Episode 1 - What is Parental Alienation?

Jacqueline introduces us to the concept of Parental Alienation, when a child is influenced by the other parent or parental figure to reject their parent. We learn how Parental Alienation (PA) is different from estrangement, when a child has a justifiable reason to reject a parent. She reviews the Five Factors that define PA and help determine if a child’s rejection is justifiable (due to abuse or poor parenting), or whether it’s a case of alienation. 

Jacqueline shares new language and new concepts she has developed about “targeted” parents and “preferred” parents to empower parents who have been unjustly alienated from their children.

We meet Maya, a mother who has been alienated from her children for 6 years. She describes how painful and confusing being alienated from one’s children is, and how the alienation usually extends to the entire rejected parent’s side of the family. They review the 17 alienating behaviors identified by clinicians and researchers that alienating parents engage in to destroy the relationship between a child and their other parent. Jacqueline and Maya discuss how isolating alienation is, and how this podcast will bring helpful information and a sense of community to empower parents who feel all alone in this painful situation.