Parental alienation is a social dynamic, generally occurring due to divorce or separation, when a child expresses unjustified hatred or unreasonably strong dislike of one parent, making access by the rejected parent difficult or impossible. These feelings may be influenced by negative comments by the other parent and by the characteristics, such as lack of empathy and warmth, of the rejected parent. The term does not apply in cases of actual child abuse, when the child rejects the abusing parent to protect themselves. Parental alienation is controversial in legal and mental health professions, both generally and in specific situations.[1]parental alienation syndrome[2] though the last term is a specific formulation of a medical syndrome proposed by psychiatrist Richard Gardner that is not well accepted.
This just doesn't happen in adoption but in life in general. Anytime a couple goes through a divorce or separation, this situation has the capacity to happen.
Women's groups such as NOW have denounced this new syndrome as being irrelevant and detrimental to women because men are fighting back in the court systems. They are hurting women in the process. Women just as much as men are being forced to endure that situation. Judges are recognizing it as a fact. Judge Dan Mike Bird of the 46th District Court in Wilbarger County is one such judge. In fact, he has alienated his daughter from her mother himself.