Merciless, Deceitful, and Diabolical Guardian Ad Litem Laura English Advocates For Abusive Father Rather Than Suicidal Child
Most of this information in this soon to be released article , Guardian Ad Litem Laura English has intentionally kept Judge Valeria Smith in the dark about.
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She could be casted as the daughter of Ebenezer Scrooge but this is no fictional story- the venom of Laura English is real. It’s something resembling a slave auction block where black children were ripped away from their mothers arms by merciless slave masters, right before Christmas, by using lies, deception, and manipulation. Guardian Ad Litem, Laura English is a few days away (upcoming court date Thursday, December 16, 2021) from ripping a suicidal child away from her mother and recommending she be sent into the home of a man who the child’s medical Safty Plan cites as abusive and the trigger of her suicidal ideations. The biological father is a mixture of OJ Simpson and Michael Vick. He has police reports showing he physically abused his ex-wife, Amber Crawford, as the minor child watched and as recently as 2019, he has a police report of domestic violence filed against him by his current wife.
The minor child, in the center of the case, has told her counselors and doctors she still has nightmares from when the biological father made her watch him physically abuse his son as the father made all the step-siblings watch. If that wasn’t enough, counsellors were told the biological father made the minor child and the step siblings watch acts of animal cruelty as he and his current wife used a vacuum cleaner to suction the dog’s hairs from off its body as a form of discipline. All of this should have been reported to DCS and to Judge Smith by Laura English but to protect Mr. Sturden’s image, she has never said a word.
The investigative team of the Shelby County Observer was alerted five months ago that Laura English, to protect the man she appears to be infatuated with, Mr. Lawrence Sturden, has craftily fabricated to the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility as well as to Judge Smith, who is up for re-election in 2022. However, now by obtaining a copy of the November 8,2021 transcripts of the court hearing we finally have proof.
While defending herself in response to a complaint filed by the mother to the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility, Ms. English declared “I have worked diligently to make sure the minor child is protected and no visitation occurred between the minor child and her father at my request since November 2020 due to the circumstances in the case. Ms. Crawford seems to be unhappy that I did not file something with the court to stop visitation, but as it has been explained to her and to the Court, in an effort to keep my fees down as much as possible, I was able to effectuate a temporary suspension of the parenting time by agreement of the parties, so there was no need to incur additional fees and expenses with a filing in the Court.”
However, since the court has no knowledge of an order to stop visitation, it is clear Laura English lied. In fact the transcripts of the November 8, 2021 hearing showed where Judge Smith plans to hold the mother in contempt of court for protecting her child by not allowing the abusive father visitation. Judge Smith in responding to the abusive father’s attorney Monica Timmerman’s corrupt petition demanding the mother to be held in contempt of court for not allowing the suicidal child to visit the abusive father, the Judge declared on page 50, line 16-20 “Well, I’ll say this. A court order is a court order, until it’s not. And there is no petition before me saying that that needs to be suspended or removed in any way. So it’s an order.”
The diabolical Laura English standing next to Ms. Timmerman held her peace and kept the judge in complete ignorance to what she wrote to the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility leaving the mother Amber Crawford open to a civil contempt of court ruling likely to be announced at their next court date Thursday, December 16, 2021.
Laura English to add insult to injury then advocates for the child to be taken away from the mother and sent to the abusive father. Ms. English declares to the judge she is for the removal of the 12 year old girl from the home of the mother whom in the child’s Crisis Response Plan, it cites the mother as the only person the child can turn to in the event the child has a crisis.
Lauren English has been on this case for over a year and has only met with the minor child twice in the fall of 2020 and almost a year later November 2, 2021. Sickenly and shockingly, the Guardian Ad Litem, Laura English, whose job is to be the voice of the minor child, then advocates for the removal of the child from the mother not because the mother is abusive but because the mother is fighting to keep the child away from the abuser and his family whom the Youth Villages Safety Plan- conducted after the child was released from Baptist Hospital due to suicidal ideations identified the abuser and his family as “high-risk individuals.” To make matters worse during their meeting November 2, 2021 Laura English lied to the minor child telling the minor child, who recorded their conversation as she has lost trust in almost everyone. The minor child records almost everyone, especially after counselors reported the father and step mother berated the minor child calling her “ sneaky, a liar, and messy” after she reported to them the bullying of her step-sister. The minor child told Laura English that she was “mad” at her dad and
“mad” at her mother because the mother was trying to encourage her to spend time with her deadbeat dad.
Laura English then told the minor child “no one is trying to take you from your mom.” However, six days later Laura English tells the judge to remove the child from the mother.
However, 9 minutes later she tells Judge Smith “we all are at fault “ yet December 16, 2021 Judge Smith hears her wicked and malicious recommendation to traumatize the minor child by removing her from the mothers home and transferring her to the fathers home in the state of Mississippi.
The minor child’s father is such a deadbeat beat dad that on November 8,2021 the judge had to order him to call his own child “everyday or every other day.”
During the most recent doctor visit, dated November 29, 2021, Dr. Hindinger reported to the GAL and to the mother that she read in the minor child’s journal a note saying she would kill herself if she went to the dad’s house. Laura English never mentioned that doctor’s report during the December 10, 2021 hearing.
Again, the minor child has reported to Youth Villages counselors that the father makes all the siblings watch as he and his wife beat their dog with vacuum cleaners, sucking the hair from the dog’s skin as the children are forced to watch. The child reported to Youth Villages how the father forces them to watch him beat his son. The child has reported recurring nightmares and although she has all the medical records, Laura English has never shared that to the judge
Laura English has sought to manipulate any counselor who would fall for her manipulation. Although, since the child was 3 years old, the court appointed counselor has cited the father as the trigger. In the summer of 2021 two counselors at Youth Villages documented how Laura English has tried to twist their words to insinuate the mother is manipulating the minor child. The first motion to dismiss Laura English filed by another attorney clearly shows Ms. English has misrepresented doctors and counselors’ comments all to make the mother look bad. Even the minor child has complained about Laura English but unfortunately, she was never dismissed.
Nonetheless, Laura English has finally found a counselor she can manipulate, Cierra Johnson. A counselor at Mid- South Professional Counseling, who has only met with the minor child one time, although the child has reported the same anxiety towards the father as she has to all the other counselors since she was 3 years old. Cierra Johnson appears ready to risk her credibility and her license for Laura English. We’ve found email exchanges where the child’s mother Amber Crawford and Cierra Johnson had heated exchanges over the word “threat.” Somehow, Cierra Johnson refused to acknowledge the child’s suicidal ideations were still a threat despite the child telling her she told Ms. Crawford she would rather kill herself than to visit the father. The mother argued that the mere fact that there is an existing Safety Plan is common sense that a threat exists. Laura English has manipulated Cierra Johnson to the point that Ms. Johnson met with Ms. English but has refused to meet again with the minor child even canceling her scheduled session to meet with the child within hours after meeting with Laura English. Cierra Johnson canceled an appointment to meet with a child whose condition has gotten worse since her last session with her. Cierra Johnson heard the dad tell the minor child in the zoom call that “he doesn’t need her love he has his own family already,” but because the mother disagreed with her terminology she has neglected the child and is ready to help Laura English paint a picture that the mother is at fault. Cierra Johnson even canceled an appointment with the child until after the December 16 court date to ensure the child will have no voice with her. On November 22, the mother sent an emergency email to Cierra Johnson that the child has gotten worse since the court has forced the dad to start back calling her yet the counselor never responded to the mother’s email. The father yelled at Cierra Johnson, the mother, and even told them all on a recorded zoom “I don’t need her love, I have my own family.” Cierra Johnson has even refused to give the mother medical records after claiming she would give her “the notes from the session.” The mother has received nothing from the obviously biased and emotionally sensitive and easy to be manipulated Cierra Johnson.
The father has been such a deadbeat dad, we received court documents that showed the Juvenile Court, Judge Robert Duck, has ordered Mr. Sturden to pay back pay for not supporting the child financially for the last 10 years. To avoid having to pay nearly $1800 a month in child support, the dad’s attorney immediately filed a skimpy emergency petition to remove the child from the mother and award full custody to the deadbeat dad which the judge is now considering.
Dr Ronnie Bowen, who like Cierra Johnson, met with the child one time but Laura English never presented his medical report to the judge. In his report, he stated;
However, Laura English, is in total violation of RULE 40A: APPOINTMENT OF GUARDIANS AD LITEM IN CUSTODY PROCEEDINGS SECTION 6. ROLE OF GUARDIAN AD LITEM
“(a) The role of the guardian ad litem is to represent the child′s best interests by gathering facts and presenting facts for the court′s consideration subject to the Tennessee Rules of Evidence.”
Laura English has been so wretch in one hearing she objected to the counselor’s testimony that the child didn’t want to see the dad calling it “ hearsay!” For a full year Laura English has fought to keep Judge Smith from even allowing the 12 year old minor child to even testify- despite the fact that the minor child’s Youth Villages Counselors indicated allowing the minor child would be therapeutic for her since she doesn’t feel like she is being heard by Laura English or anyone else.
In totally defiance to her responsibility as the Guardian to advocate for the child, Laura English told the Judge Valerie Smith- on November 8, 2021, its not what the child wants, “it’s a reason we are the adults and she is the child .”
Obviously, she is not referring to the mother she is referring to herself and the man she is infatuated with, the deadbeat dad, child abuser and woman beater who makes the children watch as he engages in animal cruelty. According to Laura English, taking the child away from her mother and sending her to the dad’s home where she is bullied, forced to watch animal cruelty, forced to watch the abuse of her step-sibling, and listen to the screams of the step- mother as she is beaten, this represent’s “the child’s best interest.”
Reported by Sharon Anderson
This is the second article in this investigative report. For the 1st article, please see link below:
Mid- South Professional Counseling
DCS.Custsrv@tn.gov
info@benfjones.org
tgibson@bpjlaw.com
kswan@memphisbar.org
info@memphisbar.org
lgooch@memphisbar.org
cjohnson@mhrmpc.com
info@mhrmemphis.com
Ken.Armstrong@propublica.org
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