Banning Parental Alienation Accusations in Family Court - National Association of Women and the Law

Banning Parental Alienation Accusations in Family Court Brief submitted by the National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL) to the Standing Committee on the Status of Women for its study on Coercive Behaviour May 2024 What are “parental alienation” accusations? “Parental alienation” is a controversial concept used in clinical and legal settings to describe children who refuse or resist contact. [...] 1 In the summer of 2023, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women and Girls, its Causes and Consequences called on all states to “legislate to prohibit the use of parental alienation or related pseudo-concepts in family law cases and the use of so-called experts in parental alienation and related pseudo-concepts”.2 We echo this demand and call on the Canadian government to exhibit lea. [...] My sister and I are not the first children to be court-ordered to the United States to participate in the reunification camp; this has been going on for some time. [...] However, that doesn’t mean that we must accept the parental alienation hypothesis that: 1) a child’s rejection of a parent is caused by the other parent (rather than, for instance, family violence or neglect); and 2) a child’s rejection of a parent must be “treated” by forcing contact with the rejected parent and undermining the relationship with the preferred parent. [...] 5 distinguishing “alienation” from the effects of family violence, and offer “inconclusive or unreliable” bases to justify interventions.14 There is no credible evidentiary basis for the use of tests and scales in court cases to “diagnose” alienation.15 Part 2: “Parental alienation” and family violence Is parental alienation truly gendered? Mothers are twice as likely as fathers to be accused of p.