Divorce education building bridges of friendship

Posted on April 23, 2009 by comm5775

by MADISON MURPHY

Belinda Hartranft, a shopaholic and soccer mom, divorced her husband after 10 years of marriage. The decision to divorce came quickly after Hartranft discovered her husband had been cheating on her.

Alma Perez, their paralegal through Legal Aid Society of Salt Lake, admitted that although Hartranft’s case was alarming, it was the most speedy and successful divorce she ever processed.

Generally, divorce is not a pleasant experience. It can include separation, conflict and bitterness. Hartranft used her divorce to build a stronger bridge between her ex-husband and children.

Fifty percent of the nation’s marriages result in divorce, according to Jim Stringham, a therapist of 15 years.

According to “Common Ground,” Utah’s official newsletter for divorcing couples, the parties involved make separation more difficult than it needs to be. “[They] feel like they have to compete with each other… like there is a battle to be won,” the newsletter notes.

How then, can two people avoid a battle and instead benefit from a divorce?

LAS offers clients a divorce education course before they separate. Through the course, clients can learn how separation can strengthen relationships, rather than taint them.

“Divorce education courses discuss how [the divorce] will affect the children … as well as the steps taken during their divorce so that they know what is actually going to happen,” Perez said.

Divorce education courses and mediation are required by law. David Musselman, a mediator from the Divorce Mediation Institute of Utah, said mediation is a way that people can resolve their disputes without going to court. It helps the couples negotiate better and learn how to modify their behaviors. “It costs less, it saves a lot of time and it helps the couple to reach a conclusion without a judge,” Musselman said.

After the course, Perez said Hartranft’s divorce took just three months to complete, giving their relationship a firmer foundation for friendship.

“It made me see things differently,” Hartranft said. “I realized how important it was to let things go instead of continuously fighting. Divorce was just the better thing to do, and now we can have a good friendship.”

Musselman mentioned that mediation has a 90 percent rate of effective cases. That may be an outstanding result, but what about the other 10 percent? Is divorce the only solution a couple can come up with?

Like Belinda Hartranft, Edye Wagstaff felt her only solution was divorce. After five years of counseling, Wagstaff and her husband decided to divorce. “From the very beginning we were in therapy through religious leaders and psychologists … it never helped,” Wagstaff said.

She and her husband were both stubborn. If they hadn’t separated, they never would have considered their big issue to be a small and simple one. “It gave us an opportunity to step outside and look at our relationship with a different perspective,” Wagstaff said.

Wagstaff said she feels therapy works only if both people are going to be honest with themselves. “They need to be willing to respect the responsibilities of their own weaknesses,” she said.

Wagstaff and her husband happily remarried after two years of separation.

Therapist Jim Stringham handles about 45 sessions a week, a third being couples. He knows from experience that therapy, mediation, or divorce education courses can never promote happiness unless both parties are willing to change.

If the couple cannot sort things out, Stringham often splits them up to do individual sessions. He has learned that it is important for a person to work on their problems separately before trying to work them out as a couple. “If there is not enough commitment … it doesn’t work,” he said.

Wagstaff and Hartranft consider themselves lucky. Their divorces were definitely painful at first, but in the long run it was for the best.

“It was probably the weirdest divorce,” Wagstaff said. “But it saved our marriage…. Everything became so healthy. We learned that we could trust each other in every aspect of our lives.”

Hartranft said not only do her children spend time with their father regularly, but she also speaks with her ex-husband on the phone almost every night. This journey of separation strengthened their friendship by encouraging them to see what they value most in life.

“I totally recommend those classes to anybody,” Hartranft said. ”It teaches you how to deal with your kids and it gives you options and suggestions. I had to realize he was ready to move on — and I needed to get there too. I am a much better person now than I was, and I have grown to appreciate myself better…. Thank you Alma and all of Legal Aid.”

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Rates decline, but domestic abuse still a crisis

Posted on April 23, 2009 by comm5775

by ELIZABETH PEZQUEDA

Large numbers of women across the United States suffer from domestic violence every year, and until recently, many of them did not have access to the resources they need to get help.

While there are currently hundreds of programs and centers for domestic violence victims around the country, it continues to be a problem.

In 1994, Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which was designed to make the criminal justice system more responsive to domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking and to have more services available for victims, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The bill was reauthorized in 2000 and 2005, and has spurred the development of several other bills and programs designed to assist abuse victims. Some of these programs include the development of the Office on Violence Against Women and child witness programs, among others.

Prior to the passing of VAWA, getting help was especially difficult for those victims who qualified as low-income. Without being able to afford an attorney for legal proceedings like court hearings, divorce filings and custody battles, fighting domestic abuse through the legal system was not always easy.

Kai Wilson, executive director of “…And Justice For All,” a nonprofit legal group in Salt Lake City that caters to low-income individuals, said with all the programs that are now available to victims, “money should never be a reason not to seek help.”

Organizations like “…And Justice For All” are now available all around the country. Most do not charge for many of their services and can help victims with a range of issues stemming from domestic abuse.

Alma Perez, a paralegal at Legal Aid Society of Salt Lake, said whether or not violence is addressed as a primary reason for filing for divorce, most of the divorce cases she handles do have domestic abuse issues. Legal Aid is one of three groups that make up “…And Justice For All” and handles hundreds of requests for domestic violence assistance every month. Two other groups offer assistance for other legal issues, including disability cases and employment discrimination.

Perez also said women make up 85 percent of those who file for protective orders or civil stalking injunctions at Legal Aid.

Sergeant Dan Brewster, who supervises the domestic violence squad in the Salt Lake City Police Department, said officers investigate between 100 and 200 reports of domestic abuse every month.

Sandra Campbell-Tenhagen, the office manager at the Legal Aid branch office inside the Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City, has been working for Legal Aid for 11 years and estimates that her branch sees around 175 requests for protective orders and stalking injunctions every month, indicating a major issue.

“Most protective orders get granted or denied on the same day,” Campbell-Tenhagen said. “If it’s granted, it’s an order as soon as the judge signs off on it, but the respondent has to be served with a copy before if becomes effective.”

If something were to happen between the victim and the abuser before the abuser can be served with a copy of the order, the abuser cannot be punished for violating it, Campbell-Tenhagen said.

After being served with the order, the respondent then has a chance to fight the allegations of abuse at a hearing that is scheduled within 20 days from that time. During the hearing, the judge may either dismiss the order or grant it permanently.

If the victim and alleged abuser have children, the petitioner will be assigned custody of their children if the order is granted.

In addition to assisting victims of abuse in the Salt Lake area with filing protective orders and civil stalking injunctions, Legal Aid works with several other organizations to help victims resolve any issues that may stem from seeking help, such as finding housing, employment and child care.  Some groups that work with Legal Aid are: the YWCA, the Utah Department of Human Services, the Family Support Center, the Salt Lake Area Family Justice Center and the Department of Workforce Services.

Legal Aid may also refer victims to counseling services or a victim’s advocate from a police department.

Stewart Ralphs, executive director of Legal Aid, said his experience in dealing with domestic abuse cases has proven that abuse typically escalates, and that seeking help is the first step in stopping that trend.

“Until someone intervenes, the violence only gets worse,” Ralphs said. “It may come in waves and cycles, but it does get worse.”

With a large portion of the nonprofit’s funding coming from the government, Ralphs said he is thankful that domestic abuse issues are being acknowledged by the state.

“The government has recognized that [domestic abuse] is a prevalent problem, and [government funding] is a major reason that we get to offer our services for free,” he said.

Indicators that domestic violence is still a serious issue include statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice that family violence accounted for 11 percent of reported and unreported violence between 1998 and 2002. Twenty-two percent of murders in 2002 were family murders, and in 1997, 15 percent of nearly 500,000 violent offenders in state prisons were there for a violent crime against a family member.

Statistics also show in 2005, a parent or other family member committed two-thirds of murders of children under the age of 5. In the same year, 18 percent of offenders who committed violent crimes against women were described as having a current or previous relationship with their victim.

Despite these trends and percentages, statistics also state the rate of nonfatal relationship violence against females between 1993 and 2001 declined by nearly half.

With so many resources available to abuse victims, no matter their income, there is reason to hope victims will be able to get out of abusive situations with much less financial and legal struggle than in previous years.

“We hope we’ve worked to make this process much simpler for victims than it used to be,” Ralphs said.

If victims are unsure about the name, location or details of organizations in their area that can help, they can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline or a local police department.

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Overcoming: The story of a middle-aged divorcee

Posted on April 20, 2009 by comm5775

by DANIELLE MURPHY

The entrance to the Community Legal Center, the location of the Legal Aid Society of Salt Lake.

The entrance to the Community Legal Center, the location of the Legal Aid Society of Salt Lake.

She always thought she would have a good marriage. She thought he was a good husband, a good father and a good provider. They had four children and nine grandchildren. But, 32 years after their blissful wedding day, it was over.

Monica was in her 50s and had only lived in the United States for six years after emigrating from South America. She hadn’t held a job, or planned to hold a job, since her midwife training when she was first married. Suddenly she was left alone and had to take care of herself.

Monica requested that her real name not be used due to concerns for her safety and well-being.

“We had some goals,” Monica said. “To have a life together like normal. For me, that is a normal thing and I always thought that, that was his normal thing too. There wasn’t any reason to think something different. The idea was to be together as a family, as a couple.”

She began to feel alienated as things began to go wrong at his work. As she asked about it, he grew more distant. He said he was trying to protect her, but she felt hurt.

“Communication in a marriage is the most important part. This is a sad story but it could have been better. He just never wanted to talk about it,” Monica said.

When she asked him what he was trying to cover up, he told her he wanted a divorce. That was it. They separated.

He moved out immediately.

Monica was bewildered. “I think he lost his mind,” she said, “because he always had good principles.”

During the three-year separation, he informed her he would take the necessary steps to start divorce proceedings. Time passed and nothing happened.

Neither one had taken further steps toward a divorce when she found out she needed an operation. He agreed to pay for part of her medical bills. He also assisted her with a small amount of money and kept her on his medical insurance.

The operation was successful, but the attempts at obtaining monetary support weren’t. The money Monica received from him became more and more infrequent.

She started to work, taking care of children for extended family, but this only covered a small portion of her living expenses. She knew she had to officially file for divorce.

Monica heard about Legal Aid Society of Salt Lake from a friend. The Legal Aid Society is a nonprofit legal assistance organization that assists almost 3,000 low-income individuals with domestic violence and family law issues annually.

She was introduced to Stewart Ralphs, an attorney and the executive director of the Legal Aid Society. “Ralphs was a great help,” Monica said. “He helped me through the whole thing.”

Filing for divorce includes divorce papers being served to the spouse by law enforcement. “I didn’t know the procedure or how it worked really,” Monica said. “When he was served, he was really mad about it. He thought I was sending the police to him.”

Then, on a snowy Christmas Eve just a couple years after he moved out, she learned he had found someone else. It was a painful surprise. They were separated but not legally divorced and he had already remarried.

“Even though it’s technically bigamy, it’s hardly ever enforced,” Ralphs said.

The money stopped coming. No help with medical bills was ever received.

A judge finally issued a temporary order at the initial hearing for Monica to receive alimony. But for months Monica didn’t receive any support. After another hearing, her estranged husband agreed to mediation.

Through mediation, she found out he was making wages similar to hers. They agreed that he wouldn’t have to offer her any support now, but as he began to make more, he would pay her alimony. They were officially divorced.

Monica continued working, but still struggled to earn a decent income. When she asked her ex-husband for pay stubs, he refused, telling her to have a judge ask him instead.

Frustrated, Monica called Ralphs. He advised presenting her ex-husband with a 10-day time frame to send over the pay stubs before she would make a motion to find him in contempt of court. He didn’t respond to any of her phone calls or e-mail.

Ralphs sent an e-mail on her behalf. The response was immediate. She had the pay stubs right away.

Now, she sends Ralphs a copy of every e-mail she writes to her ex-husband to ensure compliance. The alimony comes steadily. He’s reluctant, but “as my attorney got into the middle of it, he knew I wasn’t messing around,” she said.

Monica’s current situation isn’t her ideal, but she does it with dignity. She continues to tend children for extended family members, and also does housekeeping. “I would like to only be the grandma, not the nanny,” she said. “It is not pleasant, when you are more capable than that.”

Monica’s daughter, Jill, echoes those thoughts. “My mom having to start from zero, that was hard to see,” she said.

But, Monica isn’t giving up. “I will do whatever I need to, to be financially independent, I don’t want Social Security…. It’s not pride it’s self-reliance,” she said.

She is currently waiting for results on her written certified nursing assistant test. She has already passed her skills test and is looking for various CNA positions. As for her ex-husband, she said, “I wish for him the best. It was all his decision. You can’t make anyone love you. They have to want to do it.”

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Unsung heroes help disabled access their rights

Posted on April 20, 2009 by comm5775

Story and photo by MICHELLE SCHMITT

Sitting in her window office at the Community Legal Center located in the minority-rich northwest quadrant of Salt Lake City, Janis Tetro sees herself as a woman on the front lines in the fight for fairness of the disabled at the Disability Law Center (DLC). A World War II propaganda poster of a woman wearing a red bandana hangs on the wall behind Tetro, proclaiming “We Can Do It!”

Community Legal Center, located at 205 N. 400 West.

The Short Term Assessment Team, or STAT, is a division of DLC that responds to incoming calls from disabled persons in need of guidance and direction.

“We’re one of the few [organizations] left who still try to have live people answering the phones, so we try to get to them as quickly as we can,” Tetro said.

When Tetro, a self-advocacy expert and self-proclaimed “STAT lady,” started working for DLC 23 years ago, she had no idea her influence would change the way disabled individuals access their rights.

Tetro and her team developed a computer system that allows them to quickly access all available avenues that a disabled person can pursue in search for assistance in a world that may not cater to their unique needs. The STAT team is able to get answers rapidly for those who call; questions range from legal advice to building access, to weatherization and heating help. At the inception of STAT staff were simply jotting information on 3-by-5 cards, a method that has since advanced to the intricate computer system.

Now every protection advocacy agency across the country has adopted this system, something that Tetro said “was pretty cool.”

STAT is “the most critical link that we have to the disabled community,” said Eric Mitchell, a spokesman with DLC. Mitchell praised STAT for the division’s ability to quickly and accurately field calls and assist distressed individuals.

Tetro is proud of the accomplishments STAT has made. The division has been around for 23 years and has had to adjust to match the progressing times.

“In the beginning we only did little issues,” she said. “We had to inform people that they do have rights, and over the years the people have become more sophisticated on what their rights are. Now we get calls from people who know they have rights,” but just need to know how to address a situation.

Tetro told the story of a man with back problems who gets around on a Segway, per doctor’s orders. While doing so at a Utah college, a campus police officer told the young man that Segways were not permitted on campus. He called Tetro’s team, whose immediate action quickly got him back on campus with no further interruptions.

Tetro said DLC trains disabled individuals about what they are entitled to. The center visits mental health houses, talks to architects about making buildings handicap accessible and provides school training to teachers and officials.

The biggest challenge for Tetro and the STAT is the sheer number of calls. “We get around 5,000 calls a year and we really want to get every one of them individual attention,” Tetro said.

The busiest times of year are during the holidays, when many feel sad and lonely, and at the start of the school year, Tetro said.

Education issues are largely left in the hands of DLC special education team leader Adina Zahradnitova, who works closely with schools to monitor that they are obeying the laws that protect disabled students.

Zahradnitova told the story of a young boy who got shuffled in the system so much that he ended up in the hospital. She and her team stepped in.

It was the school’s responsibility to provide an assessment for a 7-year-old student, a boy believed to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and they failed to do so, Zahradnitova said. When the child’s behavior escalated, the school rushed him to the emergency room; later he was moved to the psychiatric ward at Primary Children’s Hospital. The family received a $17,000 hospital bill and the school accepted no responsibility. The issue is ongoing and DLC is working on behalf of the family. The DLC’s argument is that the boy has the right, under the law, to a free education and it was the school’s job to provide a timely assessment. Instead, the school waited and did not know how to handle the child. Zahradnitova says the family should not have to pay the substantial medical bill. Instead, she says the school should have to since it failed to perform a timely assessment on the boy.

The issue may be handled through the courts, but Zahradnitova hopes to resolve the matter privately. Mitchell said that DLC prefers to handle matters quickly and informally. Litigation takes a lot of time and therefore it is the “tool of last resort.” That is why STAT is so important.

“People walk in literally off the streets,” Mitchell said. “[STAT] is the front line, they provide short term assistance to people and prepare things that need to be forwarded.”

Zahradnitova lauded STAT as a “critical part of the agency,” one that “functions as a well-oiled machine.” Employees provide one-on-one advocacy, offer necessary referrals and work closely with landlords and school districts. She said Tetro has empowered both her team and disabled individuals by training and educating them.

People call who are “totally in crisis,” Tetro said. “They’re kind of mad at the whole world because they haven’t found any help. If we can’t help we have a whole program set up on the computer of agencies that may be able to help [and] we can transfer their calls right over.”

But probably one of the easiest and most effective things that STAT offers is a person to listen. Tetro said many people who call are relieved to have someone to talk to, willing and ready to help.

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Attorney strives to help families adopt

Posted on April 20, 2009 by comm5775

Story and photo by TYLER COBB

Paul MacArthur knows the joy adoption can bring to a family firsthand.

Kaelys, now 7, was adopted in 2002 by Andrea Anaya.

Kaelys, now 7, was adopted in 2002 by Andrea Anaya.

The 37-year-old lawyer has spent the last eight years helping families adopt children, which to this day, MacArthur says is a worthwhile experience.

“The newly adopting people ask me, ‘Does it feel any different than your biological children?’ and I can say it doesn’t,” said MacArthur, who has two adopted and three biological children of his own. “My heart is in it.”

When he married his wife, Monica, they wanted to have children right away but couldn’t. About a year later, his wife suggested they adopt a child.

MacArthur said he struggled with the idea of adopting for a few months before he agreed, and three years later they adopted their first child, Emma.

And through that experience, MacArthur now understands the worry and pain new parents feel when something goes wrong and they can’t adopt. He and his wife had three failed adoptions before Emma, now 10, came into their lives.

“You become attached when you meet the birth mother,” Monica MacArthur said about failed adoptions. She said that in one attempt, they had seen pictures of the child. They had spent nine months trying to adopt, but the night before they were scheduled to pick up their baby they were told the adoption had fallen through.

However, in the case of international adoptions, multiple things can go wrong. The failure to obtain and complete the right paperwork in the child’s country or in the United States, and the ambiguity in a country’s laws can create problems.

“Mexico doesn’t specifically allow for international adoption,” MacArthur said. “They also don’t specifically exclude it.”

And even on the national spectrum, adoptions still fail despite the cost and time spent working with lawyers and agencies.

Andrea Anaya, a Salem, Utah, resident, turned to MacArthur for help with adopting an American Indian child in 2002.

“The birth mother had to sign over her parental rights three times because of all the paperwork,” said Anaya, who received custody in 2003.

MacArthur said the costs for adoptions vary from $10,000 to $45,000 and can take years to finalize.

Yet the trouble is worth it, he said.

And despite the hard work, MacArthur loves his job. He didn’t always want to be a lawyer, but after nine years helping families adopt, he can’t imagine doing anything else.

When MacArthur returned from a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the early 1990s, his father, James MacArthur, encouraged him to take an aptitude test to help decide on a career. His skills pointed in the direction of law school, and in 1995 MacArthur started down a three-year path at the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University.

Upon graduation, he and his wife moved to Idaho where he clerked for a judge, gaining expertise in court procedure.

However, within a couple years, MacArthur decided to open his own firm with a few other BYU law school graduates in Provo. MacArthur, his wife and their daughter Emma had to live in his parents’ house for nine months while setting up his firm.

“It was scary to start this firm, but it was the best thing to do at the time,” Monica MacArthur said. “It took off really quick, but we had no income. We had one kid and another on the way.”

At the time, the couple was trying to adopt a second child, Jake, who is now 7 years old.

Bill Heder, a BYU law school graduate, started working for the firm, which is now called MacArthur, Heder and Metler, in 2004. He said they didn’t have an extravagant office and it was just two lawyers working in a three-room office.

MacArthur specializes in adoption cases, but most of the lawyers do business law.

“We were living very frugally, but we were also very busy,” Heder said.

And now the firm, which handles 110 to 130 adoptions annually, has expanded from two attorneys to more than 10 full- and part-time attorneys.

And MacArthur has gone even further to help families.

He helped start A Child’s Hope Foundation, an organization that creates adoption orphanages in underdeveloped countries.

MacArthur, who is the foundation’s legal counsel and a board member, often travels out of the country to help families adopt children through the foundation.

He’s encouraged his first adopted child, Emma, to get into the spirit of helping other children too.

When MacArthur was packing for a 10-day trip to Haiti near Christmas to offer legal counsel for the foundation, his daughter walked into the room.

“My daughter Emma was 7 at the time and she was being kind of mopey,” MacArthur said. “Then I just asked her [why] and she said, ‘I get tired of you leaving and I don’t know why.’”

He explained to his daughter how he was leaving to help other children who didn’t have parents or homes get some help.

“I kept packing and five to 10 minutes later, she went and got her toys,” MacArthur said. “She wanted me to give them to the kids in the foundation.”

Despite the time spent away from home, he says it’s worth it to see the joy on new parents’ faces. And for the next trip, he’s bringing his two oldest children with him to help.

“It makes me feel really proud of my kids,” Monica MacArthur said.

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Low-income legal help turns lives around

Posted on April 15, 2009 by comm5775

by PAIGE KASTELER

The need for legal aid is great among low-income Utahns. Two out of every three low-income households in Utah will face a civil legal problem every year. The average cost of legal services in Utah is about $10,000 — a cost few low-income families can probably afford.

These statistics were reported in a study done by “…And Justice For All,” a nonprofit organization designed to give legal assistance to low-income Utahns. Fortunately, there are many organizations like AJFA that can help.

The Legal Aid Society of Salt Lake is a private nonprofit organization that offers free and low-cost legal assistance in the area of family law, including divorce and help for victims of domestic violence.

Established in 1922, LAS has been assisting Utahns for almost a generation. LAS helped an estimated 22,000 low-income Utahns gain access to the legal system during 2008; that has been increasingly difficult to do, due to lack of funding.

Kai Wilson, executive director of AFJA, said these organizations are important because the legal system is becoming more specialized and only accessible to people with money. Wilson said the legal system is something everyone should have access to and dreams of a day when Utah will catch up to other states and have the funding to assist 20 percent of low-income individuals. Right now Utah assists 13 percent.

LAS receives half its funding from the state. Budget cuts and a drop in funding are a constant threat to LAS. The No. 1 thing that holds LAS back from helping more people is usually funding, which means that only those who need help the most can be assisted.

To qualify for legal assistance, paralegals at LAS look at several things. They take cases on the basis of severity of poverty, the type of case and the immediate need of the legal aid.

Rosario Martinez, 54, of Salt Lake City is one of those individuals who was turned away from LAS. After divorcing her abusive husband, Martinez sought help from LAS but was turned away during the screening process because she was not in any immediate danger from her ex-husband.

Martinez understands there are limits to how many people these organizations can help, but she does intend to keep on trying, especially now that her husband is trying to get out of paying child support.

While LAS cannot help everyone, it does assist many people each year. Stewart Ralphs, director of LAS, said the average client LAS sees is about 25 years old, has about two kids and usually is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

LAS specializes in cases of domestic violence, specifically protective orders and stalking injunctions. It also offers help with domestic-relations cases, such as child custody and support, divorce, paternity and guardianship.

People seeking legal aid from LAS can apply at the Matheson Courthouse, 450 S. State St., in Salt Lake City. First there is a conflict check where paralegals determine if LAS will have any conflict representing the potential client. Then there is an intake interview with a paralegal who prepares the legal paperwork. This part takes about four to five hours, and is “not something you can do on your lunch hour,” Ralphs said. When the paperwork is completed, clients are assigned a lawyer to represent them through their legal needs. The average case takes about 45 days of legal work, which is relatively short; some legal cases can drag out for years.

These short legal cases often change clients’ lives forever.

One of these people is Susan, whose last name is being withheld for her safety. Susan filed a protective order against her physically abusive spouse to keep herself and her two children safe. But under the guise of visitation, Susan’s husband violated the protective order and took the children to Florida. LAS and the county attorney’s office in Florida arrested Susan’s husband. She flew to Florida to be reunited with her children and her spouse was extradited to Utah to face charges of custodial interference. Susan then filed for divorce.

She now has full custody of her children and is divorced from her abusive spouse, something she would have not been able to accomplish without the help of LAS.

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Employment difficult for injured construction worker

Posted on April 15, 2009 by comm5775

by MADISON RICE

Some of us talk about the time we broke our arm in the fifth grade, or maybe how we tore our ACL or MCL playing football or hiking. But would you be telling these glory stories if you knew John Holt?

Holt, 40, an action junkie, lives in West Valley City and has years of accidents and injuries under his construction belt. When he’s not doing a construction job, this single guy can be found snowboarding or wakeboarding — and doing anything else that gives him an adrenaline rush.

“I broke my first arm when I was 3,” Holt said. Since then, he’s been in more than a dozen car accidents and has even fallen off a roof during a job.

“I fell off a two-story roof with a ladder around my legs. I broke my wrist in two places, sheared the bone of my elbow off, broke a couple ribs, and sprained my ankles,” he said. “I’m starting to rethink if I am accident prone.”

However one might interpret these injuries, they have taken a toll on his body and are the very reason Holt can no longer find work in the job he loves. Contractors and construction businesses simply will not hire him because of his extensive injuries and dependence on medication.

“After being hurt so much, they want to know what your history is like and they find out about my medication and then they don’t want me. I’m highly skilled but my back is messed up,” he said. “I’m a fairly decent guy. I have talent. But I’m not young anymore and that makes it difficult.”

For the past eight years, Holt has gotten by doing construction work for friends and through referrals, but he realizes now more than ever that he cannot rely on an unsteady and unsure income. His medical bills alone are more than $400 a month. So Holt has begun the application process to go on disability, following advice from many of the doctors who have treated him.

“I have been avoiding it because it seems like giving up to me,” Holt said.
According to Matt Knotts, executive director of the Disability Law Center in Salt Lake City, the program will allow him to do everything but give up.

“The sense of giving up is common, but we approach this issue from the perspective that disability is a natural part of the human condition and in no way diminishes an individual’s ability to participate fully in their community,” Knotts said. “Utilizing the public benefits program is completely appropriate.”

Holt began his process with the Disability Law Center in early March 2009, after several months of debating what he would do. If Holt qualifies, he may receive financial help with medications and have back surgery, something he’s needed for a few years.

According to the most recent study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2007, of the 7.8 million U.S. construction workers, 5 percent reported a nonfatal occupational injury or illness. Of those reporting injury or illness, 62,100 had to transfer jobs. “If they were working in construction and they got hurt, that means they’re probably in a clerical occupation now,” said a BLS expert at the Injury Illness Office in Washington, D.C.

Aware that he may face occupational change in the future, Holt enrolled in a computer class. “I found myself in a computer class with no computer at home. That obviously didn’t work out,” he said.

So Holt met with the Utah State Office of Rehabilitation to use its Vocational Rehabilitation services. According to the Web site, the mission of Vocational Rehabilitation “is to assist and empower eligible individuals with disabilities to achieve and maintain meaningful employment.”

Once he is ready for work, Holt will meet with his counselor at the USOR to decide where he needs help. The USOR can give him job coaching, on-the-job training, or referral to an employment service.

“I took an aptitude test and they told me to be an engineer,” he said. “Vocational rehab can help me find a new career, but it’s difficult to jump from construction to what normal people do. There’s a difference in construction people and normal people.”

Holt still waits to hear from the Disability Law Center to see if the organization can help him receive the requested medical procedure for his back. Until then, the Primary Care Network helps him with medication costs.

“One of my prescriptions is $250 a month, and I only pay $5, so there’s a big difference,” he said. He works when jobs come his way and hopes to get his general contracting license and have his own business.

“The disability program will help me get back on my feet. I look at it as a platform to start from,” Holt said. “If I get on it I can jump off after I get my life back again.”

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Finding her way out

Posted on April 15, 2009 by comm5775

by EMILY A. SHOWGREN

It seemed fun and exciting. Meeting someone online, chatting for some time, greeting him when he traveled from Utah to Australia for a visit. This woman had fallen in love.

Harmony, who asked that her full name not be used for safety and legal reasons, was 36 at the time. She had two daughters, ages 6 and 9. The small family moved from Australia to Utah where she and her fiancé were soon married.

But the fun and excitement quickly vanished. Harmony was about to find out what kind of man he really was.

“He was a master of manipulation,” she said. “He conditioned me and then reinforced it throughout the marriage.”

Harmony and her husband were married for just over two years. During that time, he belittled her and ignored her daughters.

“He never physically hit them but he played mind games and ignored them. When I wasn’t there, he wouldn’t feed them or pay any attention to them,” she said.

He mostly abused Harmony emotionally and psychologically but that all changed in February 2007.

“He grabbed her arm and threw her on the bed and then began to hit her on the left side of her head,” said Marlene Gonzalez, Harmony’s attorney from the Multi-Cultural Legal Center. “He continued to hit her until she saw a bright light and became dizzy.”

Harmony and her daughters were eventually able to escape the room where he was holding them and went to a trusted neighbor. She called police and they started investigating. Julie Johansen, a Murray City Crime Victim Advocate, was called to the scene shortly after and began speaking with Harmony.

“I spoke with her and gave her information on where she could go to get help for domestic violence,” Johansen said. “I also went through the signs with her and showed her that it was definitely abuse. I told her that he would come back and try to apologize and make things better.”

After the attack, Harmony’s husband overdosed on medications he used for his bipolar disorder and post traumatic stress disorder. He was admitted to the psychiatric ward after the overdose and was there for a couple days.

During that time, Harmony went to the Legal Aid Society of Salt Lake (LAS) and obtained a protective order. He was served and told to stay away from Harmony and her daughters.

“After he received the protective order, he called me 17 to 20 times. I had to unplug all the phones in the house,” Harmony said.

He didn’t stop there. A couple days after the incident, Harmony was on the phone with the police when she heard someone at the door. She could see him through the window above the door; he was holding flowers and ready to apologize, just as Johansen had predicted.

“I told the police that he was at the door. They told me to not open the door and they were on the way. He went around the back but since he’s a bigger guy, he couldn’t get his arm through the gate,” she said.

He left but returned to remove the price tag from the flowers he left behind. By that time the police showed up and took him to jail. After a couple weeks, he violated the protection order yet again and was back in jail.

Harmony went to LAS to obtain a divorce. She obtained her protective order there but when she went for the divorce, she overestimated her income and was not able to receive help. Her friend helped her and took her down to the 3rd District courthouse in West Jordan, Utah, where Harmony was able to file for divorce online. She continued to help her estranged husband, though.

“Harmony had been going to counseling with her LDS bishop,” said Marlene Gonzalez, Harmony’s attorney. “Her bishop asked if she needed help finding a new home. All she wanted was for him to help her estranged husband find a place to stay after the divorce. She didn’t have any family here. She used the people who had become family to help him. She was very unselfish.”

Two weeks after the divorce, Harmony’s ex-husband was married for the third time. Harmony had been his second wife. The harassment didn’t stop after he remarried. Not only did he start sending harassing e-mails to Harmony, so did his wife. The police couldn’t do anything about her e-mails because there wasn’t proof he had told her to send those.

After 18 months Harmony had not heard from her ex-husband or his new wife. She says she is working as a business systems analyst and her daughters, now 13 and 10, are doing well.

“Harmony is an amazing woman. Statistics show that it usually takes eight or 10 times of being abused before someone gets out. She got out the first time,” Johansen said.

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Legal help brings new hope

Posted on April 14, 2009 by comm5775

by PAIGE KASTELER

Jennifer Edwards, a Salt Lake City resident who wanted to file for a divorce, received the help she needed from Legal Aid Society of Salt Lake (LAS), a nonprofit organization that provides legal aid to low-income individuals.

Edwards, like many other low-income individuals, needed legal help but couldn’t afford it. After losing her husband’s income, Edwards didn’t have the means to acquire legal help to assist her with her divorce and gaining child support. In doing research, she came across LAS.

“I knew they didn’t have the resources and time to give to my case like another for-profit lawfirm would have. But I knew I had to try it,” Edwards said.

When asked about her legal case, Edwards wondered where to begin. She can trace it back to 2005 when her estranged husband, Ray, kept avoiding Edwards’s attempts to go to mediation for divorce. Ray kept putting it off, claiming that he needed to save money to marry another woman. After Ray remarried, Edwards asked again to go to mediation. This time, she said Ray told her no. Edwards told him that she would take him to court.

“I guess he thought I was bluffing because he didn’t take me seriously. He never thought that I could afford to get legal help,” Edwards said.

That was partly true: Edwards was supporting herself and her daughter on just her income, without alimony or child support. After discovering LAS, she began the application process by going to the Matheson Courthouse and filling out some initial paperwork.

Stewart Ralphs, director of LAS, says this can take up to four to five hours. “It is not something you can do on your lunch break,” Ralphs said.

Edwards made it through the screening process and was assigned her first attorney, Mary Peck Kashman, whom Edwards described as “awesome.” Edwards said Kashman always showed a personal interest and attentiveness with her case.

“She really knew my case backwards and front,” she said.

Edwards’s case has lasted several years, unlike a lot of the cases that LAS deals with. There was a lot of “contention,” as Edwards put it, between her and Ray. In addition to refusing to go to mediation, she said Ray tried at one point to get her to pay child support, and was emotionally manipulating their 3-year-old daughter, Maya. A lot of legal work was done to help fix the situation — work that took about two years and two different lawyers.

Edwards didn’t always have court victories with LAS. In fact, she described her first court appearance as “devastating.” The commissioner hearing the case had not read Edwards’s case file and simply scolded her and Ray for fighting.

Edwards said she left in tears. “I was trying to hold it together but I just broke down sobbing in the middle of the courtroom,” she said. But soon afterward came the first sign of hope. The commissioner read her file and awarded Edwards temporary partial custody of Maya.

But that was not the end of the legal headache for Edwards.

“I would have to call the police a lot on Ray,” she said. “Especially when I was going to pick up Maya. He would just do things like either not be home when he knew I was supposed to come, or he would just flat out refuse to hand her over.”

She also had trouble with Ray “emotionally manipulating” Maya. “I didn’t know what to do for her, I didn’t know how to help. So I took her to counseling which turned out to be a success,” Edwards said.

Then came another breakthrough. Ray was assigned another attorney whom Edwards described as a “reasonable man.” Edwards believes the new attorney helped Ray see that he needed to hold up his end of the bargain.

Edwards was also assigned another attorney after Kashman had to fly home to be with her sick mother. At first Edwards was frustrated when her new attorney didn’t seem to know her case, but eventually he “got caught up” and finished out the rest of the legal work. They finally got Ray into mediation, he is paying child support, and Edwards was awarded full custody of Maya.

One of the paralegals working on the case was Michelle Beddoes, who said they had to approach Ray with six different parenting plans before Ray and Edwards finally agreed.

“It always takes a while to reach an agreement when the opposing party is really difficult to deal with,” Beddoes said.

Overall, Edwards is very happy with the way her case turned out and the services she received from LAS.

“[LAS] completely saved my sanity,” she said. “They gave me new hope, another chance, and I hate to think where I would still be without them.”

Edwards has been out of the courtroom for a couple years and her daughter Maya is doing well after counseling. Edwards said she is now able to move on with her life, thanks to the Legal Aid Society of Salt Lake.

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Abuse victim gets out, rebuilds life

Posted on April 14, 2009 by comm5775

by ELIZABETH PEZQUEDA

Shauna Lewis is at a wonderful stage of her life. She’s a 32-year-old, beautiful, longhaired, dark-eyed woman with a radiant smile and an incredibly contagious laugh that can lighten even the darkest of conversations. She loves her job and has been awarded two promotions in the short time she’s been there. She lives in a cute two-story town home and feels very blessed by her success. Her four beautiful children are the pride and joy of her life and like any loving mother, she’s been devoted to protecting them.

However, Lewis has also been to hell and back to get where she is today.

You’d never know by looking at Lewis that she has experienced years of depression; she lost a former boyfriend to suicide and was the victim of domestic violence episodes staggered over a seven-year period.

Remarkably, Lewis has let these experiences shape her into a strong and independent woman. While she says the repercussions of these events still linger and resurface in different areas of her life, she has an optimist’s attitude about her past, as well as the future for herself and her children.

Lewis said she first started taking anti-depressant medication regularly after the father of her son committed suicide. Her son was 1 at the time.

“He had a serious on-going issue with drugs and alcohol, and it just finally took its toll,” Lewis said. “I was heartbroken.”

She endured several emotionally difficult months, but said she put all her strength into being a good mother to her child. She relied on friends and family to get through the aftereffects of what had happened and eventually started dating again.

Lewis first met her husband-to-be at a popular Utah bar when she was 21. She immediately liked his sense of humor and charm. She was flattered that he was also interested in her.

Lewis had been shattered emotionally from the death of her son’s father and was wary about getting involved with someone new. She worried that her son would get attached to someone she dated, and then she would have to explain to him that he couldn’t see that person anymore because the relationship had ended.

Lewis took her time carefully getting to know this new man and eventually, their relationship became serious.

“We never really dated,” Lewis said. “We just hung out a lot and became best friends and fell in love at the same time. Our relationship just sort of happened.”

The two only dated a few months before marrying when Lewis was 22. Lewis felt like she had found her fairytale prince in the charming and hard-working 24-year-old. She was excited to start a new chapter of her life with him.

Soon after marrying, Lewis learned she was pregnant with another son. She and her husband began planning for the addition to their family.

During her pregnancy, things began to change.

When Lewis was seven months pregnant, her husband pushed her. It was the first time he had ever put his hands on her in a violent manner. Lewis was shocked, scared and heartbroken. He apologized for getting physical with her and begged for her forgiveness. Lewis forgave him and the two agreed to start over.

But not long after that incident, he pushed Lewis again, this time causing her to fall down. According to Lewis, he apologized countless times and sobbed desperately. She again forgave him.

In an article about domestic violence published by the FBI in 1997, author Lt. Douglas Marvin says this is typical of abusive relationships.

“The batterer may be genuinely sorry for the pain he has caused his partner,” the article states. “He acts out of his greatest fear — that his partner will leave him. He attempts to make up for his brutal behavior and believes that he can control himself and never again hurt the woman he loves.”

According to Lewis, her husband wouldn’t change.

Contrary to his repeated promises, Lewis said the abuse continued and got gradually worse with every episode. Lewis wore long sleeves and jeans to cover her bruises and tried to keep what was happening under everyone’s radar.

“I knew it was wrong and that it needed to stop,” she said. “I just felt trapped. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do.”

Lewis was also subjected to extreme emotional and mental abuse from her husband. According to Lewis, he talked down to her and called her names. He became increasingly jealous, controlling and manipulative, and put a stranglehold on Lewis’s freedom and decision-making abilities.

When the two first married, Lewis said her husband gave her the option to stay at home and raise their children. However, one son and two daughters later, his desire had turned into her obligation.

“I wasn’t allowed to have a job, or really anything of my own.  It was just another way for him to control me,” Lewis said.

Because Lewis didn’t have a job, every purchase she made had to be cleared by her husband. Even things like the utility bills, groceries and medicine for their children had to be approved, she said.

Alma Perez, a paralegal at Legal Aid Society of Salt Lake who helped Lewis with her divorce, said she immediately noticed the ex-husband’s feelings about money during the divorce.

“He put up a fight for anything that pertained to money,” Perez said.

Despite Lewis’s attempts to clear purchases with her husband, she said he still complained about the money she was spending, in addition to countless other things.

“He complained about everything. I couldn’t cook well enough, clean well enough, take care of the kids well enough, nothing,” Lewis said. “I lost all my confidence and self-esteem.”

Lewis then learned that her husband had been cheating on her. After his secret was out in the open, Lewis said he told her his encounters were going to happen once a week. He said he’d tell her the day and time and that he’d be home at night, but it was just something he needed.

She pleaded in vain for him to be faithful to her but he was constantly on the road and she felt she couldn’t trust him.

Heartbroken, with four children to care for and no time, money or place of her own, Lewis became increasingly depressed and emotionally overwhelmed.

Friends and family begged Lewis to leave, but she still felt as though she had no power to do so.

“I told her after the first couple of times that he hit her that I couldn’t be her friend anymore if she didn’t leave him,” said her best friend, Kelly Lim. “She wasn’t doing anything to protect herself, and I told her I couldn’t support her in that. It broke my heart that she wouldn’t get out.”

It wasn’t until one of the couple’s sons walked in on his father abusing her that Lewis finally found the power to leave.

“He was sitting on my chest with all his weight and I couldn’t breathe,” Lewis said.  “I was struggling and telling him to stop when my son walked in. That was it.”

Moments later, Lewis called the police and within the next few days filed for divorce at Legal Aid Society. Still her husband pleaded for her to reconsider.

It has been two and a half years since Lewis found her will to leave. She has found a job she loves, received two promotions and regained her confidence, strength and independence. She said she has a better relationship with her four children. She and her ex-husband share custody and the children see him on Wednesdays and some weekends. Lewis said she no longer has the need to take anti-depressants and is looking forward to an increasingly peaceful and happy future.

While her ex-husband never had to serve any time in jail for the abuse, Lewis said she is still happy with the outcome.

“I don’t have to worry about [being abuse]  anymore. I got my life back and I’m so happy,” she said.

“It’s such a remarkable difference between [Lewis] now and how she used to be,” Lim said. “She has this light about her again, and she’s confident and happy. I love it!”

Lewis said she hopes her story will help other women escape from similar situations.

“You just have to make the decision to leave. I promise it’s so much better on the other side,” Lewis said.

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