(Screenshot of Paul Reitman from 2013 Minneapolis Fox interview)
Shocking New Development in the Grazzini-Rucki Case: In a remarkable set of emails, Dr. Paul M. Reitman, PHD, a Clinical/Forensic Psychologist located in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, admits the family court in Dakota County, and its presiding judge David Knutson, had a bias against Sandra Grazzini-Rucki and that he was paid $100,000 for his work, which included (falsely) diagnosing her with Parental Alienation Syndrome (in August 2012). After Dr. Reitman's recommendation that the Rucki children immediately be removed from their mother's custody and placed in foster care, Grazzini-Rucki was forcibly removed from her home and has been homeless ever since September 2012.
Reitman Claims Court Bias Against Sandra Grazzini-Rucki <--Read the Full Article By Michael Volpe Here
It should be noted that on April 12, 2013, just days before the two Grazzini-Rucki sisters ran away, due in part to Dr. Reitman's recommendation and the courts' failure to protect them from abuse, Dr. Reitman published an editorial titled In divorce, alienation a big risk in which the Grazzini-Rucki case is referenced. Reitman admits that Parental Alienation sydrome was not considered a valid psychiatric disorder at the time he "diagnosed" Sandra Grazzini-Rucki and her 5 children. Dr. Reitman said,"Parental Alienation Syndrome, while rejected by the fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-V, still remains to be a real phenomenon in my own professional opinion..."
"The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is the handbook used by health care professionals in the United States and much of the world as the authoritative guide to the diagnosis of mental disorders. DSM contains descriptions, symptoms, and other criteria for diagnosing mental disorders." What is DSM and why is it important?
Since Parental Alienation has been rejected by the APA, its "cure" ie de-programming and reunification therapy also had not been professionally accepted as valid form of medical treatment at the time it was forced on the five Rucki children.
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| Dakota County Judge David Knuston |
The e-mails resulted after an exchange between Dr. Reitman and investigative reporter, Michael Volpe.
"'Because the court hated her don't you know that of course I was court appointed by the judge and given a $100000 didn't know that', Reitman said in one of approximately fifty emails sent to me on July 8, 2019.
Paul Reitman was appointed in late August 2012; he held one session with SGR and four of her five children- her son Nico did not attend- which lasted approximately a half hour. He then wrote a report and recommended Jim Gilbertson; that was the sum total of his contribution to the case.
If his email is accurate, he would have made thousands of dollars per hour..."
As a result of Dr. Reitman's report, an "emergency" telephone conference was held on September 5, 2012. Family court emergency hearings, by law, are reserved for issues that pose an immediate risk to the safety of the children. Yet the Dakota County family court, Judge David Knutson, Guardian ad Litem Julie Friedrich and Dr. Reitman ALL ignore the real emergency issue before them -- allegations of child sexual abuse.
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| Minnesota Guardian ad Litem Julie Friedrich |
Page 13 of the court transcript from September 5, 2012,"(The Court) These new allegations, particularly with regarding sexual abuse and assault, which this Court has never been aware or heard anything about prior to this report from Dr. Reitman.."
Which means unnamed person reported sexual abuse to Dr. Reitman. By law, Dr. Reitman is a mandated reporter
and should have immediately contacted the proper authorities or CPS upon hearing allegations of abuse. Instead, Dr. Reitman ignores serious allegations of abuse that pose an immediate threat of harm to the Rucki children and recommends they be removed from the custody Sandra Grazzini-Rucki, the mother who fought to protect them!
If that were not bad enough, Dr. Reitman recommends "de-programming" and "reunification therapy" with the children and the alleged perpetrator. De-programming is the process to erase memories of abuse and replace them with positive thoughts of the perpetrator. According to court records, this happened to the Rucki children by forcing them to face "the object they fear most" (taken from the notes of Dr. James Gilbertson, therapist who treated the Rucki children) or the parent who has abused them, and their memories of abuse. Once the children have become "desensitized" (entering a state of traumatic amnesia or dissociation) they are programmed to form an attachment or "reunify" with the perpetrator. In order for "reunification therapy" to work the bond with the safe, loving parent or any other object of safety must be removed so that the child has no other choice but to become totally reliant on the therapist, and the abuser, for their own survival. It seems shock, trauma and brainwashing is the only way to reunite children with an identified perpetrator of physical, mental or sexual abuse because no child would naturally want to be in contact with someone who has harmed them.
Judge David Knutson issued a court order on September 7, 2012, removing Grazzini-Rucki from her home and moving in her ex-husband's sister Tammi Love to care for the five Rucki children. Love had previously lost custody of her own children due to drug abuse.
In June 2012, prior to being appointed to the Grazzini-Rucki case, Dr. Reitman faced disciplinary action for improper dual relationships, substandard documentation, and failure to protect client privacy. REITMAN AGREEMENT FOR CORRECTIVE ACTION
Dr. Reitman used Grazzini-Rucki case to re-establish his career, and promote himself as a parental alienation expert.
Reitman says about the Grazzini-Rucki case in the article published on April 12, 2013 (cited above): " It is my opinion that this deprogramming would be impossible to achieve if children continue to live with the parent they are aligned with. Although this is potentially controversial, the children would likely benefit in the long-term from being placed with a neutral relative, or in a therapeutic foster home.
I had a case whereby I recommended such a placement regarding a mother who was entrenched in resisting any type of reunification therapy, and the five children, ranging from 16 to 5, refused to see the father. The mother, after resisting reunification therapy, then alleged sexual abuse by the father to the children. The judge in the case did remove the children from the home. If the children are placed in a neutral environment, they will be more likely to disentangle their thoughts about the parent who has not seen them from the alienating beliefs they currently have, and reunification therapy cannot progress until this begins to happen..."
Just a week after Dr. Reitman's article was published, the two oldest Rucki sisters ran away on April 19, 2013, after Judge Knutson again attempted to reunite them with their father, despite numerous allegations of abuse and accounts describing acts of domestic violence they had witnessed. The sisters remained in hiding for 2 years before being discovered living on a therapeutic horse ranch.
After being found in November 2015, the two Rucki girls told the court they preferred foster care over living with their father, David Rucki, and again recounted incidents of abuse at his hands.
“The girls feel it is in their best interest for Dakota County to stay involved in this case, to remain in local foster care. They promise not to run from foster care.” Said Tanya Derby, a Dakota County Assistant Public Defender who attended a hearing on November 30, 2015. Rucki Girls Wanted Foster Care Over David Rucki
Despite their objections, the sisters were returned to their father's care after a CHIPS hearing. They were escorted from the courtroom under guard, and shipped to a rural ranch in California operated by Dr. Rebecca Bailey. The sisters were then subjected to de-programming and reunification therapy and returned to
the care of their father. They would never see their mother again.
A Child’s Desperate Cry for Help: 2013 Audio of S.R. Begging for Protection from Abusive Father, Dakota County Family Court
Letter from Dr. James Gilbertson to Julie Friedrich about Rucki children