Perspectives on Parental Alienation, Child Custody and Dispute Resolution Systems

Perspectives on Parental Alienation, Child Custody and Dispute Resolution Systems Contested child custody provides many challenges for alternate dispute resolution. With no-fault divorce, and a standard for determining custody in light of the child's best interest, judges are besieged with a backlog of disputed custody cases without clear and concrete guidelines to follow in deciding whether to favor the mother or the father. Many experts in family law- both from the legal and mental health …

…e was often a substantial difference between a child's expressed opinion and their real desires, needs and behaviors ( pp. 163 - 172.) An intervention model is needed that is appropriate to the capacity of the alienating parent to recognize and abstain from his or her programming tactics, which may be unconscious. A screening process could be utilized to determine which families are suitable for mediation and which cases require mental health intervention before parties can negotiate. Co-m