Parental Alienation Counted Out
... their own mother or father. This strategy will teach a child to hate. When PAS is used in court, the parents uses their child as a victim. In a court custody battle the parents should only deal with selves and leaving the child out of it. This allows PAS not to be brought up in custody battle. Once the child reach the legal adult age or is old enough to understand the situation, then he or she can make their own decision in which parent he or she wants. Judges are faced with cases that deal with parental alienation syndrome. Interest in Parental Alienation Syndrome has grown considerably since its introduction by Gardner in the 1980’s (Utesch 1). PAS can often blind the court officials and a child can mistakenly be put into an unsafe living situation. Many courts are uneducated to the fact that Parental Alienation Syndrome is not actually a syndrome but a theory. The judges and the jury, many times, do not know more about PAS than the name, Parental Alienation Syndrome. So, when PAS is brought up in a court case, the judges and/or jury see it as a liable source and carry out the allegations made. PAS often helps to mask child abuse allegations in court cases. As soon as a child brings any allegations to court, Gardner immediately turns to PAS and blames the other parent for brainwashing their children into making an allegation against the father. PAS effects the child’s psychological state of mind. Being deprived of two healthy parents is definitely psychologically harmful to a child. Studies show that in approximately seventy percent of challenged cases, battering parents have been able to convince authorities during custody battles that their victim is unfit or undeserving of sole custody (Waller 1). Visitation agreements are put into place in order to ensure a healthy relationship between both parents, but sometimes seeing one parent every day and the other once a month, just does not work. Parental Alienation Syndrome forces a child to feel as if they need to choose between their parents. It makes them feel as if they can only love one parent indef...