Domestic Violence and the Parental Alienation Syndrome

In marriages in which there is no domestic abuse andthe control shifts to another means of expression.
parental alienation upon divorce, it is more often theThat being the victimized litigant's rights and liberties:
woman who is the alienating parent. Whereas intheir civil liberties and their parental rights.
marriages in which there is domestic abuse, theIt is estimated that 70 % of men seeking custody
victimized partner is in most cases the alienatedwill get it and 50% of those actually obtaining it are
parent. Why these trends?batterers. The traditionalized trend in domestic
PAS in Non-abusive and in Abusive Relationshipsviolence families is that children are raised to believe
Parental alienation goes back as far as childbirth.that they will never see the estranged parent again.
Women assume a more significant bond with theirAnd the alienated parent is more often than not
offspring, especially in infancy and through thesimply pushed out of their children's lives.
formative years. And many men assume traditionalWhile under normal (that is common) conditions, if
roles of provider, taking them out of the homeone can consider the above having any semblance of
during much of the baby and young child's life"normal," this is a horrific violation to both child and
(waking hours). Divorce merely extenuates thisalienated parent. But what we find is that these
already existing status quo.consequences magnify when the domestic abuse
In abusive relationships, these same roles exist and infamily also involves the abusive parent who batterers
most cases in an even more entrenched way. Asthe children.
abusers adhere to strict stereotype male-femaleSixty to 70% of men who batter their female
roles and demand their female partners do the same.partners also batter their children. The net result of
When divorce comes knocking on the door ofparental alienation of the protective parent is that
domestic violence families, the control serving as thethese abused children are not only denied their right
glue binding the parents merely transforms fromto equal access to each parent, they are given a long
expectations within the marital residence to demandssentence of child abuse.
in family court.And for society the horror is we that "the people"
How Domestic Violence Transforms into Legalhave contributed to the intergenerational transmission
Domestic Abuseof relationship abuse. The children of these homes
When the verbal licks, emotional manipulations, mentalhave a higher incidence of adult violence than those
cruelty, psychological abuse and physical altercationschildren of domestic abuse who maintain contact with
become forbidden by civil court's restraining orders,their protective parents.