Custody & Kidnapping

NOTE - THIS WAS WRITTEN TO A POTENTIAL ABUSER WHO ASKED ABOUT HOW TO PROVE PARENTAL ALIENATION. DV ADVOCATES NO LONGER ADVOCATE USING THIS BECAUSE THERE IS RESEARCH THAT IT IS SCIENTIFICALLY ILLEGITIMATE AND ALSO BEC THE ‘FATHER’S RIGHTS GROUPS’ HAVE CO-OPTED IT AND USE IT OFTEN AGAINST VICTIMS. IF IT’S A VICTIM WRITING IN WHO IS BEING ACCUSED OF IT, YOU CAN EXPLAIN SOME OF THIS AND CHANGE THE TEXT BELOW AS APPROPRIATE:

In terms of your question about explaining parental alienation, it is true that often time one parent may try to bring up in court the idea that the other parent is saying/doing things to try to turn the child against the other parent. This concept has been recognized by some courts as “parental alienation syndrome.” However, there is a large portion of the legal community that does not recognize (and will not introduce into court) parental alienation because there is a lot of research and studies that show that it is scientifically illegitimate. Therefore, we don’t have information about this on our website and unfortunately I cannot give you specific information on how to prove or dis-prove it. Again, if you meet with your lawyer, s/he should be able to discuss legal strategy with you and help you to figure out how to handle this topic.