Parental Alienation

Home » Parental Alienation

Parental Alienation is a Public Health Issue.

An unfortunate reality of the adversarial nature of a custody battle is the potential for parental alienation. While Parental Alienation has not been universally accepted in courts across the country, Parental alienation is a strategy whereby one parent intentionally displays to the child unjustified negativity aimed at the other parent in an attempt to damage the child’s relationship with the other parent.

While critics of Parental Alienation believe that allegations of such are a tactic Parenting Equity believes that courts can do a better job of preventing the mere existence or allegation.
Donate

Parental Alienation Can Be Devastating

Parental Alienation may start out as parenting time interference, video chat interference and
blocking access to information about the child such as health or education records. However,
the insidious nature of parental alienation can manifest itself in the form of intentionally false
allegations of abuse as the allegation(s) which have the potential to swing a custody case in
favor of the accuser.

False accusations can also impact the life of a falsely accused parent in the form of job loss,
reputation, and loss of parenting time with their children. The high emotional and financial costs
of navigating this situation cannot be understated. Most importantly, the children are thrust into
situations where they have to choose even when they dont have the cognitive ability to do so.
Parenting Equity wants to protect kids and allow them to be cared for by both parents.

Parental alienation is a particular family dynamic that can emerge during divorce and custody cases in which the child becomes excessively hostile and rejecting of one parent. This hostility can involve transgenerational dynamics court officials, evaluators and family court judges should be aware.

According to Ken Lewis Director of the Child Custody Evaluation Services of Philadelphia, Inc, when investigating whether parental alienation is present, a custody evaluator looks for a variety of descriptors concerning the targeted parent and the alienating parent which include:

  • The child expresses a relentless hatred for the targeted parent.
  • The child’s language parrots the language of the alienating parent.
  • The child vehemently rejects visiting the targeted parent.
  • Many of the child’s beliefs are enmeshed with the alienating parent.
  • Many of the child’s beliefs are delusional and frequently irrational.
  • The child’s reasons are not from direct experiences but from what has been told
    to him or her by others.
  • The child has no ambivalence in his or her feelings; they are all hatred with no ability to see the good.
  • The child has no capacity to feel guilty about his or her behavior toward the targeted parent.
  • The child and the alienating parent are in lockstep to denigrate the targeted parent.
  • The child can appear like a normal healthy child. But when asked about the targeted parent, it triggers his or her hatred.

Kids Must Be Taught To Hate.
So how do we prevent it?

To solve a problem, we must first accept its existence. Therefore, Parenting Equity plans to improve society’s understanding of Parental Alienation as well as advocate for policies and programs which disincentivize any desire for one parent to negatively impact the relationship between the child(ren) and the other parent. The thought of alienation alone can set a family down a path of dysfunction and irreparable harm.It’s time we change that.
Contact Now