Child Abuse and Neglect - Canada Statistics
Child abuse in Canada
Health Canada, Child Maltreatment Section states "Child maltreatment can be categorized into several broad types including physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect/failure to provide, and emotional maltreatment.
Physical abuse (child abuse) is the deliberate application of force to any part of a child's body, which results or may result in a non-accidental injury. Physical abuse may include shaking, choking, biting, kicking, burning, poisoning, holding a child under water, or any other harmful or dangerous use of force or restraint. Most child physical abuse is associated with physical punishment or is confused with child discipline.
Sexual abuse (child abuse) occurs when an adult or youth uses a child for sexual purposes. Sexual abuse includes fondling, intercourse, incest, sodomy, exhibitionism, and commercial exploitation through prostitution or the production of pornographic materials.
Neglect/failure to provide (child abuse)occurs when a child's parents or caregivers do not provide the requisite attention to the child's emotional, psychological, or physical development.
Emotional maltreatment (child abuse) involves acts or omissions by parents or caregivers that cause or could cause serious behavioural, cognitive, emotional, or mental disorders. Emotional maltreatment can include verbal threats, socially isolating a child, intimidation, exploitation, terrorizing, or routinely making unreasonable demands on a child."
Public Health Agency of Canada Releases Key Study on Reported Child Abuse And Neglect
Press Release, October 4, 2005
OTTAWA - The Public Health Agency of Canada today released the report of the second cycle of the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS), a national child health surveillance activity that provides information in the area of child abuse and neglect. Read More ..
Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) /
Agence de la sant?? publique du Canada (ASPC)
Family Violence in Canada: A Statistical Profile 2003 /
La violence familiale au Canada: un profil statistique 2003
Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics /
Centre canadien de la statistique juridique
2001 - Murders of children
| Biological fathers | 16 |
| Biological mothers | 16 |
| Step-fathers | 4 |
| Step-mothers | 1 |
| Sibling | 3 |
| Spouse | 0 |
| Other family | 3 |
| Total non-family homicides | 26 |
| Acquaintance | 4 |
| Stranger | 11 |
| Unknown | 5 |
| Total solved homicides | 69 |
Fortunately, the number of children murdered in Canada is very low.
view / read the 2003 report in english pdf (360 kb) d??bute fran??ais pdf (460 kb)
view / read the 2004 report in english pdf (360 kb) d??bute fran??ais pdf
Criminal Code of Canada
PART VIII OFFENCES AGAINST THE PERSON AND REPUTATION
Murder, Manslaughter and Infanticide
Infanticide
233. A female person commits infanticide when by a wilful act or omission she causes the death of her newly-born child, if at the time of the act or omission she is not fully recovered from the effects of giving birth to the child and by reason thereof or of the effect of lactation consequent on the birth of the child her mind is then disturbed. R.S., c. C-34, s. 216.
Article from the Canadian Journal of Family Law
The Crime of Infanticide: Throwing Out the Baby With the Bathwater - Judith A. Osborne, Volume 6, No. 1, 1987 (Abstract)
The law has always treated the murder of an infant by the mother on a different footing than other murders. Sections 216 and 590 of the Canadian Criminal Code are a reflection of a reluctance to find the mother guilty of murder; in part, they are based on a medical rationale. Now, the Law Reform Commission of Canada and the Butler Committee has proposed abolishing sections 216 and 590. The author agrees that the abolishment of Canada's infanticide provisions has an "appealing logic," but after reviewing the history of the crime of infanticide and the legal responses to it, comes to the conclusion that there must be a concomitant change in how society views female criminality if the Commission's recommendations are to succeed. source link
On October 4th, 2005, The Public Health Agency of Canada released the report of the second cycle of the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect Major Findings2003 (CIS).
The study highlights a dramatic 125 percent increase in the incidence of substantiated child abuse and neglect cases in 2003, the most recent period measured.
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Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect - Major
Findings - 2003 English HTML PDF |
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Etude canadienne sur l'incidence des signalements de cas de violence et
de negligence envers les enfants - 2003 fran??ais HTML PDF |
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Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect
(CIS-1) (2001) |
The Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS) is the first nation-wide study to examine the incidence of reported child maltreatment and the characteristics of children and families investigated by Canadian child welfare services. The CIS addresses the four principal forms of maltreatment: physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect and emotional maltreatment.
| At a Glance | |
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At a Glance ....The Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS) The objective of this four page fact sheet, is to provide readers with a snapshot of the CIS. At a glance ... outlines the goals, methods and key results from the study. Definitions of the four categories of maltreatment and the respective subcategories are given. This document is intended for educators, media, parent groups, and other interested parties. View / Download in pdf format |
| Selected Results | |
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Canadian Incidence Study of Reported
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Final Full Report |
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Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS): Final Full Report
This publication presents the major descriptive findings from the CIS. This report is directed to a
professional audience. The goal of the document is to explain the methodology of the CIS and presents
the study's findings in detail. Included in the CIS Final Report is an executive summary which provides
a brief, accessible synopsis of the research results. |
Canadian Statistics (1998)
An estimated 135,573 child maltreatment investigations were conducted in Canada in 1998. This figure corresponds to an estimated incidence rate of 21.52 investigations per 1,000 children. It is important to keep in mind, however, that this incidence rate includes all child maltreatment investigations, regardless of whether the report was substantiated or not.
Almost half (45%) of these reports were substantiated by the investigating worker. The remaining investigations either had insufficient information to substantiate, but the worker maintained suspicion that maltreatment had occurred (22%), or the worker determined on the basis of the investigation that the child had not been maltreated (33%). Of the estimated 21.52 investigations per 1,000 children in Canada in 1998, an estimated 9.71 per 1,000 were substantiated, 4.71 per 1,000 were suspected, and 7.09 per 1,000 were unsubstantiated.
Categories of Maltreatment
Child neglect was the most common reason for investigation (40% of all investigations), followed by physical abuse (31%), emotional maltreatment (19%), and sexual abuse (10%). The substantiation rate for emotional maltreatment as the primary reason for investigation was highest of all four categories of maltreatment (54% substantiated), whereas the other three categories had similar levels of substantiation (physical abuse: 34%, sexual abuse: 38%, neglect: 43%).
News Release - University of Pennsylvania
OCTOBER 17, 2005
Penn Study Finds Physically Abused Boys May Be more likely to Commit Domestic Violence As Adults
Most Abuse of Boys Done by Parents ... Most Frequently Mothers
(Philadelphia, PA) - According to a study in the October 18 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, a history of childhood physical abuse may be common in men from urban settings, and these men with physical abuse histories may be more likely to commit domestic violence. The study found that the childhood abuse was primarily committed by parents, with mothers being the most frequent abusers. Read More ..
Female Aggression
"Relational aggression is behavior specifically intended to hurt another child's friendships or feelings
of inclusion in a peer group."
- Nina S. Mounts, Ph.D.,
The Ohio State University
Human Development and Family Life Bulletin
A Review of Research and Practice
Volume 3, Issue 2, Summer 1997 Female Aggression
Read More ..
Female Sexual Predators
We have a complete webpage on this subject
Health Canada - The Invisible Boy: Revisioning the Victimization of Male Children and teens.
Child sexual abuse by women
The sexual abuse by women of children and teenagers
BBC, UK TV Programme - Panorama - BBC1 - 10 pm Monday 6th October 1997
U.S. Statistics Child Abuse ( Child Maltreatment )
U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services Study indicating that women are the main perpetrators of abuse of children 77% of the time that the child protection agencies investigate.
The DHHS 2003 Child Maltreatment Study
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PDF ( 3,009 KB )
The DHHS 2002 Child Maltreatment Study
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PDF ( 1,269 KB )
The DHHS 2001 Child Maltreatment Study
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PDF ( 1,438 KB )
The DHHS 2000 Child Maltreatment Study
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PDF ( 1,205 KB )
The DHHS 1999 Child Maltreatment Study
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PDF ( 1,085 KB )
The DHHS 1998 Child Maltreatment Study
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The DHHS 1997 Child Maltreatment Study
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The DHHS 1996 Child Maltreatment Study
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The DHHS 1995 Child Maltreatment Study
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The US's NIS-3 study, expanded data sources to include untrained people (e.g. sheriff's offices), but still indicate the patterns of maltreatment for various types of parents.
This report states that natural parents account for some 78% of child maltreatment. It states that 46% of the time the natural father was involved and 75% of the time the natural mother was involved (sometimes both were involved).
Natural mothers tend to inflict Read More ..tal (78% of the time, too low to measure for natural fathers), serious (81% vs. 43%) and moderate (72% vs 48%) abuse on the child than do natural fathers. You can see this from these NIS tables from Chapter 6 in PDF format. The complete chapter is available at NIS Chapter 6
We have many links related to child abuse. To go to our links page click here
Boy locked in room for three years by dad
Associated Press, many U.S. and Canadian newspapers, Friday, October 13, 2006
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. U.S.A. (AP) -- A man has been charged with torturing his nine-year-old son by keeping him locked in a bedroom for much of the last three years, a surveillance camera tracking his every move, authorities said Thursday.
The home of Randall Warren Piercy, 41, was like a prison that had cameras in almost every room, with the father monitoring the boy on television and computer screens, Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Lt. Annie Smith said. Read More ..
Role of CAS questioned after Barrie slayings
The Globe and Mail (Canada's largest national newspaper), ANTHONY
REINHART AND CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD, October 12, 2006
The mother accused of first-degree murder in the deaths of her two
little girls last week was admitted to a psychiatric ward of a local
hospital as a suicidal patient just five months earlier.
Frances Elaine Campione, The Globe and Mail has confirmed, was
admitted to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie, Ont., for an
emergency assessment.
The 31-year-old's history in an active file at the Children's Aid
Society of Simcoe County raises alarming questions about why the
agency returned her two vulnerable youngsters Serena, 3, and
Sophia, who was just a year old to her care and what workers and
supervisors were doing to monitor her.
Ms. Campione was admitted to hospital early last June after taking
an overdose of medication and leaving a suicide note. She was
discharged June 30, and within a week or so, The Globe has learned,
had managed to regain custody of the little girls and had them back
living with her.
Ms. Campione was discharged the same day that another mother who was
on the ward at the same time walked out of the Royal Vic but with
a battery of support services in place.
Read More ..
Mother fronts court over axe attack
Herald Sun, Australia,
By Elissa Hunt, December 9, 2005
A YOUNG mum accused of chopping off her son's leg
with an axe faced court yesterday charged with
attempted murder.
The woman, 21, walked into court No. 1 at Melbourne
Magistrates' Court shortly before 1pm with the help
of Box Hill CIU detectives.
The little boy, aged 20 months, was the youngest
child in Australia and the second youngest in the
world to have a leg reattached after it was severed
on November 7.
Read More ..
Mom Smoked Meth While Breast-Feeding Son
Pleads Guilty to Endangering 9-Month-Old Boy
ABC News, U.S.A., Aug. 17, 2005
A Salem, Oregon, U.S.A., meth-addicted mother pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges that she endangered her
9-month-old son by smoking the drug while breast-feeding him.
Prosecutors say going after mothers who knowingly endanger their children by feeding them drug-tainted
breast milk is another way of tackling the state's problem with methamphetamines.
The drug is such a problem that Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed a law Tuesday requiring people to get a
prescription to buy cold and allergy medication containing pseudoephedrine, one of the key ingredients
people use to make meth. Read More ..
"Ontario woman convicted of son's starvation death granted full parole"
Canadian Press. Wednesday, May. 22, 2002
KINGSTON, Ont. (CP) -- An Ontario woman who was sentenced to 16 years in prison in one of Canada's stiffest
penalties for child abuse will be released on full parole after serving less than half her term.
Lorelei Turner, 38, and her husband Steven were convicted of manslaughter in July 1995 for beating and
starving their three-year-old son John to death in a case that horrified Canadians who followed the trial.
But on Wednesday, a panel of the National Parole Board in this eastern Ontario city ruled Turner will be
released but placed on probation until July 2011.
Until then, she must remain within 25 kilometres of her residence, is not allowed unsupervised contact with
anyone under 16, and must continue to receive counselling.
"The board would have looked at the risk and obviously found a low risk to reoffend," Carol Sparling of the
National Parole Board said Wednesday.
Read More ..
Mom Allegedly Beats Sons Over Marijuana
Associate Press, various media in U.S.A. and Canada, Information from: Marietta Daily Journal, Feb. 11, 2005
SMYRNA, Ga., U.S.A. - A mother has been arrested for throwing cans of beer at her children and beating her oldest son after he refused to roll joints for her, police said. Read More ..
Mother Killed Baby: Charged After Baby's Arms Severed
By LISA FALKENBERG
Associated Press Writer, Nov 23, 2004
PLANO, Texas (AP) -- With a calm, dispassionate voice and a hymn playing in the background, Dena Schlosser
confessed to the unthinkable, telling a 911 operator she'd cut off the arms of her baby girl.
The woman was sitting in her living room covered with blood when police arrived Monday. Her nearly
11-month-old daughter lay fatally injured in a crib in a bedroom of the family's apartment in Plano. The
child died shortly afterward at a hospital.
Police have charged the 35-year-old mother with capital murder, but declined to reveal where she is being
held. Read More ..
Money for abused
Mount Cashel victims offered deal
By CP, Toronto Sun, Thursday, April 24, 2003
ST. JOHN'S, Nfld. -- Victims of abuse at the hands of Christian brothers at the Mount Cashel orphanage
will receive between $20,000 and $600,000 in compensation.
But first they will have to agree to abandon all legal action against the province, police or the Roman
Catholic Church -- a stipulation that angers some victims.
"The government has responsibility, liability for what went wrong," said J.J. Byrne, a former Mount Cashel
resident and spokesman for victims, in an interview yesterday.
Read More ..
Pair who caged
sons get longer jail terms
Nine months `unfit' sentence, court rules
Mother now gets 5 years, father 4 years
The Toronto Star, TRACEY TYLER, LEGAL AFFAIRS REPORTER, Nov. 5, 2004
Nine months in jail is a "demonstrably unfit" sentence for a Blackstock couple who beat and caged their
adoptive sons, crimes that were "shocking to the conscience of the community" and "cry out for a significant
penitentiary sentence," the Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled.
"The facts as found by the trial judge unequivocally establish the horrendous abuse of two young boys by
their parents for more than a decade," Justice Eleanore Cronk wrote on behalf of the court, which set aside
the widely criticized sentences yesterday.
Letourneau released
from prison
Notorious teacher seduced preteen student
Associated Press, CNN various newspapers, U.S.A., August 4, 2004
Letourneau released from prison
Teacher's ex-lover 'can't wait to see her'
CNN, AP, U.S.A., Wednesday, August 4, 2004
Teacher
Accused Of Breaking Student's Arm
11-Year-Old's Arm Broken In School
WPLG-TV, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.A., May 12, 2004
Abusive mother ordered to
pay children $975,000
Older siblings are terrorized, younger ones are treasured
Francine Dub, National Post, March 7, 2003
Boy adopted last month
beaten to death Associated Press, various U.S. newspapers, December 22, 2003
SCHAUMBURG, Illinois (AP) -- A 6-year-old boy adopted from Russia only last month was beaten to death, and
police charged his adoptive mother with murder.
Convicted mom may
get kids
The state Supreme Court will likely decide whether a parent can rehabilitate herself after harming a child,
and can be trusted to be a parent again.
Woman
held in beating deaths of sons
The Globe and Mail, Associated Press, May. 13, 2003, Page A15
Day
care investigated over frigid fire drill
National Post and other newspapers, CanWest News Service, January 31, 2004
CALGARY - A Calgary day-care centre has been investigated by Child and Family Services after a fire drill
sent children outside with no shoes in -30 C weather with a high wind chill.
"We have confirmed that an incident took place that breached a number of regulations," said Tom Rosettis,
regional manager of Child and Family Services.
Read More ..
Mystery of mummified baby solved
Businesswoman's daughter: Toronto detective determines girl died in 1985
National Post, by Siri Agrell, June 27, 2003
"Murder in the nursery"
Australian mom killed her 4 babies
TORONTO SUN, By Michele Mandel, May 23, 2003
It seemed a tragic coincidence - at first. "Murder in the nursery"
Read More ..
Parents Spoiled Girls, Starved Boys: COPS
New York Post, by ANGELINA CAPPIELLO and KATE SHEEHY, October 27, 2003
Custody granted to child abusers
Toronto agency made realization only after child died: 'We didn't check the file' on the grandparents' assault convictions, CAS director admits
National Post, Christie Blatchford, February 22, 2003
TV Show about Parental Alienation
W5 investigates: Children on the frontlines of divorce
November 7, 2009
The world of divorce is scary for any child. But when a divorce becomes especially toxic, children can become the target of an unrelenting crusade by one parent to destroy the child's relationship with the other. Experts call it parental alienation.
A Kidnapped Mind
What does Parental Alienation Syndrome mean? In my case, it meant losing a child. When Dash was 4 1/2 years old his father and I broke up. I dealt with the death of our marriage and moved on but Peter stayed angry, eventually turning it toward his own house, teaching our son, day by day, bit by bit, to reject me. Parental Alienation Syndrome typically means one parent's pathological hatred, the other's passivity and a child used as a weapon of war. When Dash's wonderful raw materials were taken and shaken and melted down, he was recast as a foot soldier in a war against me.
Divorced Parents Move, and Custody Gets Trickier
The New York Times, New York city, U.S.A. August 8, 2004
Not too long ago, Jacqueline Scott Sheid was a pretty typical Upper East Side mother. Divorced and with a young daughter, she had quickly remarried, borne a son, and interrupted her career to stay home with the children while her husband, Xavier Sheid, worked on Wall Street.
Early last year, Mr. Sheid lost his job and saw his only career opportunity in California. But Ms. Sheid's ex-husband, who shares joint legal custody of their daughter, refused to allow the girl to move away. So Ms. Sheid has spent much of the last year using JetBlue to shuttle between her son and husband on the West Coast and her daughter (and ex) on the East.
The New York court system, which she hoped would help her family to resolve the problem, has cost her tens of thousands of dollars in fees for court-appointed experts, she said, and has helped to prolong the process by objecting to her choice of lawyers.
The View - Parental Alienation - Alec Baldwin and Jill Egizii - Both Genders Can be Victims
Landmark Ruling Grants Father Custody of Children
PA News (U.K.), July 3, 2004
A key court decision to grant a father custody of his daughters after the mother flouted contact orders for four years was today welcomed by campaigners.
Fathers 4 Justice said that the High Court ruling was a vital victory and called for more judges to take a similar stance when faced with resistant parents.
The comments come after Mrs Justice Bracewell transferred the residence of two young girls to their father because the mother persistently refused him contact, despite court orders. Read More ..
Psychiatric disorder may have led boy to fatally shoot father
Rick James Lohstroh, a doctor at UTMB, was fatally shot this summer, apparently by his 10-year-old son.
ABC13 Eyewitness News, Houston, Texas, U.S.A.
Dec. 29, 2004
The 10-year-old Katy boy accused of murdering his father this summer is now the face of an unofficial psychiatric disorder that may have lead to his father's death.
Some psychiatrists call it Parental Alienation Syndrome and they say that's why the son killed Doctor Rick Lohstroh last summer. The syndrome is basically caused by a bitter parent who poisons a child against the other parent, usually in cases of divorce.
THE CANADIAN BAR ASSOCIATION
L'ASSOCIATION DU BARREAU CANADIEN
Parental Alienation Syndrome: A 'Hidden' Facet of Custody Disputes
Parental Alienation - Myths, Realities & Uncertainties:
A Canadian Study,
1989-2008
May 12, 2009
By Nicholas Bala, Suzanne Hunt & Carrie McCarney
Faculty of Law
Queens University
Kingston, ON Canada
Alienation cases have been receiving a great deal of public and professional attention in the past few months in Canada. As with so many issues in family law, there are two competing, gendered narratives offered to explain these cases. Men's rights activists claim that mothers alienate children from their fathers as a way of seeking revenge for separation, and argue that judges are gender-biased against fathers in these cases. Feminists tend to dismiss alienation as a fabrication of abusive fathers who are trying to force contact with children who are frightened of them and to control the lives of their abused former partners. While there is some validity to both of these narratives, each also has significant mythical elements. The reality of these cases is often highly complex, with both fathers and mothers bearing significant responsibility for the situation.
Two of the many findings are:
Mothers are twice as likely as fathers to alienate children from the other parent, but this reflects the fact that mothers are more likely to have custody or primary care of their children; in only 2 out of 89 cases was a parent with only access able to alienate a child from the other parent.
Fathers made more than three times as many unsubstantiated claims of parental alienation as mothers, but this too reflects the fact that claims of alienation (substantiated and unsubstantiated) are usually made by access parents, who are usually fathers.
Custody judges rule on vengeance
Courts criticized for recognizing 'parental alienation'
National Post
March 27, 2009
Toronto -- The scope of the courts' reach into family affairs has long been contentious, but a recent trend in Canada's legal system has brought a new controversy that has some onlookers praising judges and others condemning them for accepting what they call "voodoo science."
More than ever before, Canada's judges are recognizing that some children of divorced and warring parents are not simply living an unfortunate predicament, but rather are victims of child abuse and suffering from Parental Alienation Syndrome. Read More ..
Parenting: Baldwin Speaks Up
NEWSWEEK, U.S.A.
May 7, 2007
Many celebrities would shrink from view after a PR nightmare like Alec Baldwin's leaked voice mail in which he calls his 11-year-old daughter, Ireland, a "rude, thoughtless little pig." But Baldwin wants to use the media scrutiny to give exposure to parental alienation, the controversial "syndrome" caused by one parent's systematically damaging a child's relationship with the other parent.
B.C. judge bars mother from seeing daughter
Court orders one-year ban after 'unfounded' abuse allegations made about teenager's father
THE CANADIAN PRESS
March 10, 2009
VANCOUVER - In a case of extreme parental alienation, a mother has been banned by a B.C. Supreme Court judge from seeing her teenage daughter for more than a year.
Because of the urgency of the matter, Justice Donna Martinson issued the terse, two-page ruling outlining 15 conditions the parents must follow, including that the mother, known only as Ms. A, not see her daughter until at least March 31, 2010.
The decision came after the mother alleged extreme emotional abuse by the father, which she claimed was putting the teenager's safety at risk.
"I am satisfied that Ms. A's allegations are unfounded," Martinson wrote.
"I am further satisfied that she has continued to undermine the relationship between M and her father and has acted in ways that are detrimental to M's psychological healing."
Names have been stripped from the court ruling to protect the girl's identity.
The judge has ordered that both the mother and maternal grandmother have no contact with the girl, which would be enforced by police if necessary.
PSYCHOLOGY: MIND GAMES
The family Pandora's Box
Some victims of parental alienation syndrome don't realize until adulthood that one parent turned them against the other
The Globe and Mail
March 24, 2009
After Joe Rabiega's parents divorced, when he was an adolescent, his father repeatedly told him his mother had abandoned him. The boy had to return any gifts that came from his mother's side of the family and, twice daily, he had to pledge his allegiance to his father.
"I was never allowed to have anything to do with her," he says from his home in Raleigh, N.C. "The consequences were dire if I did. He said I would have nobody."
Even though Mr. Rabiega, now 33, had witnessed ugly behaviour by his father toward his mother and knew his dad to be an erratic alcoholic, it wasn't until he sought counselling for personal problems in his early 20s that his past snapped into focus: He had been the victim of parental alienation syndrome - his father had systematically turned him against his mother.
The phenomenon, coined by psychiatrist Richard A. Gardner in 1985, has gained traction recently due to a number of recent high-profile divorce cases in Canada - not to mention the very public case of movie star Alec Baldwin, who accused his former wife, Kim Basinger, of parental alienation. Read More ..
A GUIDE TO THE PARENTAL ALIENATION SYNDROME
November, 1999
WHAT IS IT?
The Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) is the systematic denigration by one parent by the other with the intent of alienating the child against the other parent. The purpose of alienation is usually to gain or retain custody without the involvement of the non-custodial parent (NCP) The alienation usually extends to the NCP's family and friends as well. Though this document is written with the father in mind, it must be clear that there are many cases of PAS where the NCP is the mother, and PAS from the non-custodial mothers' viewpoint will be discussed later.
Dr. Richard Gardner in his book 'The Parental Alienation Syndrome' states (p. 74) "Many of these children proudly state that their decision to reject their fathers is their own.";
They deny any contribution from their mothers. And the mothers often support this vehemently. In fact, the mothers will often state that they want the child to visit with the father and recognise the importance of such involvement, yet such a mothers every act indicates otherwise.
Such children appreciate that, by stating the decision is their own, they assuage mother's guilt and protect her from criticism. Such professions of independent thinking are supported by the mother who will often praise these children for being the kind of people who have minds of their own and are forthright and brave enough to express overtly their opinions.
Frequently, such mothers will exhort their children to tell them the truth regarding whether or not they really want to see their fathers. The child will usually appreciate that "the truth" is the profession that they hate the father and do not want to see him ever again. They thereby provide that answer - couched as "the truth" - which will protect them from their mother's anger if they were to state what they really wanted to do, which is to see their fathers.
It is important for the reader to appreciate that after a period of programming the child may not know what is the truth any Read More ..d come to actually believe that the father deserves the vilification being directed against him. The end point of the brainwashing process has then been achieved. Read More ..
Psychiatric disorder may have led boy to fatally shoot father
Rick James Lohstroh, a doctor at UTMB, was fatally shot this summer, apparently by his 10-year-old son.
ABC13 Eyewitness News, Houston, Texas, U.S.A.
Dec. 29, 2004
The 10-year-old Katy boy accused of murdering his father this summer is now the face of an unofficial psychiatric disorder that may have lead to his father's death.
Some psychiatrists call it Parental Alienation Syndrome and they say that's why the son killed Doctor Rick Lohstroh last summer. The syndrome is basically caused by a bitter parent who poisons a child against the other parent, usually in cases of divorce.
Parental alienation cases draining court resources
Study says such cases should be moved out of court system, handled by individual judges
The Globe and Mail
May 13, 2009
An escalation in parental alienation allegations is draining valuable courtroom resources, a major study of 145 alienation cases between 1989-2008 concludes.
"Access problems and alienation cases - especially those which are more severe - take up a disproportionate amount of judicial time and energy," said the study, conducted by Queen's University law professor Nicholas Bala, a respected family law expert.
"One can ask whether the courts should even be trying to deal with these very challenging cases." Read More ..
Parental Alienation Syndrome
A Developmental Analysis of a Vulnerable Population
The American family is changing, and divorce is no small part of the pattern. In the United States, there are nearly a million and a half divorces and annulments annually. It is estimated that 40% to 50% of adults will eventually divorce . Including the indirect effects on family and friends, the impact of divorce has ripple effects not only for those directly involved, but also for society and clinical nursing.
Many children involved in divorce and custody litigation undergo thought reform or mild brainwashing by their parents. This disturbing fact is a product of the nature of divorce and the disintegration of the spousal relationship in our culture. Inevitably, children receive subtly transmitted messages that both parents have serious criticisms of each other. Read More .. ..