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Canada: Parental Alienation: Is It Appropriate for a Court to Order Intense, In-Patient ?Rehab? at a Distant, Secure Facility?

By Janet Langjahr

In Canada, claims of parental alienation are taken extremely seriously.

So much so, that at least one commentator has noted a judicial “fad” of ordering alleged child victims of it to a US clinic for cure.

Parental alienation remains very controversial.

Many organizations of psychologists and psychiatrists reject it, at least as a diagnosis of a disease or psychological condition.

But that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t accurately describe certain very real patterns of behavior present in certain family court cases.

Recently, a Canadian judge bucked the reported trend there and overruled an arbitrator’s ruling to send a disabled teenager for treatment.

Even if accepted as applicable to a child victim, parental alienation may not be capable of a “quick fix” - and some therapists believe the very attempt may do more harm than good.

The holding in this recent Canadian case may signal emergence of a new trend in Canada, or it may be limited to the somewhat unusual facts of the particular case before the court in that case.

Only time will tell.

Read more in this Toronto Globe and Mail article: PARENTAL ALIENATION - No quick fix.

Full post as published by Florida Divorce - Child Custody - Domestic Abuse Law on February 24, 2009 (boomark / email).