J. Michael Bone (pictured) is an eminent authority on Parental Alienation, and I've often quoted his work in my newspaper columns on the issue. One of his best pieces is Parental Alienation Syndrome: How to Detect It and What to Do About It, which he co-authored for the Florida Bar Journal in 1999. He wrote:

"The common thread to [Parental Alienation] tactics is that one parent is superior and the other is not and, therefore, should be peripheral to the child's life. The alienating parent in these circumstances is acting inappropriately as a gatekeeper for the child to see the absent parent. When this occurs for periods of substantial time, the child is given the unspoken but clear message that one parent is senior to the other. Younger children are more vulnerable to this message and tend to take it uncritically; however, one can always detect elements of it echoed even into the teenage years."

Starting in late April, Michael is going to be doing a four-part Teleseminar on how targeted parents can overcome Parental Alienation. The 4 week telewebcast series begins Tuesday April 29 from 8:30 - 9:30 p.m. EDT, and runs each Tuesday through 5/20. Bone identifies four major mistakes targeted parents make:

1) Failure to Modify Your Parental Behavior with your Children

2) Failure to “Re-brand Yourself” in Court

3) Agreeing to Counter-Productive Recommendations

4) Unqualified Mental Health Professionals

Bone identifies several consequences targeted parents face, and it looks like Michael's been reading my inbox because I hear these stories all day long:

1. You see your children only on a supervised basis.
2. You're constantly defending yourself against false allegations made against you.
3. You're threatened with arrest for crimes that you did not commit.
4. You're forced to spend untold thousands of dollars on legal fees, only to have outcomes that are still unacceptable & outrageous.
5. You're evaluated as a parent by professionals who have no stake in you or your children’s lives.
6. You watch helplessly as your relationship with your children is damaged & are able to do nothing about it.
7. You're treated within your community as though you had been an abusive parent when, if anything, the opposite was the case.
8. You're excluded from your children’s activities, school life, religious life, athletic life, & health care, & have no input into any of this.

Bone's Teleseminar also includes 4 MP3 recordings of each session to download to keep for listening on-demand, and Study Guides sent to you in advance, providing details for each session. Dr. Bone will also award a "Certificate of Completion" for anyone who may need evidence of their attendance in this telewebcast series.

The price is only $39--to register, click here or go to www.overcomingparentalalienation.com.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 14th, 2008 at 5:21 pm and is filed under Parental Alienation/PAS. You can trackback from your own site.