Research Alienated Child CD

This workshop will present the latest empirical research and clinical understanding of why some children become aligned with one parent and reject the other parent after separation and divorce, helping to answer the questions: Is it parental alienation by the aligned parent (the PAS perspective), family abuse by the rejected parent (the family violence perspective), or boundary diffusion and role reversal in the family (the family structure perspective)? Specific kinds of vulnerability in children to alignments and alienation and the influence of protracted and high conflict custody litigation will be discussed. Then the social policy issues that arise from this problem will be discussed. These include whether children necessarily need a relationship with both parents; whether children who reject a parent are significantly emotionally troubled or at-risk for emotional problems or psychological disorders in the future; and hence whether they need court-ordered treatment (despite the child's and aligned parent's resistance or objections). What is the nature, purpose, and prognosis for mandated treatment; when should we give children their own voice and respect their self-determination, and under what conditions should a change of primary residence to the rejected parent be considered?

Additional Information

Conference at a Glance