research AND ARTICLES:

The recent report by United Nation’s Reem Alsalem, Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences, states:

The report demonstrates how the discredited and unscientific pseudo-concept of parental alienation is used in family law proceedings by abusers as a tool to continue their abuse and coercion and to undermine and discredit allegations of domestic violence made by mothers who are trying to keep their children safe. It also shows how the standard of the best interest of the child is violated by imposing contact between a child and one or both parents and by prioritizing it, even where there is evidence of domestic violence. Predominantly as a result of the lack of training and gender bias and of access to legal support, the custody of children may be awarded to perpetrators of violence, despite evidence of a history of domestic and/or sexual abuse. The risks of such consequences are compounded for women from marginalized groups in society. The report elaborates on systemic issues that lead to additional barriers to justice. Judges and evaluators need to move away from focusing on the identification of behaviours that are contested within the discipline of psychology and towards a focus on the specific facts and contexts of each case.

Conservative estimate: tens of thousands of children are court-ordered into the custody of an abusive parent. While this issue impacts parents of all genders and their children, current research shows that mothers lose custody at disproportionate rates. In fact, mother’s lose custody 73% of the time when they allege abuse and are met with a counter-claim of “alienation.” More disturbing, this can occur even when the courts acknowledge that the father has been abusive. Research also shows that a mother's chance of losing her child to the alleged abuser doubles when there is a crossclaim of "alienation." There is no comparable loss rate when men allege abuse and women cross-claim alienation illustrating the presence of clear gender bias which research also shows is exacerbated by court-appointed experts. (Meier, Joan S. and Dickson, Sean and O'Sullivan, Chris and Rosen, Leora and Hayes, Jeffrey, Child Custody Outcomes in Cases Involving Parental Alienation and Abuse Allegations (2019). GWU Law School Public Law Research Paper No. 2019-56; GWU Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2019-56.