Today on National Public Radio, Mary Louise Kelly talked with Barbara Bradley Hagerty, a contributor for The Atlantic, about parental alienation. Here are a few quotes from the conversation:
“I came to the conclusion that it’s an underground epidemic. You don’t hear about it because no one talks about it. I mean what parents want to say to their friends “Yeah, I have no relationship with my kids. My kids loathe me.” So no one talks about it. But I do think it’s this underground epidemic.” – Hagerty
“One fascinating and horrifying takeaway from all this for me… was how much in the end this actually isn’t about the kids. It is two parents, who often are divorcing, and one just decides: I’m going to screw you and I’m going to use the kids to do it.”- Kelly
“This is so very typical and I heard it over and over again that when the alienating parent loses the custody battle… they walk away because it really isn’t about the kids. It’s really about punishing the ex-spouse.” – Hagerty
This full interview can be listened here:
Hagerty recently wrote an article on The Atlantic about parental alienation. Her article is here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/12/when-a-child-is-a-weapon/616931/?fbclid=IwAR2E3YVp-NrLW5dW31ay52cKeHG7v1bMedAdJy_gdcN1zJg_qKwrloR2iV0