Research
Bibliographic research on parental alienation. International scientific bodies and organizations point out that parental alienation is an unscientific pseudo-theory and condemn its use in custody disputes, as it violates the rights of children and protective parents.
Urgent recommendation from GREVIO to Greece
GREVIO calls on Greece to take all necessary practical and legislative measures to end the removal of custody from non-violent parents, and to train judges and other relevant professionals on the lack of scientific basis for "parental alienation syndrome" and similar concepts.
Prosecutor Maria-Eleni Nikolou and the patriarchal class courts.
What connects the acquittal of pimps and child rapists with the theory of parental alienation? Prosecutor Maria-Eleni Nikolou and the patriarchal class courts.
Legal rules establishing the obligation to report child abuse and neglect
There is a legal obligation to report suspected child abuse and/or neglect, and it is also a moral imperative to ensure the protection of children. Reporting protects abused children from further abuse.
History Taking in Sexual Abuse: Anatomical Dolls
The use of anatomical dolls reduces the likelihood of suggestibility in children during the diagnostic interview for child sexual abuse.
UN Recommendation: legally prohibit the use of "parental alienation"
The Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, submitted a report to the Human Rights Council on April 13, 2023, in which she condemns the use of the pseudoscientific concept of "parental alienation," and related concepts, in custody court cases.
The World Health Organization (WHO) refuses to include parental alienation in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11)
In a recent statement (December 2022), the WHO explains the reasons why parental alienation was removed from the term index of the category titled "Problems Associated with Caregiver-Child Relationship" in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD).
Brazil 2022: The expert committee of the UN Human Rights Council calls on the government to withdraw the parental alienation law
GENEVA (November 4, 2022) -- Experts from the UN Human Rights Council have called on Brazil's new government to repeal the law criminalizing "parental alienation" (2010), which leads to discrimination against women and girls, particularly in custody court cases.
The UN Commission on the Status of Women takes a stand against the use of parental alienation in legal proceedings
On March 17, 2022, at the 66th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Reem Alsalem, convened a working group aiming for the committee to openly declare its opposition to the use of the pseudoscientific and regressive theory of "parental alienation" in child custody court cases.
UK 2021: The use of parental alienation theory puts children at risk
Once the term parental alienation enters a custody case, neither the reasons why the child refuses contact nor, most importantly, the allegations of domestic violence are examined with due care—instead, they are immediately labeled as false and the product of manipulation.
Parental alienation as a legal trick to reward abusers
The results of a 19-year study (2000-2019) conducted by the Law School of Brunel University (London, UK) show that abusive husbands and fathers gain time with their children, as well as access to the abused mother, by accusing her of parental alienation.
The culture of contact at any cost and the best interest of the child
At the foundation of "parental alienation" theory lies the belief that the "right to two parents" outweighs the right — and indeed the obligation — to protect the child from abuse. The widespread belief in courts that violence inflicted by the father, whether against the child or in the child's presence, is less harmful than the interruption of contact with the abusive father, makes it impossible for mothers (in the overwhelming majority) to protect their children from men who know very well that they are dangerous to them, as well as to the mothers themselves.
Parental Alienation: the repugnant, profitable "industry" with the child as victim
According to the principles of child-friendly justice, the judicial system is obligated to seriously take into account children's views. This obligation contradicts the basic principles of "parental alienation" theory, and in particular the arbitrary belief that most allegations of domestic violence and sexual abuse are false.
The core claims of parental alienation theory are refuted by a wealth of significant empirical research
Important empirical studies refute the core claims of parental alienation theory.
What is the theory of parental alienation?
Parental alienation was first mentioned as a term in 1980, in the USA, by Richard Gardner. From then until today, there is still no single clinical and scientific definition, while the way "experts" approach it in the literature is constantly changing. A very broad description, however, that is most often found, is that parental alienation occurs when a child rejects a parent and resists contact with them without reasonable cause.