Jack’s story reflects the murky reality of parent-child estrangement, which is that it’s not always cut-and-dried who drops whom. His daughter made her disinterest in him apparent, but he was the one to actually suggest they stop seeing one another. This isn’t an uncommon situation, say experts: “For some estranged parents, there’s no one clear answer on who initiated it, and it’s quite messy,” says Blake. When asked who initiated the estrangement (with the options of “they did”, “I did”, “we cut contact with one another” and “I’m not sure”), 10% of respondents in Stand Alone’s community study chose one or more responses, showing that the direction is not always clear.
