Make Parental Alienation Child Abuse

  We the undersigned do hereby request that Parental Alienation be made a form of child abuse that Child Protective Workers and the Courts are required to take action on.

Divorce and child custody go hand in hand.  Not every divorce ends with the two parents being friends and the one caught in the middle is the child.  Not all parents set out to alienate the absent parent, and not all cases of Parental Alienation are by a parent.  It can be by a guardian, grandparent, or even a babysitter. Some parents do set out to alienate the absent parent from the childs life, this way of thinking can lead to life long relationship and mental health issues for the child.  PA at it's worst becomes Parental Alienation Syndrome (herein refered to as PAS). 

  A person who commits acts of PA is known as the Alienator and the absent parent is the Targeted Parent.  The alienator can do many things that are signs (or symptoms) of PA including speaking negatively about the targeted parent in front of or to the child.  Here is a short list of ways the alienator can do things to alienate the child from the targeted parent:

1. The child is exchanged later and later, more then a half hour past the scheduled time.
2. The parent may threaten to disappear with the child.
3. The alienator may accuse you of child abuse in any form from physical to sexual.
4. They alienator may prevent you from having a reasonable amount of phone contact with your child.
5. The alienator will not allow the child to take items from one home to the other on visits.
6. The alienator will not allow the targeted parent to be a part of the childs life outside of visits.  Such as not allowing them to attend activities like sports and school related activites. 
7.  The alienator will reroll the child into so many activities that they are too busy to see the targeted parent or it causes problems with the visits happening.
8. The alienator may force the child to chose which parent they prefer best.
9.  The alienator may call the child a trader for talking to or loving the targeted parent.
10. The alienator may entice the child to miss visits and other contact with gifts, trips, sleepovers with friends or anything else they know the child would like to do.
11. The alienator will try to protect the child from the targeted parent even if they are in NO danger from the targeted parent.
12. The alienator will listen in on the phone calls of the child and the targeted parent.

  This is just a partial list of things an alienator can do to try and ruin the relationship between a child and the targeted parent.  Keep in mind that if there IS real abuse by the absent parent, then it does not qualify as PA! 

  At this time not all courts recognize PA and the ways the alienator keeps the targeted parent and the child from having a solid relationship.  Child Protective Services do not recognize PA and in it's severe form PAS as child abuse.  

  PA's effects on a child has lasting effects on the child's life and here is a list of those effects on a child:
1. Anger
2. Loss or lack of impulse control
3. Loss of self confidence and self esteem
4. Clinging and separation anxiety
5. Develop fears or phobias
6. Depression and or suicidal ideation
7. Sleep disorders
8. Educational problems
9. Eating disorders
10. Bed wetting or soiling
11. Drug or alcohol abuse
12. Self destructive behavior
13. Anxiety and or panic attacks
14. Sexual identity problems
15, Poor peer relationships
16. Excessive feelings of guilt.

  Dr. Richard Gardner says that "Children who are alienated from one of their parents by the custodial parent suffers considerably both at the time of the alienation and often for a lifetime unless action is taken to prevent such alienation taking place as soon as possible."  
 
  We need to take action to protect our children now and make Parental Alienation child abuse!  We need to make the Courts take notice and recognize when parental alienation is happening and to take action!

  Thank you for taking the time to read my letter!