There are few experiences more heartbreaking than being the target parent in a Parental Alienation campaign--your own children are withheld from you and taught to despise you. Often these situations are so contentious that intervention by a court or mental health professional is not permitted or is ineffectual. However, according to psychologist Douglas C. Darnall, Ph.D., author of Divorce Casualties: Protecting Your Children from Parental Alienation, new research shows that there is often good cause for hope in these situations--"Spontaneous Reunification."

"Spontaneous Reunification" is when a child attempts to reconnect with a rejected parent on his or her own initiative. Darnall and his co-author, Barbara F. Steinberg, Ph.D., have identified parents and children who experienced reunification without any intervention from the courts or by a mental health professional. Darnall detailed how and why Spontaneous Reunification occurs and how such reunions can be encouraged on His Side with Glenn Sacks on December 19.

Also joining Glenn was Allen Green, author of the powerful new novel Blind Baseball: A Father's War. Green has experienced PAS and reunification firsthand.

To learn more about Parental Alienation Syndrome, see:

• Doug Darnall's Parental Alienation Directory

• His Side: The Heart of Darkness: Parental Alienation Syndrome (2/8/04)

• Glenn's commentary on Parental Alienation in the LaMusga Move-Away case

• SPARC's Parental Alienation Syndrome Archive

• His Side: The Lohstroh Case: Alienating Mother Pushes 10 Year-Old Boy to Kill Father

• His Side:  Allred vs. Tong--Is Parental Alienation Syndrome a Fathers' Rights Hoax?

• Jayne Major's Parents Who Have Successfully Fought Parental Alienation Syndrome.

• Glenn's column Many Divorced Dads Struggle to Remain in Their Children's Lives (Long Beach Times, 6/5/03)

• Steven Carlson's Parental Alienation Page.

• Glenn's co-authored column No Virtue in Virtual Visitation (Boston Globe, 7/12/02)