I found a great in depth article on a condition in the family law circles known as parental alienation. According to the article, some psychologists believes a parent can poison the mind of a child to fear or hate the other parent. This mental slander results in a damaged relationship or estrangement.
The article states that parental alienation is a problem and that the child can learn to fear the other parent just through the statements that are made in the daily life. Factors such as poor parenting skills or personality on the part of the mother or father and stages of normal development or reactions to divorce on the part of the child can also cause alienating behaviors. Basically, a parent’s own behavior can cause a child to become estranged.
The article also states that alienation can eventually lead to issues of domestic violence in extreme cases of parental alienation. Parental alienation can hide other issues, such as, domestic violence, child abuse and child sexual abuse.
There is debate on whether PAS is an accepted theory or one that is unproven. According to the article, The National District Attorneys Association states on their Web site, that PAS is unproven and can threaten the criminal justice system and the safety of abused children.
Once such case sited in the article is one of Katie Tagle, who sought a restraining against her ex-boyfriend Stephen Garcia to stop him from having unsupervised visitation with their nine-month-old child. She told the judge Garcia threatened to kill their child, but the judge believed Garcia over Tagle. The judge denied her the order. Garcia took their son the same day, drove into the mountains, and ten days later, they were both found dead.
According to the author of the article, 58,000 children a year go into sole or joint custody arrangements or unsupervised visitation with physically or sexually abusive parents.
One parent can accuse the other of alienating the child and thereby not report the abuse. It is a touchy subject. Many times I speak with Father’s who feel that their child is being alienated from them. The subject of Fathers Right Divorce Law is an up and coming area in Family Law whereby Fathers are asserting that for many years Mothers and the courts have been concerted in alienating children from their Fathers.
The debate is ongoing, but hopefully the system will change in the future so that all sides are protected and that ultimately children benefit from having both parents in their life.
If there are any legal questions you may have, I encourage you to, please contact my San Jose Divorce Lawyers office. My San Jose Family Lawyer offices assists many people who are going through family law related issues. We have many Affordable San Jose Divorce Lawyer solutions for many different budgets. We help many individuals through this very chaotic period in their life. Proudly serving the following cities, Fremont, Milpitas, Los Gatos, Cupertino, Mountain View, and Santa Clara.
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