From Heartbreak to Healing

What Can You Do to Help Stop Parental Alienation?

Self-Education

• Read books and articles by parental alienation experts.

• Join online courses about parental alienation.

• Share what you are learning about parental alienation with family, friends, and others.

• Examine your own family dynamics using the Self-Assessment Checklist found in the Resource section at the back of this book.

• Check out your own state’s guidelines for following the Best Interest of the Child Standards (BICS) for child custody.

• Contact state legislators to inform them about PA and how it affects the community. Identify those on family-related committees who can draft legislation.

(Note: This is not the time to dwell on your own story; legislators are interested in policy issues that affect many. Tell them how this issue affects their constituency and what you recommend as solutions. Share the six policy guidelines listed below.)

• Find out if your school administrators, teachers, and staff know about parental alienation and how to inoculate children against PA by teaching critical thinking skills, resiliency, dealing with conflict, and how to handle a bully.

Send the Right Message

• To the mental health professionals and attorneys you know. Ask what they know about parental alienation and share what you know.

• To groups where you are a member, suggest books about Parental Alienation for your book club to read, for example.

• Use Social Media. Share accurate, research-based information.

When introducing this topic to others who do not know about it, you will be more successful if you focus on the well-being of children and parents rather than a more negative approach about controversy, abuse, and high-conflict divorce. Terms such as “Childhood Matters,” “Protecting Children,” and “Children Beyond Separation” reflect a positive, goal-oriented approach.