Equal parenting — lessening parental alienation
Nearly everyone knows a couple who has divorced and used their children against each other.
But not many people know there’s a name for such behaviour and fewer still know it is a particularly damaging form of child abuse.
Parental alienation (PA) and hostile aggressive parenting (HAP) is most apparent in child-custody disputes and is used most often as a tool to align the child with one of the parents during litigation over custody and access.
People who have never personally experienced PA or HAP have a difficult time comprehending the reality of its existence and the devastating consequences of this parenting behaviour.
April 25, 2019, is Parental Alienation Awareness Day.
The aim of Parental Alienation Awareness Day is to make the general public, judges, police officers, mentalhealth-care workers, children protection agencies, lawyers, as well as friends and family of the targeted children and parents aware of this devastating form of abuse.
With awareness, we can educate to create understanding and through understanding, legislative changes can be made to create environments reducing the conflict which creates this behaviour.
One of the first must be changes to the Divorce Act making equal parenting a rebuttable presumption for fit parents.
Those who daily supervise or provide mental-health services for children will be better equipped to recognize why children exhibit certain responses.
To find an event near you or to organize one, visit paawarenessday.com Paulette MacDonald, Minden Hills, Ont.