I'd like to say to step mom that she may not be wrong that "alienation" happened. It's a word in the language, and parents and family members do it. But that Parental Alienation (with or without the word Syndrome - note: it technically can't be called a syndrome but that's another story), is something different!
So where you may have had alienation happening, please don't mix it up with the travesty that is happening in our courts. Real alienation exists. When it does, evidence can usually be shown (you had emails for example) ,and the offending parent then should be sanctioned appropriately, and not by punishing the child in the process.
But what's happening now is that whenever abuse allegations arise, (and let's imagine real abuse to a child for the moment), the accused parent need only pronounce the words Parental Alienation and VOILA! the case is closed, the child is silenced and parents (usually moms) end up having to pay $90 per hour to see their children in a tightly supervised setting (because otherwise they'll 'coach' the kids, some fear) OR the kids are sent off to some unknown, untested "workshop" where they are "deprogrammed" (in ways that are unknown and unstudied in the medical or mental health community) OR they lose custody of their children for an indefinite period, (usually years), and with no "way back in" to the child's life. They are made to go for counseling to cure their "PAS' problem but there is medically no such thing, so how does she demonstrate she is better? Who is judging her wellness? If a counselor sends her away because she is fine, the court finds a "PAS therapist." And they are out there charging fees, to be sure. So when a parent does the right thing and reports the abuse in good faith, (and good faith is a key phrase here) that parent is cut off at the knees., and worse, children are denied a perfectly good parent, their home, friends, grandparents.. and worse things happen in the abuse arena, as you can imagine in this circumstance. . .An additional note: An industry of "PAS" has developed such that attorneys use "PAS" counterclaims whetjher their clients are guilty or when they are innocent! -- because pronounce "PAS" and things are swiftly over. It's expeditious. Thanks for listening to a professional child advocate. D'
* note: it technically can't be called a syndrome which has a specific definition. So many have dropped the word Syndrome, but act the same way.
