New Scottish web site on parental alienation

  Nick Child, a family therapist from Edinburgh has established a new web site linking international thinking and research on  the broad subject of Children Resisting Post-Separation Contact with a Parent (CRC), part of which is the pattern called Parental Alienation (PA).

Nick's interest arose from his family therapy work and discovery and rapid learning about this field.

The terms PA and PA Syndrome are so loaded with presumptions that it is less off-putting to include it within a wider range of patterns of "Children Resisting Post-Separation Contact With a Parent" (CRC for short).

In the introduction to the site he suggests that it needs to be supplemented by organisations and networks of people in Scotland moving everything forward in more practical ways. 

English Court of Appeal rules contact with children shouldn't be blocked

 A father who was denied access to his children for three years because it upset their mother suffered a breach of his parental rights,according to a recent judgement in the English Court of Appeal.

It was ruled not acceptable for the mother to block the father’s reasonable efforts to see his two daughters.

The case concerned a battle between an unmarried couple who had a six-year relationship. In 2008 the mother left home without warning, taking her daughters, who were then aged four and one, and refusing to let the father see them.

She accused the father of abusive behaviour, but nine of the 10 allegations were unproven. At one court hearing, he admitted spitting at the mother on one occasion. A district judge who heard the case in 2009 noted that the father was a “forceful character” whom the mother found difficult to resist.

In February this year, the father was banned by a family judge from having any direct contact with his children, now nine and six. He was told he could send his daughters cards, letters and gifts once a month, but could not see them because it would be too distressing for their mother.

The county court judge said that she would be “unable to cope” with the father seeing the children after she broke down in court and said the thought of it made her feel “exhausted”. 

The father’s lawyers challenged the judge’s decision, saying it had been based on a “momentary” display of emotion from the mother in the witness box and the views of a “lone” psychologist, who supported her case. The decision also went against the view of the independent advocate appointed for the children. 

The appeal judges accepted that the father’s exile from his own children’s lives violated his rights.
Lord Justice McFarlane recognised that it was “a very big ask” for the mother to accept that her children’s best interests lay in having two parents, not just one.

“Where, however, it is plainly in the best interests of a child to spend time with the other parent then, tough or not, part of the responsibility of the parent with care must be the duty and responsibility to deliver what the child needs, hard though that may be,” he said.

The judge, sitting with Lord Justice Rix and Lord Justice Tomlinson, overturned the family judge’s order and directed the mother to “facilitate” contact. The process will take place under the supervision of a court-appointed guardian.

Parental alienation: why have the courts been so slow?

Professor Nicholas Bala from Queen's University Canada contributed an overview of parental alienation and the courts to a recent seminar in London. 

In it he examined why the courts in England have been less likely to identify parental alienation than courts in Canada and Australia.

His presentation covers the background to the topic and includes comment on the gender politics - pointing out that advocacy groups for both mothers and fathers use “welfare rhetoric” to deny and seek contact.

He poses the question: "Child support is state enforced, why not contact?"

By searching published case reports in England/Wales, Canada and Australia for mention of alienation he shows an upward trend in cases over time, although fewer reported cases in England and Wales.  In his study, 81% of alienating parents are female and 19% male.

The presentation goes on to discuss judicial presumption of contact, the use of experts in such cases, conflict reduction and parental education,  In his study of alienation cases, the residence of the child was reversed to the rejected parent in 26% of cases and modified to shared in 4% in English cases. 

He concludes that we need:

• a “change in culture” – greater recognition by society, professionals and courts of harm to children from high conflict, value of less adversarial dispute resolution, but also importance of role of both parents in lives of their children
• a legislative declaration about presumptive value of relationships with both parents after separation (provided not adverse to child’s safety). Legislation needed to educate parents, lawyers, mental health professionals & judges
• effective judicial control & timely intervention
  - in high conflict cases, early effective judicial intervention is critical
  - in the most severe and intractable,  courts need to make earlier use of contempt and change in residence

Can alienated children's wishes be trusted?

Child psychiatrist Dr Kirk Weir talked about his work in high conflict contact disputes on 27th September in Edinburgh to two audiences  - family mediators and family lawyers.

Drawing upon his experience as an expert witness in the English Family Courts, he described how such cases can be resolved, but only if the expressed wishes of the alienated child are ignored and contact is vigorously enforced using the authority of the court.

In such cases, otherwise normal children will insist that they no longer wish to see one of their parents after separation, usually the father.  This is sometimes accompanied by allegations of child sexual abuse and domestic violence.  The vast majority of such children are well adjusted, and doing well both socially and at school.

Within the context of their relationship with one of their parents they express feelings, statements and behaviour which are extreme and out of character - parental alienation.

Dr Weir described a study of his work in 60 court cases.  His involvement came after a Finding of Fact had dismissed any allegations of child abuse or domestic violence.  In preparing his report to court, he interviewed both parents separately, and then met children on their own and with each parent.

In the sessions with the alienated parent and children together, apparently stout resistance dissolved into normal loving contact, sometimes within minutes, sometimes after a hour or so.  

This enforced contact was successful in all cases involving children under 5, in 80% of cases with children aged 5-7, and in 40% of older children. 

His conclusion: alienation is a powerful but unstable defence mechanism, found in children who are torn between loyalty to the main carer and feelings for the other parent in high conflict contact cases. 

Dr Weir's talks were arranged by Relationships Scotland in assocation with Families Need Fathers Scotland.  The results of his study will be published in Family Court Review shortly. (High Conflict Contact Disputes: The Extreme Unreliability of Children's Expressed Wishes and Feelings.)

Here are some notes handed out on the day

Parental alienation talk by Nicholas Bala

The Nuffield Foundation recently held a seminar in London on Parental alienation and the voices of children in family proceedings.

Professor Nicholas Bala from Queen's University in Canada addressed the questions:

In a relatively small portion of all separation and divorce cases, children reject a parent. How and why does this happen?

How do the courts respond to these cases, which are characterised by high levels of conflict between parents, and what should they do?

What can we learn from the experience of other jurisdictions such as Canada and the US?

A copy of his presentation is now available, providing a summary of the topic and some useful statistics and case references.