Brainwashing

Sydney, Dani and I have suffered long enough watching our mother being pinned with untruthful accusations of "coaching/alienating/brainwashing" us. In addition to the many facts that point to the truth, I would like to briefly share my personal experience. My mom tried so hard to do the right thing and change the subject or bring up Dad's good traits when we would talk about the awful things he was doing and saying to us. I would see the pain in her eyes as we expressed the fears we had around him, but she wouldn't talk to us about them. It made me so confused, because she didn't validate the things we were saying--let alone encourage us to ever talk bad about Brian in the slightest. I didn't understand until I was older that the courts told both parents they weren't supposed to ever put the other parent down or talk about court proceedings to the children.

The extremely confusing part to us was that our father was the one constantly putting her down, while he told the world that his ex-wife was alienating his children against him and "coached" us into making up abuse. We watched our father get away with everything--treating us abusively, trying to hurt our relationship with our mother, constantly telling us about court proceedings and threatening us to never speak "bad" about him to ANYONE--and yet our time with him only lengthened.

Our dad uses this "brainwashing" argument against my mom because it's an effective way of killing multiple birds with one stone--if he can convince people that our mom had coached us, then it not only invalidates anything my mom experienced but also discounts anything my sisters and I have suffered from at his hands.

When Mr. Ron Wilkinson stated to the news that these are the same allegations my mom (Michelle) has been accusing for years, he is essentially claiming that instead of the abuse my sisters and I have suffered being a true fact, our real experiences are somehow the effect of "brainwashing" by our mother. These wrongful accusations have been created by our alienating, brainwashing, abusive dad.  

Because my dad instantly began claiming my mother was mentally ill from the moment she began to believe our reports that he was abusing us (he would always tell her that we were lying), my mother began asking to take psychological tests.  The following is only one of several healthy results:
 

•  The results of this test indicate that Michelle answered the responses honestly and accurately.  She was non-defensive and open in her responding.  Michelle’s testing had no significant escalation on the eight clinical scales.  She did report considerable fatigue.  The results indicate exceptionally healthy psychological functioning.”  MMPI2 evaluation April 1, 2005 by Brian Michelson

•  “Even in cases where aggression would be appropriate people like Michelle have a tendency to under-respond.  These persons have also been described as trustful, more socialized and responsible, and can be dependent on others.  In conclusion, this report is short due to the extremely healthy nature of Michelle’s results.”  MMPI2 evaluation April 1, 2005 by Brian Michelson

In a letter from clinical Psychologist Dr. Randy Hyde (Ph.D., Licensed Clinical Psychologist), Dr. Hyde states: "After our conversation, I was surprised that people are making assumptions about your mental health. It makes me wonder where they are getting their information, and if that information is valid or just opinion? Let me know if I can be of any further assistance." (In the tab "Substantiated Abuse", there are many additional letters from long-time friends of our family testifying of my mother's stability and character.)

In the default custody sanctions trial where custody was wrongly defaulted to my dad, Evaluator Dr. Blakelock testified that mother does not have any mental health issues, and "There was really nothing in Michelle's report. She was quite normal. Quite average. And there were no indications that she had any pathology." He also states that her children (Sydney, Dani and I) were "independent" and "amazing", "in a large part" because of my mother's parenting. He also testified that the children get sad when they have to be with their dad for a longer time, that they are very afraid of being punished by dad, and that in my Mother's custody we were not depressed, were not anxious, were resilient, and were "quite amazing". He stated that we wanted to be in my Mother's custody, acknowledged our reaction would be "one of loss", and that it would be "difficult" for us if we were placed in our father's custody.

On January 1, 2009, my mother was given a polygraph examination with the purpose of determining if she was truthful when giving the following statements on the two affidavits dated December 11, 2008. (Regarding numerous wrongful, unreasonable, biased and unjust accusations of parental interference, alienation and non-compliance.) "Ms. Wolferts made statements in two affidavits that were turned in to the courts and were dated 12-11-08. I reviewed them with her and she confirmed the truthfulness of the statements. The aggregate score on the polygraph test for Sonja Michelle Wolferts indicates truthfulness. It is the final opinion of the polygraph examiner that the subject is truthful when she answers questions regarding the target area. Scott M. Barnett, Certified Polygraph Examiner, Barnett and Associates."

Here is what my mother Michelle had stated in one affidavit referred to in the polygraph testing:

I, SONJA MICHELLE WOLFERTS, do hereby depose and state under oath, that the following is true and correct to the best of my knowledge, information and belief:

1.                   I have always enjoyed having peace in my life and relationships.

2.                   I have done everything possible to resolve this conflict with Petitioner.

3.                   I have not been unpleasant towards Petitioner throughout this divorce, and have only sought to maintain a safe and peaceful distance while trying to keep life as even as possible for the kids.

4.                   I’ve had offers to live for free with out of area relatives.

5.                   I have stayed here and financially struggled in order to keep the children’s lives going as smoothly as possible.

R. at 1156:

6.                   I believe these children are doing as well as they are because of the love and connections I have tried so hard to keep in their lives.

7.                   It has been a very long time since our separation and divorce (5 years).

8.                   It would be nice if there could be more resolve brought to this situation, I have tried very hard to make this happen.

DATED this 11^th day of December, 2008.

Sonja Michelle Wolferts

Here is the other affidavit:

1.                   I have always been very pleasant and accommodating with Petitioner’s visits throughout these 5 years.

2.                   I have been extremely accommodating with Petitioner’s schedule change requests.

3.                   Petitioner was gone for his parent time during several weekends during this last year and I was happy to rearrange the weekends necessary to make this work.

4.                   During one of my scheduled weekends my friends had planned a Baptism and I realized I had overlooked this.

R. at 1151:

5.                   I apologized to Petitioner for forgetting about the Baptism and asked if I might be able to take the kids to this and the luncheon.

6.                   It seems Petitioner may have become angry about me asking for this.  I would not have asked if I would have known he was going to get upset and he did not have to allow the children to attend the Baptism.

7.                   Petitioner has often asked what my plans are first and then seemed to plan events during a few of some of our family Holidays or Reunions, etc.

8.                   I did get stressed after I cancelled 2 trips to see out of state family but I’ve always quickly changed things around and been fine with the new arrangements.

9.                   I asked Petitioner if it would be possible for us to plan on the kids having a certain blocked amount of time with him in the summer for several reasons:

a.                   To avoid past scheduling problems

b.                  To offer us all a time we could plan on every summer

c.                   Allow the kids to have a set summer time with Petitioner and his family

d.                  Allow me to make the necessary plans for a summer income

10.               Petitioner has made repeated complaints over the years that I am doing things I’m not such as giving him problems with phone calls, visits, etc.

11.               I have no reason to do those kinds of things.

DATED this 11^th day of December, 2008.

Sonja Michelle Wolferts

My mother's polygraph #2 was only one of the numerous examples indicating the fact that it was not my mothers, but my fathers behaviors and inappropriate conversations with my sisters and I that caused us to become hypervigilant over the issue of sexual abuse (See "Substantiated Abuse" tab for my mom's polygraph #2, which also shows that all statements she made in these affidavits are true):

1.  I am being open and honest with the judges, GAL, Special Master, custody evaluators, ACAFS, attorneys, counselors, DCFS, church leaders and my family.

2.  When one of our children was 3 months old I heard her screaming and ran to the room to see what was wrong.  Brian appeared to be in a rage and was holding her upside down by a foot.  I tried to coax him into giving her to me, then he threw her.

3.  I have never attempted to alienate our children from Brian.

4.  I have never been physically or emotionally abusive to mine or anyone else’s children.

5.  I have not abruptly told the children to get off the phone with Brian nor have I in any way interfered in their phone conversations with him.

6.  Brian has been the only person who has been interfering with the children’s phone conversations.  It appears that he says it am doing the things he is doing, to confuse people.

7.  I have only wanted to give the right people enough information to help others help Brian.  It seems I have been accused and blamed for things I have never intended.

8.  The legal harassment has caused great stress and prevented me from becoming more financially stable.

9.  I have never told anyone that Brian has inappropriately touched our daughters.

10.  The children came home from their Dec. 27, 2008 visit very upset saying Brian and his wife Angie were both crying and telling them that I was telling people that Brian was touching them in places he is not supposed to.

My mother never accused my dad of sexually abusing us. There is an enormous difference between my mother's request for my father to complete his COURT ORDERED therapy with Dr. Roby, vs. the malicious and harmful accusation that my mom had accused my father of sexual abuse or had involved my sisters and I in my dad's sexual problems. I didn't know about my dad's sexual history or that he was sexually deviant with other children until I found the Roby report when I was 19 years old. My mother never discussed such matters with us, and any fear we expressed of being sexually abused by him came only from his words and actions.

It is a FACT that my sisters and I were "hypervigilant about the issue of sexual abuse" without my mother ever implying to us that my father could be a risk, and it is also a fact that if my sisters and I were hypervigilant about the issue of sexual abuse, it was only because of my father's behavior with us.
In summary, our mother did not cause us to be hostile towards our father:

1.                   We were positive about our mother due to the fact that our mother was consistently positive throughout her interactions with us;

2.                  We were negative about our Father/Petitioner due to the fact that he was consistently negative in his interactions with us;

3.                  Our Father’s constant negativity and bad behaviors throughout his interactions with us were the sole cause of our fears, psychological damage, and worry about living with him.

Dr. Blakelock stated that he witnessed me and my sisters relationship with the petitioner (our father) to be "positive", "respectful", "good", "worry-free", and "very happy"; he testified that we should be removed from my mother because of his unseen and unreasonable speculation that my mother had alienated and caused us to be "maladjusted" and "hostile", when it was my father's severe brainwashing, alienating and symptoms of stockholm syndrome that caused our great confusion and hesitancy around him.  Dr. Blakelock also DID NOT testify about the fact that we would face horrible punishments if we did not always pretend to be happy around my father. (Direct transcripts are found in the S.A. tab.)

Additionally, Dr. Blakelock never witnessed my mother to be the cause of any of the emotions he stated that his testing represented. He unreasonably assumed that my dad would abuse my sisters and I while being observed by himself or in someone else's presence.

Dr. Blakelock asked my sisters and I to draw pictures of emotions we witnessed in our father-petitioner, then blamed the emotions that we had directly witnessed in our Father and drew pictures about on to our mother; without ever witnessing our mother be the cause of any of these emotions.

1.                  DIRECT EXAMINATION OF DR. BLAKELOCK BY MR. WILKINSON:  5.5.10 TRANSCRIPT, R. at 2480, 180:2-7  The testing show that the children were very confused as well.  As part of the testing I, I administered some projective drawings.  And the result of the projective drawings ---which were basically an attempt to get the girls to express emotions that they see in individuals that they draw these pictures of.  (8-11)  And they drew pictures of Brian with multi-colors.  They were very confused about, about his personality, his emotions.  His relationship with them.

Due to the fact that my sisters and I had never once talked with or reported abuse to the Gaurdian ad Litem, Special Master or secretary Kaydene at ACAFS and A REPORT OF ABUSE HAS TO TAKE PLACE IN ORDER FOR THE POSSIBILITY OF "COACHING" TO EVEN EXIST, It was not possible for my sisters and I to have been "coached."

The following is Kaydene Jensen's testimony and the only "evidence" ever offered regarding mother's alleged "coaching" throughout the entire proceedings (quoted from a transcript of a direct examination of Kaydene Jensen by Mr. Wilkinson):

Q.  Did you ever develop an opinion that the children were coached?  A.  Yeah.  I think that there was, again as I reviewed these, that there was a period of time where there was a lot of that going on.  Where the kids were talking about reasons why they didn’t want to go on the visits.  And it would relate to the things that Mom had planned with them, or things that they would be doing.  There were times that they would report, though, that they didn’t like it because they thought Dad might be – wouldn’t let them do their homework.  And they were afraid.  And that they were supposed to get their homework done.

Click here to donate to Sydney and Dani's legal fund. I am fighting every day to keep them SAFE IN UTAH.