PETITION: We are calling for a legislative change

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SIGN PETITION HERE

We estimate that at least 1 million Australian children are currently alienated from a parent because of parental alienating behaviours. Your signature on this petition is a signature for the future of all children  who may become a victim of parental separation or divorce. We are calling for a legislative change.

Parental alienating behaviours are a parent’s persistent attempts to  damage their child’s relationship with the child’s other parent. Parental alienation is not a gendered issue. It can happen to males, females, and those who are gender diverse.

Nearly 40% of the Parental Alienation literature has been published  since 2016. Parental Alienation literature has produced a scientifically  trustworthy knowledge base.

Click here to read the latest peer reviewed article

Parental Alienating Behaviours

Parental alienating behaviours include, but are not limited to, preventing the child from seeing their other parent, denigrating the other parent in front of the child and/or directly to the child, and  making false allegations of abuse against the other parent. It is  estimated that false allegations of abuse account for 79% of cases  during family court proceedings. False allegations of abuse are acts of aggression with aim of permanently severing the parent-child relationship.

Parental alienating behaviours are family violence and a serious form  of child abuse. Alienating parents use emotional manipulation, verbal  abuse, physical violence and finan­cial abuse to maintain control over  their children and the other parent. Alienating parents use coercive  control to create a false world of confusion, fear and contradiction for the child and other parent. Over time, coercively controlling behaviour erodes the child’s and other parent’s sense of self and confidence. 

Click here to learn more about parental alienating behaviours

Impact of Parental Alienating Behaviours

Children and parents who are subjected to these abusive behaviours  experience the same trauma reactions as those who have suffered other  forms of abuse. Some of the psychological issues for both children and  adults are symptoms consistent with complex post-traumatic stress  reactions, substance use problems, self-harm behaviours, eating  disorders, depression, anxiety, and suicidality. 

Impact on the Alienated Children

We are now starting to understand the devastating effect that being  exposed to parental alienation can have on vulnerable young children as  they grow into adulthood. Adults alienated as children are more likely  to fall into similar abusive relationships and be alienated from their  own children. They are at greater risk for diagnosed mental health  disorders such as post-traumatic stress, anxiety, depression, substance  use, and are more likely to contemplate suicide compared to adults who  have not experienced parental alienation. The stories are undeniably  devastating for these alienated adult children, and they have a similar  theme: Why didn’t anyone help me as a child? What will it take for  society to realise how damaging parental alienation is? Why is this  happening to me again?

The process of unravelling the damage is delicate and slow, with many  alienated adult children experiencing grief about the childhood they  lost and confusion or anger about the fact that it was taken away by the  alienating parent so easily in some cases. 

Click here to learn more about the experience of the alienated child

Click here to learn more about the impact of parental alienating behaviours on the child

Click here to learn more about what the science says about the impacts

"Childhood cannot be relived. Once it is over it is gone forever.  That sense of history, intimacy, lost input of values and morals,  self-awareness through knowing one’s beginnings, cannot be recaptured." (Clawar & Rivlin, 2013)

Impact on the Alienated Parent

The other (alienated) parent can also suffer multiple issues in  addition to psychological distress. They are often left feeling  confused, traumatised, suffer self-doubt, fear, and loneliness. Many  struggle on their own because their experience is often ignored, denied  and/or unacknowledged. Alienating behaviours are designed to isolate the  alienated parent from others, which often leaves them suffering alone.  Alienated parents experience significant financial losses from ongoing  litigation with the alienating parent in attempts to maintain a  relationship with their children and defend themselves against false  allegations of abuse. The rate of suicide in alienated parents is high  with 23% of alienated parents having attempted suicide at least once.  

Click here to learn more about the impact of alienating behaviours on parents

Impact of False Allegations of Abuse

False allegations of abuse are serious parental alienating  behaviours. They leave the child believing they have been hurt by a  parent when this is not the case. They feel overwhelmed, alone and  scared, believing that their other parent is dangerous and unsafe.   False allegations isolate the children from family members of the  alienated parent.  False allegations of abuse damage the child’s and  parent’s sense of safety.  It also isolates alienated parents from  family, friends and the community who are mistakenly led to believe they  are a dangerous parent.  These divisions can last a lifetime.

Click here to learn more about the impact of false allegations

The Damage

The damage caused by parental alienating behaviours and the suffering  caused by it is aggravated by the fact that this form of abuse is  hidden, ignored, and disbelieved by many. It is not spoken about and is  stigmatised. Those affected by it suffer in silence. Any child, parent,  stepparent, grandparent, or extended family member can be impacted.

Children Can be Manipulated - The Science Related to Social Influence

In order to accept that parental alienation is real, you must accept  the premise that children can be manipulated to unjustifiably reject a  parent. Consider the science related to social influence, and you'll  learn that people are not impervious to manipulation, although many  would like to think that they are. 

a) false memories can be implanted,
b) suggestion and questions can lead to the corruption of memory and perception,
c) the cues of others shape our own perception,
d) and this is true of infants, children, teens and even adults.

The mechanisms of influence include: social pressure, visualization,  suggestive questioning, repetition, compliance, patternicity & confirmation bias

Click here to learn more about the science behind social influence

"In our effort to protect children from physical and sexual  abuse, we cannot ignore the hidden suffering of children who are  manipulated to take sides in their parent’s disputes." - Dr Richard A. Warshak

This serious form of abuse and family violence can no longer  be ignored.  Parental alienating behaviours must be acknowledged in  Australia as it is in other parts of the world. We need legislation that  not only acknowledges its existence but firmly and clearly legislates  against it. 

We urge you to consider the impact this may have on those you love,  perhaps not today but into the future. Potentially, this might be you or  your child, a member of your family or their child, a friend and their  child, your close community, or a member of the broader community who  have children.

Your signature on this petition is a signature for the future  of all children who may become a victim of parental separation or  divorce. We are calling for a legislative change.

Parental Alienation Awareness Day is the 12th October