Award-winning actor and current star of 30 Rock, Alec Baldwin's well-documented divorce from Academy-Award-winning actress, Kim Basinger, and subsequent contentious and spiteful custody battle for their daughter, Ireland, is chronicled in his hot-off-the-press book, A Promise to Ourselves: A Journey through Fatherhood and Divorce, (St Martin's Press, $24.95)
Baldwin and Basinger seemed to be the ideal Hollywood couple when they tied the knot in 1993, and after the birth of their daughter, Ireland, in 1995, were soon elevated to "perfect glamorous family" status.
This was shattered with their surprising separation in 2000 and later their hostile divorce in 2002. Then began one of the most public and vicious custody battles on record, and Baldwin details his own pain and unhappiness as he battled every day, like so many other short-changed parents, for equal access to his daughter who was being systematically turned against him by her mother.
Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) is described by leading expert, Dr Richard Warshak in his seminal book, Divorce Poison, as a deliberate and concerted campaign by one parent to turn their kids against the other parent by disrespecting, bashing and brainwashing, in an effort to remove them from the picture.
Alec Baldwin writes passionately about his nightmarish experience of divorce poison that pushed him to the brink emotionally, professionally and financially. He points out that in addition to systematic alienation, non-custodial parents (often dads) are forced to reluctantly leave their children behind, because of the overwhelming bias of judges, lawyers and court-appointed therapists.
He cites a big reason for publishing the book is because, "There is.... enough injustice, inefficiency and corruption within the system to compel us as a society to closely examine what is being perpetrated on innocent men and women." Baldwin was also embarrassed by the media coverage of the angry, frustrated voice mail left for his daughter who never seemed to answer his prearranged phone calls.
The good news is that Baldwin reports that things are now good with his daughter, and will continue to improve, as long as her mother lets them alone.
This is a heartfelt, engrossing and very personal account of PAS and divorce poison, and is a helpful guide and very encouraging for the many divorced parents who are experiencing less public but just as devastating custody battles and spiteful ex-spouses. Co-parenting after separation and divorce should ideally be child-centered, with both parents nurturing healthy child-parental relationships, and putting aside their own conflict and need for revenge.
Pick up Alec Baldwin's book to learn firsthand about Parental Alienation, and refer to Dr Warshak's Divorce Poison for more insight into identifying the warning signs of parental alienation and sound advice on how to deal with it.
About the Author
Sheen Berg, a blended family coach, loves to write articles for the FREE StepHeroes Newsletter. To receive this newsletter, visit http://www.About-Blended-Families.com. Her original version of this article and links about "Divorce Poison" are found at: http://www.blended-families.com/stephero/alec-baldwin-parental-alienation.php
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1 comment:
PAS, Parental Alienation Syndrome is at last getting exposure and understanding.
Even groups still exist that take high powered lawyers into family courtrooms, (groups like Justice for Children and lawyers like Fulbright and Jaworski, Llp) and destroy children and targeted parents. They pontificate and extol that they are saving a child while they destroy children and corrupt the process.
One but read Anne Wilson Schaef, When Society Becomes and Addict, Harper and Row, 1986 to know the basis and reasons these groups and individuals reject the credibility of PAS.
Please read Dr. Amy JL Baker's Adult Children of Parental Alienation: Breaking the Ties that Bind for more on PAS.
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