About the Author

Diana Shepherd, CDFA®

Diana Shepherd has over 30 years of experience as a marketing, branding, SEO, copywriting, editing, and publishing expert. As Content Director for Family Lawyer Magazine, Divorce Magazine, and Divorce Marketing Group, she oversees all corporate content development and frequently creates SEO-friendly videos, podcasts, and copy for family law and financial firms. The Co-Founder of Divorce Magazine and Divorce Marketing Group, Diana is an award-winning editor, published author, and a nationally recognized expert on divorce, remarriage, finance, and stepfamily issues. She has written hundreds of articles geared towards both family law professionals and divorcing people, and she has both performed and taught on-page SEO for 20+ years. Diana spent eight years as the Marketing Director for the Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts® (IDFA®), and she has been a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst® since 2006. While at IDFA, she wrote, designed, and published The IDFA Marketing Guide, and she also created seminars for CDFA professionals to present to family lawyers (approved for CLE), as well as to separated and divorcing individuals. She has represented both DMG and IDFA at industry conferences and events across North America, and she has given marketing as well as divorce financial seminars at many of those conferences.

6 Comments

  1. 1
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    Desiree Harris

    I would like some help if you can. I live in Oregon in a smaller town, Klamath Falls. I am not from here but have been living here for 7 years. 4 years ago I divorced my ex husband and asked to leave from here and move back home with my two children to which my children were taken from me and given to my ex husband. I am no longer the custodial parent he is but I have 50/50 parenting time. He and his family are trying to alienate me from my children’s lives, trying to prevent me from going to their school (even though it is in the divorce decree that I am allowed) trying to tell dr’s offices that I can’t know anything (even though it is in the divorce decree that I can) and much much more. The court system here is awful and hard to deal with. I have tried many times to bring up these problems and have gotten no where. I am not a bad mom I haven’t done drugs, no alcohol, nothing in my past and I mean nothing. I have learned that they are taking rights from those who ask to leave from this town. My problem is that now my Ex has a power trip where he thinks that he can stop me from being in their lives and he is making my life a living hell doing it. Because I was a stay at home mom and now I am not the custodial parent he has told people I am a horrible mom and people believe him because why not I don’t have my kids, I can’t even take them to the doctor…. how can I get the courts to see what what he is doing is harming my children. My son is 6 and tells me all the time that he doesn’t want to go to his dads house but they will not listen to him because he is too young. How can I get help with this issue you speak of?

    Reply
  2. 2
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    Michael Pratta

    Your article was very informative. My ex-wife has been diagnosed with a narcissistic personality disorder. I have a 17 year old son with developmental disabilities, and unfortunately, his mother has turned him against me.

    He has lived with me over the past 2 years. I have been working with a psychiatrist and a counselor to help manage my son, and to help him develop strategies to express his feelings in a more acceptable way. He has responded in a very positive way, and has matured emotionally and behaviorally over the last 2 years. Unfortunately his mother has made our lives miserable. She has dragged me in/out of court attempting to convince the court that I was poisoning him against her. None of his providers would support such accusations. Now she has successfully turned my son against me by undermining my parenting, including the structure I have created in my home.

    I am going back to court on Friday, August 7. In court papers, my ex-wife has included recordings of conversations between my son and me. Since my son and me were the only ones present during the recordings, my son must have recorded these conversations, and turned them over to his mother. I am deeply saddened by these events, and my plan is to highlight how my ex-wife is using my developmentally disabled son to secretly record our conversations.

    I live in NJ. How do you think the court will react to my ex’s decision to include secret recordings generated by my minor age son?

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  3. 3
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    Antionette

    Good day,
    I live in Massachusetts and Im divorced from my ex-spouse since November of 2015. I didn’t notice any relations with parental alienation since I started doing research. The first occurrence happened in December of 2015. I received an e-mail explaining that If I didn’t sign the divorce papers, I would not be allowed to see my 16 year old son. I summed it up as the ex being a jerk! Recently within the last two months, I have noticed less communication via phone and e-mail by the ex. I have written him on numerous accounts. I even have on voice recorder from his voice message that if I was the ex ” he blocked me”. He has told my son that he will not be discussing any parental issues with me and that if I need anything about our son I can ask our son! The ex spouse has also told my son that a joint custody isn’t needed. I’m beyond words ! How can a person do this? I also have spoken with the ex spouse first shirt( as he is in the military) and nothing has been done. When the divorce was being finalized I asked the ex spouse to come up with a jc agreement and his remarks were ” we can make up one no need to add one”. Since then I have been dealing with this nonsense. I have retained a family lawyer in California( where my son is living) What can be done about parental alienation?

    Thank you

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  4. 4
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    Jon

    Parental Alienation is not recognized by the American Psychological Association, nor the DSM-5. This “syndrome” is rolled out by parents fighting custody battles because it is neither provable nor disprovable, much like mental abuse.

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    1. 4.1
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      Jenni

      Spoken like a true alienator. Deny the pain this causes. If it were done to you, you would see that you do not need an APA acknowledgment for something to be real, and it is most certainly provable. When you ask a child to explain why they hate their parent and the response sounds too adult for the child to have thought up on their own, using words the child never has used before, it is obvious, it is provable. Alienators work to suppress the evidence of it.

      Reply
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    Trisha Ellis

    I am an alienated mom. It’s been severe for 7 years. I haven’t seen her or spoken to her. Ever time I ‘ve tried to they lied to me, would hide her made her fear me and changed her phone number multiple times. School teacher’s told me I was talked horribly about and I was threatened. I believe my child was brainwashed and threatened too. Or just financially bought. I am afraid to do anymore last time I did anything her dad said he would make her hate me more. I am scared. Thank you!

    Reply

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