According to Gardner (1985), parental alienation refers to one parent brainwashing a child to vilify the other parent for the purpose of gaining custody. Parental alienation has been discredited by professional associations such as the American Medical Association and the, American Psychological Association (Hoult, 2006), and NCJFCJ (2006) stated that any testimony on parental alienation in the context of DV should not be admissible in court. Nevertheless, custody evaluators consistently list parental alienation as a main factor in their recommendations (Ackerman & Ackerman, 1997; Bow & Boxer, 2003). Credibility of allegations is also questioned when survivors are unable to provide documentation of DV. However, abused women often do not report DV to police or health care professionals prior to separation (Jaffe & Crooks, 2007) and thus have difficulty providing evidence required by courts to substantiate their allegations (Jaffe et al., 2003a).

References

Ackerman, M. J., & Ackerman, M. C. (1997). Custody evaluations practices: A survey of experienced professionals (revisited). Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 28, 137-145.

Haselscherdt, Megan L., Hardest, Jennifer L., Hans, Jason D. (2010). “Custody Evaluators’ Beliefs About Domestic Violence Allegations During Divorce: Feminist and Family Violence Perspectives.”Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 1-26, (5).