DONTUSEKIDS.COM
PROTECTING THE CHILDREN
Noncustodial parents in Michigan describe it as a “tragedy” that a public campaign which (intentionally or not) “poisons the minds of children against noncustodial parents” has been so widely tolerated. And they say it is now being taken to a new low in what they characterize as Attorney General Mike Cox’s “Parental Alienation Billboard Contest.”
The “Mike Cox Pay Kids Contest, ” as the Attorney General’s own site describes it, explicitly targets the children themselves. This contest, critics say, “breaks every rule there is” about how unwed parents should conduct themselves in the best interests of their children.
What they object to most is that children are “being recruited” to play an emotionally damaging role in what is--and should be kept as--”adult business.”
Mental health professionals appear to agree. One, Robert Brothers, a psychotherapist who has treated many children of divorce and their families, finds the “Billboard Contest” difficult to comprehend: “Everyone with divorce treatment training and experience knows that one of the most fundamental rules is that parents don’t discuss adult matters--and child support is certainly one of them--with the kids. These kids are often caught in the middle of such emotionally difficult situations as it is . . . to encourage their parents to lead them into this emotional minefield is something that I just cannot fathom.”
He notes that he polled a group of colleagues last week and their verdict was unanimous: “It’s just the wrong thing to do to the kids.” Observing that many children are without parents in their lives as a result of custodial parent interference, he questions “why is the Attorney General doing nothing about that?”