Family Access – Fighting for Children’s Rights and Steel Partners Foundation will be hosting a 2 day international conference in Durham, North Carolina on Saturday, May 15, 2021 and Sunday, May 16, 2021. This conference will give a total focus on the courts.
The initial presentation will assume that the audience is familiar and knowledgeable with the basic concepts of Alienation. We will provide its basic tenants and discuss them in contradistinction to those found within Estrangement.
Parental Alienation as Child Abuse
Parental Alienation is a serious form of child abuse, but this is frequently misunderstood and minimized within the Family Court system. The first challenge then is to make this argument to the Court. We have found that the following information can be helpful in doing so.
Adverse Childhood Experiences studies (ACEs) will be described and presented to demonstrate the direct impact of childhood adverse experiences on physical, psychological, and social health. These studies show that adverse childhood experiences have lifelong consequences for the individual and are dose-related. That is, the greater number of adverse experiences the child has, the greater the affect they have on their life. It is notable that in the case of Alienation, 9 of the 10 specific adverse experiences identified in the ACEs’ studies can be applicable, which confirms the lifelong seriousness of this phenomenon.
Next, we will discuss the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children’s (APSAC) definition of child maltreatment or child abuse and how it fits within the experience of Parental Alienation for children. Parental Alienation sometimes is not considered child abuse because there are not visible signs of abuse. In other words, it does not “appear” to be child abuse to the untrained eye, at least on the surface. We have found that describing Parental Alienation within the definition of child maltreatment as presented by APSAC, can enlighten the Court to acknowledge and recognize it as a serious form of child abuse.
Further along these lines we will present an overview of the biology associated with marital conflict and the consequences to children. This will cover the Autonomic nervous System, the Parasympathetic systems and subcortical structures that play a vital role in reactions to stress and trauma. The short- and long-term effects of continual exposure to stress and trauma will be covered. All of this will be placed within and applied to Parental Alienation as a nexus to explain the mechanisms that cause the physical, psychological and social damage that occurs. In other words, Parental Alienation can be seen not simply as a transient social problem for children but now should be viewed as a serious medical, psychological and social phenomenon that affects children for the rest of their lives.
Strategies: Attorneys, Mental Health providers, Parents and Grandparents
Presenting Parental Alienation cases to the Court is difficult. The primary reason is that it is counter-intuitive. The appearance of what is going on is very different from what is really going on. Alienated children and their alienating parent “appear” to be very close, when they are actually in an unhealthy and enmeshed relationship where children are penalized for independent thought. The falsely accused targeted or unfavored parent may appear unstable, when in actuality, they have been traumatized by loss and false allegations. Things are not as they appear, but in many ways are the opposite to how they appear.
Attorneys who represent what they later realize are Alienating Parents have ethical challenges that can nonetheless be overcome. Strategies for the attorney of the alienating parent are discussed with sensitivity to the attorney’s unique ethical obligations to represent their client’s interest.
Attorneys for Targeted Parents must present these cases differently than would be the case if Alienation was not present. These are discussed in detail, all centering on the critical theme of exposing the alienating Parent. The cloud of suspicion naturally hovers over the Targeted Parent who has been falsely accused, and this cloud must be transferred to the Alienating Parent. Specific methods for accomplishing this are presented.
Mental Health providers, both therapists and evaluators, are at risk of uncritically accepting the false narrative offered by the alienating parent and the alienated child. The Mental Health provider must therefore be armed with the tools that allow them to identify the presence of Parental Alienation. This is critical in specific ways for the therapist, which are described. The evaluator likewise must have the onboard skillset to see past the appearances and have the tools to do so, which are discussed in detail.
Parents who have become alienated live in a very provocative environment. They have been accused falsely of various things, they are vilified sometimes by schools, churches and other organizations who have drank the Kool aid of the alienating parent. While there is little that the targeted parent can do to make the alienating parent stop, there are many ways that they can make things worse. We therefore provide a roadmap to guide this parent in how to best respond to the various provocations of the child and of the other parent.
Grandparents are often the most innocent victim of Parental Alienation. As with the parent of the alienated child, there is little that they can do to stop the alienation. However, having the tools on board to respond in ways that do not generate further alienated behavior are important to be aware of. We will cover these in detail as well.
This two-day conference will focus on the presentation of effective strategies for family courts which must identify parental and grandparental alienation and then deal with it. For understandable reasons, family courts have been challenged by this problem. This conference will present a toolbox for litigants who must turn to the courts for assistance.
Participants will be presented with evidence that:
- Parental alienation is very damaging to children
- Parental alienation is a serious form of child abuse
- Parental alienation can have several lifelong consequences
This program will present and discuss:
- Strategies for attorneys who represent families that are dealing with parental alienation
- Specific strategies for exposing the alienating parent as the source of the problem
- Strategies for mental health professionals who must establish parental alienation in court
- Strategies for the effective treatment of alienation
- Strategies for parents and grandparents who become targets of alienation
This two-day conference will provide continuing education credits for both mental health as well as legal professionals. This conference is limited to 200 attendees in order to maximize its focus and value.
The Center For Human Potential of America, Inc. has cosponsored this program with Family Access Fighting for Children’s Rights. The Center For Human Potential of America, Inc. (The Center) is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Center maintains responsibility for this program and its content. This program is approved by the FL Licensing Boards 490 and 491 for 19 CE’s and is listed on CE Broker. The North Carolina Bar Association has approved 18 CLE’s as well.
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