The governors of Maine and, now, Iowa have established April 25th as Parental Alienation Awareness Day.

These declarations purport to legitimize Parental Alienation as a psychological disorder associated with high-conflict child custody disputes.

But while these two governors may recognize it as a psychological disorder, neither the American Psychological Association or any other qualified organization recognizes it as such.

Father’s groups tout it and have used it as a kind of political pressure tactic to win greater access to their children – regardless of whether that serves the children’s best interests.

Which is why mother’s groups oppose its recognition, crediting it with handing child custody over to abusers.

While there are cases of one parent deliberately trying to turn children against the other parent for no valid reason, there do not appear to be any studies measuring how frequently – or infrequently – that actually occurs.

The true numbers may not bear any relation to the “buzz” over parental alienation.

And anecdotal evidence casts doubt over whether children benefit from recognition and application of this theory in custody disputes – or whether they are hurt by its misuse.

Read more in this Town Hall article: Parental alienation gets a day and this e-Release article: Iowa Governor Thomas J. Vilsack Proclaims April 25th as Parental Alienation Awareness Day.

I’ve written several previous posts about Net Neutrality.

The battle for Net Neutrality is still being waged.

Supporters of free speech and equal access to the internet are slowly starting to gain ground.

They gained an important ally last week in the New York Times.

An important New York Times editorial strongly endorsed Net Neutrality last week.

The editorial emphasized just how critical equal access to the internet is to advancing democracy and innovation.

And to giving voice to some points of view that may compete with the voice of enormously wealthy, powerful and influential cable and telephone companies.

Read this important New York Times editorial: Protecting Internet Democracy.

But the first net-stop for any internet user who wants to support the cause of Net Neutrality remains the home of the Save the Internet campaign. Additional support is still needed and welcomed by the movement.

A California trial court denied a woman’s motion for access in their divorce case to her police officer-husband’s non-financial personnel records.

The woman had alleged that she was a victim of domestic violence and needed the records at least in part for their bearing on custody and visitation determinations in their case.

The family trial court, in effect, held that the husband’s privacy rights outweighed the mother’s and children’s rights to be protected.

The California Court of Appeal reversed, however, finding that the mother demonstrated good cause for her records request, in that the personnel records could provide additional evidence of the husband’s history of domestic and other violence and that that was relevant to custody and visitation determinations in the case.

Read more in this Metropolitan News-Enterprise article: Court: Woman Alleging Abuse in Divorce Case Entitled To Seek Personnel Files of Ex-Officer Husband.

The New Year represents a new beginning for families that are transitioning after a divorce or separation. It can be an excellent time to make a roadmap of where the family wants to go and how it plans to get there.

A children’s advocacy group recommends goal planning at the family level and then breaking the collective family plan into individual plans for family members which support the family’s goals.

Read more in this Parents and Kids article: Divorce and new beginnings for you and your kids
and at Kids First.

An Israeli company has a released a computer game grounded in child psychology research.

It’s purpose is to help children fare better in divorces and separations of their parents.

As to how, the game is interactive and promotes children opening up with parents and therapists.

The game also aids parents in gaining insight into what their children are experiencing and feeling regardless.

All while parents and children enjoy a computer game together. A modern twist on “play therapy”.

Read more in this Virgin.net article: Game helps kids cope with divorce.

China is reportedly implementing new rules making it tougher for Americans and other foreigners to adopt their orphaned children.

Many Americans, some of whom have already adopted Chinese children in the past, are disappointed and angered over the changing policies in China.

But China is within its legal rights and is actually following in the footsteps of other countries with babies available for adoption, such as South Korea.

Some of the would-be parents who may be turned down in the future include:

1. the extremely obese
2. singles
3. people on anti-depressants
4. people with facial deformities
5. people over age 50 (unless the children have special needs)
6. people without high school diplomas and
7. couples with more than two divorces in their collective past

Read more in this Los Angeles Times article: Babies’ best interest – China awkwardly but appropriately changes its adoption rules.

While everyone else may look forward to the holiday season, the police don’t.

The holidays typically see a sharp rise in volatile domestic disturbance calls.

Whether it’s holiday vacations, holiday drink, holiday depression, holiday stress, holiday guests, a combination of all of them and/or other factors, routine arguments are more likely to turn deadly and child custody and visitation disputes can turn particularly bitter during the holidays.

One officer recalls a man who killed his own cousin over a pork chop at Christmas time.

Read more in this Ft. Wayne News-Sentinel article: Police expect the worst during the holidays.

A former winner of Gold medals for Canada at the Olympics is in hot water.

She stands accused of abducting her daughter to the US in alleged violation of a custody agreement with the girl’s father. The child’s father reportedly feared that this was just the first step toward removing the girl to Iran, the athlete’s current husband’s homeland.

The mother denies any wrongdoing and insists that she is being politically persecuted. She is requesting to be released from her incarceration in Maryland so that she can return to Canada on her own.

Their daughter has already gone back to Canada with her father, who hadn’t seen her in a couple of months.

The Canadian government hasn’t yet officially requested extradition. It is allowed 60 days to do so …

The athlete’s Iranian husband allegedly also faces unrelated criminal charges in Canada. The athlete contends that those charges are also politically motivated.

Read more in this CanadaEast Interactive article: Bedard’s lawyer says she’s lucid amid bizarre trip and custody battle and this CTV.ca article: Myriam Bedard’s lawyers try to reach deal with Quebec in abduction case.

After divorce, holidays are never the same for the parents or the children.

One million children this year are experiencing their first holiday season after their parents’ divorce.

For the children, it’s an enormous adjustment not to have the entire family together with them.

For one of the parents, it’s an enormous adjustment to be alone for the holidays or a significant portion of them.

Besides the new emotional challenges, the family may also face new financial hardships that impact holiday gift-giving.

The first holiday season after divorce is the toughest.

Experts recommend maintaining as much continuity for the kids as possible but, at the same time, starting new traditions to replace those that cannot be continued.

Ideally, parents should plan and work together to ensure that the holidays go smoothly for the kids.

Parents should also take care to reassure their kids that they are doing OK, especially if the kids will be leaving them over the holidays.

Read more in this Houston Chronicle article: Divorce presents parents challenges during holidays – Coping with changes during time of traditions especially tough on children.

Last year, a 12 year old boy committed suicide in the middle of his parents’ bitter divorce. The boy used one of the nine guns that were freely accessible at the home of his father, an ex-Marine.

The father reportedly left the boy and his two younger brothers home alone, unsupervised.

Before the tragedy, it appears that the judge presiding over the divorce had ordered the father to secure his guns.

The father is said to be on probation now, under a plea of guilty to child endangerment, for which he served no time in jail. And he has been denied any contact with his two other sons since their brother’s death.

The father has reportedly admitted to suffering from depression and thoughts of suicide since his son’s suicide.

The father has taken a court-ordered anger management course.

But during his recent divorce, the father allegedly physically assaulted and injured four to five bailiffs. It took twelve bailiffs to subdue and restrain him.

According to the children’s mother, the father has threatened to kill her.

Now, the father wants to resume visitation with his two surviving sons.

The court indicated that it would reinstate visitation on a gradual basis – after the father served his criminal sentences. The children just may be legal adults before that happens.

Read more in this Las Vegas Review-Journal article: Divorce trial results in melee.