The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Kenan, a prominent Beverly Hills psychiatrist who has helped decide hundreds of child-custody disputes, has been thrown off one case and is being challenged in at least two others after posting partially lewd photos of himself on Facebook. In some photos, he was partially nude and others show him posing with a cake that explicitly depicts a sexual act, the court records state.
Kenan's behavior is drawing attention to the lightly regulated group of experts who are routinely used to evaluate parental fitness in custody cases. Critics say the courts do a poor job of assessing the qualifications of "experts" such as Kenan who play a pivotal role in the lives of society's most vulnerable children.
Thankfully, some parents have chosen to fight back. A woman named Deborah Singer persuaded a court commissioner to remove Kenan from her child-custody case last year after she discovered the explicit photos on Facebook and elsewhere on the Internet.
"This man should not be allowed to determine whether any father or mother is a good parent," she told the Times.
Singer and another parent, Deborah Zolla, said their concerns were sparked, in part, by Kenan's demands for tens of thousands of dollars in fees to develop custody plans for their children.
Kenan has not responded to requests for comment, but he did submit a statement during the Singer case in which he said the Facebook page was never meant for public viewing. He closed the page and asked that other websites remove photos of him.
© All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace® http://www.womenofgrace.com
Prominent Psychiatrist Under Investigation for Lewd Photos
By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
Dr. Joseph Kenan, president of the American Society for Adolescent Psychiatry, is under investigation by the Medical Board of California after posting lewd photos of himself on Facebook and allegedly promoting illegal drug use and male prostitution.
The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Kenan, a prominent Beverly Hills psychiatrist who has helped decide hundreds of child-custody disputes, has been thrown off one case and is being challenged in at least two others after posting partially lewd photos of himself on Facebook. In some photos, he was partially nude and others show him posing with a cake that explicitly depicts a sexual act, the court records state.
Kenan's behavior is drawing attention to the lightly regulated group of experts who are routinely used to evaluate parental fitness in custody cases. Critics say the courts do a poor job of assessing the qualifications of "experts" such as Kenan who play a pivotal role in the lives of society's most vulnerable children.
Thankfully, some parents have chosen to fight back. A woman named Deborah Singer persuaded a court commissioner to remove Kenan from her child-custody case last year after she discovered the explicit photos on Facebook and elsewhere on the Internet.
"This man should not be allowed to determine whether any father or mother is a good parent," she told the Times.
Singer and another parent, Deborah Zolla, said their concerns were sparked, in part, by Kenan's demands for tens of thousands of dollars in fees to develop custody plans for their children.
Kenan has not responded to requests for comment, but he did submit a statement during the Singer case in which he said the Facebook page was never meant for public viewing. He closed the page and asked that other websites remove photos of him.
© All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace® http://www.womenofgrace.com
The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Kenan, a prominent Beverly Hills psychiatrist who has helped decide hundreds of child-custody disputes, has been thrown off one case and is being challenged in at least two others after posting partially lewd photos of himself on Facebook. In some photos, he was partially nude and others show him posing with a cake that explicitly depicts a sexual act, the court records state.
Kenan's behavior is drawing attention to the lightly regulated group of experts who are routinely used to evaluate parental fitness in custody cases. Critics say the courts do a poor job of assessing the qualifications of "experts" such as Kenan who play a pivotal role in the lives of society's most vulnerable children.
Thankfully, some parents have chosen to fight back. A woman named Deborah Singer persuaded a court commissioner to remove Kenan from her child-custody case last year after she discovered the explicit photos on Facebook and elsewhere on the Internet.
"This man should not be allowed to determine whether any father or mother is a good parent," she told the Times.
Singer and another parent, Deborah Zolla, said their concerns were sparked, in part, by Kenan's demands for tens of thousands of dollars in fees to develop custody plans for their children.
Kenan has not responded to requests for comment, but he did submit a statement during the Singer case in which he said the Facebook page was never meant for public viewing. He closed the page and asked that other websites remove photos of him.
© All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace® http://www.womenofgrace.com
