Child custody battle as a family law concept during a legal dispute as a father mother icon holding … [+]
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HBO’s Four-Part Miniseries Allen v. Farrow Places Renewed Attention on Parental Alienation And Its “Abuses”.
What is Parental Alienation?
Parental alienation syndrome (PAS) is a child’s experience of being manipulated or coached by one parent to turn against the other (targeted) parent and resist contact with him or her. This alignment with one parent and rejection of the other most often arises during child custody disputes following divorce or separation proceedings, particularly when the litigation is prolonged or involves significant antagonism between the parties.
Where Did This Theory Come From?
It was first described in 1985 by U.S. child psychiatrist Richard A. Gardner (1931–2003). Dr. Gardner listed eight symptoms that distinguish a child affected by PAS from one who is experiencing an adverse reaction to an estranged parent during separation or divorce: (a) relentless denigration of the targeted parent (the targeted parent can do nothing right from tying their shoes to how they hold a glass of water) ; (b) a frivolous, weak, or absurd rationale for the denigration (reasons given often include things as frivolous as he wears khaki pants or doesn’t ride bikes with me); (c) a lack of guilt or embarrassment about the denigration (The child shows no remorse or shame and acts with complete justification for the denigration); (d) a lack of ambivalence such that the child considers one parent to be entirely “good” and the other parent to be entirely “bad”; (e) automatic support for the alienating parent in any conflict; (f) hostility toward and refusal of contact with the extended family of the targeted parent; (g) the presence of “borrowed scenarios,” in which the child uses the same language as the alienating parent when describing their aversion to the targeted parent; and (h) the child’s insistence that he or she is expressing his or her own opinions in denigrating the targeted parent.
Is It an Accepted Psychological Phenomena by the Psychological Community? NO
Although some courts accept PAS as admissible evidence in child custody disputes, there have been no well-controlled empirical studies that confirm the phenomenon, nor has a standardized assessment process and specific diagnostic criteria been established for PAS. Consequently, many critics express concerns about its continued influence on legal proceedings. The syndrome has been dismissed by the American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, and American Medical Association as lacking supporting empirical or clinical evidence and it is not included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or the International Classification of Diseases. Despite this significant controversy surrounding the syndrome, parental alienation is often viewed as and used as a legitimate dynamic in many family situations.
When Was Parental Alienation Syndrome First Publicly Identified?
Woody Allen used PAS in a public smear campaign against Mia Farrow in 1992 after she claimed he had sexually abused the parties’ then 7-year-old daughter, Dylan Farrow. Allen publicly accused Farrow of being a scorned woman because of his affair with her teenage daughter Soon-Yi Previn. At the time, Soon-Yi was 22 and Allen was 57.
Abuse Allegations Completely Abolish the Notion of Shared or Joint Custody
When allegations of abuse are raised, the notion of shared or joint custody is completely eliminated from the possibilities of settlement or custodial outcomes for the family. No court can order a shared or joint custody arrangements when there has been domestic violence or child sexual abuse, essentially placed the parent of the child with their abuser either through communication or physical presence.
How Did PAS Become a Defense Against Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse and Domestic Violence?
In the 1980’s, Dr. Gardner created his theory of parental alienation because of what he perceived at the rising number of sexual abuse cases based upon in his view, completely false allegations by the mothers. Therefore, the often immediate defense for the alleged abuser against the mother when such claims are made is that she is deliberately alienating the child against the father. Proven allegations of child sexual abuse result in the abuser being kept away from the child. A claim of PAS places the petitioner on the defense. Note that the custody case involving Mia Farrow and Woody Allen was Allen versus Farrow.
Where domestic violence is alleged in a contested custody case, the petitioner mother seeks an order that keeps the respondent father away from her and the children-a stay away order which is asking a court to legally sanction them being apart from the alleged abuser and his abuse. Rather than defend against the allegations of abuse, the respondent parent denies the abuse alleged ever occurred and that the claims of alleged domestic violence are simply the mother trying to alienate the children from the father.
A claim of parental alienation shifts the theoretical burden of proof from the respondent having to defend against the allegations of abuse to the petitioner, forcing her to defend against allegations of alienating the children. It succeeds in floating the idea in the court that the mother had ulterior motives in presenting these charges, i.e., to keep the children from the father. Her credibility as to the claims becomes suspect.
Alienation Trumps Abuse
Professor Joan Meier, a professor at GW Law School and who appears in the HBO four-part miniseries, Allen v. Farrow, found in a published study that, when mothers claimed any type of abuse, if fathers responded by claiming parental alienation, then the mothers were twice as likely to lose custody as when fathers did not claim alienation. In the study’s stark conclusion: “alienation trumps abuse.”
Shared Custody Trumps Disproved or Discredited Allegations of Abuse
June Carbone, a family law professor at the University of Minnesota, finds Professor Meier’s study highly troubling: “It shows the power of the shared parenting idea. An abuse allegation rejects the possibility of shared parenting. Parents who allege alienation by the other parent cloak themselves in the mantle of the shared parenting norm and judges reward them, even if the parent is an abuser.”
Allegations of Abuse
Its is clear that while not being accepted science by any scientific body or recognized as a mental disorder in the DSM V, PAS has made an impact in child custody cases especially those cases where abuse is alleged. Without any empirical study, Dr. Gardner’s debunked ideas re: claims of sexual abuse extended to include domestic violence have prevailed. Courts and practitioners alike need to focus on the difficulty of presenting allegations of abuse by those who have been abuse and the ease with which, courts have found it simpler and easier to believe that she or the child is lying or was coached and order joint or shared custody placing the victims with the abusers.
Judge Elliot Wilks in Supreme Court, New York County, found Woody Allen not credible in his claims of PAS and “scorned woman.” A very difficult call in a most contentious case against a beloved New York icon. More courts should find the will to do the same.
