An Open Letter To Dr. Jill Scharff

AN OPEN LETTER TO DR. JILL SCHARFF:

Please allow me to introduce myself as a rather obnoxious-style little, old lady in tennis shoes--bearing in mind, of course that being such has nothing to do with being little (I am more than plump) or old (although I am nearing seventy) or a lady (decidedly not--I prefer chopping wood to drinking tea or whatever it is that ladies do to earn that title) or wearing tennis shoes. It is a state of mind. And my state of mind at present is occupied with the anguish of Elsa Newman and her children.

My extreme dismay at this moment is based on my having just discovered that there is, in fact, available evidence establishing disclosures made by Elsa’s sons that their father was sexually abusing them. This evidence lies in the records of Dr. Jill Scharff of Chevy Chase, Maryland, the treating psychiatrist who spent literally hours and hours with the two boys.

First, as I understand it, Dr. Scharff did, at one point, report this abuse, as is required by law. What happened to that report, I do not know. I do believe that in filing the report, Dr. Scharff has already waived any right to confidentiality of material about her treatment of the boys.

Second, I understand as well , that Dr. Scharff’s records were, for a time, sealed by the guardian ad litum in the child custody case between Elsa Newman and her estranged husband, Arlen Slobodow, now of Tampa, Florida, and now holding physical custody of the children.

Third, I understand that that fact is no longer of any concern—that the records are no longer sealed. So Elsa Newman is in prison and her sons are in the hands of a man who Dr. Scharff apparently knows is abusing them sexually and physically, mentally and emotionally. They have been separated from their mother, to their inestimable detriment.

Soooo…there is a doctor in the field of psychiatry who could establish this mother’s contention that her children’s father is a sexual predator whose prey is his own sons. That doctor is Dr. Jill Scharff, who has declined to open her records, bring this information to light and reveal Arlen Slobodow for what he is.

Why?

I, personally, have no way of proving this sexual abuse. The only thing I can do is write. And write. And write. And tell this story of unjust imprisonment of a mother—and the unspeakable abuses her sons have revealed about their father. And tell it again. And then again.

Dr. Scharff, on the other hand, apparently has the solution to the problem in her records—and thus in her own hands. Me? I’m nothing but a little, old lady and a retired schoolteacher. But I do not understand allowing these children to suffer sexual molestation literally for years at the hands of a father who has convinced the world that he is Mr. Nice Guy.

Dr. Scharff, on the other hand is not in the helpless position in which I find myself. She has the ability to reveal and demonstrate that the Slobodow children’s mother is not and never has been lying about the nature of her ex-husband and his unnatural acts of repeated and continued child sexual abuse. Perhaps Dr. Scharff even has learned from the children about film Arlen Slobodow has taken, showing his sons, running naked about the house, looking for the clothes he hid from them. Perhaps she has information about photographs the boys say Slobodow took of his younger son, standing with one leg in his pajama bottoms and one leg out—and his dirty underwear on his head. Only G-d knows what Dr. Jill Scharff has learned.

So, what is this psychiatrist afraid of? What keeps her eyes closed to the abuse of these children--and her records unopened? What has allowed her to ignore what she knows?

This story so badly needs to be told. Arlen Slobodow needs to be held accountable for the unspeakable acts of sexual and other abuse these children have disclosed. I have no evidence. Dr. Scharff does. I pray--and I would beg, if I thought it would serve any purpose--that she will let the world know what this man is and how he has savaged his sons, sexually, as well as in other ways.

The two boys who pleaded with their mother, “Stop Dad! Make him stop! Stop Dad!”—did those two little boys ask Dr. Scharff the same?

Please, Dr. Scharff: Are you willing--are you able??--to bring that evidence out into the open in order to spare these children further suffering?

Sincerely,


Aine O’Brocken
Writing on behalf of Elsa Newman , Herbert Slobodow and Lars Slobodow

Following is a list of websites which I use to write about this mother and her children:

http://360.yahoo.com/grammapug possibly the best, since it has the highest readership—over 80,000 hits since I started it as a pug blog; I wrote a lot about Elsa on this, also

http://rachelweepingforherchildren.weebly.com/ This one is actually Elsa’s website. Since she is in prison, I am setting it up and running it for her.

http://www.myspace.com/elsanewmanisinnocent

http://elsanewmanisinnocent.blogspot.com/

pugs4justice4elsa.weebly.com

http://pugbubbe.multiply.com/ A new blog, just starting, as of June 21, 2008

http://pugbubbe.wordpress.com/ new blog as of June 26, 2008

prisonreform@livejournal.com just starting this one

And then there is the site of the Wizard of Oz—who has joined me in writing about this case:
http://www.blognow.com.au/wizardofoz/ This man has information available—he says he uses a crystal ball!—that even I haven’t yet come up with, although I think we each read the other’s blogs and in this fashion share material. I know I read his and find him delightful.