Justice for Marissa site and video
There’s nothing more frightening than receiving an email from a friend with the subject “HELP! My Daughter has been Kidnapped!”
I should have posted about this earlier, but neglected to. A long-time friend from Boulder, Colorado has been going through an incredibly difficult time. Her adopted daughter was taken away and her ex-husband – who has a history of abuse against both the daughter and mother – was given full custody. The courts justified the action by claiming the mother was guilty of something called “parental alienation.” Up until that time I had never heard of parental alienation (PA), and I assumed that the courts would always do what is in the best interest of the child. I did a little research because I really didn’t understand the situation at all. There is a lot of information on both sides of the issue, and it took a while for me to sort it out and to understand how it was being applied in my friend’s case.
Essentially, PA is one parent trying to program or brainwash the child against the other parent. I am certain that parental alienation takes place – that would surprise nobody who has ever experienced, heard or read about terrible custody battles that often take place. The problem is that PA seems to have become a weapon in the custody lawyer’s arsenal, and has clearly been misused within the court system in order to help vilify one parent, and give the other parent the upper hand in child custody cases.
In the case of my friend there was real fear involved. She and her kids went through some terrifying times before the divorce was finalized and the ex-husband moved out of the house. I know that for certain because I heard about many of the episodes in near real time. Given the level of fear and real danger that was involved, is it possible that the mother told the child some things that are “against” the father? Of course! Should that be allowed as part of a charge of parental alienation against the mother? Obviously not.
As is often the case, the bottom line is money. The father has it, the mother does not. So despite support and documentation from child services and the daughter’s therapist, the mother lost the custody battle. She’s trying to mount an appeal, but can’t afford lawyers, so that’s where a group of her friends jumped in to try to help. For my part, I set up a web site and created a short video that tells an overview of the events.
Here are the links: