Family Justice Council - Draft guidance re Responding Allegations of Parental Alienation.

For some time now the Family Courts in England and Wales have increasingly been asked to consider and act upon allegations of Parental Alienation. 

The concept of parental alienation is both vexed and highly emotive, and there are polarised opinions appearing in research literature about it. 

One school of thought is that it is a tool used by the perpetrators of domestic abuse to smokescreen the court into allowing the perpetrator to continue seeing the children, the other being that it is a valid concern and concept raised about the parent who is alienating the children from having a relationship with that parent, and thus ending in a “No Contact” Order.

It is necessary to consider how such allegations are responded to by the Courts, and by professionals in the family justice system. For this reason the Family Justice Council is issuing guidance focusing on how the allegations of alienating behaviours are responded to, recognising that they are allegations that can arise at different points in the litigation journey, and are likely to be made alongside other allegations of harmful behaviour including domestic abuse or child abuse.

The Family Justice Council say that they welcome comments from stakeholders on the content of the draft guidance, which is to assist the Family Court at whatever stage of the proceedings the issue of alienating behaviour is to be considered.