Family courts: major law changes protecting abuse victims to be debated in Lords Amendments include bans on unregulated experts and allegations of ‘parental alienation’

Description

Research published last week shows mothers raising allegations of abuse were often subsequently met with counter-claims of parental alienation. The study, involving in-depth interviews with 45 female domestic abuse survivors, was led by Dr Elizabeth Dalgarno at the University of Manchester in partnership with researchers at SHERA Research Group.

All participants had reported alleged child abuse by the child’s other parent. In 39 of the cases, parental alienation claims – made subsequently to the abuse allegations – were investigated by the court.

All but two of the 45 cases resulted in an order for some form of contact with the reported perpetrator parent when proceedings had concluded. Four cases in which the mother had reported child sexual abuse or rape resulted in the child being transferred to the father’s residency.