There is no doubt that with our nation's family court system being
gender biased towards women there are more mothers with custody of
their children than fathers. This is not to say that all mothers are
out to destroy the relationship between their children and their
biological father, but it is generally the "custodial parent" who
initiates alienation. A parent can initiate parental alienation by
making the children feel that their relationship with their non-
custodial parent is somehow inferior to the relationship with their
custodial parent. Since the custodial parent has custody of the
children about 80% of the time children usually adopt the same
attitudes and emotions towards their absent parent or face the same
consequences as the absent parent; or at least that's what they
think. Alienation is defined as one parent's efforts to destroy an
otherwise healthy relationship between their child and the other
parent, and it is rampant in this country.

I think many of us know of a person who makes rude comments or says
inappropriate things about an ex-spouse in front of the children, but
have you ever stopped to think about the psychological effect this
has on the child? Can you say that this is not happening with your
own child? There is a way to tell and there are things you can do to
stop the destruction of your relationship with your children.
Alienation is very hard to reverse once the child has firmly adopted
a negative view of the "target" parent. Early detection and
intervention is the best tool we have in fighting parental alienation.


If you are interested in learning more about this topic, please see
the newsletter at helpstoppas.org for more information.