I am am applying this cycle. My parents divorced 4 years ago after my mother spiraled into mental illness over the course of years. She lives in another state and I have not seen her in several years. The primary application requires declaration of your parents' full names, occupation, etc without the choice not to disclose option. I am concerned that to disclose my mother's name would allow for the possibility of her name being googled, and their reaching the correct conclusion - that she has severe mental illness is characterized by generalized paranoia without basis and outlandish claims. These are the sorts of thoughts that she is using her social media profile to broadcast to all the world. I have reason to believe she may have a record of contact with the authorities secondary to this sort of behavior. My father and I have no mechanism to reason with her, including the implications of her activity for my application.
My mother chose to keep her maiden name while married to my father, so it has occurred to me to use her first name with his last name as a means of obfuscating a concrete link to her. She has identified by this name at various times, but not legally. I do not know if leaving a parent input box blank is considered acceptable, being read as "estranged" to adcoms. If so, I would do this. I am just concerned that it may be read as evasive and lead them to give a more questioning read to the rest of my application.
Thanks for your input
