COVER STORY American Psychological Association Contested custody Inappropriate assumptions are common in family courts. . By Rebecca A. Clay July/August 2014, Vol 45, No. 7 Print version: page 34 https://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/07-08/cover-custody.aspx

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While all child abuse claims need to be investigated, this theory implies a question about whether and how often abuse allegations are really attempts to gain the upper hand in custody disputes. What courts have focused on less is the question of what so-called parental alienation means and how it actually affects children.

Despite family courts' major emphasis on parental alienation, research by alienation experts shows that only a tiny percentage of children end up seriously alienated from one parent in divorce cases, said Meier. That finding — that parental alienation is really a small problem — should transform family court practice, she said. What's more, she said, the studies consistently show that those kids are usually alienated for a good reason and one that's related to the disliked parent's behavior. "We have a tempest in a teapot in terms of family courts' treatment of parental alienation as a dominant concern," she said.

The use of the parental alienation model has grave consequences, said Meier, with children often removed from caring mothers and handed over to abusive fathers when judges are too quick to dismiss abuse allegations as false.

"Once you slap the alienation label on one parent, the other parent can do anything and not be held accountable," said Meier, calling on courts to rely on more balanced evaluations so they don't miss real abuse. "It's a scarlet A, and once it's on a mother's forehead, it doesn't matter what the facts are." 

COVER STORY American Psychological Association Contested custody Inappropriate assumptions are common in family courts. . By Rebecca A. Clay July/August 2014, Vol 45, No. 7 Print version: page 34 https://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/07-08/cover-custody.aspx