dawnsandoe
| Forum role | Member since | Last activity | Topics created | Replies created |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Member | Nov 26, 2014 (11 years) |
- | 1 | 0 |
- Forum role
- Member
- Member since
Nov 26, 2014 (11 years)
- Last activity
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Bio
The first author of Courageous Hearts Press is Dawn Sandoe who raised her daughters as a single mother after discovering abuse issues that escalated after a Texas divorce in 1988. The subsequent court case, filed first in Texas and then in Indiana, involved attorneys and judges who battled over jurisdiction rights while the two parents battled over custody and visitation.
What ensued was a decade long legal battle that introduced minor case law, but more importantly, raised issues surrounding child abuse in a new light within a community of attorneys practicing family law. The parents had money enough to fight legally over the children, with mental health experts and child advocates; they couldn't be dismissed as uneducated because they were not historically disenfranchised. However, the most compelling element of the custody case was how abuse effected the two little girls. The unintended consequences of protecting them was costly too; the wheels of justice rolled cautiously, sometimes catching the girls between the spokes.
Courageous Hearts Press" was imagined and named (circa 2003) by Sandoe and her children when they conspired to one day share their story when it no longer threatened to overwhelm them looking back. Like all victims who commit to taking their lives back, they look for meaning by helping others in similar situations. It has been a quarter of a century since Dawn Sandoe began her fight for an abuse free life with her children. The two tiny girls are grown women, writers and artists, who will contribute on occasion to this blog.