Holmes, Elizabeth
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Domestic Violence Victimization Study ELIZABETH HOLMES, DOB 05/14/1989 AND SON DAX, DOB 05/01/2016 Kathy Jones | DVSur5r Network | October 17, 2018 DVSur5r Network independently and routinely screens all persons accessing in-person services to determine if they are the primary victim in an abusive relationship, and that abuse is the primary issue for which they are seeking services. During the screening process, the person seeking services is screened for all forms of abuse, including emotional, medical, spiritual, economic, legal, sexual, psychological and physical abuse, as well as monitoring and stalking behaviors. Expert screening is done: 1) to ensure that services are provided only to victims/survivors of intimate partner violence, stalking, or sexual assault; 2) because not all victims of domestic abuse are female; and 3) to assess and assist victims who have been arrested, charged or even convicted of acts of domestic assault. DVSur5r Network does not provide in-person services to anyone outside the scope of our stated target clientele, as neither resources, time, nor funding requirements permit us to do so. The screening process is continual, in that, if an identified victim seeking our services demonstrates through further screening that her/his primary issue is beyond our scope of service provision (i.e.— substance abuse, mental health, etc.), we will limit or terminate services. “In-person services” include: support group, legal advocacy and social services advocacy. Preparation for this report included interviewing the subject, reviewing various assessment tools and reviewing any and all documents made available regarding Elizabeth Holmes and Brandon Markowitz, the father of Dax. Documents were obtained through Ms. Holmes. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE I, Kathy Jones, am a Family Violence Response, Intervention and Prevention Specialist and founder of DVSur5r Network. I have been a domestic violence victim advocate since 1998, and have attended well over 800 hours of ongoing training and education specific to domestic violence, sexual assault, child maltreatment and stalking; combined with my professional and personal experience, I am uniquely qualified to expertly screen for domestic abuse. My professional experiences include: • As Domestic Violence Specialist with A Safe Place, providing consultation and education services for 12 years regarding domestic violence to the Southern NH District Office of the Division of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), as well as crisis and support services to more than 1700 adult and child victims of domestic violence; • Independent Consultant to the State of Colorado for my expertise in drafting Colorado’s Department of Child Welfare’s Domestic Violence Practice Guide for Child Protection Services; • Independent Consultant to the University of New Hampshire, Center for Professional Excellence in Child Welfare, to provide statewide trainings to child protection service workers regarding the impact of domestic violence on the family. • Co-host and collaborator with Lundy Bancroft (author of “Why Does He Do That,” the best- selling book on domestic violence), to develop Family Violence Response Innovations, a program to improve the community’s response to families targeted by abusers. PAGE 1 DOMESTIC VIOLENCE EVALUATION TOOLS For purposes of this written report, the tools used in screening Ms. Holmes are nationally recognized tools used extensively to educate professionals and the general public about intimate partner violence. The tools were used by the reporter to help in recall of spontaneous disclosures for the purpose of continued screening, and then cycle-mapping the nature of the relationship between the litigating parties. These tools include: • The Lethality Assessment Protocol, developed by Dr. Jacquelyn Campbell • “When Domestic Violence and Child Protection Merge: Best Practice Series for CPSWs” tools, developed through the Grafton County Greenbook Project, funded by the Office of Violence Against Women, US Department of Justice grant #2004-WE-AX-KO35, such as: o Shades of Grey o Why Doesn’t She Just Leave?!? o Batterer as Partner, Batterer as Parent o Children Who Live Domestic Violence • The Maze of Coercive Control, found on the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence website: http://www.ncdsv.org/images/Wheel_MazeOfCoerciveControl.pdf SERVICE HISTORY Ms. Holmes requested services with DVSur5r Network at the end of July 2018. Since then, the ongoing screening process for Ms. Holmes has included conversations to solicit her account and nature of her relationship with Brandon Markowitz, the father of the couple’s child, Dax. Ms. Holmes has always been encouraged to recount her testimony with as little interruption as possible to allow for spontaneous disclosure; questions are strategically asked only for clarification of chronology or concept. Ms. Holmes’s accounts are consistent and typical of domestic violence survivors; at times she has difficulty with chronology, “verbal vomiting,” and “rabbit-holing,” making interviewing techniques commonly used by child protection, law enforcement and judicial systems ineffective and potentially re-traumatizing. Comparing recollection of Ms. Holmes’s spontaneous and numerous disclosures with domestic violence assessment tools, the results are: • Emotional Abuse: 20/20, indicating that Mr. Markowitz was and is significantly verbally and emotionally abusive to Ms. Holmes, as well as Dax. It is typical for victims experiencing this level of emotional abuse to have depleted self-esteem and a pervasive sense of failure. This can lead to issues such as depression, anxiety, and an increased use of coping mechanisms (i.e.—self-medicating, exercise, emotional withdrawal, etc.). • Exploiting of Male (Privileged) Status: 9/9, indicating that Mr. Markowitz sets himself up within the relationship as the dominant partner due to his beliefs of entitlement and superiority. It is typical for victims experiencing this abuse tactic consistently to feel inferior and fearful of questioning her partner’s supremacy. • Medical Neglect: 4/8, indicating that Mr. Markowitz is willing to utilize coercive and controlling tactics to limit the mother’s and child’s access to appropriate medical help. This puts the child especially at risk, as the father is likely to ignore or contradict recommend- PAGE 2 dations of medical/dental/mental health providers, or use the child’s medical issues to demonstrate his continued control over mother, as he has most recently demonstrated in the incident of Dax’s split lip. • Deprivation and Isolation: 6/8, indicating that Mr. Markowitz actively engages in a pattern of cutting Ms. Holmes and Dax off from critical social, familial and utilitarian supports. Typically, this has the effect of forcing the victim to become solely reliant on the perpetrator for basic necessities as well as perspective (while together), or pushes the targeted family into constant state of survival chaos (after separation). • Economic Control: 8/13, indicating that Mr. Markowitz has significant impact over Ms. Holmes’s financial independence and well-being. Post-separation, it is common for perpetrators of domestic abuse to deplete the victim’s resources by extensive litigation, using the legal system to further punish the victim or retaliate against her for seeking financial support. The extensive court filings in this case support this finding. • Monitoring and Stalking: 8/10, indicating that Mr. Markowitz has an oppressive and persistent need to know Ms. Holmes’s day-to-day whereabouts and activities, as illustrated in his texts regarding the location of a certain Toyota Rav4. This constant surveillance often leaves victims feeling hyper-vigilant or paranoid, with a sense that their life is not their own to control. • Spiritual Abuse: 2/8, tied to Mr. Markowitz’ pushing at Ms. Holmes’s sense of right and wrong, and creating situations to test her beliefs and values. This often has the effect of making a victim feel intense guilt and moral confusion. • Legal Harassment: 8/11, indicating that Mr. Markowitz is actively using the legal system to continue to punish and demoralize Ms. Holmes. Because of the legal system’s response— factors such as: does the victim find the police helpful in times of danger (“no”), has the perpetrator escaped accountability for his own crimes (“yes”), does the court enforce its own orders regarding Mr. Markowitz (“no”)—Ms. Holmes perceives Mr. Markowitz as more powerful than the Court. Victims in this position often despair of ever achieving justice or safety for themselves or their children, potentially leading to risk-taking measures meant to keep themselves/loved ones safe, but which may—in fact—put them at greater risk legally, socially, economically and otherwise. • Psychological Torment: 13/13, demonstrating that Mr. Markowitz engages in a level of psychological warfare on Ms. Holmes designed specifically to distress, agitate and “program” her. This often has the impact of making victims feel like they are “going crazy” (in fact, the process is often called “crazy-making” or “gaslighting”) and often can lead to more severe and chronic forms of depression, anxiety and other mental illness. • Sexual Coercion and Force: 9/14, which indicates that Mr. Markowitz—while the couple were together—used sexual violation as a way to exert his dominance over Ms. Holmes to ensure her complete submission. A perpetrator using his victim’s body in such manner often leaves the victim with feelings of worthlessness and self-loathing.