Single mothers by another's choice, via abandonment

Dealing with Abandonment Trauma via Bella Online

Rejection is a common emotion for those who have been abandoned by a parent. Children do not understand how an individual who is “supposed” to love them based upon a parental relationship doesn’t love them enough to 1) stay with them, and/or 2) keep in touch with them. I immediately think of Bernice in the film, Hope Floats. She follows her father to the car after a visit, suitcase in hand, crying uncontrollably that her father needs her and must take her with him. He refuses, even locking her out of the car, and drives away, refusing to even look at her, as she stands at the edge of the street, screaming after him. Her mother is left to deal with her child’s unbearable pain. Guilt and blame are common. Children will go over everything they have done in their short lives trying to find the one thing that was unforgivable. They will construct entire scenarios of how their actions did irreparable damage to the love of their parent. They will convince themselves that they are unlovable and that they deserve to be abandoned by a parent – can you imagine?