To Our Supporters,

Despite protests PBS aired a pseudo documentary called "Breaking the
Silence." This film was very biased against men, portraying them as
abusers that use parental alienation syndrome as a tactic in court
to take custody away from loving, caring mothers. Six stories were
presented of women who had been "abused" by their husbands and the
courts and had lost custody of their children to "child abusers."

We are asking you all to write or email the President of the Mary
Kay Ash Foundation, Michael Lunceford, to ask that the Mary Kay Ash
Foundation withdraw their support of Breaking the Silence:
Children's Stories. Evidence has been uncovered that one of the
parents portrayed as a victim of the courts in this documentary was
actually charged and convicted of eight counts of child abuse. More
details are below along with contact information for Mr. Lunceford.



Michael Lunceford, President



Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation

P.O. Box 799044

Dallas, Texas 75379-9044



Tel: (877) 652-2737

Direct email: michael.lunceford@...

General email MKCares@...





The Facts:



1. Breaking the Silence is full of misinformation
and lies regarding the status of parental alienation and Parental
Alienation Syndrome (PAS). Denial of PAS does harm to the millions
of children who are affected by alienation and the parents who are
also targets of this abuse. The American Psychological Association
has stated many times that they have not discredited PAS and at this
time do not hold a position on it either way. PAS has been accepted
as legitimate in the psychological community. The Mary Kay Ash
Foundation has acknowledged the distorted truth in the so called
documentary yet they continue to advertise the production on their
web site.

2. Breaking the Silence portrays men as abusive
disproportionately to women. The National Clearinghouse of Child
Abuse and Prevention published a study in 2005 from information
obtained from the US Department of Health and Human Services which
stated that 58% of all abuse is perpetrated by mothers. In the
documentary all of the "abusers" were men, which is a gross
misrepresentation of the statistics.

3. This program portrays child abusers as heroes
and victims of the court. One of the mothers showcased in the
program was found by a juvenile court to have committed 8 counts of
child abuse in 1998. The girl's babysitter characterized the mother
as violently abusive towards the child, an alcoholic, and said that
the mother has been physically abusive towards her as well. The
daughter testified at the time that she was afraid of her mother.
Glenn Sacks was able to obtain details of these convictions
including court room testimony from the babysitter. This information
is available online at http://www.glennsacks.com/pbs/loeliger.php.

4. This documentary makes the inference that male
child abusers frequently win custody of their children in court by
using PAS as a defense against abuse accusations. When accusations
of abuse are raised the courts, police departments, and social
services all investigate the charges thoroughly. There may be rare
cases where accusations of abuse are not handled appropriately by
authorities, however to say that this happen in the majority of
abuse cases is not only inaccurate it is an insult to the
professionals who deal with these situations on a daily basis. Those
involved in investigating child abuse are well trained to recognize
true abuse from false accusations. To say that they are this
incompetent is an attack on the credibility of these professionals
who devote their careers to helping abused children.

5. Dr. Rick Lohstroh was shot and killed by his ten
year old son in August 2004. His son was severely alienated at the
time. Dr. Lohstroh's parents now have temporary custody of both of
their grandsons. One is in their custody; the other is still
awaiting trial in a Houston juvenile detention facility. The
permanent custody hearing will be heard this month. Dr. Lohstroh's
mother, Joanne Greene, has been a Mary Kay saleslady for many years
and her husband is a retired minister. Severe PAS has been
recognized by the courts in their case. By supporting this
documentary Mary Kay is turning their back on one of their own
people who lost her son to PAS.





The Mary Kay Ash Foundation did not have any say in the contents of
this documentary; however their continued support of this program is
very disturbing. We are asking that the Mary Kay Ash Foundation
withdraw the ad for this documentary from their website, and make a
public statement regarding their official position on the
controversy this film they have funded has raised. We are also
asking the Mary Kay Ash Foundation to review their grant policy and
make appropriate changes in an effort to avoid funding this type of
campaign in the future.



Help Stop PAS continues to receive copies of your emails and letters
protesting the support of this program by PBS, the Mary Kay Ash
Foundation, and Connecticut Public Television. Denial of PAS is
devastating to those children and parents who have and are
continuing to deal with this emotionally and mentally abusive issue.
If ever there was a form of domestic violence that needs to be
brought to light it is the plight of children and parents who are
torn apart by alienation.



Thank you for your continued support.



Regards,



Barbara "Judy" Sweet, Administrative Director

Help Stop PAS

A 501 (c)(3) Non-Profit Organization

www.helpstoppas.org

3118 FM 528 Ste. 234

Webster, TX. 77598

409-789-7482

sweet@...