Editorial for the first Issue of the European Journal of Parental Alienation Practice
On behalf of the editorial board and myself we would like to extend a warm welcome to this the first issue of the European Journal of Parental Alienation Practice (EJPAP).
This is the first and only academic peer reviewed journal devoted to the exploration of the phenomenon of parental alienation. It is the result of a collaboration between myself at www.parentalalienation.eu and the co-founding editor, Dr. Charlie Azzopardi, Chair of the Institute of Family Therapy and Systemic Practice, Malta www.ift-malta.com.
The European Journal of Parental Alienation Practice seeks to advance understanding of Parental Alienation in the context of human systems such as couples, families, professional networks, and wider groups, and how to most effectively conceptualize and intervene in such systems. It will publish articles on theory, research, practice, and training, which are written in language that is accessible to social, legal, and mental health professionals working with families.
The high-profile editorial board includes leading academics, researchers, and professionals from around the world in keeping with an intention to attract a high standard of international contributions, which will have global reach and influence.
The EJPAP arrives in the context of renewed debate regarding parental alienation.
A key aim of the EJPAP is to give an accurate, measured, and empirical voice to clinicians, researchers, and practitioners across the social, mental and legal spectrum navigating the dynamics of PA in your efforts to optimize the psychological, emotional, and physical outcomes for children across their life span.
This first issue explores a variety of themes, for example Prof William Bernet and Dr. Demosthenes Lorandos provide a paper titled “Milestones, a concise history of Parental Alienation” where they deconstruct twelve important themes This article identifies twelve themes such as parental alienation from 1804 to 1985, the contributions of Richard A. Gardner, M.D, parental alienation, 1985 to 2006, criteria for the diagnosis of parental alienation, books regarding parental alienation by professionals and by alienated parents, child and family advocacy organizations, international developments regarding parental alienation, thirty-five years of legal developments regarding parental alienation, interventions for mild/moderate/severe parental alienation, important publications in peer-reviewed journals, the epidemic of misinformation regarding parental alienation; as well as recent landmark events in parental alienation scholarship.
Dr. Alan Blotky shares his paper titled “A framework of motivational beliefs behind parental alienation” where he provides a cogent summary of his recent study exploring the motivations of alienating parents. This exciting paper contributes to a much under-researched area of alienation.
Dr. Weiskopff from Israel contributes a paper titled “A Response to Alsalem et al (2022) Brazil: UN Experts Urge New Government to Target Violence Against Women and Girls, Repeal Parental Alienation Law” where he deconstructs Alsalem et al, (2022) call on Brazilian authorities to repeal Law 12,318 (2010) designed to protect children from parental alienation.
Sandra Feitor (PhD) based in Portugal adds an interesting paper setting out the circumstances of a case in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) where Foster Parents had been alienating a mother for ten years from her twin children as well as exploring the ECHR’s findings regarding the inertia of the national courts contributing to the alienating dynamics in that case.
Kelsey Green based in Canada contributes a paper exploring the theme of suicide for targeted parents navigating the dynamics of alienation giving a voice to this often-silent aspect of parental alienation.
Here at the EJPAP we are excited to bring you this the first issue and look forward to bringing you many more in the years to come. The next issue is scheduled for Autumn 2023. That issue will focus upon case studies regarding parental alienation. If you wish to submit a paper for this issue, we would love to hear from you. See link here: https://journal.parentalalienation.eu/index.php?route=product/catalog
