February 12, 2021 by Ginger Gentile
Erasing Family is available for free on YouTube and Tubi
Film is a powerful tool to change perceptions and open hearts. The documentary Erasing Family is designed to change the views of two very divergent groups: adult children of high-conflict divorce who have been alienated from one parent and legislators to vote for default shared parenting legislation. For all members of NPO, this film can help them not only heal our laws, but their own families.
As a child of a high-conflict divorce, I directed Erasing Family because I understand what it is like to be put in the middle of a nasty custody battle and be asked to choose between one’s parents. Many children of divorce carry this trauma into adulthood and continue the blame game of aligning with one parent over the other. Erasing Family shows young adults working through this trauma and expanding their circle of love.
Parents aren’t to blame. The court system is where the fault lies. The adversarial nature of custody trials combined with local statutes that promote sole custody over joint custody means that parents are incentivized to “win”. . . at all costs. And the kids lose. Erasing Family exposes that our system can be improved with the adoption of default shared parenting as well as low cost mediation.
The pandemic has only increased the ability to alienate children from parents who are not granted custody following a high-conflict divorce. I made this film to shed light on the brokenness that our divorce courts are creating in the lives of young people and to initiate a conversation on how to create healthy co-parenting relationships following divorce.
I encourage you as a member of NPO to share the film–it is easy to do with a link via email, text or Facebook messenger–with a young person. Ask them to watch the film and give you their opinion. People love to give their opinion and you shouldn’t mention your own story or any other information on parental alienation. The film will do the work on its own. And if the film doesn’t speak to them, they will share it with a person who is suffering from erased parents.
You can also share it with legislators, lawyers, psychologists, anyone who works in family court. Ask if the local court can make it required viewing in parenting classes. See if your local AFCC chapter can host a (virtual) screening. You have the facts, the polling data (more than 90% of those polled support shared parenting, Erasing Family will perform that last step of opening up their hearts
Erasing Family premiered at the Lincoln Center in 2019 in a VIP screening sponsored by NPO and is currently available to watch on Tubi, Amazon, where it has a 4.9 star rating, Vimeo, iTunes, and YouTube. The film will be released on Amazon Prime starting February 14, 2021.
For more information, including a new Bill of Rights for kids of divorce, resources and press about the film visit www.erasingfamily.org We have also set up a free text line (865)4FAMILY for anyone who needs emotional support after watching the film. It is for kids and parents.