One of the most media cases of recent times has been that of Juana Rivas, the mother who stayed a month away from justice with her two children, aged 11 and 3 to avoid giving them to the father, the Italian Francesco Arcuri. Finally, she gave her children last Monday to the Civil Guard, and the children are already with their father.
Babies and more have contacted the State Confederation of Associations of divorced mothers and fathers (Conpapaymama), platform in defense of shared custody, after it released a statement to the media about the case. Just Sáenz, his spokesman, has given us the point of view of the association after the mother gave the children.
Finally, Juana Rivas handed her children to the Civil Guard on Monday, what do you think about it?
Juana Rivas has given her children when he has no other choice, but skipping again the car of the judge who ordered him to deliver the children at the meeting point in Granada.
She is a woman who has been breaking all court orders, with the consent and approval of some institutions. This in a rule of law is totally inadmissible. It is necessary to put on the table the use that this woman is making of the judicial system, resorting repeatedly to him and as the sentences are not favorable, criticizes the judges and the psychosocial teams.
The use and manipulation of minors, to whom she has kidnapped, has been kept hidden, and has given up when she had all the possibilities of being convicted through criminal proceedings is not admissible. He suffering and psychological damage that these children have been caused will take time to heal.
How will the process continue being the father and children in Italy and the mother in Spain?
Given the media interest that this case has had, the best thing is that the children are for a while outside of Juana Rivas, yes, with a contact with the mother that will normalize the relationship of the minors with both parents.
This new relationship system should be articulated by the lawyers of both parties, taking into account the advice of psychology professionals, for a progressive normalization of their coexistence with their mother and father. All of this should be done away from the media and legal disputes that the mother has undertaken against the father.
The Italian justice will dictate what it deems appropriate but it should be the parents who will come to articulate and agree on a system of shared custody or similar.How is joint custody usually resolved when parents reside in different countries?
In similar cases, the period of schooling of minors with one of the parents must be respected and the holidays are spent with the other parent, in addition to the fact that the parent with whom they are not entitled to continuous telephone communication with the child and to be able to visit them arranging previously visit.
Has the Spanish justice acted well in the case of Juana Rivas?
Justice's performance has been correct despite the media and political pressures they have had. The explicit support of the magistracy associations has been remarkable and it is regrettable that the General Council of the Judiciary has not come out in its support.
The associations that support Juana Rivas defend that "an abuser cannot be a good father", what do you think about it?
First of all, it should be made clear that Francesco Arcuri is not and has never been an abuser. He was charged and convicted of a crime of domestic violence, which means that there have been mutual complaints about a timely domestic discussion. He has proven over the time that he has been and is a good father.
The typical abuser is a person who continually subjects his or her physical or psychological abuse or assassinates her. In any case, in the different regional and state laws, the impossibility of shared custody in cases of conviction of gender violence and very severe restrictions on visiting regimes is included. But in all laws it is established that the sentence is served, if the judge considers it appropriate, these circumstances may be modified.
An abuser or abuser may have the opportunity to interact with their children if circumstances change and the judges so determine.No one is a good or a bad person, a bad father or a bad mother for a lifetime for having committed a crime. It will be necessary to assess whether the circumstances and attitudes vary over time so that the relationship between parents and children can be resumed.
The court's order speaks of the possibility of "alienation" of children. What do you think about it?
To begin with, all the associations supporting Juana Rivas argue that this concept is not assumed by the scientific community, but they do not say that there are countries like Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Puerto Rico and others that already have laws against parental alienation specifically.
But regardless of the name, manipulation by some parents of children is a reality to make the figure of the other disappear, to cut off the relationship of the children with the other parent.
In this case, the judge has been cautious when considering the possibility and not affirming the reality of the manipulation of minors by Juana Rivas against her father Francesco. It is clear that by kidnapping them he had to make a process of manipulation of minors against their father to explain this kidnapping, the fact that they did not go out for the entire duration of the news in the media and that these children will have been informed without any doubts until they manage to create in them the figure of a battering father He doesn't want them.
That moment has come when the mother has requested that the judge explore the minors. It has been manual, the mother has repeated the steps of any book of parental alienation. The consequences are clear: It is a psychological abuse of the mother to the minors and that it has even been able to be physical, enclosing them or not allowing them to have communication with certain people and specifically with their father and relatives of the latter until they claim that they do not want Go with your father.
