By Frankie Shama, barrister, 4PB, London
Parental alienation has been defined by the Court of Appeal in Re S (Parental Alienation: Cult) [2020] EWCA Civ 568 as “when a child’s resistance/hostility towards one parent is not justified and is the result of psychological manipulation by the other parent.” The manipulation can of the child by their parent “need not be malicious or even deliberate”; the Court of Appeal has clarified that “[i]t is the process that matters, not the motive.”
This express acceptance of parental alienation as a concept by the Court of Appeal has not been without controversy. The issue continues to attract live and polarising debate. On the one hand are those who argue that allegations of parental alienation goes towards silencing the voices of women and children resi...
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