Alienated Children in Family Law Disputes in British Columbia

The child claims that his or her beliefs about the rejected parent are the child's own and not those of the alienating parent.5. The child reflexively supports the alienating parent in the conflict.6.The child displays no feelings of guilt about his or her treatment of the rejected parent.7. The child uses scenarios, language and descriptions of the rejected parent borrowed from the alienating parent.8. The child's rejection extends to the family of the rejected parent.Gardner's parental alienation syndrome triggered a flurry of follow-up research and quickly became a flashpoint of controversy.Men's rights groups loved the theory because most of the parents said to engage in alienation were mothers; women's groups loathed the idea as it seemed to downplay the impact of family violence on children's interests and preferences.Psychologists were skeptical because there was so little reliable research on alienation, the theory didn't meet the scientific criteria to be labeled as a diagnosable "syndrome," and the theory seemed overly simplistic and was frequently misapplied in court.3 The courts weren't fond of the idea as alienation claims were often difficult to establish and the recommended solution, removing the child from the home of the favoured parent, seemed drastic and dangerously at odds with the child's expressed preferences.In 1997, Deirdre Rand, another psychologist, wrote in "The Spectrum of Parental Alienation Syndrome" that parental alienation syndrome is a risk whenever parents go to court about a custody dispute.4 She said that the risk of alienation increases: when one or both parents make claims that attack the integrity, moral fitness or character of the other parent; when the parent seen as responsible for the breakdown of the relationship becomes involved in a new relationship shortly after separation; and, when a parent leaves the relationship suddenly, with little or no warning.3 Parental alienation syndrome was not included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders III-R, published in 1987, nor in the subsequent IV and IV-TR editions, and is likewise omitted from the current fifth edition (Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association, 2013).See Robert Emery's comments in "Parental Alienation Syndrome: Proponents Bear the Burden of Proof" (2005) 43:1 Family Court Review 8 and Justice James William's remarks in "Should Judges Close the Gate on PAS and PA?" (2001) 39:3 Family Court Review 267 for interesting discussions of the debate over Gardner's theory within the mental health community.4 D.C. Rand, "The Spectrum of Parental Alienation Syndrome (Part II)" (1997) 15:4 American Journal of Forensic Psychology 39, available online at www.fact.on.ca/Info/pas/rand11.htmKelly and Johnston argued that parent-child relationships can be described as lying on a continuum ranging between positive and secure on one hand and negative and alienated on the other: Kelly and Johnston's Continuum of Parent--Child Relationships Positive Relationships Positive relationship with both parents Child prefers contact and has secure relationships with both parents Affinity toward a parent Child prefers contact with both parents but prefers one parent over the other, by normal reasons of temperament, age, gender and so forth Alliance with a parent Child has consistent preference for one parent and is ambivalent, but not rejecting, toward the other parent Estranged from a parent Child rejects one parent and is either ambivalent toward that parent or expresses a dislike of that parent Negative Relationships Alienated from a parent Child rejects one parent and expresses a strong dislike for that parent without guilt or ambivalenceKelly and Johnston recognized that there might be objectively valid reasons for the breakdown of a child's relationship with a parent, reasons that might actually justify the child's rejection of and refusal to visit that parent, for example:

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