Colorado mother avoids jail after lawyer argues reunification therapist has history of deadly consequence

[demmiblue]

A Colorado mother avoided further time in jail after her lawyer argued that the court-ordered reunification therapy the mother opposes between her youngest sons and her criminally charged ex-husband was being conducted by a therapist who had a history of tragic, deadly consequences for another mother whose two children were murdered.

After a contentious, two-hour hearing, Larimer County District Court Judge Daniel McDonald on Thursday ruled that Rachel Pickrel-Hawkins would not have to spend five additional weekends in the Larimer County Jail and suspended her sentence.

The judge also halted any additional reunification therapy sessions between her children, aged 10 and 13, and their father until the resolution of the criminal case pending against the father.

Douglas County prosecutors filed criminal charges against the father in July, weeks after McDonald ordered the mother to spend seven weekends in jail for thwarting the court-ordered reunification therapy. McDonald said the pending criminal case meant circumstances had changed and caused him to reconsider his earlier jail sentence.

https://denvergazette.com/news/colorado-mother-avoids-jail-therapy-dispute/article_7db23428-716b-11ef-ac35-73da23496db5.html#google_vignette

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Not all therapists are powerful and competent

We expect too much from them, their judgment varies a bit

[ProfessorGAC]

2. The Judge Erred In The First Place

A mother considering her own children's welfare should not face jail time unless there is demonstrable (provable) harm to the children by not participating in the therapy.
Even further, the judge shouldn't have ordered that therapy.
The fact that the father is now facing criminal charges suggest that he was the slimeball his ex-wife portrayed and the judge should have listened to her.