Citation

Meier JS. J. Soc. Welfare Fam. Law 2020; 42(1): 92-105.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/09649069.2020.1701941

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Family court and abuse professionals have long been polarized over the use of parental alienation claims to discredit a mother alleging that the father has been abusive or is unsafe for the children. This paper reports the findings from an empirical study of ten years of U.S. cases involving abuse and alienation claims. The findings confirm that mothers' claims of abuse, especially child physical or sexual abuse, increase their risk of losing custody, and that fathers' cross-claims of alienation virtually double that risk. Alienation's impact is gender-specific; fathers alleging mothers are abusive are not similarly undermined when mothers cross-claim alienation. In non-abuse cases, however, the data suggest that alienation has a more gender-neutral impact. These nuanced findings may help abuse and alienation professionals find some common ground.

Language: en

Keywords

Alienation; child abuse; child custody; domestic violence; family court