Parents Acting Badly ― How Institutions and Societies Promote the Alienation of Children from Their Loving Families

Parental alienation affects as many as 22 million intact, separated, and divorced families in the U.S., and millions more worldwide. It is associated with severe trauma across multiple generations, including the destruction of healthy parent-child relationships, the larger family system, and social networks. Despite the sheer number of families and communities affected by this problem, many people (including professionals) either do not know what it is, actively deny its existence if they have heard of it, or passively serve as bystanders while children become increasingly alienated from loving and adequate families. In Parents Acting Badly, Drs. Jennifer Jill Harman and Zeynep Biringen provide a thorough analysis of how and why this family dynamic can insidiously gain momentum over the years, and how parenting stereotypes, gender inequality, and social institutions (such as family courts) all sanction and even promote the problem. Parents Acting Badly represents a paradigm shift in thinking about parental alienation—from a private issue to a public concern. The authors suggest new approaches to addressing this controversial problem that encompasses individual change, as well as social and institutional reforms. The understanding and prevention of parental alienation can help families, societies, and institutions protect the best interests of the child.