Thread by @DadswithKidsUk

1/ This article is incorrect and misleading @BBCNews - Who was your source? It is blatantly misquoted and cherry-picked. The article is unbalanced. Please read the full guidance (quoted in following messages). bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

2/ Point 6 "This guidance acknowledges that where found the harm of Alienating Behaviours to a child can be significant and enduring, akin to other forms of
emotional/psychological child abuse. Alienating Behaviours range in intensity and their impact on children, but these harms

3/ can be far reaching. They can affect a child’s emotional, social and psychological development. Severed
relationships and growing up with a false narrative can also have a harmful impact on a child’s identity, self-worth and sense of safety in the world. Whilst
the focus here

4/ is on the welfare outcomes for children, it is also important to recognise the very significant emotional impact on parents of the loss of a relationship with a child. Also what the guidance actually says regarding "experts" is "In some cases, the court may be invited to

5/ direct a whole family psychological assessment to consider the family dynamics and functioning." (Point 85). It then goes on at Point 86 to say experts should not have a financial interest in delivering subsequent services. All it is saying is experts should be chosen

6/ carefully. Point 88 goes on to say that sometimes a child will have been alienated from a parent and wider family and require reparative work and difficult decisions should not be delayed. It goes on to say that a transfer of residence should not be a punitive measure but

7/ based on Child welfare. At point 95 it says "Where removal from the current parent with care is contemplated, the Guardian may invite the court to make a direction for the local authority to prepare a section 37 report" (ie should the child be taken into care)

8/ Point 100 "Where a child’s relationship with a parent has been fundamentally undermined, the welfare decisions will always be difficult." Point 105 Psychological manipulation (which is child abuse) "It is well established in law that some parents manipulate their children,

9/ and this can include being manipulated to make false allegations in family law proceedings..." it then quotes caselaw of such an example. Which is serious psychological abuse of a child (by either parent but more commonly a Mother). At point 107 it says "Where findings of

10/ Alienating Behaviour have been made, understanding the parent’s capacity to change such behaviour, with or without support, may
require the assistance of an appropriately qualified and registered psychologist expert." This directly contradicts your misquoted article

11/ Point 108 only says it is only inappropriate for experts to attend fact finding hearings (the court prefers written reports). The case you quote in the article has extreme bias in the way it is conveyed and names and shames Ms Melanie Gill who has been the subject of

12/ personal attacks in the media previously, and this is inappropriate. As the guidance says - it is for the court to decide - not factions or the media. The following quote from your article is incorrect and misleading.....

13/ "The new guidance says it is "inappropriate" for an expert to determine whether parental alienation has taken place. It says that is for the court to decide, and a psychologist may be brought in later to advise how it should be dealt with." as shown above.

14/ Please remove or amend this article which is damaging to children and families, and misleading, you have quoted a number of people - some of whom have given you false information. The full guidance is attached here. judiciary.uk/wp-content/upl…

@BBCNews @threadreaderapp unroll