Leanne Kirsch suffered multiple miscarriages as a result of the emotional stress and  physical abuse that she suffered while she was pregnant. She was abused while pregnant with her both of her children; however, they survived.

Jim Kirsch severely abused both his wife and his children. He hit them, kicked them, knocked them to the floor, and then laughed at their helplessness. He used a combination of extreme sleep deprivation and hard labor as just one of his many forms of emotional abuse. He was exceedingly emotionally abusive: yelling, cursing, and insulting his family daily. He left images of teen pornography on his computer for children to see, children who were way too young to be exposed to such profound obscenity.

Eventually the abuse become so severe that Leanne feared for her life and the lives of her children. She fled to a domestic violence shelter and finally divorced James Kirsch. Leanne and her children were allowed to move out of the state of Wisconsin to the protection of her home state of Indiana. As they left, James Kirsch expanded his reign of terror to a new wife. His young son, fearing for his new stepmother’s life, even tried to teach her tae-kwon-do so that she could protect herself. He also became more violent toward his own two children. After a particularly abusive period, the courts interviewed the children and determined their father was a true danger to them. A Child Abuse Protective Order was issued for each of his own children (in addition to the child of his second wife). He was ordered to have no communication with his own children whatsoever.

Despite an Indiana trial and resultant Order of Protection, the state of Wisconsin would not uphold the Order of Protection. James Kirsch was charged with substantial battery with intentional bodily harm, but yet the courts refused to protect his children. Leanne, who resided in Indiana with her children, received a letter demanding the Protective Order to be dropped — and, astoundingly, the children were to be turned over to James Kirsch unsupervised and unprotected. Leanne was not served. The order wasn’t even in the form of a certified letter. Initially Leanne didn’t even believe it was real. Jim Kirsch had previous domestic violence convictions and was in trial for three felony charges: aggregated assault, strong-arm violence, and intimidating victims /witnesses. He had thrown his new wife violently and she landed against the wall and a humidifier, breaking her ribs and perforating her lung. He then drugged her with sleeping pills so that she would not go to the hospital. When she eventually got help, she barely survived.

Given all this, Leanne sought advice from her women and child Domestic Violence advocacy professionals, the WI Coalition Against Domestic Violence, law enforcement, and her attorney, all of whom told Leanne that the Protective Orders could NOT be vacated legally and to uphold the Protective Orders and protect her children.

Leanne was subsequently charged with contempt for not leaving her children unsupervised with this violent man, even though this new edict requiring visitation was not obtained procedurally or legitimately. Expunging these contempt charges will involve a lengthy appeals process that has recently become more murky. Leanne continues to be extraneously fined. She has been forced to pay her ex-husband’s attorney fees in addition to her own. She has been ORDERED that the kids must participate in visitation with James Kirsch and absorb all the costs for travel and payment of said visits. Although the children have consistently refused to see James Kirsch, they are continually being forced to travel back to Wisconsin to make that refusal in person. Now Leanne has been told that if she does not pay all the courts fees and fines by June 5, she will face a lengthy jail sentence.

Leanne’s children are terrified of the prospect of ever seeing their father again.

This is gross injustice. Leanne has exhausted all of her funding resources. Her friends seek help from others who are concerned about this miscarriage of justice. Please contribute!