A retired Aurora police sergeant is facing criminal charges for raping his daughter and sexually assaulting his two adopted daughters, but remains free from custody while his ex-wife is the

A retired Aurora police sergeant faces criminal charges for raping his daughter and continually sexually assaulting her and his two adopted daughters, but he remains free from custody while his ex-wife is in jail for objecting to court-ordered reunification therapy meant to repair his relationship with two of his sons.

  • Jojo, Lady of the West
    24•2 months ago

    Reunification therapy is a child-focused therapy, meaning it must proceed at the child’s pace, and move forward when they have made progress. It can also be difficult as parents are asked to put aside their differences and focus on the goal of restoring healthy attachment for the benefit of the child or children.

    Meanwhile:

    She said she checked on her children during the session and found one of her sons curled in a fetal position on the ground in Bassett’s office

    She went into the room, and the very first thing that my boy said that she told them was, ‘We need to make progress, and today you need to tell your father that you forgive him.’

    Whatever this therapy is supposed to be, it doesn’t really sound like that’s what’s happening.

    • @[email protected]English
      -3•2 months ago

      Yeah I agree. There’s something fishy about this whole article though.

      How is the mother even in jail when a year ago Colorado put restrictions on the therapy in just these sorts of cases? I feel like either some facts are being misrepresented, or we’re not being told everything, or this is some strange outlier and judicial malfeasance.

      • TheHarpyEagle
        9•2 months ago

        I mean the article explains it pretty clearly.

        The new law barred courts from restricting the custody of a parent who is competent, protective and not abusive solely to improve a relationship with the other parent. It prohibits reunification treatment that is predicated on cutting off the relationship between a child and a protective parent the child has a bond with.

        Putting aside the insanity of this ever being allowed, it doesn’t apply in this case because custody has not been (officially) cut off. She’s in jail because she objects to the therapist and her methods, believing them to cause severe anxiety in her children, and has thus tried to interfere with the court ordered sessions.

        • @[email protected]English
          -2•2 months ago

          Sure, but if the therapy is going as described, it seems to me like the situation fits

          predicated on cutting off the relationship between a child and a protective parent the child has a bond with.

          And besides, according to the article, the mother can and did point to the investigation into the abuse. All together, this just doesn’t make sense. Given that this publication is owned by a company well-known for bullshit under their Washington Examiner label, I’m withholding judgement until I learn more. This just reeks of ragebait.

          • TheHarpyEagle
            9•2 months ago

            I don’t understand how it fits. They’re not cutting off their relationship to the protective parent (the mother), which is what the new restrictions prohibit. She still has access and custody, but they are also required to attend reunification therapy. Where is the contradiction?

            It’s also explained why the abuse investigation does not impact the ordered therapy.

            Though the divorce judge found there was evidence that Hawkins had physically abused the oldest son, the judge said in his ruling that was “one instance that does not involve either of the two children at issue.”

            The father is only seeking custody of the two youngest sons, who were, as far as the court is aware, not abused by their father. So the judge does not see this or the seven charges of abuse of a minor as relevant in this case.

            I’m all for being aware of the quality and reputation of a paper, but it seems you are putting more weight on that then the quality of the article itself. You are pointing at supposed inconsistencies that seem to be explained by the article.

            • @[email protected]
              6•2 months ago

              It’s pretty insane to think a proven child abuser will simply not choose to abuse some of his kids when it’s proven he abused his other kids.

            • @[email protected]English
              -3•2 months ago

              Perhaps I did misread something in the later half of the article regarding the mother and the therapy. I’m not going to dig through it again to confirm, but I can acknowledge I may have misunderstood.

              A judge has a responsibility to take a broader context into account, with the overall health of the children being the main consideration. This would be opposed to a strictly mechanical interpretation of the law, where just because you’re not accused of abusing this specific child, you’re deemed a safe parent to them. If the judge does not see things this way, they’re being derelict in their duty. My suspicion remains that there is quite possibly more to this story though.

              Correct, I think one should absolutely not adopt a trusting stance towards a new publication. Trust in reporting needs to be earned, and an appropriate caution should be exhibited until then in 100% of cases. This is because we cannot judge the quality of the article itself from just the article, you can’t tell if something is being omitted or misrepresented without other sources to compare it to. All we can judge is how it sounds, and that is not very good evidence of anything.

              • @[email protected]
                3•2 months ago

                I guess I could be wrong, but I can’t be assed to spend two minutes rereading the article. I’ll just continue to pontificate from my position of misinformation

                • @[email protected]English
                  -1•2 months ago

                  Admitting I may have misunderstood on how the law applies to the mother’s jailing has nothing to do with my other two arguments.

                  There’s frankly little point in digging through an article I do not trust to begin with, it’s a waste of time. You can give it your trust if you want, but I have no strong reason to.

                  • @[email protected]
                    2•2 months ago

                    has nothing to do with my other two arguments.

                    So your two paragraphs of pontificating have nothing to do with what’s in the article?

                    I guess you’re just here to say “I believe judges are always good at their jobs and never make mistakes”?