MIT
The Courts Called Her Crazy.
The FBI Called Her a Kidnapper.
Her Kids Called Her a Hero!
Screening of Award-Winning Documentary
Boston, MA – Production has just been completed on No Way Out But One, an independent documentary by Garland Waller and Barry Nolan. The film tells the incredible story of Holly Collins, a kidnapper to some and a hero to many. The film also examines the larger issue of the tragic failure of the family court system to achieve its most important mandate, to protect children.
In 1994, Holly Collins was a desperate mother determined to protect her children from abuse at the hands of their father. Believing that she had no other choice, Holly kidnapped her own kids, left everything behind, and went on the run. She became an international fugitive, wanted by the FBI. She became the first American to ever be granted asylum by the Dutch government as a result of domestic violence.
To capture the full story, the happily married team of veteran producers, Garland Waller and Barry Nolan, traveled to the Netherlands, Washington D.C., St. Paul, Minnesota, and Albany, NY. They used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain never before seen FBI files. They gathered extensive medical evidence, court records, and sworn affidavits. They drew on published research and interviewed witnesses, legal experts and doctors.
Rita Smith, the Executive Director of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence said of the film: "No Way Out But One is a compelling account of exactly why the family court system in the United States needs to be completely overhauled.“
Eileen King of Justice for Children said: “The quiet flame that lights No Way Out But One is Holly Collin's courage and fierce determination to protect her children from the violent abuse they were suffering in their father's home.”
For her work on the film, Executive Producer Garland Waller has already won the 2011 Distinguished Service Award for Excellence in Film and Media from the Institute on Violence Abuse and Trauma. No Way Out But One has been chosen to kick off this year’s Chicks Make Flicks Screening Series for Women in Film and Video / New England sponsored by the MIT Program in Women’s and Gender Studies on the MIT campus on October 27th at 7PM, Room 6-120 of Building 6. The screening is free and open to the public.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2038674816/no-way-out-but-one-a-story-of-love-and-justice/posts
The Courts Called Her Crazy.
The FBI Called Her a Kidnapper.
Her Kids Called Her a Hero!
Screening of Award-Winning Documentary
Boston, MA – Production has just been completed on No Way Out But One, an independent documentary by Garland Waller and Barry Nolan. The film tells the incredible story of Holly Collins, a kidnapper to some and a hero to many. The film also examines the larger issue of the tragic failure of the family court system to achieve its most important mandate, to protect children.
In 1994, Holly Collins was a desperate mother determined to protect her children from abuse at the hands of their father. Believing that she had no other choice, Holly kidnapped her own kids, left everything behind, and went on the run. She became an international fugitive, wanted by the FBI. She became the first American to ever be granted asylum by the Dutch government as a result of domestic violence.
To capture the full story, the happily married team of veteran producers, Garland Waller and Barry Nolan, traveled to the Netherlands, Washington D.C., St. Paul, Minnesota, and Albany, NY. They used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain never before seen FBI files. They gathered extensive medical evidence, court records, and sworn affidavits. They drew on published research and interviewed witnesses, legal experts and doctors.
Rita Smith, the Executive Director of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence said of the film: "No Way Out But One is a compelling account of exactly why the family court system in the United States needs to be completely overhauled.“
Eileen King of Justice for Children said: “The quiet flame that lights No Way Out But One is Holly Collin's courage and fierce determination to protect her children from the violent abuse they were suffering in their father's home.”
For her work on the film, Executive Producer Garland Waller has already won the 2011 Distinguished Service Award for Excellence in Film and Media from the Institute on Violence Abuse and Trauma. No Way Out But One has been chosen to kick off this year’s Chicks Make Flicks Screening Series for Women in Film and Video / New England sponsored by the MIT Program in Women’s and Gender Studies on the MIT campus on October 27th at 7PM, Room 6-120 of Building 6. The screening is free and open to the public.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2038674816/no-way-out-but-one-a-story-of-love-and-justice/posts
No Way Out But One - The Reviews
Boston, MA – Production has just been completed on No Way Out But One, an independent documentary by Garland Waller and Barry Nolan. The film tells the incredible story of Holly Collins, a kidnapper to some and a hero to many. The film also examines the larger issue of the tragic failure of the family court system to achieve its most important mandate, to protect children.
In 1994, Holly Collins was a desperate mother determined to protect her children from abuse at the hands of their father. Believing that she had no other choice, Holly kidnapped her own kids, left everything behind, and went on the run. She became an international fugitive, wanted by the FBI. She became the first American to ever be granted asylum by the Dutch government as a result of domestic violence.
To capture the full story, the happily married team of veteran producers, Garland Waller and Barry Nolan, traveled to the Netherlands, Washington D.C., St. Paul, Minnesota, and Albany, NY. They used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain never before seen FBI files. They gathered extensive medical evidence, court records, and sworn affidavits. They drew on published research and interviewed witnesses, legal experts and doctors.
Rita Smith, the Executive Director of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence said of the film: " is a compelling account of exactly why the family court system in the United States needs to be completely overhauled.“
Eileen King of Justice for Children said: “The quiet flame that lights No Way Out But One is Holly Collin’s courage and fierce determination to protect her children from the violent abuse they were suffering in their father’s home.”
For her work on the film, Executive Producer Garland Waller has already won the 2011 Distinguished Service Award for Excellence in Film and Media from the Institute on Violence Abuse and Trauma. No Way Out But One has been chosen to kick off this year’s Chicks Make Flicks Screening Series for Women in Film and Video / New England sponsored by the MIT Program in Women’s and Gender Studies on the MIT campus on October 27th at 7PM, Room 6-120 of Building 6. The screening is free and open to the public.
In 1994, Holly Collins was a desperate mother determined to protect her children from abuse at the hands of their father. Believing that she had no other choice, Holly kidnapped her own kids, left everything behind, and went on the run. She became an international fugitive, wanted by the FBI. She became the first American to ever be granted asylum by the Dutch government as a result of domestic violence.
To capture the full story, the happily married team of veteran producers, Garland Waller and Barry Nolan, traveled to the Netherlands, Washington D.C., St. Paul, Minnesota, and Albany, NY. They used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain never before seen FBI files. They gathered extensive medical evidence, court records, and sworn affidavits. They drew on published research and interviewed witnesses, legal experts and doctors.
Rita Smith, the Executive Director of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence said of the film: " is a compelling account of exactly why the family court system in the United States needs to be completely overhauled.“
Eileen King of Justice for Children said: “The quiet flame that lights No Way Out But One is Holly Collin’s courage and fierce determination to protect her children from the violent abuse they were suffering in their father’s home.”
For her work on the film, Executive Producer Garland Waller has already won the 2011 Distinguished Service Award for Excellence in Film and Media from the Institute on Violence Abuse and Trauma. No Way Out But One has been chosen to kick off this year’s Chicks Make Flicks Screening Series for Women in Film and Video / New England sponsored by the MIT Program in Women’s and Gender Studies on the MIT campus on October 27th at 7PM, Room 6-120 of Building 6. The screening is free and open to the public.
Holly Collins "Kidnapped Children" Return to the United States of America
We're Happy! We're Safe! And... We're Home!
Thanks Mom
Holly Collins Returns to the United States after 17 Years in Exile!
A Final Shoot - A Remarkable Ending "Last night - taking a break from the nearly non-stop editing - Garland Waller supervised the final shoot for No Way Out But One. And she had the chance to share a truly remarkable moment with Holly Collins, the subject of her film.
Just over 17 years after Holly Collins grabbed her children and fled the country to save them from a life of abuse - Holly came home to America.
Holly and her four young Dutch children arrived at Boston Logan Airport just before sunset. Her older children - the ones she saved from a life of abuse - will join her shortly. They will settle in a small little house that is all their own and write new chapters in what has already been an inspiring story.
The film will have its premier at the 16th annual International Conference on Violence Abuse and Trauma in San Diego on September 11th. To all those whose generosity, support, and kindness have helped make this film possible - you are our heroes. And we just can't thank you enough."
~Barry Nolan
Just over 17 years after Holly Collins grabbed her children and fled the country to save them from a life of abuse - Holly came home to America.
Holly and her four young Dutch children arrived at Boston Logan Airport just before sunset. Her older children - the ones she saved from a life of abuse - will join her shortly. They will settle in a small little house that is all their own and write new chapters in what has already been an inspiring story.
The film will have its premier at the 16th annual International Conference on Violence Abuse and Trauma in San Diego on September 11th. To all those whose generosity, support, and kindness have helped make this film possible - you are our heroes. And we just can't thank you enough."
~Barry Nolan
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2038674816/no-way-out-but-one-a-story-of-love-and-justice/posts
Help Holly Collins and her children return home to the USA
American family in exile desires to return home.
Holly Collins fled from the United States with her 3 young children to protect them from abuse and the injustice of the American family court system.
Holly and her children are the first known Americans citizens to receive asylum in another country. They lived in secrecy for 14 years until they were discovered by the FBI in 2007. In 2008 all criminal kidnapping charges against Holly were dismissed. Holly pled guilty to one count of contempt of court to which she replied “I admit to having contempt for the court which failed to protect my children.”
In March 2011 Holly Collins youngest American born child will be turning 18 years old! When he graduates from high school in June 2011 Holly and her children will return home to Marblehead Massachusetts.
Donations can be made out to CPPA with "Collins Fund" in the subject line. Checks can be sent to CPPA, POB 15284, Sacramento, CA 95851.
Donation can also be submitted through PayPal hollycollinshomecomingfund@hotmail.com
Holly Collins fled from the United States with her 3 young children to protect them from abuse and the injustice of the American family court system.
Holly and her children are the first known Americans citizens to receive asylum in another country. They lived in secrecy for 14 years until they were discovered by the FBI in 2007. In 2008 all criminal kidnapping charges against Holly were dismissed. Holly pled guilty to one count of contempt of court to which she replied “I admit to having contempt for the court which failed to protect my children.”
In March 2011 Holly Collins youngest American born child will be turning 18 years old! When he graduates from high school in June 2011 Holly and her children will return home to Marblehead Massachusetts.
Donations can be made out to CPPA with "Collins Fund" in the subject line. Checks can be sent to CPPA, POB 15284, Sacramento, CA 95851.
Donation can also be submitted through PayPal hollycollinshomecomingfund@hotmail.com
No Way Out But One goes to Minnesota
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2038674816/no-way-out-but-one-a-story-of-love-and-justice/posts
"Garland and I are on a flight to St. Paul, MN - to do some of the last interviews - including a number of people who were involved in the case 17 years ago - people who were interviewed by the FBI - and people who helped Holly and Jennifer get all the charges dismissed - save one. Contempt of Court."
"Like a trip through Lewis Caroll’s Looking Glass, the Family Court System of Hennepin County Minnesota is a very strange world all unto itself. That is one of the things we discovered again and again on our final round of interviews for NO WAY OUT BUT ONE conducted in Minnesota last week.
Garland and I have just returned from an intense round of interviews where we spoke to a wide variety of people, from protective mom’s to trial witnesses. We tried to speak to the Judge, the Court appointed social worker, the father, the guardian ad litem and others in the Holly Collins case, but they all refused. Overlooking the shores of a peaceful lake, we interviewed attorney Connie Hope about what it was like for protective moms down in the trenches of the family court wars. She told us something that sadly we had heard before. She often advises her clients in the midst of a custody battle, not to raise the issue of domestic violence, even if there is credible supporting medical evidence. In the strange world of family courts, being a victim of domestic violence can somehow work against a mother’s chances of gaining custody of her children. As it did for Holly Collins. What we heard in Minnesota sadly comports what with we have found in the peer reviewed research about problems in the family court system. You can read a good sampling of that research on the NO WAY OUT BUT ONE web site under the “Issue” button.
Connie also told us that the FBI investigation of the Holly Collins case was extraordinarily intense and cast a chill over the community of those who are concerned about the issues of domestic violence and child abuse.
This trip and the long process of writing and editing the feature length version of NO WAY OUT BUT ONE has been made possible by the generous support of the donors you can see here on the Kickstarter site. Thank you all, from the bottom of our hearts."
~Barry Nolan
"Garland and I are on a flight to St. Paul, MN - to do some of the last interviews - including a number of people who were involved in the case 17 years ago - people who were interviewed by the FBI - and people who helped Holly and Jennifer get all the charges dismissed - save one. Contempt of Court.""Like a trip through Lewis Caroll’s Looking Glass, the Family Court System of Hennepin County Minnesota is a very strange world all unto itself. That is one of the things we discovered again and again on our final round of interviews for NO WAY OUT BUT ONE conducted in Minnesota last week.
Garland and I have just returned from an intense round of interviews where we spoke to a wide variety of people, from protective mom’s to trial witnesses. We tried to speak to the Judge, the Court appointed social worker, the father, the guardian ad litem and others in the Holly Collins case, but they all refused. Overlooking the shores of a peaceful lake, we interviewed attorney Connie Hope about what it was like for protective moms down in the trenches of the family court wars. She told us something that sadly we had heard before. She often advises her clients in the midst of a custody battle, not to raise the issue of domestic violence, even if there is credible supporting medical evidence. In the strange world of family courts, being a victim of domestic violence can somehow work against a mother’s chances of gaining custody of her children. As it did for Holly Collins. What we heard in Minnesota sadly comports what with we have found in the peer reviewed research about problems in the family court system. You can read a good sampling of that research on the NO WAY OUT BUT ONE web site under the “Issue” button.
Connie also told us that the FBI investigation of the Holly Collins case was extraordinarily intense and cast a chill over the community of those who are concerned about the issues of domestic violence and child abuse.
This trip and the long process of writing and editing the feature length version of NO WAY OUT BUT ONE has been made possible by the generous support of the donors you can see here on the Kickstarter site. Thank you all, from the bottom of our hearts."
~Barry Nolan
The FBI files on Holly Collins
We finally obtained the FBI files through our Freedom of Information Act request!
Even more evidence proving that my mother is a hero!
I love you mom!
Even more evidence proving that my mother is a hero!
I love you mom!
The Documentary About Holly Collins - No Way Out But One
NO WAY OUT BUT ONE
A TRUE STORY OF FIERCE LOVE AND BLIND JUSTICE
A TRUE STORY OF FIERCE LOVE AND BLIND JUSTICE
No Way Out But One is a documentary that tells the story of Holly Collins, an American woman who was driven by fear, love and desperation to kidnap her own children and go on the run in order to protect them from a life of abuse. Wanted by the FBI, Holly left behind everything she owned and everyone she knew in an effort to keep her children safe. She became an international fugitive, eventually making it to Amsterdam. After spending 2 years in a refugee camp out in the middle of nowhere, living shoulder to shoulder with other desperate souls fleeing violence torn hell holes around the world, Holly became the first American woman to ever be granted asylum by the Government of the Netherlands, due to domestic violence. Though it focuses on the desperate measures that one woman felt she had to take to protect her children, it also exposes the problems that protective parents and vulnerable children are facing nearly every day in courtrooms across the country.
Garland Waller
Holly Collins had No Way Out But One
by Garland Waller
http://www.nowayoutbutone.com/hollyjen.html
Holly Collins didn’t want to run away. In fact, she put it off until she could not live with herself unless she protected her children. She KNEW these children she so loved were being abused while in the custody of their father. They told her. They told the court supervisors. They told the guardian ad litem. But the Minnesota family court gave the father custody anyway.
“I just thought if you told the truth, you know, you would be believed. I always just told the kids, just tell the truth, so when the court didn’t believe us, I started going through all of our records.
Holly has stacks of records – legal documents, medical reports, as well as pictures the children drew which clearly showed abuse.
No Way Out But One expores how Holly, a battered woman, lost custody of her children is explored in detail. But it’s easy to see how, after a judge gave her ex-husband full custody, Holly would have been desperate.
It is important to acknowledge that kidnapping is crime. And the legal consequences for those convicted of kidnapping charges can be grave indeed. Holly will also be the first to tell you that their life on the run was hard on everyone. And she is aware that in a post-9/11 world of increased airport security, she and her children would never have made it out of the country. But to this day, Holly says her biggest regret was waiting as long as she did to take her children and run. She has other regrets of course. But then, just ask her to tell you about her children – all of them - and her face lights up.
http://www.nowayoutbutone.com/hollyjen.html
Holly Collins didn’t want to run away. In fact, she put it off until she could not live with herself unless she protected her children. She KNEW these children she so loved were being abused while in the custody of their father. They told her. They told the court supervisors. They told the guardian ad litem. But the Minnesota family court gave the father custody anyway.
“I just thought if you told the truth, you know, you would be believed. I always just told the kids, just tell the truth, so when the court didn’t believe us, I started going through all of our records.
Holly has stacks of records – legal documents, medical reports, as well as pictures the children drew which clearly showed abuse.
No Way Out But One expores how Holly, a battered woman, lost custody of her children is explored in detail. But it’s easy to see how, after a judge gave her ex-husband full custody, Holly would have been desperate.
It is important to acknowledge that kidnapping is crime. And the legal consequences for those convicted of kidnapping charges can be grave indeed. Holly will also be the first to tell you that their life on the run was hard on everyone. And she is aware that in a post-9/11 world of increased airport security, she and her children would never have made it out of the country. But to this day, Holly says her biggest regret was waiting as long as she did to take her children and run. She has other regrets of course. But then, just ask her to tell you about her children – all of them - and her face lights up.
Womens Forum - The Holly Collins Story
Tuesday, 14 June 2011 02:12 Jodi Beck ..
Dear Friends,
My dear friend and colleague, Garland Waller, is an Emmy-winning producer, professor, and best of all--all around great gal.
Over the years, Garland has shared with me the incredible story of an incredible mother, Holly Collins, who became a fugitive of this country in order to keep her children safe (read Garland's blog below for the amazing details). This story has now become No Way Out But One, a Telly Award-winning short form documentary. Telly Awards “honor the very best local, regional, and cable television commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions, and work created for the Web."
I could not be more excited for Garland, who's relentless commitment to bringing Holly's story to light has been nothing short of Olympian, and for Holly, whose story is now being developed as a full-length documentary.
And with that, dear friends, I offer you the words of my friend, Garland Waller:
Let me ask you this…..What would you do if someone hurt one of your children? What would you do if it were an ex-husband? I mean really, what would you do? Go to court? Well, not so fast…..
There is a little known and dark secret that a lot of women don’t learn about until it’s too late….until they are fighting over custody in an American family court. And it’s a real shocker. Family Court judges often give custody to fathers who have committed acts of domestic violence and have harmed the children. In fact, it is estimated that 58,000 children a year are ordered into unsupervised contact with physically or sexually abusive parents following divorce. I know. It makes no sense.
“No way,” you say.
Well, as my daughter says, “Way.”
The fact that this happens with such alarming frequency is why I am producing No Way Out But One, an independent documentary. The film focuses on the remarkable story of Holly Collins, who, in 1994, kidnapped her three children to protect them from a life of abuse. Now we all know kidnapping is wrong...usually. But ask yourself what you would do if you were Holly. There was clear medical evidence that her ex-husband had fractured her son’s skull and had broken Holly’s nose, and despite that, the family court in Minnesota gave full time custody to the ex-husband. When Holly was allowed to see the children, in supervised visitation, they would beg her to take them away, to get them out of there. Really, you have to remember that Holly was a young mom and a battered woman who had done nothing but try to protect her children. In desperation, Holly took them and fled.
Hunted by the FBI, Holly went on the run and fled the country. She eventually made it to Amsterdam. There, she became the first American to ever be granted asylum by the government of the Netherlands on the grounds of domestic violence.
She lived a quiet, low profile life for the next 14 years, until the FBI agents came calling. Their plan was to return Holly to the United States to face kidnapping charges. That changed after they interviewed her now grown children. Jennifer and Zackary told the agents that far from being their kidnapper, their mother was their savior and their hero. In fact, for the details, you can check out Jennifer’s blog.
Eventually, all charges against Holly were dropped, except one: contempt of court. Holly readily acknowledged that after all she and the children had been through, she did indeed harbor “contempt of court.”
No Way Out But One weaves other stories of women who, in trying to protect their children from abuse, landed in jail, were fined, or were barred from seeing their children. So even though the film focuses on Holly’s story, it will also expose a national scandal – that loving mothers can and do lose custody of their kids every day in America’s Family Courts.
My husband, Barry Nolan, and I are producing this independent documentary on a wing and a prayer. We are now using Kickstarter to raise completion funds.
Personally, I hate to scare people. But what is happening in the family courts is alarming and the system needs to change. Until the system changes though, women who love their children and who might end up in family court, need to be aware of some of the pitfalls.
Garland Waller
Garland Waller Productions
Dear Friends,
My dear friend and colleague, Garland Waller, is an Emmy-winning producer, professor, and best of all--all around great gal.
Over the years, Garland has shared with me the incredible story of an incredible mother, Holly Collins, who became a fugitive of this country in order to keep her children safe (read Garland's blog below for the amazing details). This story has now become No Way Out But One, a Telly Award-winning short form documentary. Telly Awards “honor the very best local, regional, and cable television commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions, and work created for the Web."
I could not be more excited for Garland, who's relentless commitment to bringing Holly's story to light has been nothing short of Olympian, and for Holly, whose story is now being developed as a full-length documentary.
And with that, dear friends, I offer you the words of my friend, Garland Waller:
Let me ask you this…..What would you do if someone hurt one of your children? What would you do if it were an ex-husband? I mean really, what would you do? Go to court? Well, not so fast…..
There is a little known and dark secret that a lot of women don’t learn about until it’s too late….until they are fighting over custody in an American family court. And it’s a real shocker. Family Court judges often give custody to fathers who have committed acts of domestic violence and have harmed the children. In fact, it is estimated that 58,000 children a year are ordered into unsupervised contact with physically or sexually abusive parents following divorce. I know. It makes no sense.
“No way,” you say.
Well, as my daughter says, “Way.”
The fact that this happens with such alarming frequency is why I am producing No Way Out But One, an independent documentary. The film focuses on the remarkable story of Holly Collins, who, in 1994, kidnapped her three children to protect them from a life of abuse. Now we all know kidnapping is wrong...usually. But ask yourself what you would do if you were Holly. There was clear medical evidence that her ex-husband had fractured her son’s skull and had broken Holly’s nose, and despite that, the family court in Minnesota gave full time custody to the ex-husband. When Holly was allowed to see the children, in supervised visitation, they would beg her to take them away, to get them out of there. Really, you have to remember that Holly was a young mom and a battered woman who had done nothing but try to protect her children. In desperation, Holly took them and fled.
Hunted by the FBI, Holly went on the run and fled the country. She eventually made it to Amsterdam. There, she became the first American to ever be granted asylum by the government of the Netherlands on the grounds of domestic violence.
She lived a quiet, low profile life for the next 14 years, until the FBI agents came calling. Their plan was to return Holly to the United States to face kidnapping charges. That changed after they interviewed her now grown children. Jennifer and Zackary told the agents that far from being their kidnapper, their mother was their savior and their hero. In fact, for the details, you can check out Jennifer’s blog.
Eventually, all charges against Holly were dropped, except one: contempt of court. Holly readily acknowledged that after all she and the children had been through, she did indeed harbor “contempt of court.”
No Way Out But One weaves other stories of women who, in trying to protect their children from abuse, landed in jail, were fined, or were barred from seeing their children. So even though the film focuses on Holly’s story, it will also expose a national scandal – that loving mothers can and do lose custody of their kids every day in America’s Family Courts.
My husband, Barry Nolan, and I are producing this independent documentary on a wing and a prayer. We are now using Kickstarter to raise completion funds.
Personally, I hate to scare people. But what is happening in the family courts is alarming and the system needs to change. Until the system changes though, women who love their children and who might end up in family court, need to be aware of some of the pitfalls.
Garland Waller
Garland Waller Productions
July 30 2011 - Happy Gotcha Day Holly Collins!
Today is our anniversary. 17 years ago my mother rescued us from our abusive father. We celebrated our freedom in a refugee center in Europe. I recently found the letter my mother wrote commemorating our first anniversary. It is a nice tribute to this hero who saved my life. Thank you mom!June 30 1995,
Dear Loved Ones,
Merry Christmas! Seasons Greetings. Happy Birthday and warm wishes for all the other holidays we missed throughout this past year. It is our one year anniversary of freedom – how terrific! Life is truly wonderful! Aside from missing all of you, our lives are full of happiness and healing. We want to share our celebration with you. We hope you find comfort in our yearly update…
Personally I am learning to confront, accept and then let go of the past. I am emerging strong and remarkably sane. Again it has been confirmed that my children are not lying about the abuse and I am really not crazy. I guess I am still dependent on professionals to help me define reality. I always knew my children were telling the truth, but now I actually believe in my own sanity as well. I am beginning to enjoy life and I absolutely adore being a whole and complete mother again. I find great comfort in observing my children’s recovery. Their resilience is amazing. Zachary and Jennifer are transforming from scared, insecure, abused children into happy, self confident “normal” kids. Christopher is thriving being spoiled by his doting older siblings. As a family we are picking up the pieces of our shattered lives and therapeutically putting them back together one small step at a time.
I have to admit that this year has had its difficulties. When I was reunited with my children Zachary exclaimed in utter terror “If my Dad catches us he will beat us!” From that moment on any reservations that I had about my decision to flee were replaced by my obligation to protect my children. Jennifer and Zachary have repeatedly asked me why it took me so long to save them. The horror stories they have told me about the continued abuse fill me with terror and rage. I struggle with Zachary’s anger, Jennifer’s vulnerability and my own guilt for having left hem in danger based on my belief to uphold the law. I am embarrassed to think of how ignorant and naïve I was to have such a blind faith that justice, under those circumstances would prevail.
I can not go into details about how and where we are residing, but I can say that we have been given legal protection. We have a wonderful lawyer who found a legal way for us to live a safe, relatively “normal” new life. This situation is only temporary until my children’s safety can be guaranteed or until the Minnesota Court catches up to us and challenges this order. With all the trouble the Hennepin County family court system is having, it looks like we we’ll be safe for a while. Judge Porter’s publicized conflicts have only strengthened my case. As a family, we have decided that our priority is living as happily and as long as possible without getting caught. We are proud that we have made it this far. We managed to buy time. The children are getting older now. They can not be ignored any longer. Their voices have finally been heard. Please be reassured that I know now more than ever that I made the correct decision. Regardless of the consequences that I face in Minnesota, it is worth this past year along. For again, I have given my children life.
As I recollect over this past year I can not help being pulled back into the past. The terror of being battered still haunts me. The memories I once fought and refused to acknowledge are now bitter reality. I am still tormented by the actions of the court officers which nearly destroyed me and offered my children up for sacrifice. Someday they shall be held accountable. It is difficult to let go when I know that they are still destroying the lives of battered women and abused children. The legal justice system has to change. Women should not be further persecuted for being victims of abuse. Children should not be used as pawns in attempts to continue the cycle of domestic violence. Everyone, especially children have the right to live free from violence and fear.
I hope you understand why we cannot send pictures or have any other contact with you. We miss you all and we love you very much!
With Love, Holly Ann, Zachary, Jennifer and Christopher
Holly Collins is My Hero!
The FBI called her a "Kidnapper" But her kids called her a Hero
http://nowayoutbutone.com/?page_id=19
Holly Collins and her children fled abuse and became the first American Family to be granted Asylum by the Government of the Netherlands.
The feature, No Way Out But One is currently in post-production. It tells the story of Holly Collins and her children, who fled a life of domestic violence and abuse to become the first American Family ever to be granted asylum by the government of the Netherlands.
In 1994, Holly Collins became an international fugitive wanted by the FBI for kidnapping her own children. Holly had been ordered by a Family Court to turn her two children over to live – full time – with the father who had been abusing them all. Even though medical records showed a history of broken bones. Even though the father had previously been under a restraining order because of domestic abuse. This just didn’t matter to the court.
Like other moms before her, Holly simply could not bear the thought that her children were being sentenced to a life of abuse. So, Holly made a choice. She became a kidnapper. She grabbed her children and left behind everything they owned and everyone they knew. Just so they could be safe. Holly and her kids eventually made it to Amsterdam where they became the first Americans to ever be granted asylum by the government of the Netherlands. Their lawyer, the renowned Dutch lawyer, Els Lucas, called Holly "a lioness" when it came to protecting her children.
Sixteen years have now passed in exile. Holly’s daughter Jennifer is now 24 and has "aged out" of court jurisdiction and so can travel and speak for herself. In 2008, she returned to the US to plead her mother’s case. She was quite effective. Holly’s pro-bono lawyer, Alan Rosenfeld, persuaded the Minnesota courts to finally listen to the victims. The children. All the serious charges against Holly were dropped – kidnapping, flight to avoid prosecution, interference with parental custody – all of it – except for one charge of contempt of court.
Holly pleaded guilty. She does indeed have a well-founded contempt for a system that does not listen to the children it is charged with protecting.
It is one of the greatest shames of the American Justice System that the Family Court system can refuse to consider medical evidence, it does not have a rational system for vetting expert testimony and it allows ex-parte hearings that can warp the entire process in an instant. The system in a word, is broken. It hurts children. And it’s time to fix it.
No Way Out But One is the first documentary to explore in depth a case of international kidnapping, however wrong it may be legally, how should such an act ultimately be judged when it is done to save children from abuse.
This is a film that will make some people angry simply because it attempts to tell the truth. With luck, it may even make people angry enough to change the system.
And consider this a spoiler alert. Ultimately, the Holly Collins story has a happy ending. Today Holly’s children thrive. They are healthy, successful, poised, and gracious. They look forward to returning to the United States with their mother, the woman they call their hero.
http://nowayoutbutone.com/?page_id=19
Holly Collins and her children fled abuse and became the first American Family to be granted Asylum by the Government of the Netherlands.
The feature, No Way Out But One is currently in post-production. It tells the story of Holly Collins and her children, who fled a life of domestic violence and abuse to become the first American Family ever to be granted asylum by the government of the Netherlands.
In 1994, Holly Collins became an international fugitive wanted by the FBI for kidnapping her own children. Holly had been ordered by a Family Court to turn her two children over to live – full time – with the father who had been abusing them all. Even though medical records showed a history of broken bones. Even though the father had previously been under a restraining order because of domestic abuse. This just didn’t matter to the court.
Like other moms before her, Holly simply could not bear the thought that her children were being sentenced to a life of abuse. So, Holly made a choice. She became a kidnapper. She grabbed her children and left behind everything they owned and everyone they knew. Just so they could be safe. Holly and her kids eventually made it to Amsterdam where they became the first Americans to ever be granted asylum by the government of the Netherlands. Their lawyer, the renowned Dutch lawyer, Els Lucas, called Holly "a lioness" when it came to protecting her children.
Sixteen years have now passed in exile. Holly’s daughter Jennifer is now 24 and has "aged out" of court jurisdiction and so can travel and speak for herself. In 2008, she returned to the US to plead her mother’s case. She was quite effective. Holly’s pro-bono lawyer, Alan Rosenfeld, persuaded the Minnesota courts to finally listen to the victims. The children. All the serious charges against Holly were dropped – kidnapping, flight to avoid prosecution, interference with parental custody – all of it – except for one charge of contempt of court.
Holly pleaded guilty. She does indeed have a well-founded contempt for a system that does not listen to the children it is charged with protecting.
It is one of the greatest shames of the American Justice System that the Family Court system can refuse to consider medical evidence, it does not have a rational system for vetting expert testimony and it allows ex-parte hearings that can warp the entire process in an instant. The system in a word, is broken. It hurts children. And it’s time to fix it.
No Way Out But One is the first documentary to explore in depth a case of international kidnapping, however wrong it may be legally, how should such an act ultimately be judged when it is done to save children from abuse.
This is a film that will make some people angry simply because it attempts to tell the truth. With luck, it may even make people angry enough to change the system.
And consider this a spoiler alert. Ultimately, the Holly Collins story has a happy ending. Today Holly’s children thrive. They are healthy, successful, poised, and gracious. They look forward to returning to the United States with their mother, the woman they call their hero.
Holly Collins journal entry on the eve before she Rescued her children!
June 29 1994
My Dearest Zachary, Jennifer & Christopher
I pray to God that tomorrow I shall have you in my arms again. This is the last painful night without each other. I promise to protect you with my life! I have so many regrets and apologies but you have heard them so many times. Tomorrow is a new start. No longer a victim. I am strong. I am going to succeed. We are going to be happy. We are going to be safe. We are going to be together. I love you!
Love Mommy
No Way Out But One - Receives Award
GARLAND WALLER PRODUCTIONS
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
June 10, 2011
(Boston, MA)
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
June 10, 2011
(Boston, MA)
The producers of No Way Out But One are proud to announce that it has received a 2011 Telly Award. Telly Awards “honor the very best local, regional, and cable television commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions, and work created for the Web."
No Way Out But One tells the story of Holly Collins, the first American to ever be granted asylum by the government of the Netherlands as a result of domestic violence. In a desperate attempt to keep her children safe from an abusive father, Ms. Collins kidnapped her own children and went on the run. Hunted by the FBI, she used a loosely organized “protective moms” underground to escape and eventually made it to Amsterdam, where she first lived as a refugee, and was later granted asylum. Ultimately, she was vindicated and all charges against her were dropped.
No Way Out But One won in the short form documentary category. Work is now underway to expand it into a full-length documentary. Hundreds of pages of never before seen FBI files are now being carefully reviewed, and efforts are underway to recruit a cast of enormously talented, high profile vocal talents to help tell the story. Wendie Malick, currently starring in Hot in Cleveland, was the first to volunteer. More announcements will follow.
Garland Waller and Barry Nolan are the producers. Sid Levin of First Frame is the photographer. Erika Street is the editor.
Contact:
Congratulations Garland & Barry!
No Way Out But One Web Site
THE PROJECT: No Way Out But One is a feature length documentary currently in post-production. It tells the story of an American woman accused of kidnapping her own children, a woman who fled the country and became the first American to be granted asylum by the government of the Netherlands on grounds of domestic violence. The 13-minute version presented here serves as a trailer for the feature and a documentary short. Read more here
THE STORY: In 1994 Holly Collins became an international fugitive when she took her three children and fled the United States to protect them from abuse. The family courts had ignored medical evidence of domestic violence and gave full custody of Holly's children to the man they named as their abuser – her ex-husband and the children's father. Wanted by the FBI, Holly became the first U.S. Citizen to receive asylum from the Netherlands. Read more here.
THE LARGER PICTURE: In No Way Out But One, Holly Collins shares a story that in many respects is like thousands of others. It is estimated that 58,000 children a year are ordered into unsupervised contact with physically or sexually abusive parents following divorce in the United States. Read more here.
IN THE END: Unlike so many of the other tragic stories happening around the country, Holly was able to protect her children and keep them safe. Despite all the harrowing trials, her story ultimately has a happy ending. Even though she and the kids had No Way Out But One.
THE STORY: In 1994 Holly Collins became an international fugitive when she took her three children and fled the United States to protect them from abuse. The family courts had ignored medical evidence of domestic violence and gave full custody of Holly's children to the man they named as their abuser – her ex-husband and the children's father. Wanted by the FBI, Holly became the first U.S. Citizen to receive asylum from the Netherlands. Read more here.
THE LARGER PICTURE: In No Way Out But One, Holly Collins shares a story that in many respects is like thousands of others. It is estimated that 58,000 children a year are ordered into unsupervised contact with physically or sexually abusive parents following divorce in the United States. Read more here.
IN THE END: Unlike so many of the other tragic stories happening around the country, Holly was able to protect her children and keep them safe. Despite all the harrowing trials, her story ultimately has a happy ending. Even though she and the kids had No Way Out But One.
Why Do Abused Women Stay? The Holly Collins Case
http://alterwords.wordpress.com/2008/07/07/why-do-abused-women-stay/
Posted on July 7, 2008 by hysperia
Because this kinda thing happens to them when they leave:
After living quietly for 10 years in the Netherlands as an American granted asylum, Holly Ann Collins is suddenly making headlines in Dutch newspapers and a criminal case growing out of a bitter custody battle refuses to go away.
Collins became a focus of Dutch media attention as a U.S. “refugee” from domestic violence after a neighbor informed the FBI that she was living in Leiden, a town 12 miles from Amsterdam. That tipped off her location to authorities in Minnesota, where parental kidnapping charges against her are still pending from 1994, when she grabbed her three children and fled.
She may be the first American to receive amnesty in the Netherlands; no other case has been documented, according to Dutch newspapers. She was granted asylum in 1997 after she lived for three years in four different camps with Bosnian and Somali war refugees.
Her plight has captivated the international domestic violence community, with advocates, court observers and lawyers sharing the story in long chains of e-mail forwards and word of mouth.
Speaking softly into the phone from her home, Collins said the Dutch judge let her and her children stay in the Netherlands for humanitarian reasons after deciding their safety couldn’t be guaranteed if she returned to the United States.
“Then we were placed in a house, the kids were allowed to go to school and a normal life began,” she told Women’s eNews.
After avoiding the spotlight for more than a decade, she now faces a Minnesota prosecutor pressing ahead with the case against her, even though the Dutch amnesty protects her from deportation and arrest.
If she returns to the United States for trial, as a condition of bail Collins must agree to end all communication with her children, including her oldest who are now in their 20s. She fears that her youngest, Christopher, 13, could be placed into his father’s custody. The older ones would like to return to Massachusetts, a place they consider home.
Collins’ attorney, Alan Rosenfeld, who practices in Louisville, Colo., and has decades of experience defending battered women, picked up the case in March. The family was informed in May that federal kidnapping charges were dropped–although she still faces a federal charge of flight to avoid prosecution–but the state charges still stand.
Rosenfeld says although Collins’ asylum status makes her case unique, he doubts it will set a precedent for other domestic violence victims. Other than her status, it is tragically similar to the hundreds of abuse cases he has seen.
“We as Americans I think are good people and want to believe that our family courts do a good job of protecting children,” Rosenfeld said, “and so we close our eyes real tight in order to keep on believing that.”
Married at 17, Collins says her husband sent her to the hospital three times, bruised and bloody, within the first month of their wedding.
When she was five months pregnant with each child, she says her husband, who told her he didn’t like fat women, beat her more severely. A third pregnancy ended after another blow.
“That was just the way life was,” said Collins, who saw no use in leaving. She says the violence was well documented in court by doctors that treated her and her children.
By the time her next child, Christopher, was born, her husband had filed for divorce, and launched a custody battle. At first she received custody and he was granted visitation rights. Collins returned to him several times thinking the children were safer if she were around. “I really believed that I shouldn’t have left,” she said.
When state child protection officials threatened to charge her with failure to protect her children if she stayed with her abusive husband, she left permanently, received full custody but began to refuse to send the kids on visits to their father after they returned home with bruises.
She was then accused of parental alienation syndrome, a consistently discredited psychological theory where one parent is charged with trying to demonize the other parent. Although the judge acknowledged that Collins and the children were abused, he ruled that her husband’s physical abuse was easier to monitor than Collins’ emotional damage, she said.
“I’m not a likeable person,” Collins said quietly. “I’m whiny and I cry easily, and he’s smiley and happy and pats everyone on the back, and he’s everyone’s friend when you meet him.”
In the end, she lost custody of the two older children, who lived with their father for a year and a half. She was allowed supervised visits, and the children wrote her notes, leaving them in books, the bathroom and the refrigerator. “Help me,” they said, informing her when they would be home alone.
Eventually, she called from a pay phone and told them to meet her at a video store. They drove for an entire day. Collins cut their hair, died it black and slathered them with bronzing skin lotion.
They drove for weeks around the country. They got on a flight to New Zealand. Collins had read about the 1980s case of Elizabeth Morgan, a woman who accused her husband of sexually abusing their daughter and allowed her parents to take her to New Zealand, where they were allowed to stay.
They didn’t make it there and were apprehended during a layover in the Netherlands. While in jail with her children she appealed for asylum. “I just started rattling off everything I’ve seen in movies,” she said, and showed authorities a bag filled with court and medical records.
Following the amnesty, she met and established a new family with a Dutch man. Until six months ago, Collins thought she was the only woman to experience abuse and lose her children. Women started writing to her with their stories, she says, and “then I started feeling a little bit more empowered.”
After Collins permitted her daughter Jennifer to read the court documents, Jennifer became “disgusted,” as she wrote in one of more than 700 e-mails she has sent since November to politicians, advocates and anyone who might help her family.
“I just wanted someone to listen,” she said. “I wanted something to happen.”
But the Minnesota charges remain a concern. Hennepin County prosecuting attorney Elizabeth Cutter said an active warrant is out for Collins’ arrest and plans to prosecute if she steps on U.S. soil.
Rosenfeld, Collins’ lawyer, said talks with the prosecutor stalled after she made a condition of bail that Collins have no contact with her children when she returns to face trial.Cutter said this is a standard condition of bail, because she considers the children to be the crime’s victims.
He is not trying to persuade the authorities to drop charges, however.
“Let’s have all the evidence come out before fair people in Minneapolis,” he said. “If they find her guilty then they punish her. If they find her not guilty, then leave her alone.”
Marna Anderson, executive director of Watch, a program in Minneapolis whose members have observed court hearings for 15 years, said in Hennepin County courts said many of the problems relating to abuse cases persist.
“From what I’ve heard, it’s gotten worse,” she added.
Posted on July 7, 2008 by hysperia
Because this kinda thing happens to them when they leave:
After living quietly for 10 years in the Netherlands as an American granted asylum, Holly Ann Collins is suddenly making headlines in Dutch newspapers and a criminal case growing out of a bitter custody battle refuses to go away.
Collins became a focus of Dutch media attention as a U.S. “refugee” from domestic violence after a neighbor informed the FBI that she was living in Leiden, a town 12 miles from Amsterdam. That tipped off her location to authorities in Minnesota, where parental kidnapping charges against her are still pending from 1994, when she grabbed her three children and fled.
She may be the first American to receive amnesty in the Netherlands; no other case has been documented, according to Dutch newspapers. She was granted asylum in 1997 after she lived for three years in four different camps with Bosnian and Somali war refugees.
Her plight has captivated the international domestic violence community, with advocates, court observers and lawyers sharing the story in long chains of e-mail forwards and word of mouth.
Speaking softly into the phone from her home, Collins said the Dutch judge let her and her children stay in the Netherlands for humanitarian reasons after deciding their safety couldn’t be guaranteed if she returned to the United States.
“Then we were placed in a house, the kids were allowed to go to school and a normal life began,” she told Women’s eNews.
After avoiding the spotlight for more than a decade, she now faces a Minnesota prosecutor pressing ahead with the case against her, even though the Dutch amnesty protects her from deportation and arrest.
If she returns to the United States for trial, as a condition of bail Collins must agree to end all communication with her children, including her oldest who are now in their 20s. She fears that her youngest, Christopher, 13, could be placed into his father’s custody. The older ones would like to return to Massachusetts, a place they consider home.
Collins’ attorney, Alan Rosenfeld, who practices in Louisville, Colo., and has decades of experience defending battered women, picked up the case in March. The family was informed in May that federal kidnapping charges were dropped–although she still faces a federal charge of flight to avoid prosecution–but the state charges still stand.
Rosenfeld says although Collins’ asylum status makes her case unique, he doubts it will set a precedent for other domestic violence victims. Other than her status, it is tragically similar to the hundreds of abuse cases he has seen.
“We as Americans I think are good people and want to believe that our family courts do a good job of protecting children,” Rosenfeld said, “and so we close our eyes real tight in order to keep on believing that.”
Married at 17, Collins says her husband sent her to the hospital three times, bruised and bloody, within the first month of their wedding.
When she was five months pregnant with each child, she says her husband, who told her he didn’t like fat women, beat her more severely. A third pregnancy ended after another blow.
“That was just the way life was,” said Collins, who saw no use in leaving. She says the violence was well documented in court by doctors that treated her and her children.
By the time her next child, Christopher, was born, her husband had filed for divorce, and launched a custody battle. At first she received custody and he was granted visitation rights. Collins returned to him several times thinking the children were safer if she were around. “I really believed that I shouldn’t have left,” she said.
When state child protection officials threatened to charge her with failure to protect her children if she stayed with her abusive husband, she left permanently, received full custody but began to refuse to send the kids on visits to their father after they returned home with bruises.
She was then accused of parental alienation syndrome, a consistently discredited psychological theory where one parent is charged with trying to demonize the other parent. Although the judge acknowledged that Collins and the children were abused, he ruled that her husband’s physical abuse was easier to monitor than Collins’ emotional damage, she said.
“I’m not a likeable person,” Collins said quietly. “I’m whiny and I cry easily, and he’s smiley and happy and pats everyone on the back, and he’s everyone’s friend when you meet him.”
In the end, she lost custody of the two older children, who lived with their father for a year and a half. She was allowed supervised visits, and the children wrote her notes, leaving them in books, the bathroom and the refrigerator. “Help me,” they said, informing her when they would be home alone.
Eventually, she called from a pay phone and told them to meet her at a video store. They drove for an entire day. Collins cut their hair, died it black and slathered them with bronzing skin lotion.
They drove for weeks around the country. They got on a flight to New Zealand. Collins had read about the 1980s case of Elizabeth Morgan, a woman who accused her husband of sexually abusing their daughter and allowed her parents to take her to New Zealand, where they were allowed to stay.
They didn’t make it there and were apprehended during a layover in the Netherlands. While in jail with her children she appealed for asylum. “I just started rattling off everything I’ve seen in movies,” she said, and showed authorities a bag filled with court and medical records.
Following the amnesty, she met and established a new family with a Dutch man. Until six months ago, Collins thought she was the only woman to experience abuse and lose her children. Women started writing to her with their stories, she says, and “then I started feeling a little bit more empowered.”
After Collins permitted her daughter Jennifer to read the court documents, Jennifer became “disgusted,” as she wrote in one of more than 700 e-mails she has sent since November to politicians, advocates and anyone who might help her family.
“I just wanted someone to listen,” she said. “I wanted something to happen.”
But the Minnesota charges remain a concern. Hennepin County prosecuting attorney Elizabeth Cutter said an active warrant is out for Collins’ arrest and plans to prosecute if she steps on U.S. soil.
Rosenfeld, Collins’ lawyer, said talks with the prosecutor stalled after she made a condition of bail that Collins have no contact with her children when she returns to face trial.Cutter said this is a standard condition of bail, because she considers the children to be the crime’s victims.
He is not trying to persuade the authorities to drop charges, however.
“Let’s have all the evidence come out before fair people in Minneapolis,” he said. “If they find her guilty then they punish her. If they find her not guilty, then leave her alone.”
Marna Anderson, executive director of Watch, a program in Minneapolis whose members have observed court hearings for 15 years, said in Hennepin County courts said many of the problems relating to abuse cases persist.
“From what I’ve heard, it’s gotten worse,” she added.
Why do Battered Women Stay with Their Abusers? - The Holly Collins Case
A few months after Holly Collins turned 22 years old she opened the front door of her family home in St Louis Park, Minnesota to Hennepin County Child Protection investigators. They made it known that they were aware of her husband’s abuse to her and her children, specifically citing a recent fracture to her little boy’s skull. This young mother was warned that if she didn’t flee immediately with her children and file for an Order For Protection her children would be removed from her care as well and there would be a procedure of Failure To Protect charges filed against her. This is one way to force a battered woman to leave her abuser and protect her children. One may think it is a bit harsh to threaten an abuse victim with criminal charges but perhaps necessary to protect her and her children.
It is incomprehensible that as a result of the Order For Protection, which was granted and forbade Mark Collins from abusing his wife and children, the father was simultaneously granted unsupervised visitation with the very children he abused. This girl, barely a woman couldn’t understand the ramifications of the family court system. Holly Collins sought out the Child Protection Investigators who forced her to take her children away from their abusive father and went directly to the Child Protection office in a panic begging them to protect her children. “This is why I stayed” She wept “At least I could protect the children MOST of the time. Now my children have to go alone with him and there is no one there to protect them.” The child protection desk agent was sympathetic but explained that once this battered woman took actions to protect her children and left her abuser the case was then transferred from Juvenile Court to Family Court and it was her duty as a mother to get the family court judge to protect her children.
In the meantime Holly’s young children would return from court ordered visitations battered and bruised. Holly’s little boy was treated by their pediatrician for injuries sustained from his father‘s abuse. The doctor’s report documents the bruises to the young lad and clearly states “Mother will be alert for abuse potential situation.” For 5 more years Holly Collins was alert and vigilant to protect her children but time after time and one court hearing after another Mark Collins somehow managed to convince the judge that Holly was trying to “Alienate” him from his children’s lives. Eventually a family court judge instructed Holly to take the children to the Boston Children’s Hospital to be evaluated by the Child Abuse Trauma Team and he simultaneously ordered a custody evaluation. Both Dr. Eli Newberger and the entire investigative team at the Boston Children’s Hospital found that the children and their mother were severely abused by the father. Back in Hennepin County the Family Court Investigator also confirmed domestic violence but conceded that Holly’s fear of her husband was although unwittingly was indeed interfering in the children’s relationship with their father. And just like that custody was reversed to the very man who terrorized, beat and battered this woman and her children.
Holly eventually fled the country with her children and was the first American citizen granted asylum in the Netherlands. After 14 years in hiding she was found by the FBI. After a lengthy investigation All international and domestic kidnapping charges were dismissed. When questioned by reporters in the lobby of the Minneapolis Court House Holly Collins responded that the biggest mistake she ever made was leaving her abuser.
Is this really the message we want to send to abuse victims?
written by Jennifer Collins
Rescued NOT Kidnapped: The Holly Collins Case
http://www.examiner.com/domestic-violence-abuse-in-honolulu/rescued-not-kidnapped-the-collins-case
by Dara Carlin, M.A
Honolulu Domestic Violence & Abuse Examiner
April 13th, 2011 3:03 pm HADT
The email began with "My mother is a former battered woman who is the first American to receive asylum in Europe. My brother and I were abused children who were failed by the American Justice System, but fortunately we also received asylum in the Netherlands."
This introduction was asking A LOT of the reader to believe; "the first American to receive asylum in Europe"? Wasn't asylum something that people FROM foreign countries fled TO America FOR?
Then "abused children who were failed by the American Justice System"? Isn't the American Justice System for criminals? What were abused children doing in the system to begin with? And FAILED by it?
Followed by "but fortunately we also received asylum in the Netherlands".
The rest of the email - a cry for help from the now-adult daughter, Jennifer - talked about custody being given to their abusive father, "kidnapping" and going "underground", refugee camps, being discovered by the FBI, the Dutch government thwarting the United States extradition and remaining charges in a Minnesota family court.
According to Jennifer's email this all began in the year 1992 and now in the year 2008, she was asking for someones - anyones - assistance in helping her mom, Holly, answer to local and federal charges being pursued not by the FBI but by Minnesota's Hennepin County Attorney & the Hennepin County Family Court.
On September 21, 2008 Holly returned back to the United States to answer the charges that remained against her. http://www.citypages.com/2008-09-24/news/holly-collins-returns-after-14-years-in-hiding
Today - April 13, 2011 - Holly's story came to life in the 13 minute version of the full-length documentary NO WAY OUT BUT ONE now in post-production through Garland Waller Productions. http://www.nowayoutbutone.com/
Incredibly, the controversy over Holly's actions back in 1992 is nothing compared to the firestorm her case has ignited since she and her children were outted in 2007 by a neighbor in Holland. One of the key issues of the debate is this:
Did Holly Collins KIDNAP her children or RESCUE them?
According to the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary at www.merriam-webster.com, the definition of KIDNAP is "to seize and detain or carry away by unlawful force or fraud and often with a demand for ransom" while the definition of RESCUE is "to free from confinement, danger or evil: save, deliver".
The facts of the case (that include excerpts from court transcripts, court reports, etc.) have been posted by Jennifer on her website http://ca3cacaca.blogspot.com/ and clearly show that Holly Collins did not kidnap her children but rescued them.
Jennifer closed her first email describing her mom, Holly, as shy and insecure. In a subsequent email, she referred to her mom as her "kind, soft, sweet and gentle mommy" and I recall that description because Jennifer was talking about how nice it felt to be in her mother's arms.
This past January I had the pleasure of meeting Holly for the first time at The Battered Mothers Custody Conference held annually in Albany, New York http://batteredmotherscustodyconference.org/ and you know what? Jennifer's description of her mom was right on. :)
It's a real testament to Holly's character and spirit that after all the years of extreme brutality she endured, she could emerge as amazing as she is. Please check out the documentary NO WAY OUT BUT ONE to see what I mean for yourself at the You Tube link provided above.
by Dara Carlin, M.A
Honolulu Domestic Violence & Abuse Examiner
April 13th, 2011 3:03 pm HADT
The email began with "My mother is a former battered woman who is the first American to receive asylum in Europe. My brother and I were abused children who were failed by the American Justice System, but fortunately we also received asylum in the Netherlands."This introduction was asking A LOT of the reader to believe; "the first American to receive asylum in Europe"? Wasn't asylum something that people FROM foreign countries fled TO America FOR?
Then "abused children who were failed by the American Justice System"? Isn't the American Justice System for criminals? What were abused children doing in the system to begin with? And FAILED by it?
Followed by "but fortunately we also received asylum in the Netherlands".
The rest of the email - a cry for help from the now-adult daughter, Jennifer - talked about custody being given to their abusive father, "kidnapping" and going "underground", refugee camps, being discovered by the FBI, the Dutch government thwarting the United States extradition and remaining charges in a Minnesota family court.
According to Jennifer's email this all began in the year 1992 and now in the year 2008, she was asking for someones - anyones - assistance in helping her mom, Holly, answer to local and federal charges being pursued not by the FBI but by Minnesota's Hennepin County Attorney & the Hennepin County Family Court.
On September 21, 2008 Holly returned back to the United States to answer the charges that remained against her. http://www.citypages.com/2008-09-24/news/holly-collins-returns-after-14-years-in-hiding
Today - April 13, 2011 - Holly's story came to life in the 13 minute version of the full-length documentary NO WAY OUT BUT ONE now in post-production through Garland Waller Productions. http://www.nowayoutbutone.com/
Incredibly, the controversy over Holly's actions back in 1992 is nothing compared to the firestorm her case has ignited since she and her children were outted in 2007 by a neighbor in Holland. One of the key issues of the debate is this:
Did Holly Collins KIDNAP her children or RESCUE them?
According to the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary at www.merriam-webster.com, the definition of KIDNAP is "to seize and detain or carry away by unlawful force or fraud and often with a demand for ransom" while the definition of RESCUE is "to free from confinement, danger or evil: save, deliver".
The facts of the case (that include excerpts from court transcripts, court reports, etc.) have been posted by Jennifer on her website http://ca3cacaca.blogspot.com/ and clearly show that Holly Collins did not kidnap her children but rescued them.
Jennifer closed her first email describing her mom, Holly, as shy and insecure. In a subsequent email, she referred to her mom as her "kind, soft, sweet and gentle mommy" and I recall that description because Jennifer was talking about how nice it felt to be in her mother's arms.
This past January I had the pleasure of meeting Holly for the first time at The Battered Mothers Custody Conference held annually in Albany, New York http://batteredmotherscustodyconference.org/ and you know what? Jennifer's description of her mom was right on. :)
It's a real testament to Holly's character and spirit that after all the years of extreme brutality she endured, she could emerge as amazing as she is. Please check out the documentary NO WAY OUT BUT ONE to see what I mean for yourself at the You Tube link provided above.
No Way Out But One - The REAL Story About Holly Collins
Holly Collins – The REAL Story is Released! Garland Waller has produced an amazing short documentary about what REALLY happened in our case. Her web site No Way Out But One and the original documentary can be found at: http://www.nowayoutbutone.com/
The web site for the powerful new documentary film No Way Out But One tells the remarkable story of one woman's effort to save her children from a life of abuse.
In 1994, Holly Collins ‘kidnapped’ her children and went on the run. An international fugitive who was wanted by the FBI, she eventually became the first American to ever be granted asylum by the government of the Netherlands, based on claims of domestic violence.
Holly Collins' story is unique, but her struggle is a representative symbol for the thousands of women who must deal with the maddening injustices of a family court system that sentences an estimated 58,000 children a year to live with or visit with their abusers.
The web site has the 13 minute short version of the film. Work is now underway to do additional filming and to expand it to a feature length film. The site also has helpful links to a wide variety of resources for those who may find themselves in a similar custody crisis.
Take a look, let us know what you think. If the link above does not work, just copy and paste this address into your browser: http://nowayoutbutone.com/
No Way Out But One - Holly Collins Accused of Kidnapping
Posted April 16, 2011 by eassurvey in child sexual abuse. Tagged: asylum, child abuse, divorce, domestic violence, Holly Collins, kidnapping, No Way Out But One. Comments Off
No Way Out But One is a feature length documentary currently in post-production. It tells the story of an American woman accused of kidnapping her own children, a woman who fled the country and became the first American to be granted asylum by the government of the Netherlands on grounds of domestic violence. The 13-minute version presented here serves as a trailer for the feature and a documentary short.
In 1994 Holly Collins became an international fugitive when she took her three children and fled the United States to protect them from abuse. The family courts had ignored medical evidence of domestic violence and gave full custody of Holly’s children to the man they named as their abuser – her ex-husband and the children’s father. Wanted by the FBI, Holly became the first U.S. Citizen to receive asylum from the Netherlands.
In No Way Out But One, Holly Collins shares a story that in many respects is like thousands of others. It is estimated that 58,000 children a year are ordered into unsupervised contact with physically or sexually abusive parents following divorce in the United States.
Unlike so many of the other tragic stories happening around the country, Holly was able to protect her children and keep them safe. Despite all the harrowing trials, her story ultimately has a happy ending. Even though she and the kids had No Way Out But One.
http://nowayoutbutone.com/
No Way Out But One is a feature length documentary currently in post-production. It tells the story of an American woman accused of kidnapping her own children, a woman who fled the country and became the first American to be granted asylum by the government of the Netherlands on grounds of domestic violence. The 13-minute version presented here serves as a trailer for the feature and a documentary short.
In 1994 Holly Collins became an international fugitive when she took her three children and fled the United States to protect them from abuse. The family courts had ignored medical evidence of domestic violence and gave full custody of Holly’s children to the man they named as their abuser – her ex-husband and the children’s father. Wanted by the FBI, Holly became the first U.S. Citizen to receive asylum from the Netherlands.
In No Way Out But One, Holly Collins shares a story that in many respects is like thousands of others. It is estimated that 58,000 children a year are ordered into unsupervised contact with physically or sexually abusive parents following divorce in the United States.
Unlike so many of the other tragic stories happening around the country, Holly was able to protect her children and keep them safe. Despite all the harrowing trials, her story ultimately has a happy ending. Even though she and the kids had No Way Out But One.
http://nowayoutbutone.com/
Holly Collins – Released from the Jurisdiction of the Hennepin County Family Court
Happy 18th Birthday Baby Brother!My younger brother turned 18 today! Unlike most kids eager to break free from parents who just don’t ‘get it’ my brother is relieved that this means that our mother has regained control. We are officially free from the Hennepin County Family Court System! Woooo Hooo!
Judge Charles A. Porter can no longer threaten my mother with incarceration or keeping her from her children if she doesn’t remain silent. For the first time, probably in her whole life, our mother, Holly Collins is finally free to speak from the heart. “I can’t believe it!’ She weeps “It’s over! I did it! I kept my children safe! It’s really over!”
For those of you who do not know our story, Holly Collins is the first American citizen (to our knowledge) who has ever been granted official asylum by another country. She has been hiding in silence in the Netherlands for 13 years until she was discovered by the FBI in 2007. Add another 4 years of living in exile waiting for her youngest American born child to age out of the American family court system. 17 years later and Holly Collins is a free woman! All kidnapping charges against her were dismissed and she is free to return home to the United States of America!
We are coming home!
~Jennifer
The Leadership Council Speaks up for Abused Children
http://www.sfweekly.com/2011-03-09/news/sf-weekly-letters/
Seeking Justice
Thank you for this article: The scandal in family courts that leads to the tragic outcomes reported by Peter Jamison is a larger and more insidious problem than the Catholic priest scandal.
The research of the Leadership Council, our nonprofit clearinghouse for research on child abuse, suggests that 58,000 children a year in the United States are placed in the unsupervised care of abusive parents.
Congratulations to SF Weekly and Peter Jamison for this fine reporting. Only when public outrage reaches a tipping point will the necessary system reforms occur.
Joyanna Silberg
Executive Vice President
Leadership Council on Child Abuse & Interpersonal Violence
Seeking Justice
Thank you for this article: The scandal in family courts that leads to the tragic outcomes reported by Peter Jamison is a larger and more insidious problem than the Catholic priest scandal.
The research of the Leadership Council, our nonprofit clearinghouse for research on child abuse, suggests that 58,000 children a year in the United States are placed in the unsupervised care of abusive parents.
Congratulations to SF Weekly and Peter Jamison for this fine reporting. Only when public outrage reaches a tipping point will the necessary system reforms occur.
Joyanna Silberg
Executive Vice President
Leadership Council on Child Abuse & Interpersonal Violence
Fathers & Families Supports Wife Beaters!
In this article Glenn Sacks, the executive director of Fathers & Families is quoted “To be clear, he says, "Not now or ever do we believe that wife beaters should be getting control of their children."Guess What… HE LIED!.
My father was found in the Minneapolis Family Court and by the Minnesota court of appeals to have abused my mother.
Yet Fathers & Families publically supports this wife beater!
San Francisco Weekly Supports Child Survivors
http://www.sfweekly.com/2011-03-02/news/family-court-parental-alienation-syndrome-richard-gardner-pedophilia-domestic-violence-child-abuse-judges-divorce/Finally a reporter who dares to expose Family Courts Helping Pedophiles & Batterers Get Child Custody.
Dear Mr. Jamison,
My name is Jennifer Collins. My brothers and I escaped the American family court crisis by fleeing to Europe with our mother in 1994. We have been living in exile for almost 17 years. My little brother is just about to turn 18 years old this month and we are making preparations to return home to the United States.
My father severely abused me, my brother and even our mother in our presence. We’re not just talking about harsh words or a few slaps here and there. There were numerous broken bones to our mother, concussions, dislocated shoulder, knife wounds, burn wounds, etc… Our father even testified under oath that he “hit” and “punched” our mother and “broke her nose” on two separate occasions. He testified in court that he “dislocated her shoulder” while my brother and I watched in horror. He also admitted under oath that several times he threatened to “kill” me and my brother. Our father fractured my brother’s skull by repeatedly slamming him into the stairway walls. Our mother was only 22 years old when child protection threatened her with “Failure to Protect” if she didn’t leave our father and take us with her. However my father filed for custody in family court citing “Parental Alienation.” Despite all the evidence; medical records, child protection reports, police statements, witness affidavits, testimony of our pediatrician and our own testimony that our father was hurting us, the judge reversed custody. It was the worst day of my life.
Without warning we were ripped out of the safety of our mother’s arms and given to the very man who beat us and threatened to kill us and our mother. We were denied all contact with our mother in order for them to try to “severe the close bond with the mother.” That in itself was devastating. Eventually we had a few hours a week supervised visitation with our mom. During those visits we begged our mom to help us and protect us. I lifted my shirt to reveal bruises and welts on my back and bottom. I told my mother and the supervisors that my father and his girlfriend were “still hurting us!” I was scolded by the court supervisors: “You know you are not allowed to talk about those kinds of things anymore.” After 18 months and 8 days of torture, including our father suffocating us with pillows when we cried until we lost consciousness, we ran away. We ran to our mother and together we fled the United States of America.
Even though we didn’t have passports we found a way out of the United States and made our way to Europe. Our mother sought protection for her children and requested amnesty in the Netherlands. After 3 long years in various refugee camps and intense investigations form the Dutch Ministries we were awarded asylum. As far as we know we are the first Americans to ever be granted asylum in another country.
We hid in the Netherlands for 14 years and did not have contact with family or friends during that time in fear that our father would find us and kill us and/or our mother. In 2007 we were found by the FBI. After a lengthy investigation from the FBI and again by the Dutch Ministries our asylum was upheld and all national and International Kidnapping/parental abduction charges against our mother were dismissed.
Now our abusive father has allied himself with the Father’s and Families Organization and Glenn Sacks has launched a personal attack against us and our mother. Glenn Sacks admitted to asking thousands of the Fathers & Families followers to “investigate” our mother. Now he is calling for them to come forward and bombard your newspaper with thousands of letters hoping to intimidate your publisher to retract your story. This is a standard tactic of these bullies and abusers. I hope you won’t be intimidated.
There are various battered mothers organizations out there as well as this very powerful father’s rights organization. I am in the process of gathering hundreds and hundreds of kids together to form our own organization and to tell the truth about what is really happening to us in the family courts.
Will you please listen to us?
Sincerely,
Jennifer Collins
Executive Director
Courageous Kids Network.
Jennifer Collins New Executive Director Courageous Kids Network
COURAGEOUS KIDS NETWORK
http://www.courageouskids.net/
"We are proud to announce that Jennifer Collins, the amazing advocate for children caught in custody scandal cases, has officially taken over the Courageous Kids Network. Jennifer will move this group to levels we never dreamed of. Congratulations, Jennifer!"
http://www.courageouskids.net/
"We are proud to announce that Jennifer Collins, the amazing advocate for children caught in custody scandal cases, has officially taken over the Courageous Kids Network. Jennifer will move this group to levels we never dreamed of. Congratulations, Jennifer!"
Glenn Sacks, Fathers & Families.Org Conspire to Conceal Child Abuse
Holly Collins is a heroic battered woman and protective mother who went through extreme lengths to protect her children. She left her home, family, friends, job, pets and even her country to shield her children from horrendous physical and emotional abuse. The abuse was so severe that another country had to intervene to protect the Collins children. After spending 3 years in various refugee centers in Europe and an intensive investigation from the Dutch Ministries Holly Collins and her children were granted amnesty. They are the first known American citizens to be granted official asylum in another country.
For 14 years Holly Collins and her children lived anonymously in The Netherlands. The children learned Dutch while attending a local Catholic school. They received academic scholarships to an International Academy and graduated with bilingual diplomas. They continued on to the University of Leiden and have excelled.
Jennifer has started her own organization to help children failed by the American family court system and she has been asked to take the lead of the Courageous Kids Network. So in all actuality Holly Collins accomplished her goal to keep her children safe and exceeded her own expectations to transform them into happy, healthy self confident young adults.
In 2007 the FBI located the Collins Family hiding in the Netherlands. Despite the American authorities’ attempts to have Holly Deported, The Kingdom of the Netherlands stood by its decision to protect these children and their mother. After a thorough investigation from the FBI all domestic and international kidnapping charges against Holly were dismissed.
Now that her youngest American born child has turned 18 years old and aged out of the family court system, Holly and her children are coming home!
Of course there is an angry ex-husband who was found by several different judges to be an abuser. Mark Collins has found allies in Father’s rights organization that supports Fathers regardless of their criminal records and abusive history! Glenn Sacks the executive director of Fathers & Families.Org is self appointed as the personal spokesman for Mark Collins and his wife Rena Peters Collins. The new Mrs. Mark J. Collins supplied Fathers & Families with sealed court documents which (despite a gag order) Glenn Sacks has made public. He picks and chooses to release only partial information to try to discredit Holly Collins and her grown children. Mr. Sacks has deliberately misrepresented facts and circumstances in the Collins case and has fabricated excuses for Mr. Collins’ abuse. Glenn Sacks blatantly lied and knowingly made false statements concealing Mr. Collins abuse and fractured skull to the young Collins boy. Glenn Sacks and Fathers & Families.Org actively and knowingly conspire to conceal child abuse.
For 14 years Holly Collins and her children lived anonymously in The Netherlands. The children learned Dutch while attending a local Catholic school. They received academic scholarships to an International Academy and graduated with bilingual diplomas. They continued on to the University of Leiden and have excelled.
Jennifer has started her own organization to help children failed by the American family court system and she has been asked to take the lead of the Courageous Kids Network. So in all actuality Holly Collins accomplished her goal to keep her children safe and exceeded her own expectations to transform them into happy, healthy self confident young adults.
In 2007 the FBI located the Collins Family hiding in the Netherlands. Despite the American authorities’ attempts to have Holly Deported, The Kingdom of the Netherlands stood by its decision to protect these children and their mother. After a thorough investigation from the FBI all domestic and international kidnapping charges against Holly were dismissed.
Now that her youngest American born child has turned 18 years old and aged out of the family court system, Holly and her children are coming home!
Of course there is an angry ex-husband who was found by several different judges to be an abuser. Mark Collins has found allies in Father’s rights organization that supports Fathers regardless of their criminal records and abusive history! Glenn Sacks the executive director of Fathers & Families.Org is self appointed as the personal spokesman for Mark Collins and his wife Rena Peters Collins. The new Mrs. Mark J. Collins supplied Fathers & Families with sealed court documents which (despite a gag order) Glenn Sacks has made public. He picks and chooses to release only partial information to try to discredit Holly Collins and her grown children. Mr. Sacks has deliberately misrepresented facts and circumstances in the Collins case and has fabricated excuses for Mr. Collins’ abuse. Glenn Sacks blatantly lied and knowingly made false statements concealing Mr. Collins abuse and fractured skull to the young Collins boy. Glenn Sacks and Fathers & Families.Org actively and knowingly conspire to conceal child abuse.
Shut Down The Charley Project
Meaghan Good (25 years old) is the sole administrator of The Charley Project, a missing person’s site. The problem is that Meaghan is mentally ill and has been in and out of mental institutions in the last few years. She has accused her doctors of kidnapping her and committing her without due process, even though she was threatening to kill herself as well as expressing homicidal thoughts.
Part of her mental illness is her obsession with gore, horror and abuse. She admits that she is addicted to the tragedies of others. Meaghan taunts the families and loved ones of missing persons who do not want the postings on her disreputable site. Another poor family is the recent victim of The Charley Project as Meaghan herself describes in her latest blog:
The Charley Project
Groan. Another lawsuit threat.
April 12, 2011 by Meaghan
I get really tired of people threatening to sue me who apparently either don’t have the slightest comprehension of the relevant laws, or assume that I don’t.
The more so because all this person had to do was make a polite request, and I would have accommodated her. There was no need for threats.
I’ve actually stopped counting the number of lawsuit threats I’ve gotten. Ten or twelve by now, I think, but I’m not sure.
Part of her mental illness is her obsession with gore, horror and abuse. She admits that she is addicted to the tragedies of others. Meaghan taunts the families and loved ones of missing persons who do not want the postings on her disreputable site. Another poor family is the recent victim of The Charley Project as Meaghan herself describes in her latest blog:
The Charley Project
Groan. Another lawsuit threat.
April 12, 2011 by Meaghan
I get really tired of people threatening to sue me who apparently either don’t have the slightest comprehension of the relevant laws, or assume that I don’t.
The more so because all this person had to do was make a polite request, and I would have accommodated her. There was no need for threats.
I’ve actually stopped counting the number of lawsuit threats I’ve gotten. Ten or twelve by now, I think, but I’m not sure.
What is The Charley Project? Fraudulent Missing Children's Web Bog
At first glance The Charley Project appears to be a reputable site dedicated to locating missing and exploited children, but in all actuality it is disaster tourism gone virtual. On the home page it clearly states that The Charley Project “does not actively investigate cases; it is merely a publicity vehicle for missing people.” An in-depth investigation reveals that it is nothing more than a perverse obsession of a mentally ill woman who admits to being addicted to horrendous stories of rape, sexual abuse, missing children and the torture of holocaust victims. The Charley Project does not deserve notoriety for exploiting the suffering of these victims. However it should be exposed for inflicting addition pain to abused, murdered and missing children and their family members.
The Victims
I have been contacted by several abuse victims (both children and adults) who have reported their further victimization by The Charley Project. Several of the cases listed on the Charley Project are from victims who do not want the added publicity. Many abused children have requested that The Charley Project remove their stories from the site. In fact these cases have already been removed from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. However The Charley Project founded and administrated solely by the 25 year old Meaghan Good continues to publicize the tragedies of these victims against their will.
Parents of raped, abused and murdered children have also begged the administrator to delete their children’s names, yet again The Charley Project refuses to comply. It is scandalous that a site with its self proclaiming dedication to victims refuses to respect these victims right to privacy. And the heartlessness is astounding. A mother of a missing child recently died of cancer and the Charley project captioned her death as “Another one bites the dust.” I find it absolutely disgusting!
Slander / Libel
The Charlie Project contains voluminous false and libelous content. In December 2010 a blog posting on The Charley Project reveals: “Another lawsuit threat – *yawn* ” The administrator recalls “I stopped counting some time ago, but I must have received over a dozen lawsuit threats by now.”
Victims families write that The Charley Project’s entries of their family members are “cruel and in poor taste.” The Charley Project response was “This was a lie — I didn’t say ANYTHING” And yet case after case when victims prove the false reports on The Charley Project the administrator makes one excuse after another. “Some people might have reason to dispute me, but it seems to me that they are really overreacting.”
In another case The Charley Project states: “One mother of a missing child was extremely angry because I said some things about her in the case file, not good things that were untrue. This wasn’t my fault — it was my source, a newspaper article that was incorrect.” I can’t believe that The Charley Project claims that they were not at fault for publishing false information because they merely reprinted another article without researching the validity of the content. This is exactly what they have done with our case. Meaghan Good admits that she merely read the article from Glenn Sacks and re-wrote it in her own words. She said that she is not responsible for her false statements. She said it is up to me to send her my private documentation to prove that her information is wrong.
In a blog post the administrator of The Charley Project(Meaghan Good) writes “One young woman was practically frothing at the mouth, all capital letters and lawsuit threats etc., She said she felt like her privacy had been violated.” Meaghan Good then states that “I was not trying to ruin her life, and all she would have had to do was ask me politely to take it off.” However The Charley Project keeps ignoring my and my brother’s polite requests to remove our story from their site even though our case was removed from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children almost 4 years ago back in 2007.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has been intervening now. “Another parent of a missing child was upset by what I’d written and actually contacted the NCMEC to ask me to remove a few sentences from the case file.” Perhaps I should also contact them to see if they will intervene. They should know the added turmoil The Charley Project is causing Missing and Exploited Children. In sheer desperation many victims have threatened The Charley Project with legal rectification but simply do not have the emotional strength and financial resources to pursue a retraction. In December 2010 The Charley Projects finds this amusing and boasts “No, I haven’t gotten any since last week’s lawsuit threat.”
Connection to the Collins Case:
Last year The Charley Project published a false article about me and my brother. The administrator, the author of the article Meaghan Good admitted that she read another article about our case and then rewrote her own article based on this 3rd person information, which my brother and I have publically disputed. The Charley Project publicized “The evidence clearly shows that Holly Collins is a whack-job who emotionally abused her children and turned them against their father, who was a decent man and a good parent.” And further embellishes that “almost every single doctor, therapist, and judge involved in the custody dispute concluded this.”
This short summation contains several bold face lies:
- My mother is definitely not a ‘whack job’.
- My mother certainly never abused any of her children in any way.
- My father Mark Collins is certainly not a “decent man and a good father.”
The judge found that my father was an abuser! My father admitted that he hit my mother and broke her nose on several occasions. He even testified under oath that he dislocated her shoulder in front of me and my brother. That is enough to demonstrate that he was not a good father. A good father would not abuse his children’s mother in front of them!
Since The Charley Project refuses to respond to my brother’s and my request we have also put in a complaint with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. If you conduct your own search on the NCMEC and type in my or my brother’s name you will get a notification of “0 Results” We are not missing!
Disclaimer:
The Charley Project offers a flimsy disclaimer: “The Charley Project can only be as accurate as its sources, most of which are online ones.” The administrator continues “Although I try my very best to be as accurate as possible, I usually have no way of fact-checking and have to depend on others to tell the truth to me.” This girl is my age and I don’t know if she is naïve or manipulative. She admits that “the website is a strictly amateur effort and I am not a journalist or private detective or professional of any kind.” She admits herself that she is obsessed with this site and retelling the gory details of unspeakable crimes.
This makeshift disclaimer ends by stating that “If you find an incorrect statement, contact me, and I will promptly make amends.” However the administrator plays God and places the burden on the victims to prove the inaccuracies and further demands that the victims that have been wronged send private documents to prove the falsities.
Defense:
The administrator of The Charley Project taunts abuse victims with a despicable representation of anticipated defense. “Well, to begin with, Your Honor, I put the information up in good faith. I received it from a credible source, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. It was also reported in several news agencies. I had every reason to believe this information was true, and, Your Honor, the plaintiff has yet to produce any evidence that it was not.”
History:
The Charley Project began as the Missing Persons Cold Case Network founded in 2001 by Jennifer Marra. In 2003 it was taken over by an 18 year old girl Meaghan Good from the Venedocia Ohio. I admire anyone who is genuinely interested in helping abused, exploited and missing children. However the founder/administrator has no desire to help these children, she admits that she is addicted to morbid stories abused, missing and murdered children. What appears to be a missing person’s resource site is a compilation of sloppy regurgitations of various articles which begin with “I found this article…”
The Administrator:
Meaghan Good is the founder and sole administrator of The Charley Project. This mentally unstable 25 year old self professed “story teller” and “professional insomniac” describes her infatuation with morbid stories of missing, raped, sexually exploited and murdered children as well as the inhumane horrors of the holocaust.
Who is Meaghan Good?
Meaghan Elizabeth Good was born on October 5, 1985 and raised in a hic Midwestern town she recalls lacking any traffic lights. She boasts that she never attended high school but managed to attain a GED and is trying to take college courses in between institutionalizations. She currently resides with her boyfriend Michael Lianez when she is not institutionalized. Meaghan Good admits that she has no personal experience with having a missing loved one, but became interested in missing people in 1998 when she was 13 years old which over the years developed into an obsession. Meaghan Good is very troubled young lady but this is no excuse for her to exploit the misfortunes of abuse victims.
On The Charlie Project blog Meaghan credits her brother Ian Good for being her brilliant web master and then in December she states that “My abusive brother didn’t show up, and I was very glad.” Unlike Meaghan I do not challenge victims. If she says her brother is abusive who am I to question her? I just do not understand why she doesn’t offer others the same courtesy.
Addicted to Disaster:
Meaghan Good admits that she is overly interested in missing people and addicted to the gory details of rape, sexual abuse and kidnappings. On February 9, 2011 she blogs that: “Holocaust and Missing People stuff actually does not depress me. In fact I find those subjects intensely interesting.” When challenged by a follower Meaghan replies “I’m very sure my Holocaust reading does not cause depression in me, because about two years ago, for two weeks I conducted a scientific experiment.” In which she read stories of the “Holocaust, the rape of child, the mutilation of several other children, and graphic descriptions of: several shootings, a double hanging, and an old woman being gassed at Auschwitz and the cremation of her body…and the day that I read that book I was remarkably cheerful” This is so disturbing. No wonder why she was institutionalized for being a threat to society.
Hypochondriac/ Munchausen’s?
The Charley Project has become a platform for this Munchausen’s like Hypochondriac to rant and rave to a semi-sympathetic audience. On February 4, 2011 Meaghan made an entry that when she didn’t get an appointment she desired she writes “I became hysterical and started cussing and sobbing and weeping etc.,” She complains of headaches which everyone knows is an expected side effect of lack of sleep, yet this Munchausen’s candidate demands test after test and when the results are negative rather than finding comfort on February 8 2011 she complained “the MRA came back absolutely normal, to my extreme distress. I was really hoping they would show some big dramatic thing the neurologist could work off of, but no.” Time after time various neurologists have told her that there is nothing wrong with her but she just made a new entry that “I will have to add the neurologist to the growing list of doctors who have no idea what’s wrong with me.” It’s not just headaches either. She constantly complains “I’m sick again” from “I’ve got a wretched head cold and none of the usual over-the-counter things have helped” to "uncontrollable headaches." She claims that she is a “professional insomniac” who “sleeps 20 hours a day.” Now she has another aliment “I’m worried about tearing up my liver from all the Tylenol in it, and so on and so forth.”
Bulimic?
It’s difficult to try to decipher what is real but Meaghan Good also suffers from Bulimia. Again in a very unprofessional posting on The Charley Project: “December 14 2010 My mother heard me vomiting in the bathroom just now and came in to ask what the matter was. I told her I had eaten an entire family-size box of macaroni and cheese in one sitting and believed it was a mistake.”
Drug Addict / Substance Abuse?
It’s difficult to tell if the somatic complaints are a result of substance abuse. I do not understand the unprofessionalism that blog postings on a missing persons website include “Last night I partied with my boyfriend and two of his roommates and the guy from the apartment downstairs, who came up for awhile. I had five shots of vodka and became quite drunk but woke up with NO hangover.” And other confessions from December 17 2010 that she broke into her parent’s house at 2:30 in the morning when her parents were sleeping: “I slipped out of my boyfriend’s house and drove for an hour to my parents’. They were asleep and I hoped very much that I would not wake them. I didn’t. I sneaked inside, went to the place where Mom stored all of my dead grandmother’s numerous very powerful prescription painkillers. I took some and then went back to Michael’s apartment.” Then she has the nerve to complain in a bold headline on The Charley Project site that the Doctors “tried to make me go to rehab.” Maybe this woman should be locked up!
Mental Illness?
In a recent blog entry on the Charley Project site the administrator Meaghan Good describes her struggle with depression and proclaims to sleep “20 hours a day.” She recently wrote that “My anxiety and melancholy over the last several weeks has become obvious to everyone by now.” Meaghan Good writes disturbing entries “The insane ramblings of a lunatic mind.” She explains “I felt like shooting myself just to get it over with, and “I saw no future for myself or for anyone else.” Days later tries to gain sympathy though the Charley project site for her recent institutionalization and claims that her doctor had her “kidnapped and thrown in the loony bin without due process." Even though The Charley Project is supposed to be a professional site dedicated to Missing Children the administrator uses this public forum for her own narcissistic rants. She admits her manipulation to prevent medical professions from “interrogating my friends about my supposedly abnormal behavior.” Regarding a blind date she writes “After a disastrous face-to-face visit with an online friend who was freaked out by my behaviors.” She writes that at the hospital “I was in screaming” and “the physician’s assistant was deeply concerned by behavior. The P.A. questioned me about my antidepressants and said, 'Quite frankly, you’re acting very oddly.' I tried to explain that what he was seeing — which was me trembling and rocking back and forth — was quite normal for me and something I pretty much always do when I’m under stress."
As if this isn't disturbing enough the sole administrator of the Charley project writes “I had a complete emotional collapse and became a danger to myself and others and had to be briefly institutionalized.” Unfortunately she excuses these drastic measures by claiming that she was “thrown in the loony bin without due process.” In December 2010 she wrote about her “‘annual review’ with the psych clinic where they basically measure how crazy I am this year as opposed to last year.” This is obviously a mentally ill young woman who is desperately crying for help. I feel sorry for her and I have questioned whether or not I should publish this article. I don’t want to hurt anyone. However this administrator on behalf of a public missing person’s organization is misusing the intention of the site for her own personal profit at the expense of abused children.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?
Meaghan Good has been with her boyfriend Michael D. Lianez since she was 17 years old and he doesn’t even support her delusions. On The Charley Project Meaghan Good writes “Identity theft strikes again — someone has been using my credit card in Oklahoma and California. (Michael told me it was probably me and I just forgot about it.) So the card company of course blocked my card and I didn’t find this out until I was in the grocery store attempting to purchase more orange pop. I left empty-handed, puzzled and embarrassed.” Then she writes that someone sent her contacts a letter trying to scam money from them. “Am sorry i didn’t inform you about my urgent trip to London, i don’t have much time on the PC here, so i have to brief you my present situation which requires your urgent response actually, I had a trip to London but unfortunately for me all my money got stolen at the hotel where i lodged due to a robbery incident that happened in the hotel… so please can you send me 850 Pounds or any amount you can afford so when i return back i would refund it back to you as soon as i get home, Am so confused right now and don’t know what to do.”
Rather than sympathize with the victims Meaghan Good writes “Nobody who knows me would believe that email. Anyone who does deserves to pay a 850 pound “stupidity tax.”
Net Worth
The charley project is valued at $10,733 and receives over 1000 views per day. It is about time that it is exposed for what it really is. Ever since The Charley Project posted this (false)article about MY family it's traffice has increased significantly. Now we all know what her motives are.
Contact
The Charley Project http://www.charleyproject.org/
Server IP Address: 64.69.41.217
Server IP Decimal: 1078274521
The Charley Project 15276 Main Street (PO Box 647)
Venedocia Ohio US 45894
Phone: 1-419-667-3131
Email:
Email: Good_128@hotmail.com
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