4 Ever Their Mom

Bubbles of awareness

Hilary Crowe and Angela Kadow have organized a Bubbles of Love parental alienation awareness event Wednesday in Loganville.

Posted: Sunday, April 22, 2012 12:00 am

By Robbie Schwartz | 0 comments

For Angela Kadow, parental alienation awareness is personal.In 2000, she separated from her husband and what would ensue was eight years of court battles.“I was targeted as the ‘bad mom,’ the ‘noncustodial mom,’ which those words in itself is like wearing the scarlet letter on my chest everywhere I went,” she said. “My kids were slowly being isolated away from me. Their dad would sign them up for so many activities that it interfered with my visitation. I was forced to forfeit some of my Friday nights just so the kids wouldn’t be mad at me for making them miss a soccer game. I would call them on our off weeks and I would always get the machine. I would never get a call back. I would send my kids cards and letters, some returned saying wrong address. In 2008, I gave into parental alienation. I felt like the judicial system let me and my kids down.”
Parental alienation begins when a parent or family member attempts to undermine and dismantle a relationship between a parent and child. It may seem unfamiliar to most, and that is why Kadow and Hilary Crowe spent several weeks organizing and garnering support for their Bubbles of Love Parental Alienation Awareness Day event beginning at noon April 25 at the Toddler Park outside City Hall in Loganville.
Like Kadow, Crowe has her own personal story to share.
“My husband has been alienated from his own daughter for three years,” she said. “He sought legal counsel, but it took six months to find the right attorney that was willing to take the case head on. Then it took six months for him to get a court date. By this time, his daughter had successfully been alienated from his life and the judge hearing the case decided first to have them reconnect through a therapist to avoid any additional emotional harm to the child. Now they are seeing the third court-ordered psychiatrist. Each has come to the conclusion that this is parental alienation.”
Going through this process, Crowe said her involvement in organizing not only the event but a concerted group in the community stems from the fact the family court system knows little about parental alienation or what to do when they come across a case.
“There are other cases in Walton County and all over the world. Parental alienation is very common after divorce or custody litigation and mothers and fathers both experience it,” Crowe said. “As we have started our own awareness movement, we have had several other families in Georgia contact us with their own stories.”
The local movement is gaining momentum, as mayors from Grayson, Loganville, Snellville and Monroe have signed proclamations in support of the seventh annual Parental Alienation Awareness Day, where people around the world “will join together in blowing bubbles for 10 minutes at noon on April 25, 2012, to show their support in spreading the simple message of love for all children ...” In addition, the local effort is working with The Partnership for Families, Children and Youth to help spread the message that there is hope for families who have suffered or are suffering with parental alienation.
“We want our awareness campaign to be centered on a message of healing and repairing relationships with every party involved,” Crowe said, noting most of the groups she came across in the state were either anger-orientated or sponsored by law firms that tend to focus on revenge. “We would like to be a resource for other families in Georgia to turn to for quality referrals to licensed therapists, attorneys and other resources experienced in parental alienation. Also, we hope to get more families involved with raising awareness and hope to make a change at the legislative level.”
The first step will be the Bubbles of Love in Loganville. For more information on the group, visit www.georgia paawareness.weebly.com, email georgiapaawareness@gmail.com or call 770-500-7463.