WHEN A CHILD REJECTS A PARENT: WORKING WITHTHE INTRACTABLE RESIST/REFUSE DYNAMICMarjorie Gans Walters and Steven Friedlander

Johnston, J. & Sullivan, M. (2020). Parental Alienation: In Search of Common Ground Fora More Differentiated Theory. Family Court Review, 58(2), 270–292.

Fidler, B. J., Deutsch, R. M., & Polak, S. (2019). “How am I supposed to treat these cases?”Working with families struggling with entrenched parent–child contact problems. InL. Greenberg, B. Fidler, & M. Saini (Eds.), Evidence-informed interventions forcourt-involved families (pp. 227–259). New York, NY: Oxford University Press

Fidler, B., & Bala, N. (2020). Concepts, controversies and conundrums of alienation:Lessons learned in a decade and reflections on challenges ahead. Family CourtReview, 58(2), 576-603

What’s the Research Say?2020 Survey of Resist and/or Refuse Dynamics• Collaboration between National Council of Juvenile andFamily Court Judges (NCJFCJ) and the Association of Familyand Conciliation Courts (AFCC) in 2020• Represents the largest sample of responses on this topic.Over 500 pages of comments were submitted by participants.• Aim – to ‘take the temperature’ of the professional cultures.• Most participants indicated receiving no more than 4 hours oftraining on resist/refuse dynamics• Most (+85%) were unaware of tools available to differentiaterealistic estrangement from alienating behavior by a parent15Saini, 2021Knowns1516Saini, 2021Knowns16

Washington State PsychologicalAssociationAlaska Psychological Association2021 NW Psychological Fall ConventionOctober 15-17, 2021

Parental Alienation

Michael Bone and Brian Ludmer, in particular, have written on this issue.  Note especially that lawyers without strong experience in this area will be highly likely to lose your case.  Experience in other areas of law is insufficient for lawyers to win alienation cases.

and passes the DaubertgatekeepingExpert testimony on parental alienation “aided the court by providing a counterintuitiveexplanation as to the dynamics...present in [the] situation.”Expert testimony met the threshold level of reliability ~ DaubertstandardSupreme Judicial Court of Maine(Bergin v Bergin, __ A.3d __ (2019)) (2019 WL 3788326

The phenomenon of PA is “well known”...-“Thephenomenaofparentalalienationarewellrecognizedinternationallyand,s a d l y,arefrequentlyallegedorencounteredincustodyandvisitationlitigation....Thespecificterm‘parentalalienation’doesnotyetappearasa psychiatricdiagnosisintheofficialclassificationoftheAmericanPsychiatricAssociation,althoughitsfeaturescommonlymaybesubsumedunderoneormoreotherdiagnosticcategories...”McClainv. McClain, 539S. W.3d 170,182(2017)(CourtofAppealsofTennessee

Dr. Amy Baker et al. (2011), Brief Report on Parental Alienation SurveySurveyconductedat2010meetingoftheAssociationofFamilyandConciliationCourts(AFCC).300attendeescompletedsurveyregardingPA.98%endorsed,“Doyouthinkthatsomechildrenaremanipulatedbyoneparenttoirrationallyandunjustifiablyrejecttheotherparent?”

Proposal for Parental Alienation Relational Problemto be Included in“Other Conditions That May Be a Focus of Clinical Attention”in DSM-5-TRSubmitted to DSM-5-TR Steering CommitteeNovember xx, 2022Submitted by William Bernet, M.D., and Amy J. L. Baker, Ph.D.

Protecting Your Clients in Parental Alienation Cases When the Courts Don’t

Winning Parental Alienation Cases: A Roadmap for Family Lawyers

rentalAlienation:WHATFAMILYLAWYERSNEEDTOKNOW

Prevalence of adults who are the targets of parental alienating behaviors and their impact

The child’ssense of disconnection and inauthentic realityare reinforced when alienated parents repeat their false narratives to third partiesas part of their alienationcampaign

Losses Experienced by Children Alienated from a ParentJennifer J. Harman, Mandy L. Matthewson, Amy J.L. Baker

What did we find? Of the more than 200 empirical studies we reviewed, 40% were published since 2016. This means that many of the reviews published before 2016—such as the ones critics rely on to argue that parental alienation research is in its “infancy”—are hopelessly outdated. Our study leaves no doubt that parental alienation is a valid concept supported by a robust and well-developed scientific literature. This literature sports several hallmarks of a maturing scientific field. First, the number of studies is increasing each year. Second, the type of studies increasingly favors quantitative (e.g., statistical analysis) over qualitative (e.g., descriptive) methods. Third, the studies increasingly test hypotheses and situate the design and results in a theoretical and explanatory framework.

Developmental Psychology and the Scientific Status of Parental AlienationJennifer J. Harman 1 , Richard A. Warshak 2 , Demosthenes Lorandos 3 , and Matthew J. Florian 41 Department of Psychology, Colorado State University2 Independent Practice, Richardson, Texas, United States3 Psychlaw.net, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States4 Eris Enterprise, LLC, Fort Collins, Colorado, United State

Parental Alienation andAmerican Family Courts:Common Fallacies and PitfallsPRESENTED BY: ASHISH JOSHI

criteria proposed by Judge Richard Dollinger are related to scientific and clinical issues that provide the basis for expert testimony in cases where PA is alleged.

Up until recently, there were no legal criteria for defining parental alienation. Now we have some guidance from New York State. The recently decided NYS AD case of JF v. DF (NY Law Journal, 12/27/18; filed 12/06/18) provides legal criteria for identifying parental alienation (PA) based on tort law. These criteria are intended to differentiate parental alienation from more conventional examples of poor parenting, such as missed phone calls or the occasional vulgarity or snide remark about the other parent.

dies showthat when courts remove severely alienated children from the influence ofthe alienating parent and order an appropriate intervention, at least 90%of the children are restored to a satisfactory relationship with bothparents

AACAPOFFICIALACTION

AFCC AND NCJFCJJOINT STATEMENT ON PARENT-CHILD CONTACT PROBLEMS

Demosthenes Lorandos, William Bernet & Richard Sauber (2013), Parental Alienation: Handbook for Mental Health and Legal Pro-fessionals

Journal of Family Medicine and Disease Prevention

Ten Parental Alienation Fallacies That Compromise Decisions in Courtand in Therapy

an evaluation finds that a child is severely and irrationallyalienated from a parent, and that it is in the child’s best interests torepair the damaged relationship, the evaluator should exercisecaution about recommending a course of traditional psychotherapywhile the child remains apart from the rejected parent. Recom-mendations for therapy in such circumstances should include ad-vice to the court about imposing (a) a time frame after which theimpact of treatment will be assessed, (b) explicit criteria forevaluating progress and success of treatment, and (c) contingencyplans in the event that the treatment is ineffective. For instance, ifthe judge informs the parties that a failed course of therapy mayresult in an increase in the child’s time with the rejected parent orin a reversal of custody, this may help increase the child’s moti-vation to participate meaningfully in treatment and the favoredparent’s support for treatment

child.Courts cannot enforce orders for parent–child contactagainst an alienated teen’s wishes.A judge who understoodthat a 13-year-old’s decision to sever his relationship with hisfather reflected impaired judgment nevertheless acquiesced to theboy’s demands because, “He is now of an age where, even if hemay be too immature to appreciate what is best for him, he cannotbe physically forced to remain where he does not want to be”(Korwin v. Potworowski, 2006, ¶ 145). This judge is not alone.Other judges, child representatives, parenting coordinators, psy-chotherapists, and parents often report feeling stymied when ado-lescents refuse to cooperate with the court-ordered parenting timeschedule (DeJong & Davies, 2012;Johnston, Walters, & Fried-lander, 2001). These children can be so convincing about theirresolve to have their way with respect to avoiding a parent thatthey convince the court that they are beyond its authority. Theyinduce a sense of helplessness in judges.Adults need not feel helpless in the

Alienated Adolescents’ Stated Preferences ShouldDominate Custody Decision

The APA and the Mental Health Child Abuse ScandalMental Health is Commonly Complicit in Child AbuseThe American Psychological Association (APA) Should Revise Its Policy