Wednesday

Taking away a man's children is inhumane.

BELLEVILLE ~ A former police constable is hoping to raise awareness about parental alienation

– a form of abuse that can have devastating impacts on children.

Miranda Orr, a former police officer in Belleville, recently joined Parental Alienation Awareness Organization — a group that aims to educate the public and professionals about prevention of, and responses to, parental alienation, according to their website.

The act refers to the alienation of one parent by the other — typically going through a separation or divorce — through manipulating the child or children involved in the family. The behaviours generally involve the mental manipulation and/or bullying of the child to pick between one parent or the other.

“This is happening in our community, children across the globe are experiencing this,”

said Orr Monday.

“It’s actually a huge, growing phenomena. Children develop all kinds of self esteem issues, depression is a common one.”

These behaviours can also result in destroying a loving and warm relationship they once shared with a parent.

The organization, based in Toronto, works to create awareness in the courts, with judges, lawyers, police officers and children’s services.
As explained on the PAAO website, parental alienation and hostile aggressive parenting deprive children of their right to be loved by and showing love for both of their parents and extended family. It can occur in intact families, but is mostly seen in separated and divorced families.
Orr joined the organization about a year ago. Through her lengthy career as a police officer she witnessed various forms of emotional abuse.

She decided to get involved after realizing many people are not aware of parental alienation and do not know that it is a form of emotional abuse.

To help increase awareness, she is working on organizing an event this April.

April 25 is recognized as Parental Alienation Awareness Day. On this day, people are encouraged to take part in “Bubbles for Love” by blowing bubbles for 10 minutes at noon, to recognize parental alienation and the affected children.

Locally, Orr, along with an organizing committee, is hosting an event on April 10 to make bubbles available to those interested in doing a Bubbles of Love day.

“We will be doing a family fun barbeque, we’ll be have a petting zoo, bouncy castle. We’ll also be handing out cases of bubbles to companies, organizations, or schools that want to participate in Bubbles of Love.
The event will take place at West Zwick’s Centennial Park Lions pavilion from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Orr has created a Facebook page, Bubbles of Love Day Quinte, where people can find information or contact organizers.

More information about parental alienation can be found at: www.paawareness.org

NEWS

By Emily Mountney-Lessard, The Intelligencer

Monday

Children in father-absent environments. WHY?

View 5 minute "Talk to Strangers" film trailer
A montage of Nick and Emily's struggle through the court custody evaluation that their parents believed would protect them during the parents' custody battle.
Posted by Child custody film on Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Local View:

Judges must do more to protect father-child relationships

Opinion

Over the past few decades, research has shown the importance of fathers to their children’s well-being. These studies show children in father-absent environments are almost four times more likely to live in poverty, are more likely to use drugs and alcohol, have significantly lower educational attainment, and are more likely to be sexually active.

Fatherlessness is associated with almost every societal ill facing our country’s children. How can you address the fatherlessness epidemic?

Civil Rights

Children in father-absent environments are also more likely to engage in juvenile delinquency, have higher risk of being victimized by crime including sexual assault and domestic violence, and are more than twice as likely to commit suicide.

Source: Local View: Judges must do more to protect father-child relationships : Opinion

Criminal Justice

Of course, kids do better with two parents actively involved in their lives. But,

many people still fail to understand the importance of fathers. According to research by Joan Berlin Kelly, 50% of mothers “see no value in the father’s continued contact with his children after a divorce.”

In light of this alarming statistic, it is perhaps not surprising that a study published by the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry found that “40 percent of mothers report that they had interfered with the noncustodial father’s visitation on at least one occasion, to punish their ex-spouse.”

A recent report by the Federal Administration for Children and Families describes a harmful phenomenon called “maternal gatekeeping,” in which mothers interfere with fathers’ access to their children. According to this report, “more than half of nonresident fathers offered accounts of gatekeeping behavior, ranging from refusing to grant physical access to making frequent last-minute schedule changes.

Gatekeeping also came in more indirect forms, such as refusal to communicate in person or by phone, withholding information from the father about the child, or berating the father.”

Motives for maternal gatekeeping vary. In some cases, mothers use children as a weapon and deny fathers access to their children as a way to punish them. In other cases, mothers use children for financial gain. According to the ACF report, “mothers would sometimes restrict access when a father failed to provide ‘extras’ over and above the required child support.”

It’s remarkable to me that Thompson cites the ACF report. It’s a fairly obscure work about which no one has commented in the mainstream press to my knowledge. I wrote three pieces on it and Thompson’s is the only other piece I know of. Good for her. She’s doing her homework.

Lawyers Who Profit at the Expense of our Children.

The late Judge E. Spencer Walton of St. Joseph County, Indiana often remarked that one of the most important duties of an attorney opening a new file was also one of the least appreciated.

Guess which he was referring to?

A. Keeping the client informed.

B. Treating the client as an equal

partner in the matter.

C. Reviewing the file regularly.

D. Closing the file.

E. Copying the file for the client

d. Closing the file.
(The actual answer - and 21% of responses)

Judge Walton’s admonition may actually stand in some considerable contrast to what the general ethic of the legal profession is: dedicated, zealous, and perhaps even endless advocacy.

But we think that at least in family cases he may be absolutely right. Are families actually assisted by teams of lawyers and a judiciary remaining more or less permanently involved in their affairs?

Family Law (film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It seems to us that the legal profession, not to mention members of the public wanting to make aggressive and far-reaching use of the legal profession, could take a lesson from Judge Walton. And perhaps from the tendency of more progressive physicians to attempt to work with the human body rather than against the human body.

The “Extra Quote” this week speaks to this point. Chief Justice Burger went to considerable lengths to try to put the brakes on the law’s tendency (sometimes even a well-intentioned one) to get involved in too much of people’s lives. And then to stay too long.

At the very least, it seems to us that in family matters parents should be encouraged to do all they can, and use all the useful counseling, mediation, and other resources at their disposal, to reassume responsibility for their lives and the lives of their children.

What Kind of Civil Litigator Are You?

Top 30 indications that you are probably a sleazy civil lawyer

"South Florida Style"

(if 3 or more apply it’s a rebuttable presumption):

One cannot check out on their child

3 Things to Consider About How Divorce Affects Children

Good parenting “requires loving the children more than one dislikes the spouse they are divorcing.”

Excerpt:

Bottom line: Parenthood and especially divorcing parenthood demands that an individual be mature, confident, and selfless. In essence, it requires an adult rather than a child walking around masquerading as an adult.

Read more at http://www.beliefnet.com/Love-Family/Parenting/Articles/3-Things-to-Consider-About-How-Divorce-Affects-Children.aspx?p=2#4JkuBtU3KcyYtzz5.99

Friday

Dear Media, Government, and Society

Operation Family Law~CPS Reform

Letter Campaign

In all indications of the talk out of the legislative bodies, 2017 will be the year of reform of the social programs of Child Welfare Divisions. Although funded by the Federal Government, each State and county will have their own policies and procedures drafted around the new legislative actions in 2017. The new bills could be the means for some states to adopt a 'family friendly' policy of helping families to remain together, and some states will cling to their standard practice of seizing kids for federal dollars. The only way to end the incentivized profit gain off children is to end ASFAct. We encourage all writers to demand this end to ASFA.

In the year of 2017, the group will decide how to restructure our efforts to change the current justice system of Family law/dissolution and custody. As family law in relation to child custody, child support, is a federal justice problem, our need to write legislative bodys will end our refocus will be on addressing the justice system and the avenues available to bring a change, whereas prior change to the Child welfare divisions focused on a social program and policy change and not a justice system change.

SHARE YOUR STORY

We always encourage all parents and extended family to share experiences of Family Court horrors, or Parental Alienation and its impact on you, your children and family. That way the ripple effect of the information and experiences shared will create positive change for other people who are affected or who may be affected in the future.

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