Parental Alienation Defined

Parental alienation occurs when a child is left unloved or severely affected by a divorce or separation. With love and care, parental alienation can be minimized.

Definition

• Parental alienation occurs when children are bullied by parents or caregivers, damaging the relationship with their parents, according to the Parental Alienation Awareness website. Parental alienation not only occurs in broken families, but it also can occur in tight-knit families.

Types

• Certain syndromes or types of abuses fall under the parental alienation label. One type is hostile aggressive parenting. Hostile aggressive parenting is considered a form of psychological child abuse, and usually occurs in child custody cases. Most of the time, hostile parenting is used by a parent who is alienated from the child and wants to disrupt the relationship that the child has with the other parent. A syndrome associated with parental alienation is parental alienation syndrome, which is a condition often found in children whose parents are divorced or separated.

Signs

• Several signs will clearly show that a child suffers from parental alienation. According to the Parental Alienation Awareness website, if a child's attitude toward his parents turns extremely negative, this is a sign of parental alienation. Another sign to watch out for is a child whose parents who are going through a divorce. If the child is aware of the legal stresses that come with divorce, the child is more likely to experience parental alienation. Also, when a parent asks the child to choose one parent over another, it is a form of parental alienation.

Risks and Warnings

• There are a lot of risks associated with parental alienation, and all should be taken into consideration by the parent or guardian. Some of the risks includes the child suffering from alcohol abuse, drug abuse, mental abuse, mental disorders and abduction by their parent. If a child is shown love, care and support from both parents during a divorce or separation then parental alienation can be avoided. the Total Divorce website suggests that one of the best ways to avoid these risks and warning is to keep the best interest of the child in mind.

Statistics

• Parental alienation is a form of child abuse. According to the False Allegations website, more than 2.9 million child abuse cases were reported annually between 1963 and 1993. The National Child Abuse website suggests that in the year of 2007 alone, more than 5 million children suffered from some sort of child abuse. The website also says about five children die a day as a result of child abuse.