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Parental Alienation in the Courtroom: California Considers Revoking Its Admission

By Janet Langjahr

Parental alienation.

Much has been written and said of it.

Yet neither the American Medical Association nor the American Psychological Association have recognized it.

Many courts have acknowledged it, however.

And confused it, at least in some cases, with trying to protect a child from a physically and/or psychologically abusive parent.

Resulting in some children being ordered into unsupervised timesharing and, in some cases, majority timesharing, with an abusing parent … to punish the so-called alienating (that is, protecting) parent.

In California, a legislator has sponsored a bill that, if passed, would deny the use of parental alienation in California’s family courts.

Is it better to err in favor of protecting an allegedly alienated parent’s “rights” or in favor of protecting a child from abuse?

Ultimately, that may be the real question on which use of parental alienation in court should turn.

Read more in this Capitol Weekly article: Parental Alienation must be excluded from all custody hearings.

Full post as published by Florida Divorce - Child Custody - Domestic Abuse Law on March 02, 2010 (boomark / email).