Alienated Girl Calls Dr. Laura, Dr. Laura Tells Her ‘Go See Your Dad So You Can Find out the Truth’
Background: Parental Alienation occurs in a divorce or separation when one parent, usually the custodial mother, turns the children against the other parent, usually the noncustodial father. Often this alienation takes the form of giving the children a negative impression of the father–to read one example, see the second part of my blog entry Sad Parental Alienation Case from the 1940s.
To learn more about Parental Alienation and the controversies surrounding it, see my co-authored columns Protect Children from Alienation (Providence Journal, 7/8/06) and Shockome Syndrome, or click here.
Kathy, a reader, sent me the following letter concerning a recent call to talk show host/author Dr. Laura Schlessinger:
“Today a 12-year-old girl called radio host Dr. Laura to ask whether she should contact her father, who she has not had a relationship with since she was 7. The girl told Dr. Laura that ‘my father is manipulative.’
“Dr. Laura responded: ‘Where did you hear that — your mother, your grandmother? No 12-year-old comes up with that terminology on her own.’
“Dr. Laura finally extracted the name of the culprit - the girl’s aunt. The little girl went on to say how her father had ‘forced’ her mother to buy video games and other expensive electronic devices when the family was in debt.
“The girl then mentioned that her mother left her with her aunt on the weekends so mother could go stay with her boyfriend in LA. Dr. Laura responded: ‘So your dad’s manipulative but your mom’s boyfriend is not - yeah.’ Her advice to the child was this: ‘Go stay with your dad so you can find out the truth, and maybe he’ll be around for you 7 days a week.’
“I thought the dialogue was a prime example of how parents use, and psychologically abuse, their children in order to turn them against a parent.”
I love the way Dr. Laura (pictured) immediately picked up on what was really going on, asking, “Where did you hear that — your mother, your grandmother? No 12-year-old comes up with that terminology on her own.”
Dr. Laura and I certainly do not agree on everything, but she has been generally supportive of fathers’ rights. On her radio show she supported our efforts in California to preserve the CA. Supreme Court’s LaMusga decision in 2004, and also broadcast her support for our Campaign Against ‘Boys are Stupid’ Products. In addition, she praised our campaign in her book Woman Power: Transform Your Man, Your Marriage, Your Life.
2 responses so far ↓
1 amberdad // Aug 17, 2007 at 11:00 am
The greatest untold tale about this issue is that everyone knows it goes on but treats it as if it doesn’t matter. My ex took my daughter to a child psychologist to spearhead the alienation of my daughter. Her name is Dr. Ray and resides in Newport News, Virginia. Why don’t we go after these child abusers. If you had seen the tears that my daughter wept when she told me what the good doctor and my ex were telling her behind closed doors. The reason the mental abuse and outward parental alienation laws were taken off the books in a majority of states is because we as a nation have gotten in to tyhe business of mental child abuse. It has become a multi billion dollar industry and whwn there is that much money at stake, the courts are blind to all else. The abuse of our children has become a daily occurrence coming from the established courts and lawyers who oversee much of the process. It became to be known as my daughter is going through “hate treatment” with the local child abuser. I might be coming on a little strong but when I look back on how it affected a sweet, innocent little child (mine) I know now that not only no but HELL NO, I am not coming on strong enough!
2 amberdad // Aug 17, 2007 at 11:11 am
I apologize, I was being too nice to Dr. Cathleen Ray. Mental abuse is her forte’ but she also dabbles in emotional abuse.
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