December 13: Has the System Failed Vulnerable Children?
Last year Aquelin Talamantes was convicted and sentenced to life for the drowning death of her five-year-old daughter, Tatiana Garcia.
Court documents that the Vanguard acquired shortly after the death of Tatiana Garcia showed that there was a lengthy custody battle between Ms. Talamantes and the victim’s father. There were accusations of child abuse from each parent.
In a declaration from the father, he accused Ms. Talamantes of anger problems, with periods of violence and property damage in front of the children.
Despite this evidence, a Yolo County Family Court judge placed the daughter with the mother.
Last spring, Barry Goldstein, author of the book, The Quincy Solution, was the keynote speaker on Sunday at the 21st Annual Northern California Child Sexual Abuse Awareness Conference. Among other things, he discussed the fact that there are different systems for how to handle claims of child abuse in the system.
If it is a stranger, the reports are aggressively investigated by law enforcement and the findings are forwarded to prosecutors, who then file criminal charges and the case proceeds in criminal court.
However, if it is a family member, it is handled very differently. It is not investigated by law enforcement and often custody courts operate under the presumption that the allegations are false and initiated in order to gain advantage during custody hearings.
In the wake of this and many other tragic child custody situations – we ask, “Has the System Failed Vulnerable Children?”
On Sunday, December 13, the Davis Vanguard and the California Protective Parents Association host a free event from 4 pm to 6 pm at the Library of the Davis Community Church (412 C Street) where a panel of experts will attempt to answer that question.
The Davis Vanguard is a 501(c)3 non-profit and relies on donations…
Hey all, the Vanguard is a 501(c)3 non-profit which relies almost exclusively on donations from our readers. Over the course of the year, we provide the community with alternative news, commentary, and community engagement.
Over our nine and a half years of existence our project has grown.
We are now in need of launching monthly fundraisers to meet our ongoing monthly obligations. During the course of December we need to raise $2000 in order to make ends meet.
We are also launching today our Vanguard 150 project – we need to get about 150 new subscribers to commit to $10 a month in order for us to have the ongoing revenue and cease the need for monthly donations. Last year we raised $4000 in December – if we can do that this year, we will be fluid until March.
Can you make a one-time or ongoing donation today to help the Vanguard continue?
Click here to help us out: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=VP8S7PZGL7KXG
Or send a check to Davis Vanguard, P. O. Box 4715, Davis, CA 95617
Do you anticipate creating a video of one or both?
Bob Fung of Civenergy will be videoing tomorrow’s forum. I’m not sure what we are doing about Sunday.