Episode 297: Framed: Women in the Family Court Underworld with Dr. Christine Cocchiola and Amy Polacko (Family Court Awareness Month)
The Divorce Survival Guide Podcast
Kate Anthony
4.4 • 574 Ratings
🗓️ 11 November 2024
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We kick off Family Court Awareness Month with Dr. Christine Cocchiola and Amy Polacko as we talk about their new book, Framed: Women in the Family Court Underworld. This collection of 22 women's stories raises awareness about the systemic issues plaguing family courts, aiming to ignite awareness about the family court crisis by sharing the voices of those directly impacted.
In this episode, Dr. Cocchiola and Polacko highlight the deep-seated misogyny and financial exploitation within family courts, emphasizing that this isn't just a U.S. issue—it's a global crisis that affects women of all races, demographics, and socioeconomic backgrounds. This episode is a call for awareness and action. Together, we can advocate for systemic change to better protect victims and their children.
Featured topics:
- The family court crisis and how the assumption of justice often falls short, leaving victims unsupported (3:56)
- How disclosure of abuse can lead to devastating consequences, including loss of custody (4:35)
- Deeply rooted biases allow a system to profit from the suffering of women and children (5:41)
- The danger and harm of reunification therapy and camps (18:19)
- Kayden's Law, enforcing legislation, and how everyone can join the fight for family court reform (22:51)
Learn more about Dr. Christine Cocchiola and Amy Polacko:
Dr. Christine Marie Cocchiola, DSW, LCSW, is a Coercive Control Educator, Researcher, and survivor. She is a tenured college professor teaching social work for the last 20 years. She has been a social justice advocate since 19, volunteering for a local domestic violence/sexual assault agency. Her expertise is in coercive control and the traumatic experiences of adult and child victims, researching and developing training on these topics nationally and internationally.
Amy Polacko is a Freedom Warrior - and is committed to helping women live life on their own terms during/after a toxic relationship or divorce. As a divorced single mom, she is passionate about coaching women one-on-one and founded the empowerment group Strong Savvy Women to provide support, inspiration, and guidance to single women. Amy is also an award-winning journalist who sheds light on women's issues including divorce, domestic abuse, coercive control, and singlehood.
Resources & Links:
Focused Strategy Sessions with Kate
Phoenix Rising: A Divorce Empowerment Collective
Framed: Women In the Family Court Underworld for more information and workshops!
Thanks to our sponsor: Future Fans
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DISCLAIMER: THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS AVAILABLE ON THIS PODCAST ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL OR PSYCHOLOGICAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY, COACH, OR THERAPIST IN YOUR STATE TO OBTAIN ADVICE WITH RESPECT TO ANY PARTICULAR ISSUE OR PROBLEM.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Divorce Survival Guide podcast, where we have open and honest conversations about co-parenting, separation, divorce, and the hardest question of all, should you stay or should you go. |
| 0:17.8 | I'm Kate Anthony, your divorce survival guide, and I'm here to help you navigate some of |
| 0:23.3 | the roughest waters you've ever swum in and answer some of your toughest questions. I've been to |
| 0:29.1 | hell and back, and now it's my mission in life to help you get to the other side of this process |
| 0:35.1 | with your sanity and your heart intact. |
| 0:45.1 | Hey, everyone, welcome back. In light of recent events, our next few episodes are actually going to be |
| 0:53.0 | fairly crucial. We have some concerns about how |
| 0:58.1 | things are going to play out for women in family court and divorce, having no fault divorce |
| 1:05.7 | on the chopping block. But we're not really talking about no fault divorce today. What we are |
| 1:09.8 | talking about today is women |
| 1:12.0 | in the family court system. I am joined today by my dear, dear friend, Dr. Christine Coachola, and her co-author |
| 1:20.4 | Amy Polacko. They have written an amazing new book called Framed Women in the Family Court Underworld. This collection of 22 women's |
| 1:31.9 | stories raises awareness about the systemic issues plaguing family courts, aiming to ignite awareness |
| 1:39.4 | about the family court crisis by sharing voices of those directly impacted. |
| 1:45.6 | November is Family Court Awareness Month. |
| 1:49.4 | Tina Swithin started this five years ago. |
| 1:52.5 | This is its fifth year, Family Court Awareness Month. |
| 1:56.4 | And later on in the week, I will also have Tina on to talk about Family Court Awareness |
| 2:02.2 | Month and what it means. |
| 2:04.0 | But in this episode, Dr. Coachola and Amy Palakco highlight the deep-seated misogyny |
| 2:10.7 | and financial exploitation within family courts, emphasizing that this isn't just a U.S. |
| 2:16.4 | issue. |
... |
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