RIP Jayne Major PH.D

Jayne A. Major, Ph.D. 1938-2012

 'Breakthrough Parenting' Author and Pioneer in Parental Alienation Education Transformed the Lives of Countless Parents and Children Over the Course of Her 50-year Career

It is with heavy hearts that we announce that Jayne Major passed away on March 14^th in Los Angeles at the age of 74 after a valiant struggle with cancer. She is best known as the author of the acclaimed book Breakthrough Parenting: Moving Your Family from Struggle to Cooperation. Dr. Major was an active speaker and educator and personally taught parenting classes based on her Breakthrough Parenting methods continuously for 50 weeks a year over the last 30 years. Through her books and teaching, Dr. Major created famous phrases that are now in our everyday language, such as "catch them being good," "teachable moment" or "give them a gift in the way they can receive it."


Her Breakthrough Parenting methods revolutionized parenting education around the world by creating the "manual" for raising children. She taught over 20,000 families on how to successfully raise their children. Her methods have been used around the world.

Dr. Major was the owner of the non-profit, Breakthrough Parenting Services, Inc. In 2011, She founded a new company with other professionals, Major Family Services, Inc., for the purpose of continuing her legacy through the teaching of her new curriculum and publishing of her new and revised writings.  

"Dr. Major positively affected the lives of over 20,000 families and reunited parents with their children under very difficult circumstances. She was admired by many. Through Major Family Services we will continue her legacy to educate everyone in what Dr. Major called the most important job on the planet: parenthood," said Plinio J. Garcia of Major Family Services.


Dr. Major also remained an active writer and just recently completed the editing of a new book entitled Parenting with Discipline and Love: Major Breakthroughs for Raising Successful Children. The new book will be published soon through Major Family Services, Inc. Parenting with Discipline and Love includes an extensive collection of practical parenting situations based on Dr. Major's over thirty years of teaching and consulting with parents on techniques for raising children who are disciplined, but confident, compassionate, and, ultimately successful in all aspects of their lives.

In November of last year, Dr. Major conducted her last speakership session at the 2^nd Annual Conference of Parental Alienation - A Community Responds, in Santa Monica, California, where she led her own workshop entitled Parents Who Have Successfully Fought Parental Alienation Syndrome. Dr. Major was a pioneer in identifying and educating parents to the devastating effects of Parental Alienation; a behavior most often found in high conflict divorces when a disturbed parent turns a child against the other parent and family members to gain psychological control and the advantage in custody battles, often with the encouragement of their legal counsel.

"Parental Alienation is one of the worst kinds of child abuse," claimed Dr. Major based on her many years of observation. "These children often grow up to be socially maladaptive and with serious psychiatric issues. If the child is left to be raised by the disturbed parent and has no contact with the healthy parent there is no one to offset the damage that is being done to them."

Over the course of her career, Dr. Major authored several articles on the subject of Parental Alienation and presented at numerous conferences, including the Children's Rights Council in Washington D.C. She promoted widespread education and awareness of the phenomenon of Parental Alienation in her attempts to end the active and passive legal sanctioning of these behaviors so detrimental to the well being of children.

Dr. Major advocated, "We all need to educate ourselves about this serious problem and do all that we can to stop Parental Alienation from happening." She believed that the best way to prepare for and combat Parental Alienation was through parenting classes and parenting education. She explained that victims of Parental Alienation need to be educated before they can undergo traditional psychotherapy. She had recently re-edited her collection of articles on Parental Alienation and these will also soon be published and made available as a booklet through Major Family Services, Inc.

Dr. Major's passion for teaching spanned over fifty years, beginning in the 1960's as an Instructor with the United States Army, Department of Defense Schools in Germany and then as a Teacher with the Los Angeles Elementary Schools from 1966 to 1982. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Arizona State University in 1959, a Masters of Arts in Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education from California State University in 1972 and a Ph.D. in Education from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1982.

Her legacy shall continue through Major Family Services, Inc. and the Major Foundation for Breakthrough Parenting and Parental Alienation. Memorial contributions may be made to Major Family Services in the name of the Major Foundation for Breakthrough Parenting and mailed to 12405 Venice Blvd. #172, Los Angeles, CA 90066. Contributions may also be made online by visiting www.MajorFamilyServices.com.

A Memorial gathering for Jayne Major is being planned for Saturday, April 21, 2012. For more information, please email info@majorfamilyservices.com.

My two cents: Dr Jayne Major was an amazing woman, she will be missed dearly, not only by her friends, family & colleagues but by people she didn't even know! She had a major impact on so many people, her legacy will continue for years to come... RIP!