Parental Alienation Syndrome

Custody battles between parents are never easy. Generally a custody battle develops after a relationship ends and one or both parties hold animosity towards the other. In some cases, the battling parents begin to belittle each other and use the children as pawns in a game of power and revenge.

In the early 1980s Richard A. Gardner, a clinical professor of psychiatry in the Division of Child Psychiatry at Columbia University from 1963 until his death in 2003, began studying the behavior of parents involved in child custody disputes and noted that often times the child(ren) align themselves with one parent. While some alienation of the non-custodial parent is natural Gardner noticed that in some cases this alienation could be extreme to the point it borders on a disorder. He described this disorder as one in which a child insults one parent without justification due to indoctrination by the other parent. In 1985 Gardner named this disorder and introduced the term Parental Alienation Syndrome (or PAS) .

PAS is related to the concept of parental alienation whereby a parent directly causes the estrangement of a child from the parent either by telling the child untruths about the other parent or distorting and exaggerating acts of the other parent. According to Gardner, PAS is characterized by eight symptoms that appear in a child. The symptoms include ongoing denigration and hatred against a targeted parent, strong assertions that the decision to hate the parent is the child’s alone, and a lack of guilt over the treatment of the parent. While Gardener described many different factors that could be classified as PAS, Gardner did not explain how each factor should be weighed in an overall diagnosis.

While Gardner’s research may be an intersting look at a child’s behavior in a custody dispute, Gardner’s theories have not been recognized as a disorder by the medical or legal community. In fact, PAS has been extensively critized by legal and mental health scholars for lacking scientific value or reliability. To date, evidence related to PAS has not yet been found admissable in Court. For example, the Spring 2006 issue of the American Bar Association's Children's Legal Rights Journal examined legal cases involving allegations of PAS. The review concluded that the medical community and law of evidence opposed the admissibility of PAS in the courtroom. In 2006, the National Coalition of Juvenile and Family Court Judges called PAS a discredited syndrome.

While Parental Alienation Syndrome is not yet a part of legal side of a child custody dispute, Gardner’s findings are important in understanding what can happen in these cases. Once loving parents begin to use their children in order to exact some revenge against a spouse in the midst of a legal battle. For those going through a tough custody battle, it is important to remember that the legal battle will end, but the effect it can have on the children caught in the middle will last long after the Courtroom is a distant memory.

Dena Bez is a licensed California Attorney whose practice focuses on family law including divorce, custody disputes, domestic partnership issues and estate planning.

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