Parental Alienation Diagnosis, Assessment, and Treatment

Parental alienation involves a concerted effort on the part of one parent to brainwash a child into hating the other parent. It is a term used by mental health and legal professionals to describe both a complex form of child psychological abuse (i.e., isolating, exploiting/corrupting, terrorizing) and a diagnostic label for identifying a pathologically disturbed parent-child relationship between the alienating parent and the child victim. Diagnosing parental alienation requires documented evidence that a child has been exposed to one or more parental alienation strategies and/or brainwashing techniques and the exposure is the primary cause for the child to engage in a campaign of denigration against the target parent, utilize frivolous rationalizations to justify the denigration and manifests two or more parental alienation symptoms. Assessment requires classifying and documenting the severity of exposure along with the impact the exposure has had a child's psychological well-being. Once the severity of exposure and impact are known, treatment usually involves a combination of Court orders to protect the threatened target-parent child relationship and a modified form of Structural Family Therapy (SFT). The modified SFT is used to de-triangulate and restructure the family to promote a healthy relationship between the child and both of his or her parents.

Child Custody Evaluation

The major focus of a child custody evaluation is to assist a court in determining the Best Interests of the Child (American Psychological Association, 2010; U.S. Dept. H.H.S., 2020). One of the challenges facing Family Courts is that the best interests of the child are defined differently across jurisdictions. This has led to a “lack of consensus as to its meaning” (Kelly, 1999, p. 377). According to Zermatten (2010). “no one knows for certain what are the best interests of a child, or a group of children” (p. 485). Kelly (1999) noted that “because the concept of best interests is rarely defined but heavily relied on, experts, attorneys, court personnel, and parents … create their own meanings” (p. 378). Kelly (1999) suggested that a child’s best interest should be defined as the “combination of factors a child needs in a custody and/or access arrangement that will sustain his or her adjustment and development” (p. 378). She further opined that “despite the changing family structure, whatever individual parental emotional and intellectual resources existed for the child should be sustained or maximized after separation” (Kelly, 1999, p. 378).
The Children’s Bureau of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services (2020) reported that the most frequently cited guiding principles concerning the best interests of the child are (1) the emotional ties and relationships between a child and their parents; (2) the capacity of the parents to provide shelter, food, clothing, and medical care; (3) the mental, physical, and emotional needs of the child; (4) the mental, physical, and emotional health of the parents; and (5)the presence of abuse, neglect, or family violence. In August of 1970, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws approved and recommended for enactment in all states the Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act (UMDA, 1973) which outlined the following best interest of the child factors that a court should consider when determining custody:

1. The wishes of the child’s parent or parents as to his custody
2. The wishes of the child as to his custodian
3. The interaction and interrelationship of the child with his parent or parents, his siblings, and any other person who may significantly affect the child’s best interest
4. The child’s adjustment to his home, school, and community
5. The mental and physical health of all individuals involved

At the end of this list, the commissioners stated that “the court shall not consider conduct of a proposed custodian that does not affect his relationship to the child” (p. 45). This often becomes an important consideration when divorcing or separated parents have raised allegations of misbehavior on the part of the other parent. Determining the best interests of the child through a custody evaluation procedure is often guided by statute. For instance, in the state of Michigan, the best interests of the child factors are codified in the Child Custody Act of 1970 under MCL 722.23. According to MCL 722.23 (1970, 2016), the “best interests of the child” involve 12 factors divided into five structures:

1. The past and present bonding and attachment between the child and his or her parents
2. The willingness and psychological, physical, and moral fitness of the parents to: Provide a custodial environment that adequately meets or exceeds the child’s developmental, attachment, emotional, psychological, and physical needs; Provide a custodial environment that is free from domestic violence[2]; Provide a custodial environment that facilitates and encourages a close and continuing relationship between the child and other parent
   
3. The child’s home, school, and community record
4. The child’s reasonable preference if the Court finds the child developmentally, psychologically, socially, and emotionally competent to express a voluntary preference.
5. Any other relevant factor

Although not expressly mandated in the American Psychological Association guidelines for conducting child custody evaluations, most Courts expect an evaluator to provide a detailed analysis of how the results of the evaluation procedures affect the best interests of the child. This analysis should be explicated in a manner that suggests how each relevant statutory best interest of the child factor favors or does not favor one or both parents (Simon & Stahl, 2020). The weighting of each factor may change depending on how the facts of the case lie. For example, if one parent is unwillingly to facilitate a close and continuing relationship between the children and the other parent, then that factor may hold more weight. This is especially true if it is substantially harming the children’s bonding and attachment with the other parent. Researchers have stressed the importance of custody evaluators remaining neutral and impartial when evaluating parents and their children for issues concerning custody and access (Goldstein, 2016). Custody evaluators should also be aware of the relevant case law concerning the Constitutional dimensions surrounding family civil rights (Karst, 1980; Marcus, 2006) and a family’s right to integrity and privacy (Bohl, 1994). Parents and children have a substantive due process right to maintain close and continuing relationships with each other after the dissolution of their family (Alsager v. Polk County, 1975; Santosky v. Kramer, 1982). These rights are held in common between the children and their parents (Trivedi, 2021).
Many custody evaluations involve serious allegations of abuse, neglect, or domestic / family violence. Serious allegations may be determined by a state agency to be true, false, or undetermined. In cases where allegations have not been determined to be true or false, the children may develop inaccurate appraisals of one or both parents. The relevant scientific literature suggests this can cause a significant risk of emotional harm to the child and may result in permanent damage to their relationship to one or both parents (Trocme & Bala, 2005) especially when a child is denied access to a non-abusive parent during an evaluation of abuse allegations (Trivedi, 2019). Emotionally disturbed parents may exploit the custody evaluation process by making knowingly false claims of abuse, neglect, parental unfitness, or domestic violence that are exceedingly difficult to disprove. When abuse complaints involve facts that are difficult to prove or disprove, the professional participants are routinely pressured to take sides in parental warfare. Parental warfare that is sustained without resolution is known to cause significant harm to the children involved (Kadir et al., 2018; van Dijk et al., 2020)
Evaluators must take into consideration any and all allegations made by the parents and utilize an evaluation process that includes hypothesis testing. According to the cumulative scientific literature (AFCC, 2006; Bricklin, 1996; Fuhrmann & Zibbell, 2012; Rohrbaugh, 2008; Stahl, 2010; Tolle & O’Donohue, 2013), the process and flow of a custody evaluation should involve the following components:

• Forensic interview of parents & children
• Review and analysis of legal, mental health, medical, and/or school records
• Review and analysis of family communication records
• Psychological testing
• In-home parent-child relationship observation and assessment
  
• Collateral interviews
• Comparison of data obtained from interviews, testing, and observations with relevant scientific literature
• Generation and testing of hypotheses
• Best interests of the child factorial analysis
• Forensic custody evaluation report that includes recommendations   
• Expert testimony if needed

Iosco County Psychological Services takes care to utilize this methodology when conducting child custody evaluations.

Parent-Child "Reunification" Therapy

Parent-child reunification therapy is one of the most common remedies used by courts when a parent and child have been alienated from each other by the negligent and/or abusive behavior of the other parent (See Harner v. Harner, 2018). Reunification therapy is a term of art used by family law courts and has not yet been properly defined in the literature. The use of the term comes from child abuse and neglect cases when a parent, who has been previously adjudicated responsible for causing harm to their child, is provided an opportunity to rectify the conditions which led to the original adjudication [See Chapter 712A of the Michigan Probate Code].
Thus, reunification, in this context, involves making therapeutic efforts to repair a parent-child relationship between an abusive parent and an abused/neglected child. The assumption is the parent who is ordered to participate in reunification therapy is unfit because of the threatened risk of harm due to past child maltreatment. This assumption does not work in cases of severe parental alienation because the pathologically disturbed parent-child relationship is not between the target parent (non-offending parent) and the alienated child; rather the troubled relationship is between the alienating parent (abusive parent) and the alienated child (abused child). This is why reunification therapy between an alienated child and the target parent has very poor outcomes while the child continues to be exposed to parental alienation behaviors from the alienating parent (See Hiller v. Hiller, 2018).
Therefore, reunification therapy for alienated children should be constructed and ordered by the court with the same provisions it uses for child abuse and neglect cases:

1. Removal of the child from the alienating parent (abusive parent) and suspension of contact or supervised visitation
2. Placing the child with the target parent (non-offending parent)
3. Educational and/or therapeutic interventions for the alienating parent that provide him or her the opportunity to rectify the conditions which led to the child’s removal from their custody and/or suspension of contact
4. Educational and/or therapeutic interventions for the alienated child (abused child) and the target (non-offending parent) that provide them the opportunity to repair the psychological damage caused by the alienating parent.
5. Structural Family Therapy (SFT) for the alienated child, target parent, and the alienating parent that de-triangulates and restructures the family to promote a healthy relationship between the child and both of his or her parents

Child Abuse & Neglect Assessment

Child abuse and neglect assessments involve making a factual determination of whether or not a parent, care giver, or other person responsible for the safety, health, and welfare of a child has engaged in behavior that has caused harm or is likely to cause harm to a child [See MCL 750.136b]. There are various definitions in the law, the scientific literature, and CPS operational manuals which guide decision making in child abuse assessments.
MICHIGAN LAW: Under the Michigan Child Protection Law, child abuse and neglect are defined as follows:

• "Child abuse means harm or threatened harm to a child's health or welfare that occurs through nonaccidental physical or mental injury, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, or maltreatment, by a parent, a legal guardian, or any other person responsible for the child's health or welfare..." [MCL 722.622(g)]
• "Child neglect means harm or threatened harm to a child's health or welfare by a parent, legal guardian, or any other person responsible for the child's health or welfare that occurs through either ... (i) Negligent treatment ... or (ii) Placing a child at an unreasonable risk to the child's health or welfare by failure ... to intervene to eliminate that risk when that person is able to do so and has, or should have, knowledge of the risk [MCL 722.622(k)]

CAPTA: Under Federal law, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA, 2010) states that the term, ‘child abuse and neglect’ means: "any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation, or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm" [CAPTA, 2010, p. 6]
DSM-5: The most current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-5) provides diagnostic codes and operational definitions for documenting and treating "Child Maltreatment and Neglect Problems" (DSM-5, 2013, pp. 717-719).

Parenting Coordinator

A parenting coordinator is a person appointed by the court for a specified term to help implement the parenting time orders of the court and to help resolve parenting disputes that fall within the scope of the parenting coordinator's appointment [MCL 722.27c(1)].
The scope of the parenting coordinator's duties in resolving disputes between parents may include any of the following:

• Vacation and holiday schedules and implementation
• Daily routines
• Activities and recreation
• Discipline
• Health care management
• School-related issues
• Alterations in the parenting time schedule
• Participation of other persons in parenting time
• Child care and babysitting issues
• Any other matters submitted to the parenting coordinator jointly by the parties [See MCL 722.27c(e)]

Guardian ad Litem

A guardian ad litem (GAL) is a person appointed by the Court to the protect the interests of a minor child or other individuals the law considers incompetent. In domestic relations cases that involve allegations of child abuse or high levels of conflict, an appointed GAL serves to help the court determine a child's best interest by conducting an independent investigation and writing recommendations. GALs should have specialized skill and training in the following areas:

1. Identification of any abuse and neglect issues
2. Factorial analysis of the best interest of the child factors
3. Determining the strengths and weaknesses within the familial relationships of the child
4. Evaluation of peer relationships of the child
5. Evaluation of relevant mental health, medical, and school records of the child
6. Understanding and knowledge of all applicable statutes, court rules, case law, and behavioral science literature
7. A firm grasp of the particular facts of the case
8. Negotiation and mediation skills
9. A firm grasp of family and domestic violence issues from the perspective of the law and relevant behavioral science literature
10. Knowledge of community services and resources
11. Child development psychology
12. Guardian ad litem ethical standards

Many jurisdictions specifically permit family courts to appoint GALs to assist the court in determining the child’s best interests and note that a guardian ad litem does not need to be an attorney. In fact, where a child’s best interests need to be determined within a family system that has severe underlying psychological issues, lawyer-guardian ad litems are often not adequately trained to understand or opine on these issues. Lawyer-guardian ad litems are best utilized in tandem with a properly training forensic mental health professional guardian ad litem so that the two distinct roles of (1) the child’s guardian ad litem and (2) the child’s lawyer operate independently.
In many domestic relations cases that arise within the context of a high conflict custody matter, the appointment of a forensic mental health professional as guardian ad litem is preferable to the appointment of a lawyer-guardian ad litem. Behavioral science studies suggest that a lawyer-guardian ad litem is often less equipped to understand the psychological needs of the children they represent than a properly trained forensic mental health professional.
This is especially true concerning the common task of performing a factorial analysis of the best interests of the child following observations of the child’s interactions with each parent within the family system. The task of rendering behavioral science opinions concerning the bonding and attachment a child has with each parent most often falls outside of the scope of a lawyer's competence. Having a lawyer-guardian ad litem render such opinions may lead to erroneous fact finding and/or negatively impact the child's best interests.
For those reasons, Iosco County Psychological Services recommends a qualified and properly trained forensic mental health professional be appointed as guardian ad litem, as opposed to a lawyer-guardian ad litem, in any high conflict domestic relations case where it could assist the trier of fact in determining a child's best interests.

Expert Testimony

Shawn A. Wygant has provided supervised forensic psychological services in over 450+ domestic relations and criminal cases since 2013 throughout the United States (46 states), Canada, and Austria. He has aided counsel, the courts, and triers of fact in making evidenced-based decisions concerning the best interests of the child. He understands how to unpack and explain to legal and mental health professionals the complex science and law issues involved with parental alienation and other severe forms of child psychological maltreatment. This requires him to keep abreast of the contemporary psychological literature and case law to ensure that every recommendation, inference, or conclusion he makes is supported by empirical scientific research and points in the law.

---