Perspectives on Parental Alienation, Child Custody and Dispute Resolution Systems

Contested child custody provides many challenges for alternate dispute resolution. With no-fault divorce, and a standard for determining custody in light of the child's best interest, judges are besieged with a backlog of disputed custody cases without clear and concrete guidelines to follow in deciding whether to favor the mother or the father. Many experts in family law- both from the legal and mental health arenas have observed an increase in deceptive and manipulative tactics used by divorcing couples.

The surge in divorce rates during the past two decades along with major judicial reforms since the 1970's has led to several significant changes in the ways that courts handle family law cases. Divorce and custody laws have been widely revised by states, and alternatives to litigation have emerged and gained prominence. Mediation has become a popular option, and in some states, mediation is mandatory for divorcing couples. Judicial systems in California, Minnesota and Wisconsin were early experimenters with the concept of conciliation courts, where parents were encouraged to work out divorce and custody conflicts. States that have introduced ma

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The brainwashing campaign creates confusion in the child as a result of internalizing distorted beliefs and perceptions. Richard Gardner, coined the term Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) in the mid 1980's to refer to a situation where one parent who has previously had a very close and loving relationship with the child becomes the object of hate and degradation by the child, due to conscious or unconscious brainwashing by the other parent. (Bruch, 1988 and Sun & Thomas, 1987 in Geffner & Pagelow, 1990) While PAS has never been formally linked with domestic violence or spouse abuse cases, the issues of control, domination and emotional abuse are present in both types of cases. At that point, the parents can attempt to negotiate a plan. The court appointed psychologist initially identifies the causation factors and determines the motives of all family members, the defense functions of PAS in the family, and the specific techniques and patterns involved.

Additional provisions or groundrules could be addressed up front that specify unacceptable behaviors such as deceptions, fabrication, accusations, allegations and the like. that he or she will comply with the nonresidential parent's visitation request. The brainwashing campaign creates confusion in the child as a result of internalizing distorted beliefs and perceptions. Secondly, the mediation process would need the assurance that the court will take swift, clear judicial action when necessary to discourage tactics of stalling and deception by the alienating parent. In the same study, 90 percent of the children were cut off to some extent from extended families of the TP. The "bad" parent is hated and verbally vilified, while the "good" parent is loved and idealized (Ricketson, 1991). )

The child is the most seriously affected victim of PAS.

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