Thread by @CCChatMagazine

It is absolutely crucial that we move away from the term #ParentalAlienation whenever there is disrupted child contact. The term is hugely problematic in a number of ways not least of which being the background of the controversial *theory*.
THREAD
#DomesticAbuse
#familycourt

Here is the background to Richard Gardner who originated the term: and

Reasons for WHY the term #ParentalAlienation is so problematic:

1. See thread in tweet above
2. It was a term Gardner came up with in response to what he saw as the ‘brainwashing’ of a child by the mother, to reject the father.

3. Gardner believed that 90% of sex abuse allegations made by the child were, in fact, lies by the mother.
4. He theorised that mothers alleging abuse were expressing, in disguised form, their own sexual inclinations towards their children.

5. According to Gardner, the mother tells these lies to "alienate" the children from their father. He believed that the mother deserved to lose all custody rights in favour of the alleged abuser.

6. Gardner proposed *Threat Therapy* - in which the mother was threatened with jail if the child was not compliant.

This would be one thing IF the mother had indeed lied about the father having sexually abused the child and *programmed* the child to believe it

BUT

Because abuse - especially #coercivecontrol is so poorly understood by the courts ( unless it accompanies physical violence that is easily evidenced)- the child would often not be believed.

7. Gardner’s method of assessment was hugely problematic.
Asked by an interviewer what a mother was supposed to do if her child complained of sexual abuse by the father, Gardner replied: "What would she say? Don't you say that about your father. If you do, I'll beat you."

In one of his earliest cases, Gardner labelled a physicist a "parental alienator", unfit to retain custody of her children.

She was shot dead by her ex-husband.

Gardner insisted that her lies had made the husband temporarily psychotic.

Circuit Judge Ralph Stoddard allowed Gardner to interview all four family members in a case, ruling that PAS ( parental alienation syndrome) had gained enough acceptance in the scientific community to be admissible as evidence.

However... “

once Gardner got on the stand, he was so biased in favour of the father against the girls that the Judge rejected Gardner’s
testimony saying that Gardner was “really trying to get them to admit the facts were as their father saw them,”

Gardner was able to use his academic credentials to put children in the custody of their alleged abuser, EVEN in cases where police records, medical records and testimony by teachers and social workers supported the mother's accusations.

Dr. Joyanna Silberg views PAS allegations as part of a larger strategy in which abusive parents try to fool courts, attorneys, child custody evaluators, mental health professionals into believing that their children and ex-spouses are crazy when they raise concerns about safety.

8. Gardner had HUGELY problematic views on paedophilia and this fact alone should render any method of diagnosing #ParentalAlienation as unethical.

9. *Threat Therapy* or Reunification- as it is now called- is extremely traumatising to the child.
“The premise that you can improve a relationship with a parent through force and coercion and isolation from the preferred parent is simply erroneous and unethical,” Joyanna Silberg

10. The threat of claiming #ParentalAlienation and removing the child is one that is used by abusers to stop a partner from leaving.

There are many reasons why contact between a child and a parent is disrupted. Spite, vengeance, jealousy, anger, betrayal and control are just some of the reasons.

There is also fear of what a parent might do and this fear can not be underestimated.

The current way of defining #ParentalAlienation fails to fully consider:
-the adversarial and hostile setting of the court process
-the lack of understanding of #coercivecontrol
- the lack of understanding of the emotional impact of a relationship ending.