A
collection of articles on Parental Alienation Syndrome and Parental
Alienation in family court proceedings in the United Kingdom by
Dr
L F Lowenstein M.A., Dip.Psych., Ph.D.
'Tackling Parental Alienation',
Justice of the Peace,
Vol 165, (6) 102.
Parental
Alienation Syndrome (PAS), like many imports from across the
Atlantic, has come into the news and is being recognized increasingly
in Great Britain. Attention has been drawn to it by barristers such
as Willbourne and Cull (1997) and by Lowenstein (1998 a,b; 1999
a,b,c,d).
A
political party has been developed by Coe: The Equal Parenting Party.
Another organization that has become involved is the Association for
Shared Parenting. Rand (1997) has produced a series of articles, "The
Spectrum of Parental Alienation Syndrome", published in the
American Journal of Forensic Psychology. In Britain the voice of
parental alienation syndrome has been less vocal but one particular
article appearing in the Sunday Times, May 22, 2000, entitled
"Children with Fathers in Family Have Head Start in Life"
points to the importance of both parents playing a role in the
rearing of children.
There
have recently been some remarkable cases that have highlighted the
importance of judging parental alienation in the courts. Judges are
becoming bolder in insisting that, all things being equal, both
parents have the right to contact with their children. There are
exceptions, eg, when one or both parents have proclivities towards
violence or paedophilia, to name but a few negative features which
must be considered.
The
case of Cox v. Cox (1990) featured in Family Law, was one of the
first to approve the imprisonment of mothers who refused access to
fathers for contact with the child. This was done by a highly
courageous Judge who truly believed in "justice for all",
even though there was considerable embarrassment in having to put a
mother into prison, plus the likelihood of being castigated by the
press. What is often not mentioned are the efforts made beforehand to
gain the assent of the obdurate parent for such contact before such
an action is taken and by threatening less stringent means than
imprisonment. Most cases related to lack of co-operation of a parent
regarding contact rights involve mothers refusing fathers.
Sometimes,
following and acrimonious separation or divorce, the alienating
parent, who is usually the mother, will claim serious causes for
concern about the father, eg, that he is excessively punitive,
permissive, a substance abuser, or even a paedophile. In most cases
such allegations are unfounded.
In
cases such as this fathers are often considered guilty by allegation
alone and need to prove their innocence rather than the reverse. It
appears, therefore, in cases of PAS, justice often seems to be stood
on its head.
Judges
are naturally adverse to imprisoning mothers for failing to honour
contact arrangements with fathers. This is because mothers are
usually responsible for the day-to-day care of the children. As
already mentioned. Judges are not unaware of the adverse publicity
which follows imprisoning a mother in cases of this kind.
There
are alternatives that could have been used but they often fail to
achieve what is desired, namely acceptance of offers of mediation
(see Lowenstein, 1999 a,b,c,d). The threat of punishment, including
the possibility of imprisonment hanging over the head of an
uncooperative parent, like the sword of Damacles, may bring such
mothers to the "negotiating table". Mothers and fathers who
alienate children, much as anyone else, must stand before the law as
either innocent or guilty of such an offence. Failing to adhere to
the judgment of a court must be considered as the breaking of the
law, with threatened punishment following.
Parents
who thus fail to observe their legal responsibility to co-operate are
likely to suffer from severe and often unfounded hostility towards the other parent. Such hostility can, and often does, reach pathological proportions. The only possible solutions are:
likely to suffer from severe and often unfounded hostility towards the other parent. Such hostility can, and often does, reach pathological proportions. The only possible solutions are:
• In
extreme cases threatening imprisonment, until the parent is willing
to co-operate with the law.
• Accepting
some form of mediation and treatment by a qualified psychologist over
a prescribed period, normally two weeks to a month, in order to
resolve the impasse.
• Failure
by the alienating parent to co-operate must lead to punishment, in
the last resort imprisonment. It could also result in the alienated
parent being given custody of the children temporarily or
permanently.
Most
alienating parents would and should learn to co-operate under such
strictures and resolve the matter of parental alienation syndrome. It
is hoped that future legal procedures will find it easier to deal
with such cases and follow the courageous footsteps of earlier
pioneering Judges. These Judges were not deflected from doing the
just and right thing, despite criticism from individuals and the mass
media.
Bibliography
Coe,
Tony. Equal Parenting Party. Headquarters: 30-40 Gloucester Road,
Kensington, London SW7 4QU.
Dobson,
R. "Children with father in family have a head start in life."
Article in the Sunday Times, May 21, 2000.
Lowenstein,
L. F. (1998a) "Parent alienation syndrome: A two step approach
toward a solution." Contemporary Family Therapy, December 1998,
Vol 20 (4), pp. 505-520.
Lowenstein,
L. F. (1998b) "Parent alienation syndrome", ch.20.
Paedophilia, published by Able Publishers.
Lowenstein,
L. F. (1999a) "Parent alienation syndrome" (PAS).(1999) 163
JPN pp.47.50.
Lowenstein
L. F. (1999b) "Parent alienation syndrome: What the legal
profession should know". Medico-legal Journal, Vol 66 (4) 1999,
pp. 151-161.
Lowenstein,
L. F. (1999c) "Mediation in the legal profession". (1999)
163 JPN, pp. 709-710.
Lowenstein,
L. F. (1999d) "Parent alienation and the judiciary".
Medico-Legal Journal (1999), Vol 67, Part 3, pp. 121-123.
Rand,
Diedre C. "The spectrum of parental alienation syndrome (Part
II)". The American Journal of Forensic Psychology, Vol 15, No 4,
1997, pp. 1-13.
Willbourne,
Caroline; Cull, Leslie Ann. "The emerging problem of parental
alienation". Family Law, Dec 1997, pp. 807-808.