Parental Alienation Fraud Blog urges you to reject the proclamation for Parental Alienation Awareness

Dear Governor:

Your office may receive or has already received a request to sign a proclamation declaring April 25th as Parental Alienation Awareness Day. Parental Alienation Fraud Blog is writing to urge you to reject that request.

Proponents of Parental Alienation Awareness Day attempt to portray parental alienation as a destructive family dynamic in which one parent turns the child against the other, usually during custody proceedings.

Parental Alienation Syndrome, however, is not based in empirical evidence and has been widely discredited by legal and mental health experts. Three leading professional organizations—the American Bar Association, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, and the American Psychological Association—have state unequivocally in their publications that Parental Alienation Syndrome is neither a scientifically valid nor a professionally recognized psychological syndrome, and as such, should not be admissible as evidence in a court of law.

Youth and domestic violence advocates point out that a child may have legitimate reasons for having negative feelings toward one of his or her parents, particularly when a parent is abusive. Rather than investigating allegations of abuse, the concocted notion of parental alienation can wrongly turn the court's focus to the victims' motives.

Many abusers are invoking Parental Alienation Syndrome and parental alienation to convince family courts to ignore children's allegations of abuse. They wrongly claim that the protective parent is behind a child's claims of abuse and should be punished by not getting custody of the children.

When courts award visitation or custody to the parent to whom the child has an aversion, in many instances, the courts are awarding custody to a violent abuser. The consequences could be dire.

Some children placed in the custody of their abusers have committed suicide; others have run away, and countless others have endured the abuse and are permanently traumatized. In recent years, children placed in custody of their abusers have been coming forward to tell their stories and to warn of the danger surrounding the fictitious syndrome. http://www.courageouskids.net/

Parental Alienation Fraud Blog urges you to reject the proclamation for Parental Alienation Awareness Day. Instead, take actions to ensure that abuse allegations are thoroughly investigated before custody decisions are made. Your leadership will help some of the most vulnerable children stay safe.
Sincerely,
Parental Alienation Fraud Blog