Supporting Women Against Allegations of Parental Alienation

Pamela CrossDIVERSE VOICES CONFERENCE

Friday November 15, 2019

Your role?VAW frontline worker Survivor

Child psychologist Community mental health worker

Social worker/therapist Parenting coordinator

Lawyer Mediator

Judge Other

Your location?

Canada

United States

Other

Agenda• What parental alienation is

• How it arises in cases where women allege abuse by the partner

• Importance of gendered analysis

• How to support women

Focus: Parental alienation claims in cases involving family violence

Parental alienation is a theory

Agenda

What is parental alienation?Richard Gardner’s theory, 1985• He labelled it a “syndrome”• Vindictive women who did not want former partner to

contact children

Never granted “syndrome” status by psychological associations

Fell out of favour in late 1990s/early 2000s

Re-emerged to be used by fathers making claim against mothers, especially in custody/access cases when there is evidence of his abuse

Problems with the theory

Limited support for it in scientific research

Significant gender bias

Deflects attention away from family violence claims

Implies support for a presumption in favour of shared parenting

Does not recognize accepted research about why children sometimes prefer one parent

Denies the realities of family violence

The need for gender-based analysisWhen father makes

allegation of parental alienation

Silences allegations of abuse by mother

Without woman’s story

Court orders shared parenting

Gives abuser ongoing power/

control over mother & children

Exposes children, mother to further

abuse

Mothers make false allegations about

violence

DV is not important to parenting

Her mental health issues are her problem, not symptom of abuse

Mothers hurt their children by not co-

parenting

Mothers alienate their children from their

fathers

His controlling behaviour is not

examined

Related beliefs when sexism underlies

custody &access decisions

Allegation of parental alienation: a common response to an

allegation of family violence

“Maximum contact” provision

Creates double-bind:

Do not raise violence/abuse

Place children at risk in care of father

Raise family violence or child abuse

Risk parental alienation

label

Perhaps lose primary care of children

OR

Evidence-based approach

What might the source of the alienation be?

(Kelly & Johnson)

What is the impact of post-

separation abuse, long-

term impact of abuse/trauma?

Who really is the historic

primary parent?

What are the best interests of

the child?

Family violence training Judges, assessors,

parenting coordinators, mediators, lawyers

Needs to be mandatory

Any experts must be family violence experts

before they are considered experts on

anything else

Universal family violence screening

https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/jr/can-peut/index.html

Proper use of the best interests of the child test

Views & preferences of child

Other child-focused issues – Parental warmth,

child stability, parent-child attachments

Parental rights

Presumption in favour of shared

parenting

❌❌

Fulsome understanding

of family violence

Revised Divorce Act

Definition of family

violence

Criminal charges are

not necessary

Factors focus on impact on

children

Case law

Parental alienation is

effective defence

against family violence

allegations

Use an abuse framework

Battered Women’s Justice Project’s 2015 Practice Guides

1. Identify domestic abuse (screening tool)

2. Define the nature & context of the abuse

3. Evaluate its implications4. Account for it in actions &

decisions https://www.bwjp.org

References• Gabriel Davis, Loretta Frederick, Nancy Ver Steegh: Practice Guides for Family

Court Decision-Making in Domestic Abuse-Related Child Custody Matters 2015

• Joan Kelly and Janet Johnston: The Alienated Child: A Reformulation of Parental Alienation Syndrome 2001

• Joan S. Meier: Child Custody Outcomes in Cases Involving Parental Alienation and Abuse Allegations 2019

• Joan S. Meier and Sean Dickson: Mapping Gender: Shedding Empirical Light on Family Courts’ Treatment of Cases Involving Abuse and Alienation 2017

• Linda Neilson: Parental Alienation Empirical Analysis: Child Best Interests or Parental Rights? 2018Daniel Saunders et al: Child Custody Evaluators’ Beliefs About Domestic Abuse Allegations, 2012

• Collective memo of concern to World Health Organization: http://www.learningtoendabuse.ca/docs/WHO-July-10-2019.pdf

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