Dear Oliver,
I hope you’re in good health and life’s treating you well?
It’s a busy month with a lot going on, and today is no exception. Today is Parental Alienation Awareness Day.
So what is ‘Parental Alienation’?
Well, far too often the parent that the child resides with gets full control of everything that happens. And as you may know, with great power comes great responsibility.
Unfortunately, some people use this opportunity to make the other parent look bad to the child and attempt to warp or damage the child’s opinion of the other parent.
This includes (but is not limited to);
- Telling the other parent “stop emailing”, so that they don’t have to deal with problems they created coming back around, whilst failing to provide the child’s contact details to the non-resident parent, even when the child is now over 18.
- Lying to the child about their other parents existence or whereabouts and even suggesting the other parent has “sworn blind that the child is not theirs”.
- Constantly badmouthing / belittling the other person
- Limiting the other’s contact – In extreme cases even moving to a foreign country so that the non-resident parents rights are reduced and the chances of visitation are virtually impossible.
- Forbidding the child from discussing the other parent;
- Creating the impression that the other parent dislikes or does not love the child; or
- trying to force the child to reject the parent to make the former partner become a former parent as well.
The great news is that, although the ‘alienated’ parent often has to wait a very long time, when the child becomes an adult, this parent has the chance to explain and prove their side of the story.
There’s a big wide world outside of **address redacted** that a grown man should go and explore.
Hopefully one day you and I can meet and talk openly and honestly about your life.
PS – I’ve also tried to connect with you on Facebook and Insta, but the profiles look fake even though they match your name. Hope I’ve found the right ‘you’.
I mean, how bad would it look if your mother had created fake profiles in order to try and trick or deceive me? No, she wouldn’t do that, surely… would she?
Oh well, guess we’ll find out in the end.
This letter is part of the Oliver Jack MustoWhat’s the Story Series
