A history of the use of the concept of parental alienation in the Australian family law system: contradictions, collisions and their consequences

Abstract

This paper presents insights into the history and current deployment of the concept of parental alienation in the Australian family law system. The paper begins in 1989, the first time an article on parental alienation syndrome was published in an Australian law journal. It then traces aspects of the socio-legal and social science research, gender politics, law reform and jurisprudence of the following 30 years, paying attention to moments of significant change. The impacts of major amendments that emphasise the desirability of post-separation shared parenting outcomes in 1996 and 2006 are specifically considered. More recently, in 2012, reforms intended to improve the family law system's response to domestic and family violence were introduced. The history reveals an irreconcilable tension between the 'benefit' of 'meaningful' post-separation parent-child relationships and the protection of children from harm. When mothers' allegations of violence in the family are disbelieved, minimised or dismissed, they are transformed from victims of abuse into perpetrators of abuse -alienators of children from their fathers. Their actions and attitudes collide with the shared parenting philosophy. This is arguably an inescapable consequence of a family law system that struggles to deal effectively with family violence in the context of a strong shared parenting regime.

Alienação parental na prática pediátrica: revisão integrativa do conceito

“…Foram analisadas 28 publicações, sendo três em espanhol [12][13][14] , nove em português [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] e dezesseis em inglês [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39] . Em comum, os textos apresentavam os seguintes tópicos: a) definição do fenômeno da alienação parental; b) contraposições e objeções ao conceito; c) implicações do conceito de alienação parental para o profissional de saúde e/ou para os operadores do Direito.…”

“…Converge entre os autores aqui analisados que o termo 'síndrome' não é o mais indicado para descrever o fenômeno, pois a alienação parental não é exatamente uma situação mental da criança sozinha, mas algo decorrente de uma situação complexa de relações afetivo-familiares na qual a criança é mais um objeto do que um sujeito 12,24,27,38,39 . Igualmente, há casos onde a resistência da criança é de fato justificada por uma parentalidade pobre em afeto ou mesmo abusiva ou violenta [24][25][26]40 .…”

Allegations of child sexual abuse: An empirical analysis of published judgements from the Family Court of Australia 2012–2019

“…As a default explanation for resistance to children's contact with the "other" parent -especially when linked to allegations of child sexual abuse -Gardner's largely self-published work continues to attract widespread criticism in scholarly journals (e.g. Lubit, 2019;Rathus 2020). 27 Under Australian family law, there is a presumption that both parents will have a role in making decisions about major long-term issues (e.g.…”

“…As a default explanation for resistance to children's contact with the “other” parent – especially when linked to allegations of child sexual abuse – Gardner's largely self‐published work continues to attract widespread criticism in scholarly journals (e.g. Lubit, 2019; Rathus 2020).…”