Parental Alienation is the continued psychological abuse and brainwashing of a child by one parent in order to manipulate the child to not wanting a relationship with their other parent.
That is perhaps a very basic description of what parental alienation entails as there are undeniably many nuances as well as varying degrees of alienation.
Some alienated parents may be "lucky" enough to see their children a handful of times a month, while others may have not seen their children in months or even years.
It's indescribable, the amount of pain and trauma these children and parents experience.
There are millions of parents and children suffering at the hands of this abuse and if you're only know hearing of it then you'd probably assume it was all over the news, which would be a fair assumption given how widespread it is. But sadly you'd be wrong.
Today is Parental Alienation Awareness Day (25th April), it happens annually as part of a global campaign against parental alienation but if you were reading the papers or watching TV instead of reading this article then you wouldn't know about it.
It first started in 2007 and in that time I have never seen it covered in mainstream media.
We at PAPA have had some media coverage for our campaigns but even then, it's been pretty sporadic considering how big some of our campaigns have been.
If you've been a member or follower of PAPA for some time you will remember our Equal Parenting Campaign in 2019 which had a resurgence in 2022 after the pandemic.
This campaign reached over 1 million people on Facebook alone yet national media did not cover it at all.
Some local media outlets covered it so I reached out to some more as a result but some refused despite it unquestionably being the biggest local news story at the time.
In reality Parental Alienation and how it is aided by many organisations including CMS and the family courts is perhaps one of the world's biggest scandals, particularly when considering the millions of victims who are children.
This week I shared some screenshots on Facebook of my interaction with the Peterborough Telegraph, which was a prime example of how the media appear to be silently complicit in allowing parental alienation to continue.
I realised this week that I was blocked by the Peterborough Telegraph after I contacted them on Monday to ask them to do a piece for Parental Alienation Awareness Day.
The message wouldn’t send so I tried to view their page and couldn’t. Which is really unprofessional considering they are the main publication for the city.
I last contacted them 2 years ago to ask them to cover the PAPA equal parenting campaign as it was already gaining a lot of attention on social media and with other local news outlets.
For those of you who don't remember, the campaign started in Peterborough where I was putting up signs around the country with our famous slogan "The best child support is equal parenting".
As mentioned earlier, the first campaign post of me in Peterborough was viewed over 1 million times and shared many thousands of times. This was just one of many posts as I went to many towns and cities.
Peterborough Telegraph refused to report on the campaign because they couldn’t find “an angle suitable for them”. Their words, shockingly.
What that means I don’t know but it doesn’t sound like a publication interested in their readers and what they could be going through. Or even interested in what is going on locally, but why would a publication not be interested in reporting on a campaign happening in their city?
To help them find an "angle" I explained to them that I lived temporarily in Peterborough, I worked there for a year at Ideal World and above all else I was in the city every week campaigning and helping members in the area with their cases.
PAPA has over 2,000 members and at least 5,000 followers from the Peterborough area and it’s the nearest city to me. I even have a Peterborough postcode but for them the link wasn’t strong enough.
I think I could have lived next door to their offices and that wouldn't have been close enough.
I gave an example of if I went to Peterborough to commit a crime like stabbing someone instead of helping someone would they choose not to report on it if the link to the city wasn’t strong enough? Of course they wouldn’t.
The reality is we had a campaign reaching millions on social media that started in Peterborough but they didn’t see the campaign or the cause as worthy of reporting on.
A cause so widespread that I get approached on the street about it ALL THE TIME!!
The streets of Peterborough I might add.
They didn’t see the opportunity to help the thousands of parents and children in Peterborough and the surrounding area who suffer this abuse on a daily basis.
Which is a great shame for the people of Peterborough I could have reached with their support.
They did however report on changes to Tesco’s opening times that week….
They of course have the right to report on what they believe to be newsworthy and in their opinion Tesco’s opening times were more important than a worldwide equal parenting campaign starting in the city.
I don’t agree but I’m sure Tesco will.
That’s their prerogative I guess but to block me when all I’m trying to do is explain the seriousness of parental alienation and the importance of the campaign shows in my opinion, a lack of credibility.
There is so much the media could report on this week for Parental Alienation Awareness Day but the fact that they won’t really concerns me for our children’s futures.
I haven't even been approached by any local media outlets to discuss Parental Alienation and given PAPA is the largest parental alienation campaign organisation and group, it goes to show that the media have no interest in helping to end this abuse.
If you believe that parental alienation needs to be reported on then I implore you all to reach out to your local media companies and tell them your story.
The media cannot continue to be complicit in this abuse.
We see swathes of articles on Black History Month or for LGBTQ Pride (not sure if that's still the correct acronym) but radio silence when it comes to parental alienation.
Today might be Parental Alienation Awareness Day but for us at PAPA and for those who are victims, every day is PA Awareness Day.
Together we have the means and the motivation to continue to spread awareness and to fight against parental alienation so that it can no longer be ignore or swept under the rug.
What's new?
We have a lot planned this year with new updates to follow over the coming weeks and months but for Parental Alienation Awareness Day we decided to produce and release the highly requested PAPA stickers.
Since the PAPA van was launched we have had so many requests on social media for PAPA Stickers so today we have fulfilled the wish of our members and they are now available from the PAPA Shop.
We are also running a free merch giveaway on both our Facebook and Instagram pages so if you want to get your hands on some of our merchandise for free then check out our giveaways. It's completely free.
In need of support?
If you're reading this and are new to PAPA and in need of help and support then you are welcome to join for free here.
We have thousands of members worldwide so if you have a question then please check out our forum and our blog.
We also have a Facebook support group with over 22,000 members, which also has a number of different chat rooms for dads, mums, as well as chat rooms for different countries.
Whatever your situation is; you are not alone and PAPA is here to help.