Op-Ed: State is Raising Awareness of 'Parental Alienation'

By Daniel Holmes

Pennsylvania State Rep. Thomas Murt (R-152) is spearheading a resolution to designate April 2012 as Parental Alienation Awareness Month throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in commemoration of Awareness Day on April 25.

Parental alienation, sometimes called hostile aggressive parenting, is a behavior by a parent, or an adult a child trusts, such as a grandmother/father, aunt, uncle, etc., whether conscious or unconscious, that could create alienation in the relationship between a child and a parent.

Parental alienation can be mild and temporary or extreme and ongoing. Most researchers believe that any alienation of a child against a parent is harmful to the child's emotional and mental health. Extreme, obsessive, and ongoing parental alienation can cause terrible psychological damage to children extending well into adulthood.

Parental Alienation Awareness Day is designed to help spread awareness and education about this emotional form of child abuse, and is honored around the world by events such as Bubbles of Love, when people gather together and blow bubbles to honor, remember, and spread awareness for the sake of alienated children everywhere.

As a member of the Board of Directors of the Parental Alienation Awareness Organization (PAAO), I am personally asking for support from all the residents of Pennsylvania in helping Representative Murt move this resolution forward.

Please contact your local representatives, and ask them to co-sponsor this resolution. Working together to raise awareness and education in a positive, proactive way like this may be the most loving, caring way that we can help the children everywhere who are growing up with this abusive pattern of behaviors.  

Daniel Holmes is a Hatboro resident and is a founding member of the Pennsylvania chapter of the Parental Alienation Awareness Organization.