A Press Meet was held at the Press Club, Kolkata by Ayushman Initiative, commemorating Father’s Day. Ayushman is a non-profit organization working for Child Rights in the areas of Parental Alienation and Shared Parenting for children caught amidst marital disputes and custody battles. Accordingly, the theme of the Press Meet was “Father-Child Relationship” and the role of the Government and Judiciary in cases of Parental Alienation & Shared Parenting.
The event covered the following the areas –
-What Ayushman stands for and introduction of its board members
-Significance of Father’s day and the purpose of the Press Meet
-A Presentation detailing the “Objectives of Ayushman”
-Discussions on the existing scenario of Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS)
-Expectations from the Government and the Judiciary
-A brief insight into Father and Child relations
-Issued faced by Fathers with various Schools on the admission of their Children
This was followed by the release of a newsletter from Ayushman which happens to be the opening issue. The main objective of Ayushman as highlighted is ensuring the Right of a Child to have equal access to both Parents in cases of marital discord and custody issues. Other objectives include implementation of UNCRC guidelines on Child Rights across all levels in the country. Ayushman feels this can be achieved through sensitization of the Judiciary on Shared Parenting and also of the various Government bodies like DCPU, CWC, SCPCR, NCPCR and WCD. Keeping in mind the severity of the issue, Ayushman wants Parental Alienation to be recognized as Child Abuse as it denies the fundamental rights of a Child, of a Father and a human being.
In the goal towards “Shared Parenting”, a modern concept practiced in many developed countries, the event highlighted a burning issue of the society which is the denial of the Fathers their legitimate right of Parenting.
In most cases of marital disputes, Children are used as tools in the fight against the opposite Parent. With the Fathers being denied their legitimate rights of Parenting and the Children getting caught in the crossfire of Court battles, with each passing day, the Children are getting completely alienated from their Fathers and that too in a growth phase where they are gradually learning about the whole eco system of this world.
This highly insensitive, coercive and forcefully induced “Parental Alienation” of the Children in their prime growth phase are actually being subject to a form of Child Abuse and a disease called the “Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS)”. It may be noted that PAS has been recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a disease classified under ICD-11 in their meeting held in May 2019.
Another very important aspect discussed was the admission of Children to Schools without the knowledge of one of the Parents. As such, the Parent or the Father, as the case may be, remains in the dark about the School to which the Child has been admitted to and is not able to know and contribute to the various school activities and growth and development of the Child. Ayushman strongly argued implementation of universal standards in this regard in India as present in any developed country, whereby, it is compulsory for both Parents to be present for admission of the Child to School and also informed of the progress in School on a periodic basis.
Thus on Father’s Day, Ayushman has taken a strong initiative to highlight the plight of Fathers who are separated from their children and to make the society aware of this ever-growing social epidemic that is destroying the human capital and future of this country.
Through this Press Meet, Ayushman is hopeful of drawing the attention of the Government and the Judiciary to this unfortunate trend and requests all media houses to kindly be a part of this social engineering process to ensure the fundamental rights of Children as guaranteed under the UNCRC guidelines and as practiced in many developed countries as a modern outlook and trend.
Valuable inputs were shared by the guests of the evening Dr. Adrija Rehman Mukherjee, Consultant Physician from UK & Specialist in Family Medicine of Apollo groups and Md. Mammar Zaki, Lawyer of Calcutta High Court.
Overall, Ayushman sent out a strong message for a greater social cause of Father-Child relationship, whereby, it is fundamental to accept and recognize Shared Parenting and to prevent Fathers from being mere visitors in the life of a Child. This would ensure a more meaningful role of Fathers in the lives of their Children. It is also essential and extremely important to stop this Child Abuse of Parental Alienation and to nurture and foster the welfare of innocent Children and their future.
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