College Helps Renew Parent-Child Ties
Some time during my first semester in the men’s dormitory at Cornell (in those days co-ed dorms were mere fantasies), the guys on the floor began talking about their parents. The more we talked, the...
View ArticleDivorce Poison (2nd ed) Now in iTunes and Kindle
The wait is over. Through some gap between my publisher and the Kindle folks, the downloadable edition of the revised edition of Divorce Poison never saw the light of digital day in 2010. Last April,...
View ArticleState of Plutoverse – 2011
In case you wondered, other projects have pushed my annual review of the year to the side for a couple of months. File this column under: better late than never. Pluto Transforms Lives Across Six...
View ArticleState of Plutoverse – 2012
2012 was both an interesting and personally difficult year for me. A serious illness in my family placed severe limitations on the time I could devote to my writing and research. As a result,...
View ArticleManaging Severe Cases of Parental Alienation
I am pleased to announce my new article: Managing Severe Cases of Parental Alienation. Published by the State Bar of Texas, it includes never-before-published material previously available only through...
View ArticleAlienated Trekkies: Star Trek Fans Who Hate (Or Are On Their Way To Hating)...
Resources for parents whose children are Star Trek fans and are alienated or at risk for becoming alienated from a parent. Stories, fairy tales, and fables are the age-old ways of communicating life’s...
View ArticleReaching Out to Young Adults After Years of Estrangement
A therapist’s advice column instructed alienated parents to take the type of proactive stance that I advocate in Divorce Poison to prevent and overcome parental alienation, and concluded by urging...
View ArticleTeaching Children to Hate
Two common divorce scenarios: You thought your marriage was on solid ground, until you discovered your spouse’s affair. You file for divorce, and blame the end of your marriage on your spouse’s...
View ArticleWhat Courts Can Do About Parental Alienation
Last February I was honored to be invited to Victoria, British Columbia to film segments as a guest on the leading talk show produced in Canada: Family Matters. The show is hosted by Justice Harvey...
View Article5 Ways to Keep Kids Happy This Season
While other children eagerly anticipate family celebrations and holiday gifts, those being raised by parents in two homes face the holiday season with some trepidation. Will the parents agree on the...
View ArticleTen Parental Alienation Fallacies
I am pleased to announce my new paper, published online earlier this month by the American Psychological Association (APA). Ten Parental Alienation Fallacies That Compromise Decisions in Court and in...
View ArticleSpare Children Sophie’s Choice
I have a long-standing interest in how best to address children’s needs in custody decisions while protecting children from harmful involvement in their parents’ disputes and litigation. You can find...
View ArticleWaiting for a Child’s Return: False Hope or Realistic Possibility?
A comment to one of my Facebook posts expressed pessimism regarding reconciliation with estranged children: “How to deal with it? Say goodbye and move on with your life! You will never get your...
View ArticleHearing Children’s Voices
Children’s perspectives can enlighten decisions regarding custody and parenting plans, but different opinions exist about how best to involve children in the decision-making process. Payoffs and...
View ArticleReuniting with Formerly Alienated Adult Children
Work with adult children who want to reconnect with a parent from whom they were alienated has several facets. I hear often from parents whose adult children have read Divorce Poison or viewed Welcome...
View ArticleMistakes Alienated Parents Make: 2. Counter-rejection
In the early stages of alienation some rejected parents counter-reject their children. They rebuke the children for their negative attitudes, and tell them, in effect, “Shape up or ship out.” They...
View ArticleUK Agency Denounces Parental Alienation As Child Abuse
Behavior by one divorced parent that attempts to undermine a child’s relationship with the other parent—what I call “divorce poison”—has been denounced as child abuse by the chief executive of the...
View Article“It really seems pretty obvious.” – BBC radio presenter on parental...
BBC’s award-winning radio commentator, Jane Garvey, talked to Sarah Parsons, Principal Social Worker at Cafcass, and to Joanna Abrahams, a solicitor who specializes in cases of parental alienation....
View ArticleUnderground Love
♪ Baby, baby/Where did our love go? ♪ One of the most disheartening and confounding aspects of parental alienation is the evaporation of your child’s lifelong love for you, sometimes in the blink of an...
View ArticleMistakes Alienated Parents Make: 1. Losing Your Temper
Alienated children can be rude, obnoxious, and hateful. They express and provoke great hostility. It is understandable that the target of gross mistreatment feels like responding in kind. But losing...
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