Brothers and Custody Battles at Work

CANADA/DIVORCE - In the city of Mississauga yesterday an 18-year-old older brother made the unprecedented request to be granted custody of his two younger brothers in hopes of ending a decade of family "warfare".

"My concerns are not as to (which parent) is 'right' or 'wrong'... but how to bring back some sanity to our family," says the teenager, who will soon turn 19, in his 8-page affidavit. "My brothers and I are close. I think we have become closer with all the conflict. I am determined to make sure they are not harmed."

The teen argues his parents' ongoing conflict has turned his siblings young lives into "subjects of some social engineering experiment" which is harming their psyche.

"My brothers have ended up being committed in a hospital against their wishes, committed to live somewhere they do not want to live, exposed to psychiatrists who have attempted to carry out experimental therapy with them at the risk of severe harm to them, and if their lawyer will not do anything to stop this, I believe I have the right as their brother to be as concerned about them as each of my parents," he says in his affidavit.

At its core the case is about parental alienation with the warring parents using their children as weapons against each other. Its complex, its painful, and it doesn't need to happen.

His 12 and 14-year-old brothers are "at risk of serious harm," and he's prepared to put his education on hold, move out of his father's subsidized apartment and apply for welfare – or sue his parents for child support – so he can raise his brothers and "end the conflict."

The two boys have been in foster care since last December, after they declined to participate in what the older brother considers "voodoo science" – a controversial family workshop by United States parental alienation expert Randy Rand – and then refused to return to live with their mother, who currently is supposed to have custody, but they were placed in foster care when a doctor became concerned about their dangerous sense of despair.

The father claims the mother has been physically abusing the boys. The eldest son agrees.

The mother claims the father is trying to brainwash the children and accused him of an orchestrated campaign to turn the boys against her.

The teen said he's done "a lot of homework now on `parental alienation' and recognizes that he has to fight for his brothers on his own because his father has been "tainted" by the court proceedings.

"I am almost 19 years of age. Neither my mother nor my father ought to be able to prevent me from taking all the necessary measures to protect my brothers and present my own plan (for raising them.)"

A ruling on the teen's request is expected April 20th.

See Also:
Divorce, Custody Battles and Brainwashing the Kids
Domestic Abuse in the USA
Messy divorces costly, bankrupting couples
Child Support for non-biological kids?