Writing to a child who won’t reply
You can keep the door open even when nobody’s answering it.
Write about ordinary life
Tulips opening in the garden. A tadpole you found in a jar. What you had for dinner. Ordinary, sensory detail — not the rejection itself, not an argument for why you should be back in touch. A letter that re-litigates the situation gives a child a reason not to read the next one.
Keep sending
Regularly, without pressure, without demanding a reply. If you can’t send them — because contact is blocked, or it isn’t safe to — keep copies. They’re still worth writing.
Experts disagree
Where experts disagree
This letter-writing technique is associated with Karen Woodall, a contested figure in the current UK debate over parental alienation practice — some family professionals consider her methods controversial. Independently of that debate, a 2023 study of adults who successfully reconnected with an alienated parent found persistent, low-pressure contact was one of the things that helped most — supporting the same underlying approach from a different, less contested source.