The United Nations have sought submissions regarding Parental Alienation (PA). Their preamble suggests they do not understand (or do not want to understand) the phenomenon and they seem to have a pre-existing gendered bias and prejudice regarding parental alienation.
They suggest that all practitioners who support PA commence their assessments where it is assumed that it is as a result of the nefarious influence of the aligned parent. Nothing could be further from the truth in my view. All assessments commence with the hypothesis that the child is rejecting the parent for valid reasons. It is only when frivolous rationales are provided that we can consider alternative hypothesis such as parental alienation.
I suggest the approach of the United Nations is comparable to suggesting that Henry Ford should be held liable for all road traffic collisions involving Ford motor cars or the Wright brothers should be held liable for all plane crashes based upon the rationale of the United Nations. I suggest that just because some nefarious legal practitioners abuse the construct of parental alienation for their own agenda in the adversarial and arbitory context of family law. This is not a justified reason to throw the baby out with the bath water that is to suggest that PA does not exist.
My understanding from the preamble is that the UN’s starting position is that allegations of PA are presumed to be a response that is used by nefarious male parents to subjugate protective female parents always…really?
In my submission I invite the reader to consider some truths regarding the phenomenon of parental alienation. I provide some example’s of what children have said to me in my work as an expert witness in complex private family law proceedings in southern and northern Ireland where parental alienation was considered to be a factor. I suggest that both mothers and fathers are equally likely to engage in parental alienation behaviours.
I suggest the rationales provided by the children in this document cannot be considered valid rationales to permit a child to erase a normal range healthy parent (and that parents extended family) out of their lives. I wonder if the United Nations will take a position on the children I have met in my assessments… I am not holding my breath!
I suggest it is incredulous that the weak and frivolous rationales provided to me cannot be considered valid rationales by the children to have erased their healthy parents out of their lives for between 1-3 years while uninformed (or worse) practitioners hide behind the voice of the child. This is simply not good enough.
I suggest the angry parents who have supported these children in these silly justifications have failed in their role, duty and responsibility as parents while their legal representatives have perpetuated their outrageous allegations to perpetuate the conflict. I suggest these parents do not have the capacity to differentiate between their role as spouse and their role as parents. Simply put they need to get over themselves.
I implicitly suggest family law in Ireland (with few exceptions) is beyond disgusting and abhorrent in my experience as an expert witness focused upon optimising the outcomes of the children.
Parental Alienation without intervention lasts a life time.
Submission to the United Nations
