I am a journalist, writer and broadcaster ... lately I've been concentrating on music, I spent many years as a music critic and a travel writer ... I gave up my last editorship a while ago and started concentrating on my blog. I was also asked to join AirTV International as a co host of a new show called Postcard ...
It’s out! It’s not rough and it’s not rowdy! It’s sad and funny and reflective …
Nick Cave talks of ‘sitting in the kitchen and listening to new Dylan song …’
Have you heard Bob’s new album? It is stunning! Here (from the archives) Nick talks about his first hearing of Murder Most Foul….
In one of his regular letter to his fans, Nick Cave has written that he finds Dylan’s 17 minutes epic Murder Most Foul to be ‘extremely moving’.
He writes, ‘Murder Most Foul is a perplexing but beautiful song and, like many people, I have been extremely moved by it.
At the heart of this seventeen-minute epic is a terrible event, the assassination of JFK — a dark vortex that threatens to pull everything into it, just as it did in the USA back in 1963.
Whirling around the incident Dylan weaves a litany of loved things — music mostly — that reach into the darkness, in deliverance. As the song unfolds he throws down lifeline after lifeline, insistent and mantra-like, and we are lifted, at least momentarily, free of the event
Dylan’s relentless cascade of song references points to our potential as human beings to create beautiful things, even in the face of our own capacity for malevolence. ‘Murder Most Foul’ reminds us that all is not lost, as the song itself becomes a lifeline thrown into our current predicament.
The instrumentation is formless and fluid and very beautiful. Lyrically it has all the perverse daring and playfulness of many of Dylan’s great songs, but beyond that there is something within his voice that feels extraordinarily comforting, especially at this moment.
It is as though it has travelled a great distance, through stretches of time, full of an earned integrity and stature that soothes in the way of a lullaby, a chant, or a prayer.
As for whether this is the last time we will hear a new Bob Dylan song. I certainly hope not.
But perhaps there is some wisdom in treating all songs, or for that matter, all experiences, with a certain care and reverence, as if encountering these things for the last time.
It is as though it has travelled a great distance, through stretches of time, full of an earned integrity and stature that soothes in the way of a lullaby, a chant, or a prayer.
As for whether this is the last time we will hear a new Bob Dylan song. I certainly hope not.
But perhaps there is some wisdom in treating all songs, or for that matter, all experiences, with a certain care and reverence, as if encountering these things for the last time.
I say this not just in the light of the novel coronavirus, rather that it is an eloquent way to lead one’s life and to appreciate the here and now, by savouring it as if it were for the last time.
To have a drink with a friend as if it were the last time, to eat with your family as it were the last time, to read to your child as if it were the last time, or indeed, to sit in the kitchen listening to a new Bob Dylan song as if it were the last time.
It permeates all that we do with greater meaning, placing us within the present, our uncertain future, temporarily arrested.’
There are many things the first six months of 2020 have exposed:
1. Children's mental health and awareness is affected by Covid-192. Lock-down is affecting family life in general3. Such a small bug can bring most of the world to its knees.
4. Domestic violence is up because of lock-down.
Child abuse went up as families were forced into lock-down…
Yes, we now have to look at this brave new world with a different set of eyes.
But what else do we learn? So many things, I guess … climate control and how clean the air has become.
Black lives matter … but we should be also looking at the fact ALL lives matter. Yes it is a 2020 world! Clear vision, 20/20 vision.
But don’t forget this world is made up of different sections, different beliefs and different people. Yep, that’s what we have all around the world.
Difference.
But while all this happening, never ever forget the children … the real heart of the matter.
We must also spend time helping and supporting parents, grandparents and all other family members.
#dedicatetoeducate. dedicate educate something we all have to open our hearts to.
D.A.D.s and NAAP are sectors dedicated to educating a system. And there are various sectors of this system too. There are the obvious – judges, CAFCASS, social workers, lawyers and barristers.
ANDREW JOHN TEAGUE WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE LAW
Then there are others – psychologist, schools and experts.
The emotional and psychological harm that children are put through because of the family court process causes lifelong trauma.
Stay with me, the reason for this article will become clear.
Covid-19 has shown us how children’s mental health is suffering. The NSPCC has recently stated that there has been a quadrupling in contact from children due to stress and anxiety.
Children out of school for almost 14 weeks children and they have also been kept away from family members and their friends.
All this and more because of a tiny virus.
Lessons to be learned: Isolation.
It’s certainly not good for the children’s mental health and well-being. We hear of the concerns by others, some involved in the family courts.
Children are being forced away from, not just one parent, but a whole half all the family unit.
Well, what we can tell you is that there are an array of issues relating to mental health and well-being of children because of the inappropriate behaviour of parents and the failure of the lower courts.
It certainly seems that for decades it was easier to ignore than it was to learn the lessons.
Often these words are used and I’ll quote; ‘We are sorry, we learn the lessons … ‘ The famous words used by Social Services.
Sadly, these words are normally used after a serious incident involving children or young adults – death, serious injury, serious failings. But do they learn the lessons?
Sadly, not very often.
Yes, Covid-19 is here and it is showing us that lessons have to be learned.
A single child being used as a weapon, a pawn, leverage, whatever, in the family courts will certainly be emotionally and psychologically harmed.
Look at a single child who has been indoctrinated (brainwashed), denigrated , suffered adultification for a period of three months … well, it could take an expert three to six months to even begin to get a child to feel comfortable again. Enough to speak truthfully at least.
Children’s minds are being warped and twisted.
What is very interesting is no one has mentioned just how important schools are when children are going through post-separation. In many cases the safety net for these children is the school.
And teachers, it doesn’t take Einstein realise children are in despair.
2020, a Clear Vision – let’s make this a time to join together an address ALL problems.
The future is our children!
A child should be allowed to dream, have fantasies, think about what they want to be when they grow up. They should be full of joy and happiness.
Dedicate, educate – something we know will take time but at least we are looking to the children’s future.
Unless there is risk of significant harm, then children should share time with both parents, with both family members.
How traumatic is it for a child? How psychologically abusing is it for a child being forced to choose?
The non-accidental psychological injury of a child/children is abuse. Parental alienation is abuse. The child-splitting is abuse. The courts should not tolerate it!
But, sadly, we find the courts actually promote and reward it.
If the injuries were visible would they tolerate it? Certainly NOT!
My next article will be about teenagers and how things hit them.
The Manchester boy who never came home … brother Allen Bennett talks openly again.
On June 16th 1964, four days after his twelfth birthday, Keith was going to spend the night at our gran’s house, my mother was going to bingo and she walked with Keith to the zebra crossing at busy Stockport road.
Once he had crossed and they had waved goodbye to each other they went on their way, Keith was only a few streets away from the safety of gran’s house.
Keith would have passed a small side street (Dallas Street) that led through to Westmoreland Street where Brady lived. It is now known that Hindley used to park in that street waiting for Brady to join her.
Somewhere along the very familiar route Keith took to gran’s house, the vehicle with Hindley driving and Brady in the back pulled up alongside Keith. Keith was enticed into the vehicle by Hindley and later climbed into the back of the vehicle after being persuaded to do so by Brady. Hindley drove to Saddleworth Moor, where Keith was led into the moor, sexually assaulted, murdered and then buried.
It is, and always will be, very hard to accept that later that night the rest of us slept safe and sound in our beds. It was not until the following morning that we all discovered Keith had disappeared. When my gran got to my mother’s house the following morning, I heard the question ‘Where is Keith?’
Neither my gran nor my mother had a telephone at home, my mother thought Keith had arrived at my gran’s, my gran had thought that Keith had changed his mind and had decided to stay at home.
I will never forget the confusion of that morning that quickly turned to complete panic and terror. We grew up with the terror, thoughts and fears of that morning and it was to be over 20 years until we discovered, or rather had confirmed, that Keith had been a victim of Brady and Hindley. Something the police and us as a family had always thought to be the case.
Keith’s ‘imagine’ was all around us but Keith was nowhere to be seen in reality.
Can I ask you to please, once again, spare a thought for Keith?
Denied the life he should have lived and all he could have been.
Dylan, who often portrays some of the most macho characters in modern music, has revealed how his own songs reduced him to tears on Broadway.
Conor McPherson’s musical, Girl from the North Country, has always received praise for its off-beat choice of Dylan’s songs – including Slow Train, Is Your Love in Vain? and Sweetheart Like You.
But the ultimate accolade came when Bob – whose alter egos have been the dust-bowl wanderer, the travelling troubadour, Billy the Kid’s bean can-counting sidekick, the gun-slinger, the horse riding civil war veteran, the gnarled lifer and the river boat captain – admitted he wept as he sat in the stalls of the Belasco Theatre in New York.
Bob has been receiving as much publicity in 2020 as he did when his career first took off in the 1960s.
But his heart-felt admittance of his tears of pride has probably done more to fire up the hearts of his fans new and old than ever.
This is what he said in a New York Times interview in the run-up to the release of his new album, Rough and Rowdy Ways.
“Sure, I’ve seen it and it affected me. I saw it as an anonymous spectator, not as someone who had anything to do with it. I just let it happen. The play had me crying at the end. I can’t even say why. When the curtain came down, I was stunned. I really was. Too bad Broadway shut down because I wanted to see it again.”
Ol’ Bob, coming up 80, also admitted there are songs he really wished he had written, particularly some by his old mates the Rolling Stones. He said he would have liked to have written the Goats Head Soup centrepiece, Angie as well as Ventilator Blues and Wild Horses.
He also gave a rare incite into his songs and their meaning. He talked openly about his 1971 work of baroque genius, When I Paint my Masterpiece. Unusually, he waxed lyrical saying. “I think this song has something to do with the classical world, something that’s out of reach. Some place you’d like to be beyond your experience. Something that is so supreme and first-rate that you could never come back down from the mountain. That you’ve achieved the unthinkable.
“That’s what the song tries to say, and you’d have to put it in that context,” he continued. “In saying that though, even if you do paint your masterpiece, what will you do then? Well, obviously you have to paint another masterpiece. So it could become some kind of never-ending cycle, a trap of some kind. The song doesn’t say that, though.”
He opened up about his band too and had only good things to say about guitarist Charlie Sexton. Sexton began playing in Dylan’s band in 1999, leaving in 2002 and returning in 2009. He said: “There aren’t any of my songs that Charlie doesn’t feel part of and he’s always played great with me.
“He’s not a show-off guitar player, although he can do that if he wants, He’s very restrained in his playing but can be explosive when he wants to be. It’s a classic style of playing. Very old school. He inhabits a song rather than attacking it. He’s always done that with me.”
And he talked about the deaths of John Prine and Little Richard.”Little Richard was my shining star and guiding light back when I was only a little boy. Both of those guys were triumphant in their work, Little Richard I grew up with. And he was there before me. Lit a match under me. Tuned me into things I never would have known on my own. So I think of him differently. John came after me. So it’s not the same thing. I acknowledge them differently.”
Bob also touched on his own mortality when he said: “ Oh, that’s the big question, isn’t it? How does anybody do it? Your mind and body go hand in hand. There has to be some kind of agreement. I like to think of the mind as spirit and the body as substance. How you integrate those two things, I have no idea. I just try to go on a straight line and stay on it, stay on the level.”
Dylan confirmed he has been sheltered in his Malibu home for the past few months and said his new creativity was helped by proximity to the Pacific Ocean. He said: “It’s a cure for something that I don’t even know I have. A fix of some kind. It’s like a spiritual thing.”
About the coronavirus pandemic Dylan was a bit wary but said: “I think it’s a forerunner of something else to come.
“It’s an invasion for sure, and it’s widespread, but biblical? You mean like some kind of warning sign for people to repent of their wrongdoings? That would imply that the world is in line for some sort of divine punishment.
“Extreme arrogance can have some disastrous penalties. Maybe we are on the eve of destruction. There are numerous ways you can think about this virus. I think you just have to let it run its course.”
As predicted Dylan’s new album is to be released on 19th June.
Dylan’s grand sweep of our history is keeping on keeping on with the art work for his new album cover.
The photograph on the cover of Rough and Rowdy Ways, was taken more than half a century ago by a bloke from Salisbury, a tiny cathedral city in Wiltshire, England, with a population of less than 40,302.
Ian Berry, a photojournalist of some renown, admits he doesn’t know a lot about Dylan and his music. But he said: “A record cover for Dylan is a great compliment.”
The Dylan cover picture was taken by Ian in 1964. It shows a well-dressed couple dancing in a club – a man leans over a jukebox behind them.
The historic photograph has all the romance of the hedonistic Sixties which gave rise to Dylan’s first great chronicling of American history, a borrowing and rewriting of songs and sounds in the great folk tradition, presented in the fractured voice of the Apalacians, old blues men and folk heroes.
Ian took the picture at an old underground club on Cable Street in Whitechapel in East London. He had been commissioned to get images of black culture in England. “I was working quickly, and in very poor light, shooting away with a 35-millimetre camera,” he says. “I knew at some point I’d have to leave because I hadn’t asked permission to be there.”
After about 15 or 20 minutes , he says people started throwing beer bottles at him.
Rough and rowdy ways, so to speak!
Today, Berry’s vast archive is controlled by the Magnum Photos agency. The agency previously made a deal with the Dylan camp for Bruce Davidson’s 1959 photograph of a young couple making out in a car, which appeared on the cover of 2009’s Together Through Life.
Although Ian isn’t that familiar with Dylan’s music, his wife is a big fan. “She’s more enthusiastic than I am,” he said. “But of course I’ve regularly listened to ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’ and so forth, but they are her records rather than mine.”
Dylan is possibly the most prolific artist alive. He has made 38 studio albums, 91 singles, 40 music videos, many films, 11 books, a Nobel Prize, the American Medal of Freedom from US President Obama and has performed thousands of live concerts.
He has been the hokey, the mountain man, the rock god, the Southern preacher man, gospel performer, country god, the cowboy, the wild child, the Lothario, the drunk, the addict, the river boat captain, the general, the old blues man, the hippy, Elvis, the crooner, the punk, the eccentric… his guises are as many as his musical abilities.
The title Rough and Rowdy Ways is a homage to Jimmy Rogers.
Deadly price of fighting the family courts and your ex to spend time with your child…
Sadly, for the last four years myself and many others have been in the dismal position of witnessing parents in trauma.
We spend much of our time helping these poor, unfortunate parents, grandparents and other family members survive the crisis they are in.
Day in day out, night after night, we spend hours helping and supporting members of D.A.D.s and NAAP.
A team, that’s what we have. A team dedicated to helping others … but it is worth remembering that our admins have also had to struggle with their own issues and yet they spend time helping others.
And generally, the sense of desperation we all find is caused by the family courts, yes the courts that are supposed to be there to help you, not destroy you.
Family courts across the world.
Tragically one of the issues we find time and time again is suicidal tendencies.
Yes, the Secret Family Courts, operating behind closed doors – which are there to supposedly protect our children – in so many cases are driving us to our deaths.
The truth is that the family courts in their secret world actually protect the abusers. Abuse is a strong word and laws are needed to prevent it.
So, what happens when the lawmakers become the law breakers?
They become the perpetrators of non-accidental, psychological injury of children.
And that has to be a crime.
For decades parents have dredged family courts in search of help but are too often met with abuse. Yes, that word again.
It is difficult to physically reveal the signs of this abuse of children, there are no scars… no bruises.
Can you imagine for a moment being a parent battling against this kind of a system, battling for what children want?
And that’s contact with the loving, caring absent mum or dad, grandparents and family.
Could we even try to imagine what a child is going through psychologically
Andrew John Teague
Struggle to deal with the trauma behind the Family Court doors. There is no help, support or guidance and many have to do their best alone along the way.
Not the best thing for any parent when already grieving for their children who are still alive. Bewildered parents struggling to deal with any simple everyday task, struggling with depression anxiety stress and PTSD.
I have no idea what they’re going through mentally.
But the reason behind it all is fear.
Many parents have lost their mental health.
Can you imagine being a parent fighting in the family courts for what your children want while going through serious mental health issues.
Can you imagine being a parent standing in a court with your ex-partner, with their lawyers, court advisors and many others stacked against you?
While all along you have no help at all.
Because of this many parents have suicidal thoughts … they feel is the only way to eradicate the pain and suffering.”
This is why we dedicate our time to helping others.
I myself I’ve been through the draconian barbaric Family Court process. Although being successful and coming out the other side I have continued to stand by vow I made.
My vow is to stand up for every child going through trauma too. And this means saving the lives of their parents – and indeed it has come to that many many times.
The hardest thing we face is the not knowing if there’s a parent out there desperately needing our help.
This is why we post on social media, we share, we comment, we do everything we can to reach out.
The added fear of all this is the worry that people don’t come back to us.
Tragically, this has led too many poor souls being lost along the way.
Many parents feel powerless, deep in despair and trauma. Parents left feeling and believing they have left their children down.
With some people there are the signs that they may be suicidal but with others it is difficult to predict or guess they are even considering taking their lives.
They have put on a front.
They do this because they fear what the family courts will do. If you are suicidal the courts are likely to make seeing your children even more difficult.
This Catch 22 pushes and drives absent parents in to mental health problems and the courts use those mental health issues against them!
Wow! Barbaric. Draconian.
We are very lucky to reach many in time to help and support and guide them.
Sadly though, some fall along the way.
We often get to you hear about parents ‘lost’ along the way through social media. And we do sift through social media to gather as much information as we can so welfare checks can be done.
Many times myself and my admins have helped police to do these checks. Things like telephone number address name check ins any information we can get lost their social media profile helps. But it can become a hell of a task if the parents profile is in lock-down.
When a profile is locked down we gather what we can and forward it to the police. Sadly though the family court secret doors are never knocked on by the authorities. It gives you the sense that life is worthless inside there.
Heartbreaking… oh yes, I’m not ashamed to say I have shed tears.
I myself have in more than four years saved hundreds of lives helped and supported thousands upon thousands of parents, grandparents and other family members.
All this is a joint effort with our relentless admins.
I have the greatest respect for our amazing team.
What overwhelms me is the amount of members who also reach out to help. It amazes me also shows me the humanity in the world.
When a parent posts ‘I’m feeling down’, ‘I’ve had enough’ then a barrage of messages of support flood in.
That to me is truly amazing when you consider they are parents who are struggling with their own demons too.
There are so many things that I have learned along the way, so many things that inspire me to continue to save lives and save our kids.
Next time you hear about a suicide, just wonder for a moment what pushed that person over the edge?
It has been truly heartbreaking writing this article because it floods back memories and pain of so many.
Sadly, for the last four years myself and many others have been in the dismal position of witnessing parents in trauma.
We spend much of our time helping these poor, unfortunate parents, grandparents and other family members survive the crisis they are in.
Day in day out, night after night, we spend hours helping and supporting members of D.A.D.s and NAAP.
A team, that’s what we have. A team dedicated to helping others … but it is worth remembering that our admins have also had to struggle with their own issues and yet they spend time helping others.
And generally, the sense of desperation we all find is caused by the family courts, yes the courts that are supposed to be there to help you, not destroy you.
Family courts across the world.
Tragically one of the issues we find time and time again is suicidal tendencies.
Yes, the Secret Family Courts, operating behind closed doors – which are there to supposedly protect our children – in so many cases are driving us to our deaths.
The truth is that the family courts in their secret world actually protect the abusers. Abuse is a strong word and laws are needed to prevent it.
So, what happens when the lawmakers become the law breakers?
They become the perpetrators of non-accidental, psychological injury of children.
And that has to be a crime.
For decades parents have dredged family courts in search of help but are too often met with abuse. Yes, that word again.
It is difficult to physically reveal the signs of this abuse of children, there are no scars… no bruises.
Can you imagine for a moment being a parent battling against this kind of a system, battling for what children want?
And that’s contact with the loving, caring absent mum or dad, grandparents and family.
Could we even try to imagine what a child is going through psychologically?
This was written by:
“Struggle to deal with the trauma behind the Family Court doors. There is no help, support or guidance and many have to do their best alone along the way.
Not the best thing for any parent when already grieving for their children who are still alive. Bewildered parents struggling to deal with any simple everyday task, struggling with depression anxiety stress and PTSD.
I have no idea what they’re going through mentally.
But the reason behind it all is fear.
Many parents have lost their mental health.
Can you imagine being a parent fighting in the family courts for what your children want while going through serious mental health issues.
Can you imagine being a parent standing in a court with your ex-partner, with their lawyers, court advisors and many others stacked against you?
While all along you have no help at all.
Because of this many parents have suicidal thoughts … they feel is the only way to eradicate the pain and suffering.”
This is why we dedicate our time to helping others.
I myself I’ve been through the draconian barbaric Family Court process. Although being successful and coming out the other side I have continued to stand by vow I made.
My vow is to stand up for every child going through trauma too. And this means saving the lives of their parents – and indeed it has come to that many many times.
The hardest thing we face is the not knowing if there’s a parent out there desperately needing our help.
This is why we post on social media, we share, we comment, we do everything we can to reach out.
The added fear of all this is the worry that people don’t come back to us.
Tragically, this has led too many poor souls being lost along the way.
Many parents feel powerless, deep in despair and trauma. Parents left feeling and believing they have left their children down.
With some people there are the signs that they may be suicidal but with others it is difficult to predict or guess they are even considering taking their lives.
They have put on a front.
They do this because they fear what the family courts will do. If you are suicidal the courts are likely to make seeing your children even more difficult.
This Catch 22 pushes and drives absent parents in to mental health problems and the courts use those mental health issues against them!
Wow! Barbaric. Draconian.
We are very lucky to reach many in time to help and support and guide them.
Sadly though, some fall along the way.
We often get to you hear about parents ‘lost’ along the way through social media. And we do sift through social media to gather as much information as we can so welfare checks can be done.
Many times myself and my admins have helped police to do these checks. Things like telephone number address name check ins any information we can get lost their social media profile helps. But it can become a hell of a task if the parents profile is in lock-down.
When a profile is locked down we gather what we can and forward it to the police. Sadly though the family court secret doors are never knocked on by the authorities. It gives you the sense that life is worthless inside there.
Heartbreaking… oh yes, I’m not ashamed to say I have shed tears.
I myself have in more than four years saved hundreds of lives helped and supported thousands upon thousands of parents, grandparents and other family members.
All this is a joint effort with our relentless admins.
I have the greatest respect for our amazing team.
What overwhelms me is the amount of members who also reach out to help. It amazes me also shows me the humanity in the world.
When a parent posts ‘I’m feeling down’, ‘I’ve had enough’ then a barrage of messages of support flood in.
That to me is truly amazing when you consider they are parents who are struggling with their own demons too.
There are so many things that I have learned along the way, so many things that inspire me to continue to save lives and save our kids.
Next time you hear about a suicide, just wonder for a moment what pushed that person over the edge?
It has been truly heartbreaking writing this article because it floods back memories and pain of so many.
A part of what we do is #dedicatetoeducate. As much as awareness is needed so is the desperate need to educate people AND the family courts.
A part of what we do is #dedicatetoeducate. As much as awareness is needed so is the desperate need to educate people AND the family courts.
The Heart of Hope Family Tree is growing stronger roots despite the coronavirus crisis.
Andrew John Teague, from D.A.D.s and NAAP, is pushing on with the tree campaign. He said: “The virus is hitting a lot of events and many people have been left disappointed – however, the heart of hope event will survive one way or the other.
“The idea is one heart for each child – there’s no cost and we can give you the heart colour you choose.
“I only put children’s first name and the tree and there are seven different colour hearts and five different colour ribbons. I don’t put any siblings names together to avoid any controversy. No two children from the same family are together – but they are all on the tree and they all share the same problem, absent or controlling parents.
And the questions any parent wants to ask I will write on a huge banner and when this virus crisis is over, I’ll go to London with the questions and take the hearts with me.”
April 25 was to be Parental Alienation Awareness Day in the UK, USA, Canada and Bermuda and many other parts of the world.
This awareness day was part of the global campaign over parental alienation.
The campaign says – and the Preservation Society wholeheartedly agrees – parental alienation needs to be a recognised form of child abuse and psychiatric harm punishable within the criminal justice system.
‘Both children and parents have a right to private and family life, so why should one party be enabled to interfere with those rights?’
But due to the absence of a real definition PA has been characterised by CAFCASS as: ‘Constantly badmouthing or belittling the other parent; limiting contact; forbidding discussion about children; creating the impression that the other parent dislikes or does not love the child’.
Andrew put it this way: “One of the most important things that needs to be addressed is the children’s emotional and psychological health and well-being. “Of course, everyone looks at safeguarding children from different forms of harm. “Forms of harm like physical, sexual and neglect. “More often than not the emotional and psychological impact on the children is due to controlling parents and family courts. “Children don’t simply throw away a parent, grandparent or whole half of a family. This is systematically and strategically done by bad parents (grandparents new partners) and family courts.
“Children who went through it a decade ago are now knocking on the mental health door (suicidal self harming alcohol and drug abuse failing in the simplest tasks criminal and sex exploited and more).
“And so the patterns continue – and just like today’s children, tomorrow others will be knocking on the mental health door. That means more young people run the risk of suicide. “Children every year being dragged through the family courts and getting their future mental health shot to pieces. They are poisoned, not simply just by a bad parents, but in a big way by the whole family court process. “Cafcass will do in 15/20 minutes what a well-trained child psychologist would take weeks to do. “What makes Cafcass so amazingly special? I will tell you – being left to their own devices, to do what they want and answer to no one. Accountability zero!
“What special training do Cafcass undertake? I shall tell you none! Here we have untrained used-up social workers, the failures of the rat race, playing god with children’s lives. “Many many parents are thrown to the side directly because of Cafcass and social workers, because it’s easier to target the targeted parent and protect the abuser.
“A good start would be to disband Cafcass and completely remove them from the family courts certainly keep them well away from children. “Kids – everyone talks kids but really how many actually give a toss about the kids? “Kids are for life to enjoy being kids not pushed to the bitterest of ends sadly very sadly too many times this happens “Children need us everyday to save them from the tomorrows.”
The tickle Tatler … a little of what you fancy (even if you can’t afford it!) stops you being all at sea…
The sun is shining, the ocean is full, the cliffs are white-washed and the beach glistens with diamonds … and there is a glimmer of light around the tyrannical edges of lock-down. So let’s see what there is beside the sea if you have a couple of million to spend on a new home!
As a recipient of abuse caused by the actions of an alienating former spouse, we understand what the term “victim” truly is.
One day, we were normal and happy and secure in our lives and suddenly, we find ourselves embroiled in a battle to enjoy the comfort and love of our children.
Certainly, this is not something we ever imagined would enter our lives, but it did and not without severe consequences.
Suddenly and without warning, we find ourselves in a constant state of fear, heartache and depression as the looming battle draws ever closer to us.
There would be days and nights when we would feel mentally and emotionally incapacitated and wanted nothing more than to rest.
However, this was not possible because of the vicious attacks that were mounted against us by the one person we thought we could trust.
It was not our fault that we chose to seek happiness with someone who could never give us the love and loyalty we sought. These people disguise themselves with such cleverness and deceive all in their path.
Not only did they portray themselves in a normal and trustworthy fashion to us, they did the same to others including, their friends, their attorneys, the family court judges and most significantly, our children.
They betrayed us all through their lies and manipulation and they were believed by all.
We know the truth because, we are living the nightmare each and every day. We are the ones who are forced to endure the pain and suffering they inject into our lives and many times, powerless to stop them.
Even, our closest family members and friends stand in wonderment as they see us go through the process of alienation and ponder if we are not the guilty ones.
Many times, we are not. We did not choose to stop seeing our children. We did not choose to stop attending their school functions nor, did we choose to stop being in their lives.
These are things that the alienating parent caused.
Make no mistake, you and your children are the victims in this madness of parental alienation. Do not allow the voices or opinions of others who do not know the facts to convince you otherwise. Unless, you were mentally, emotionally, physically abusive to your former spouse or child in the most extreme ways, you are not at fault and did not did not deserve to lose your children!
This is why we must fight back with every fibre of our being. You can never throw up the white flag of surrender and must continue to do all that is necessary to be in your children’s lives again. Sometimes, you will have victory earlier than others. Then again, it may take more time than you ever expected or thought you could endure, but you will.
When the day comes and all your efforts are finally realized in fruition, you will no longer be the victim.
However, this is when your former spouse and their enablers will suddenly cry foul. They will say you caused all the problems they now suffer and will place blame upon your shoulders.
Do not be swayed into a false sense of remorse for what you knew had to be done in the effort to be in your child’s life again.
The alienator felt no pity for you. In fact, they many times took great pleasure in seeing you consumed with emotional pain and suffering. When the day arrives and the tables are turned, show compassion for the sake of your child, but do not feel sorry for them.
Your alienator put themselves into this position because, of their incessant need of revenge. Do not listen to the voice of your former spouse as, they scream into your ears and say, it is your fault and they are the victim. This is nothing more than the act of self-victimization.
It’s Mental Health Awareness Week, an attempt to get the nation talking about kindness and mental health.
A young woman who has been to hell and back sent this from her hospital ward … she wrote it 17 days before her 21st birthday and it is a true story of success giving hope to millions of others who suffer with mental health problems
For so many years I severely struggled with mental illness and the way I feel and look at myself as an individual compared to everyone else.
I never once thought I would be able to genuinely enjoy life, and be happy and satisfied with who I am. The internal struggles I hid from the world became so severe that they finally began to show, and I self-medicated and abused so many different things to try and put them back to their hiding places.
Since being in therapy, this is the first day that I have woken up and truly loved myself and told myself I CAN and will get better.
I turn 21 in 17 days and I am more than determined to get out and be able to truly enjoy myself and who I am.
I am so thankful for those who have supported me from day one and have helped me during my recovery. Believe me, I am still scared, and the outside world is going to challenge me in so many ways but I know in my heart that I seriously deserve a better life and I am going to work so hard to achieve that goal.
Everyone can get better, everyone can love themselves and truly learn self acceptance. I feel nothing but love, positivity and guidance for anyone struggling like myself and I know that there is always sunshine behind rain, and there is absolutely beauty beyond pain.
I love you all, and thank you for helping me during my recovery and hope you all know how blessed I am to have such an amazing group of people supporting me. XXX
