News Article

Sex-with-animals cases surface in 3 TN counties

The Tennessean, November 29, 2009

Two years ago, the Tennessee legislature put into statute what most people assumed should go without saying — it is illegal to have sex with animals. But prosecutors across Middle Tennessee have had three bestiality cases. The connection between animal abuse and human abuse is notable. One study found that 96 percent of juveniles who engaged in sexual abuse of animals also admitted to sex offenses against humans. In another study, some 37 percent of sexually violent juvenile offenders were found to have a history of animal sexual assault. An FBI study found that serial killers have a high rate of animal sexual abuse as well.  More

Publication

Parental Alienation: A Rational Approach

NY State Office for Prevention of Domestic Violence Newsletter, June 1, 2009

The fact that divorcing parents often badmouth each other to the children can not justify the damage done to abused and endangered children by PAS and PA accusations. A more rational and fair approach to the claim of PA is presented.  More

News Article

Educating dads may help protect babies from abuse

USA TODAY, July 27, 2009

More than 2,400 children under 2 were murdered in the USA from 2001 to 2005, almost twice the number killed in car accidents, the study says. Children this age account for about half of all homicides of children under 14. The murder rate for babies this age — 6 per 100,000 children — is 10 times higher than the rate for children 7 to 8 years old, and even higher than the rate for 15- and 16-year-olds, the study says.  More

Publication : Master's Thesis

Disciplining Divorcing Parents: The Social Construction of Parental Alienation Syndrome

Department of Sociology, Queen's University, September 1, 2008

This thesis explores the development of the concepts of “parental alienation syndrome” and “false allegations” in the context of custody and access, as ‘social problems’. It analyzes the course of these concepts through an historical account of Canada’s divorce arena and recent changes to custody and access law, analyzing the reasoning and motives of the major claimsmakers: the Fathers’ Right Movement, medical experts, the legal arena and the counter-claims of Feminist activists. It examines the role of the supervised access facilitator in the construction of the concepts as ‘social problems’. The theories of psychiatrist Richard Gardner are examined in particular, due to their pivotal role in the advancement of the claimsmakers’ goals. Finally, empirical studies are reviewed and analyzed, demonstrating how the concepts of “parental alienation syndrome” and “false allegations” have mutated and permeated the domain of divorce and access in Western society.  More

Presentation

Parental Alienation Syndrome in Family Courts

Presented at the Child Sexual Abuse: Justice Response or Alternative Resolution Conference, May 1, 2003

The question of allegations of sexual abuse in Family Law cases is a complex issue. It is becoming increasingly common to see Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) invoked as an explanation for such allegations, with the implication that the allegations are false. This presentation will review some of the literature on both issues - false allegations and PAS – in the context of Family Law disputes. It will examine the concept of PAS and will suggest that it has neither validity nor utility.
  More

Presentation

Parental Alienation Syndrome Revisited

Presented at the Child Sexual Abuse: Justice Response or Alternative Resolution Conference , May 1, 2003

In family courts, the ramifications of recognising abuse as a reason for supervising or aborting contact have led to laws which are ambiguous, expert opinions which are not based in science and outcries from parents of both sexes about the unfairness of the system. The concept of alienation has gained ascendancy in family courts around the world particularly over the last five years. While most professionals familiar with the courts’ workings recognise that children can and do side with one or other parent, especially in the early stages of separation, little was done to research this. Indeed most of the papers written address Parent Alienation Syndrome, not parent alienation, and distinguished researchers in the field have only just turned their attention to the problem.  More

Publication

Parental Alienation Syndrome: A Paradigm For Child Abuse In Austrailian Family Law

Paper presented at Child Sexual Abuse: Justice Response or Alternative Resolution Conference, Australian Inst. of Criminology, May 1, 2003

This paper argues that the absence of a publicly funded investigative capacity in the Family Court of Australia when there are allegations of child abuse by a parent, creates the conditions for the de facto operating presumption of the Parental Alienation Syndrome paradigm in the courts. This paradigm, at its simplest, insists that claims of serious child abuse are invented and that children’s statements and manifestations of fear are the outcome of parental coaching. Without a publicly funded professional child protection investigative service available to inform the family court, the private adversarial system of family law commonly fails to substantiate allegations of child abuse, thereby systematically producing the outcome that child abuse allegations will be deemed to be false. Safety for children in family law proceedings who are subject to abuse depends on access to a professional investigative service to inform the court, and a redefinition of a child’s best interests in the Family Law Act to give safety the highest value.  More

Newsletter

Parental Alienation Syndrome and Parental Alienation

New York State Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence Bulletin

A mother who raises the issue of domestic violence or child sexual abuse during child custody litigation may find herself accused of parental alienation syndrome or parental alienation. These accusations often lead family courts to focus on the mother’s motives and unwillingness to co-parent, discount what she says about abuse, and, all too often, order the children into custody or unsupervised visitation with their abusive father.  More

News Article

After Abuse, Changes in the Brain

The New York Times, February 23, 2009

For years, psychiatrists have known that children who are abused or neglected run a high risk of developing mental problems later in life, from anxiety and depression to substance abuse and suicide.
The connection is not surprising, but it raises a crucial scientific question: Does the abuse cause biological changes that may increase the risk for these problems?  More

Press Release

Experts Warn About Dangers of Deprogramming Treatment

Specialists in childhood trauma and therapy from the Leadership Council have grave concerns about the ethics of deprogramming treatment described in a recent article published in the Globe and Mail (see: Judge Blocks Sending Teen for Deprogramming Treatment, Feb 7, 2009).  More

News Article

Girl, Interrupted

San Francisco Weekly, December 18, 2002

Alanna Krause believes that much of her hellish childhood could have been avoided. Now she's suing her father, her therapist, and her lawyer in an effort to prove it. How did it come to this?   More

Press Release

Legal Community Rejects Parental Alienation Syndrome

The Leadership Council On Child Abuse and Interpersonal Violence, July 12, 2006

Two recent high profile legal publications have rejected “Parental Alienation Syndrome” (PAS), a controversial label often used to discredit allegations of child abuse or domestic violence in family courts. According to PAS theory, children's disclosures of abuse by one parent are reinterpreted as evidence of “brainwashing” by the other parent. The solution proposed by PAS theory is to immediately award custody to the alleged child abuser.   More

Resources

Courageous Kids Network

Courageous Kids Network, October 1, 2006

We, the Courageous Kids Network, are a growing group of young people, whose childhood was shattered by biased and inhumane court rulings, which forced us to live with our abusive parent, while restricting or sometimes completely eliminating contact with our loving and protective parent.  More

Report

Protective Parents Survey - Pilot Study Results

California Protective Parents Association, October 2, 2006

The current study is the pilot results of a national survey undertaken to study the issue of protective parents. Sixty-seven self-identified "protective parents," male and female, completed a 101-item questionnaire describing aspects of their custody disputes. The pilot data to be presented includes the systematic documentation of the phenomenon of protective parents by including demographic factors, economic impact, and the full variety of protection issues including the range of allegations by both parents and others, the variety of expert examinations, diagnosis and testimony, family court response, and outcomes for children.   More