justiceforbjorn@live.com

Bjorn Larsen's Story

Every year in America over 3 million people call hotlines to report suspected child abuse. We live in an environment of child abuse hysteria. Self appointed experts claim there is an out-of-control epidemic of abuse. They release vague lists of "symptoms" which could have a hundred other causes. Over half of the calls made are determined to be "unsubstantiated". That means that millions of Americans have been wrongly reported for child abuse. It can happen to anyone. A false allegation of sexual abuse in a custody battle is especially devistating to the accused parent and to the children, betrayed and manipulated by the people they should most be able to trust. Our corrupt and dysfuntional child protection system feeds off of the pain of these children.

Bjorn Larsen learned he would be a father when he saw the pregnancy test in the bathroom trash. His girlfriend, Amy Callahan, hadn't bothered to tell him about the positive result. Although the baby was not planned, for Bjorn he was very much wanted. Johnny, the beautiful boy with the dimpled smile was the center of Bjorn's world. When Amy was pregnant with their second child, Connor, the couple got married. No member of Amy's family came to the wedding.

While Bjorn knew that Amy had some troubles in her past, he didn't know the extent of her history of drug use and the abuse between Amy and her mother, Bonnie Callahan. At the time Bjorn and Amy started to date she had been arrested three times for assaulting Bonnie and had been through treatment for alcohol, LSD and cocaine, Bjorn would also witness vicious verbal and emotional abuse inflicted on Amy by Bonnie.

Even before the divorce in May of 2004, Amy would deny Bjorn contact with his sons for long periods of time when she became angry. She would just call the police, claim he threatened her and Bjorn would be removed from his own home. What did these two young children think when one day Daddy was there, then Mommy got angry and suddenly he was gone?

Bonnie had a dog, Brandy, who had seriously bitten several children already. On March 17, 2005 the dog sunk it's teeth into Connor's face. Within a day the wound became infected. Connor spent four painful days in the hospital, his head swollen up like a balloon. The doctor noted that the bite came close to taking out Connor's eye. A Child Protection report notes that the Callahans blamed the children for the attacks. Bonnie had been quick to call the police a few weeks earlier when she wanted to blame some bruises on Bjorn but the welcome turned sour when she and Amy became the subject of scrutiny.

Bjorn filed an emergency change of custody. On the 29th of March a Child Protection worker told Amy he would support custody by Bjorn, Amy responded that she would fight it. Within 24 hours she had obtained an order for protection (OFP) restraining Bjorn from contact with herself and his sons. Amy claimed Bjorn had beaten her and the kids. For several weeks previously Amy had been talking to police and Child Protection and mentioned no such thing. On the very day of the custody hearing Bjorn was served with the OFP.

On Mother's Day a dozen roses were delivered to Amy's door with a note on them wishing Amy a happy Mother's Day. A week later Amy called the police to have Bjorn arrested for arranging the flowers at his son's request. More arrests follow as Amy quickly learns that the Edina, Minnesota police don't ask for evidence before hauling her former husband off to jail. Amy could claim that Bjorn called her and Bjorn was arrested, even though his number wasn't in her phone. Young Johnny told Bjorn's mom that he thought it was his fault that there were problems between his parents.

From day to day, moment to moment, Bjorn didn't know when the police would show up. Amy would call and demand that Bjorn buy her booze and he would have to drop what he was doing and go. If she called and yelled and screamed he would have to listen. If the next day she wanted to hang out at Starbucks he would go. Meanwhile Amy was having severe mood swings "like the flip of a switch." Bjorn wrote in his journal that he had to "appease the demon in Amy" because she had the power to take away his children.

In addition to spending time with Bjorn, Amy was dating two men that summer. Bjorn didn't know that one of these men, Thomas Larson, was out on bail for beating a toddler to death in Montana. As Amy's mood swings and drinking worsened Thomas called Bjorn with his concerns for Johnny and Connor. This man, who had taken the life of a child, was worried about the kids while they were in Amy's care. The other boyfriend, Ken, also called Bjorn with his concerns. As the two men compared notes they learned that Amy had been pregnant twice and told each of them the children were theirs before aborting both babies.

"I love you. I need you. Let's have you arrested." is how Bjorn describes these months in his journal. Amy disappeared for days at a time on drinking binges, sometimes taking Bjorn's car. On one of these binges she ran a stopsign while under the influence and hit a man on a motorcyle. On Father's Day of 2005 Bjorns family had a party. Amy showed up drunk and ended up spending the night with Bjorn. Family members saw Amy and Bjorn chatting in the morning and witnessed them watching a movie together the night before. A few days later Amy intercepts one of Thomas's messages to Bjorn and becomes furious. When Bjorn was arrested he thought this was just another one of Amy's bogus OFP arrests but this time she had claimed rape.

Bjorn spent 139 days in jail before the rape charges were dropped because Amy had fabricated evidence. She had cut and pasted sections of different taped phone calls together to make it appear as if Bjorn was appologizing for raping her. Evidently, falsely incarcerating the father of her children didn't give Amy the joy she wanted. In late July she was hospitalized after attempting suicide. As soon as she was released she called in a fake OFP violation on Bjorn, who was out on bail. He was arrested and the bail raised. Two days after that Amy attempted suicide again. Child Protection made a finding of child endangerment against her because Johhny and Connor were in the house when she swallowed 80 pills and a bottle of vodka.

With a track record of fabricated evidence, drug use, alcohol abuse and child maltreatment one would think that Amy would have no credibility, but Minnesota is a woman's state. A woman's accusations are accepted without evidence in many courtrooms and fathers are treated as a potential threat, rather than a vital part of a child's life. Amy could still take Johnny and Connor away from Bjorn. When Bjorn wanted to go to trial after to clear his name of all the charges involved in the rape accusation, Amy told him that if he didn't take the prosecutor's deal she would kill herself. She also stated that she wouldn't leave the boys behind without her. Terrified for his children's safety, Bjorn took the deal of probation and two lesser charges. He also met a new girlfriend, Val, and soon moved in with her in St. Paul. Visitaiton was erratic and at Amy's whim but Bjorn, Johnny and Connor were able to spend almost a year of wonderful times together for the next year before Amy's drinking, drugs and erratic behavior ripped their lives apart again.

In the first months of 2007 Johnny and Connor Larsen began showing severe signs of neglect and Amy was drinking again. It would come out later that she was also doing heroin and prostituting herself to support her drug habit, something she had been doing for the previous 10 years. On the weekend of March 10th the boys came to visit with their father at Val's house. Johhny drew a picture of three smiling faces, one big and two small. This was Daddy, himself and Connor. Underneath it says "I Love Daddy", the L is backwards. This drawing has hung on Bjorn's fridge for over 1,000 days. It has been that long since Bjorn has spent a day with his sons. On March 12, at 8:00 in the morning Bjorn and Val were woken by a call from Amy demanding that Bjorn take the boys immediately. Bjorn had to work and couldn't. Amy screamed into the phone, "Take the kids now or you will never see them again." Johnny and Connor were listening in the back seat. Later that day Amy called the Edina police department with a fabricated allegation of sexual abuse. She claimed that the children had disclosed abuse by Bjron that past weekend. Amy has admitted to bringin the children with her to buy heroin and injecting with them in the car. Was it this morning, when the demon of her addiction made her pull her sons out of bed early in the morning and filled her with a rage so oblivious to the pain of those vulnerable children?

When Bjorn walked into the courtroom he and his attorney had no idea that Johnny and Connor had been interviewed at Midwest Children's Resource Center (MCRC). He had no right to free discovery and no right to cross exam the interviewer. There had been no warning so Bjorn could hire an expert on child interviewing. By law, these interviews are videotaped but that tape wasn't shown in court. The guardian ad litem, Jackie Cardinal, read a written summary into the record. It would later be proven that what was read in court that day had been altered to implicate Bjorn. There were statements added that the children never said. MCRC sends these summaries to the courts and child protection to use in determining whether a child has been abused. They have told me on tape that they know these summaries are inaccurate.

Midwest Children's Resource Center is a child advocacy center contracted by the police and child protection to evaluate allegations of abuse. If there is any doubt that MCRC had predetermined guilt before Johnny and Connor even walked through the door one only has to look at their record and their financing. The director, Dr. Carolyn Levitt, has run a successful business as an expert witness. While testifying in the case of Daniel Jourdain she was forced to admit that she has only testified for the prosecution for 20 years. Dr. Levitt also described her controversial technique of inserting her fingers into the vaginas and anuses of children and saying "Have you felt this before?". She calls this "eliciting responses" and it is far from accepted by the professional community. Dr. Levitt was also forced to admit that MCRC only gets paid if they determine abuse. In the interview with Johnny and Connor everything that could be done wrong was done wrong by the interviewer Sara Wirkkala. She used coercive and manipulative methods that have been described as child abuse in themselves. Ms.Wirkkala used pornographic imagery to describe incestuous, homosexual sex to a four and six year old, ignoring it when they said "no" and telling them that mommy said daddy did this.

Bjorn had to sue MCRC to get a copy of the DVD of the interview with his own children, the only "evidence" against him. Finally, in April of 2008 Bjorn got in front of a judge and showed her the DVD. She overturned the finding of abuse and determined that Amy had fabricated the accusations. No other judge or court official has bothered to see the interview DVD.

Even though Bjorn has been found innocent of molesting his children nothing has changed. There are plenty of professionals in the system willing to ignore this finding of innocence for their own personal gain. Professionals like therapist Peter Grunnet, who had never met Bjorn but diagnosed him as a psychopath obsessed with sex. Grunnet also ignored statements made by the children that the abuse never happened and that they didn't see daddy because of lies that were told about the abuse. Peter Grunnet continued to make money with weekly sessions treating the boys for abuse that never happened. He called it "blocked memories". If a physician treats a patient for a disease they don't have it is called malpractice. In our child protection and family court system these people are instead treated as "experts".

Bjorn's story is typical of those facing false accusations of sexual or physical abuse. There are thousands like him, fighting the endless nightmare. The openness with which people in this system flaunt their power and break the law simply demonstrates that there is no real oversight or accountability. Over two years Bjorn would get four court orders for weekly visitation. He couldn't get one second of that. The guardian ad litem, Jackie Cardinal, was assigned by the court to arrange supervised visitation. For seven months Bjorn called her once or twice a week and she never returned a single call. When Bjorn went to see Jennifer Rojer in Family Services an employee told him to "shut up" and literally slammed the door in his face. Jeffery Posthuma did an intake with Bjorn at an organization called Perspectives. Jeffery acted as if the visitation was finally going to happen. He was lying. In early 2009 a case note turned up which had been written a few weeks after Amy had made her accusation in 2007. This note describes contact between Jackie Cardinal, Jennifer Rojer and Jeffery Posthuma in which they decided, against the will of the court, to refuse to provide visitation. Directly because of this act of contempt of court, Bjorn has only seen his children for three hours over two and a half years.

Periodically there are attempts to pass legislation that would require individuals in these powerful positions to pass a psychiatric exam. There is no mechanism in place to protect you from their agendas, issues or personal problems. Maybe they don't like your race, or religion. Maybe they are former victims of abuse who see every man who walks into their office as their abuser in need of punishment. One social worker described some of her colleagues as "burnt out old ladies who didn't give a shit about the kids." Bjorn would run afoul of a social worker, Janie Nelson, who told me (Bjorn's girlfriend) that men should be in treatment just for being men. She started each session by saying "I know the judge personally and I will testify for which ever side hires me." Such people are known as court whores. Janie was hired by Bonnie Callahan to testify against Bjorn in a custody trial. Also testifying at that trial, custody evaluator Rachel Lipkin. Bjorn had presented her with a 30 page document supporting his bid for custody. She threw it away. There was no sign of it in her records.

This has been Bjorn's story but what about Johnny and Connor? Who is telling their story? What has stood out since the first day is that not one person in family court or child protection has asked the simple question: what is this doing to the children? Everything is about Bjorn and the need to punish him. To prove that they are right and he is wrong in his claims of innocence. It gives them such a feeling of power, of self-righteousness. No one thinks about when Johnny and Connor are grown. How will they feel about this? How will it change them? Will they look back and be happy that they grew up without a father? Will they form healthy relationships after being manipulated by their mother and grandmother for the purpose of hurting their daddy? Will they be better parents to their own children after being raised in a toxic environment? Amy is documented as frequently beating the boys. The boys have lived in Bonnie's house where they have witnesses the dysfunctional and violent relationship between Bonnie and Amy. Bonnie has admitted to filing a false police report claiming that Amy assaulted her just to get Amy our of the house. Why do these women still have the kids?

Johnny and Connor are growing up in this Hell. With the help of the disturbing relationship between family court and these self-appointed "experts" the boys are spending their childhood never knowing the safety, stability and unconditional love that should be their right as children. Never knowing what it's like to be treated with care and respect by a parent who puts their needs first. Never knowing the kind and caring man who is their father.

Bjorn's case is typical of Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS). This is a condition in which one parent tries to turn the children against the other parent by lying to the child about how bad the other parent is. I found the following quote by Dr. Janelle Burrill-O'Donald especially disturbing because it not only described Amy and Bonnie's behavior but also the behavior of individuals, like Peter Grunnet and Rachel Lipkin, who hold powerful positions in our court and child protection systems, which raises the question of what dark secrets and desires these people are projecting onto their clients.

The alienating parent sees the other parent as having many of the noxious qualities which actually exist within themselves. These alienating parents project these unacceptable qualities onto the other parent so they consider themselves innocent victims. Alienating parents in severe PAS cases do not repond to logic, confrontations with reality or appeals to reason. They truely believe their preposterous scenarios...Frequently, there is no evidence for the alienating parent's accusations.This includes even a court decision that the alienated parent is not guilty of the allegations made by the alienating parent. For, example, an alienating parent's own suppressed and repressed sexual fantasies are projected onto the child and the other parent. There may be accusations of sexual abuse, physical abuse, and/or domestic violence without evidence.