The Hamilton Spectator, By Lesley Simpson, Nov 20, 2006
It's likely not on your calendar, but today is
National Child Day. In its honour, we introduce four
people who aren't waiting for grown-ups to change the
world -- they're doing it themselves.
Meet Maddison Babineau, 15, who is coping with her
cancer by selling jewellery from eBay to build a well in
Kenya.
Her first wish is already becoming reality -- a
school for Kenyan kids is being built on her behalf.
Sabrina Pursley, 11, is planning her fifth walkathon
to raise money for McMaster Children's Hospital, as a
way to thank the staff who took care of her when she
wound up there with a kidney infection at age five.
William Pearson, 17, was the guy who came up with the
idea of refurbishing broken computers in his Waterdown
community, computers now being shipped to a training
centre for street boys in Zambia.
Kellie Guzzo, 23, founded Out of the Heat, a summer
program to feed hungry folks in Hamilton.
National Child Day marks the United Nations' adoption
of the United Nation's Declaration on the Rights of The
Child (1959), and the United Nations' Convention on the
Rights of the Child (1989). Check out the Canadian
Children's Rights Council
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 Mother's Heartbreaking Story of Parental Alienation
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.
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.
Toronto - A 13-year-old Ontario boy whose
domineering father systematically brainwashed him into hating his
mother can be flown against his will to a U.S. facility that
deprograms children who suffer from parental alienation, an Ontario
Superior Court judge has ruled.
Mr. Justice James Turnbull ordered the boy -
identified only as LS - into the custody of his mother. He said that
the boy urgently needs professional intervention to reverse the
father's attempt to poison his mind toward his mother and, in all
probability, to women in general.
TV Show Parental Alienation - The View - Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin talks about his experience with parental alienation. Alec (
3rd from right) was accompanied by Jill Egizii ( 2nd from right) , president of the Parental Alienation
Awareness Organisation (PAAO) and Mike McCormick, president of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children (ACFC).
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 ..
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 ..
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
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.
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 ..
