Parental Alienation Abuse Support
Helping you navigate this abuse, stabilise and parent ‘trauma-informed’
If your child is being kept from you, or turned against you, you are not alone. What is happening to you and your child is recognised on the Power And Control Wheel as emotional abuse. CAFCASS refers to this Wheel, the Family Justice Council advises courts to view this as ‘abuse’.
Do you recognise any of this?
- Your child refuses to see you and you don’t know why.
- Your ex controls when and whether you see your children.
- Your child repeats things that sound like they’ve been coached.
- You’re being portrayed as dangerous or unloving to your own children.
- You’ve been through family court and the system isn’t protecting you.
- Contact gets cancelled at the last minute — again and again.
- You’re grieving your child even though they’re still alive.
- Professionals aren’t taking this seriously.
Talk to someone who understands.
No forms. No waiting list. Just a conversation.
Email us any time
Sometimes writing it down is the first step. Say as little as you like, everything you share is confidential, unless we have a legal or safeguarding duty to act.
‘At worst, it’s emotional violence.’
Sir Anthony Douglas, former Chief Executive of CAFCASS, describing parental alienation.
How we can help
- One-to-one coaching to recover from narcissistic abuse
- Somatic trauma support for the grief this causes
- In-person support groups — across the UK
- Zoom group support sessions with other survivors
- Help with trauma-informed parenting and self-regulating
Book a Clarity Call
Or call: 0333 242 5348
If you can’t book or call safely, email support@thepowerandcontrolwheel.co.uk
Understanding what’s happening to you
Parental alienation is one of the most damaging expressions of narcissistic abuse — and one of the most misunderstood. The National Institute of Medicine in the UK has found that the psychological impact of being cut off from your child is worse for mental wellbeing than losing a child to death. That is not a small statement. It reflects the reality that thousands of parents are living with every day.
The family courts in England and Wales have moved away from the term parental alienation because it is contested and ambiguous. What they do recognise — and what the Serious Crime Act 2015 already covers — are the specific, provable behaviours that make up this form of abuse: isolation, coercive control, false allegations, and the weaponisation of children. The Power and Control Wheel maps every one of those behaviours. Focusing on the behaviours, not the label, is what opens up legal routes and gets results.
People who alienate children from a parent do not only do that one thing. There is a wider pattern of narcissistic and controlling behaviour behind it. Understanding that pattern is one of the most important steps a targeted parent can take.
If you are in immediate danger, call 999.
PACW Support Line: 0333 242 5348 | National Domestic Abuse Helpline (women): 0808 2000 247 (free, 24 hours) | Men’s Advice Line: 0808 801 0327 | Galop (LGBTQ+) 0800 999 5428 | Samaritans: 116 123 | NHS 111 | Victim Support 08 08 16 89 111
USA — 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline | National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-7233