I’ve found these terms helpful in trying to understand the challenges I face as a parent who has had to wage a legal battle to maintain even marginal custody and visitation rights to my daughter.

• Gatekeeper Parent - A parent who obsessively insists on making all decisions regarding their child or children
• Parental Alienation - A form of child abuse where a parent uses their child or children as a weapon to hurt the other parent by denying them visitation or custody
• Hostile Aggressive Parenting - Similar to Parental Alienation, another form child abuse where a parent uses their child or children as a weapon to hurt the other parent, by interfering with their relationship(s) with their child or children, by various means, such as forcing the child or children to change their surname
• Unilateral Divorce - When one parent decides they want a divorce without having any legal basis for doing so