Friday, September 5, 2008

The Sault Star ~ Fathers 4 Justice sets up chapter in Sault

Fathers 4 Justice sets up chapter in Sault

A lot of dads beaten down by the system -- local father

Posted By CORINA MILIC, THE SAULT STAR

When his ex-wife accused him of abuse, stay-at-home dad Mike Murphy knew gaining custody of his 10-and 13-year-old daughters would be almost impossible


"You're automatically an evil, hateful, abuser. People believe it, absolutely, unequivocally and you're toast, I'm toast," said Murphy, who insisted no evidence of actual abuse has ever been proven in three years of courtroom custody battles.

The current family law practice of doing what is in "the best interest of the child" really only serves the best interest of the mother, argued Murphy.


"We hear a lot about dead beat dads, but a lot of these so-called dead beat dads have been beaten down by the system," he said.

Murphy spent Thursday morning outside the court house on Queen Street protesting that system. Along with fellow dad Steven Plastino, he started a local chapter of Fathers 4 Justice earlier this week. The international organization aims to make shared and equal custody a presumption in law. That means mom wouldn't get first dibs on the kids; parents would automatically get joint custody in most cases.

Under the current system, joint custody doesn't guarantee anything, said Plastino. After the first two years of a 10-year battle, Plastino received joint custody of his children. Then his wife moved to St. Catharines and took their boys with her, he said. She moved at least seven times over the next several years, according to Plastino, making it impossible for him to fulfill his joint custody requirements of caring for the children at least 40 per cent of the time.

"It's completely alienated us," he said. "It was a completely kangaroo court the way I see it -- as soon as I walked in there, I was fighting a losing battle to get access to my kids."

The men said they have both suffered from "parental alienation" - their ex-wives turning the children against them. While Murphy said he is slowly rebuilding his relationship with his girls, Plastino said he has not seen his sons in seven years.

Fathers 4 Justice is made up of men in similar situations and women who have been affected by those situations, usually paternal grandmothers, aunts and sisters.Group members often don superhero costumes and illegally hangbanners from buildings, bridges and even cranes to get their point across.

The organization is currently on a cross-country campaign promoting its cause. The tour ends in Ottawa Oct. 7 in support of a private member's bill set for motion that day.

MP Maurice Vellacott for Saskatoon- Wanuskewin plans to put forward a divorce law amendment for equal parenting, but with what looks like an election just around the corner, it's doubtful he will get the chance. "If Mr. Vellacott gets re-elected, he'll bring it forward again. We'll just have to be patient and we are very patient," said Murphy.

The idea of men's rights doesn't sit well with some. Murphy said the local F4J chapter has already been targeted. A group of hackers claiming to be "man-hating women" busted onto the newly created f4j-soo.blogspot.com site, rigging an online poll. The poll's question, "Do you believe in equal and shared parenting as a presumption in law?" offered several tongue-in-cheek answers. Murphy claims the hackers spent over 22 hours voting for answer 4, "No. Men are innately incapable of such responsibility."

Several anonymous comments were also posted on the blog, demanding no fathers should be near their children.

"Men are inherently violent and irresponsible people," one poster wrote. Another wrote, "I hope rights for fathers are further stripped away. . . . Do you want dads out there diddling their kids? I didn't think so."
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Thursday, July 24, 2008

The truth about daddy day care

July 24, 2008

The truth about daddy day care

Men will soon be given the right to ask for more leave to look after their children. About time too, says Virginia Ironside

Across the land, the bosses of small businesses and heads of major corporations may well be wincing this week – but many families should be very happy indeed. It's the Government that has caused such mixed emotions. Its latest vision for the modern family aims to put fathers back in the picture. When their babies are born, so the idea goes, fathers should be able to share parental leave with their partners, and demand flexible working conditions for years to come.

In fact, fathers have been at the centre of the political agenda lately in several ways – and, for once, we're not talking about Fathers 4 Justice. There has been hand-wringing about how the male children of single-parent black families suffer when there isn't a father around. In schools, head teachers are desperate for more male teachers as role models for fatherless children. And when partners break up, we're told, only 50 per cent of fathers keep in touch with their children, causing untold misery.

But by 2010, the length of paid parental leave could rise by 13 weeks (from the current level of 39 weeks, to a full year). And though the first 26 weeks would have to be taken by the mother, fathers would be able to take over after that, caring for their children full-time.

Inevitably, they will become closer to their children. And even if parents do break up, it will be far less easy for fathers to be completely cut off from their families because they will be far more emotionally attached to them.

But will it ever happen? Will City traders soon stride into their macho offices and boldly announce that, during the coming months, they will be donning a pinny and taking over nappy duty? It may sound implausible, but for the lucky few, flexible working exists – and some of them share their experiences on these pages. There are already hundreds of fathers who, because they earn rather less than their partners, have become house-husbands. Thousands more work part-time, along with their partners, so that they can share the parenting. The pathetic wail of, "I want my mummy!", is already turning, quite often, into "I want my daddy!".

And that's a good thing. Dads are important, and not just to boys but to girls, too. They're often the first men girls fall in love with, after all.

When mothers give birth, their first words to the baby are, usually, "Hello". On meeting their newborn baby for the first time, fathers usually say, "Hello, I'm your dad". Babies take their mums for granted, as their mums take them – they have spent nine months in pretty close proximity, after all. Dads, from the word go, are something "other", and remain an essential contact with the outside world right up until the children fly the nest.

It's dads who tend to let their children take more risks, dads who take them on outings. And although, currently, fathers of children up to the age of six already have the right to request flexi-time, Labour's new idea is to extend this right up to the age of 16, meaning that 4.5 million fathers will have the right to see far more of their children than at present, and hopefully do "dad things" with them, like going camping or playing football, or just tinkering about with old bits of machinery.

But that doesn't mean that fathers aren't just as nurturing when babies are small. Many families share the bottle-feeding, and even the getting-up in the night. Nappy-changing isn't something that a self-respecting 21st-century father should balk at. Let's not forget that, once upon a time, people used to turn and look if they saw a bloke pushing a pram. The family is changing, even if that change seems slow.

But still, women who "get pregnant on the job", as it were, often feel that they are committing career suicide when they go on maternity leave; they fear that their places will be taken by men, or that when they return they'll be relegated to jobs that involve sorting the paper clips. Indeed, some fear that they don't get the good jobs at all. But if men have the same options, and take up the offer of paternity leave, then they'll be at the same risk of committing career suicide, too.

Eventually, we may hope, there will be a level playing-field – even though the alternative scenario, of course, leads to lots of couples having double the reason to put off having children altogether.

Let's hope that we don't wind up with the latter scenario. As anyone who has seen the film Mamma Mia! will know, paternity is an issue that moves us just as much as maternity. The film is about a young woman who, as she is about to get married, searches for the father she never knew. In the cinema, even hardened old blokes get out their hankies, and generally there's not a dry eye in the house. Everyone loves a dad.

There's a complaint that has been going on for years from men who feel that the pendulum has swung too far and that men have virtually no rights when it comes to their children. Finally, it looks as if the tide is starting to turn back, and not to the time when men ruled the roost, were only available to their children when a beating was required, and women were domestic drudges, who had to care for their children full-time, but to a time of greater equality and more shared parenting. Something that seems to me to be of enormous advantage to absolutely everyone.

Cyril Adjei, 40

Some professionals with established careers do manage to balance their family commitments. Cyril Adjei, 40, a barrister from Herne Hill, south London, has not had to change his working pattern severely. As he is in control of the work he takes on, he is able to enjoy time with his son Matthew, 2, and his daughter Esther, who is 11 weeks old.

"I try to get home early as much as I can now, but as barristers can work when cases come in, I'm able to see my children more when I choose," he says. And when he gets home, he mucks in with looking after the kids as best he can. "I'm sure my partner wishes I did more," he adds, laughing.

He also believes that government action alone will not give fathers the freedom to stay at home more often: "It also requires employers and employees to sit down together and be imaginative and flexible in their agreements."

As for fears expressed by politicians about absent black fathers, he is also unsure of what government can do to change the situation. "I'm of an ethnic minority, and politicians don't seem to have any solutions to the issue. But at least it's an area that they are now not afraid to treat."

Paternity stories
By Michael savage

Mike Robinson, 40

A flexible working agreement allowed Robinson from Cumbria, to spend much more time at home with his daughter. His arrangement with his employer, a bank, means he can look after his five-year-old daughter, Emily, for two days during the week. He can also arrive at work late to drop her off at school, and leave at 2.45pm, allowing him to be at the school when the teaching day finishes.

"I've got a very good employer that uses flexitime as an incentive to attract staff," he says. He adds that taking such a large role in his daughter's life is a joy. "I know all the names of the My Little Ponies," he says. "I've been able to build up with other parents and teachers at her school. Things often come up at work, but you just have to keep a strict divide between home and the office. My daughter is my responsibility."

He says that other men should ask for a flexi-hours agreement if they want more time with their kids. "The reality is that most flexi-time requests are granted now," he says. "The problem is that people are often too nervous to ask for it in case it backfires."

Bob Owen, 39

Owen, from Dalston, east London, is a self-employed carpenter. He changed his working week so that he could spend Fridays with his two children, Ella, one, and Sam, three. It means his children only spend two days of the week at a nursery.

The change can make a week's work even more demanding. "I'm self-employed, so I sometimes find that I have to squeeze a five-day working week into four days," he says.

Looking after the kids can sometimes be more physically demanding than his carpentry work, but Owen says once he's out of the house, the enthusiasm of his children gives him plenty of energy. And looking after the children has changed his social life, too. "I've met lots of new people and gone to new places because of my days off with the children, like spending time in the playground," he says. "These are things I never thought I would be doing five years ago.

"There's still not many blokes out there, to be honest," he says. "It's always good to see another dad in the playground and I always try and go over to say hello."

Paul Knight, 47

When Knight, who lives near Yeovil in Somerset, separated from his wife three and a half years ago, he made the decision to give up some of the responsibilities of his business so he could take a bigger role in the life of his son, George, six, who has special needs. "It really freed me up to have a much greater role in my child's everyday life," says Knight. "I was able to do things like pick him up from school, as George goes to a local primary school very close to my home.

"It was a great decision, but it has been at a financial cost as my first priority is to be available for my child. If I didn't do what I did, I would only be able to see him every other weekend, which I didn't think was in his best interests."

Knight believes the decision has given him a much tighter bond with George. "He's certainly benefited from my input and the time we spend together," he says. "It's very rewarding, especially when you have a child with special needs. That sense of wanting to be involved is very strong. And when he does well, it is a wonderful feeling."

As a more flexible working regime has worked for him, Knight says he would accommodate a similar arrangement for either of his two employees, though it would be a struggle. He said the biggest difficulty would be the culture. "People want things straight away, and wouldn't always be understanding if a small business said it would have to fit work around family commitments. Most people are understanding, but some still think men should put their business or career first. For me, George is the priority and I wouldn't change what I've done for the world."


Bob Owen changed his working week so that he could spend Fridays with his two children, Ella, one, and Sam, three

Bob Owen changed his working week so that he could spend Fridays with his two children, Ella, one, and Sam, three

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    Friday, June 6, 2008

    Facts Compiled by Glenn sacks about dads.

    Source Page

    Included here are many of the facts I use in my articles and radio appearances about fathers.  The facts are in bold and the source or sources are below it.  The facts are not listed in any particular order. Where possible, I’ve included URLs so the reader can go directly to the source and examine it. This page is a work in progress, and I simply have not had the time to refine it as much as I would like.  If readers have  questions about any of these facts and/or sources, feel free to write to me at Glenn@GlennSacks.com.
    Best Wishes,
    Glenn Sacks

    #1: “Two‑thirds or more of all divorces involving couples with children are initiated by mothers, not fathers.”
    Source: Margaret F. Brinig and Douglas A. Allen, "'These Boots Are Made For Walking": Why Most Divorce Filers Are Women" American Law and Economics Review 2‑1 (2000): 126‑169.
    Source: John Tierney, "A New Look at the Realities of Divorce," New York Times, July 11, 2000.
    Source: Sanford Braver, Marnie Whitley, and Christine Ng, "Who Divorced Whom? Methodological and Theoretical Issues," Journal of Divorce and Remarriage 20, 1993, p. 1.
    Source: Cathy Young, "The Sadness of the American Father," The American Spectator,  June 2000.  See http://fact.on.ca/news/news0006/as000601.htm.

    #2: “A randomized study of 46,000 divorce cases published in the American Law and Economics Review found that in only 6% of cases women claimed to be divorcing cruel or abusive husbands, and that adultery was cited by women as a cause of divorce only slightly more than by men.  Surveys of divorced couples show that the reasons for their divorces are generally a lack of closeness or of "not feeling loved and appreciated."
    Source: Margaret F. Brinig and Douglas A. Allen, “These Boots Are Made For Walking": Why Most Divorce Filers Are Women" American Law and Economics Review 2-1 (2000): 126-169.
    Source: John Tierney, "A New Look at the Realities of Divorce," New York Times, July 11, 2000.
    Source: Beuhler, "Whose Decision Was It?" Journal of Marriage and the Family, Vol. 48, pp 587 - 595, 1987.
    Source: Cathy Young, "The Sadness of the American Father," The American Spectator, June 2000.  See http://fact.on.ca/news/news0006/as000601.htm.

    #3: “Studies show that the overwhelming majority of steadily employed divorced fathers pay their child support. While there are a few well‑heeled divorced dads who stiff their children, most non‑paying dads are either poor, unemployed, disabled, or incarcerated. According to a US Government Accounting Office report, two‑thirds of those fathers who do not pay their child support fail to do so because they are financially unable to do so.”
    Source: Judi Bartfield and Daniel R. Meyer: "Are There Really Deadbeat Dads? The Relationship Between Ability to Pay, Enforcement, and Compliance in Nonmarital Child Support Cases," Social Service Review 68, 1994, pp. 219‑235.
    Source: "Deadbeat Dad Image A Myth, Study Finds,"  New York Times,  May 5, 1999.  See: http://sharedparent.freeyellow.com/ddiamsf.pdf.  Look for "Divorced moms reported."
    Source: Cathy Young, Ceasefire!: Why Women and Men Must Join Forces to Achieve True Equality, The Free Press, 1999, pp. 206‑207.
    Source: Kathleen Parker, "Deadbeat dads more myth than reality," The Orlando Sentinel, Jan 24 1999. See: http://www.dadi.org/kpdbeat2.htm. Look for "Census Bureau."

    #4: “There are almost as many unfaithful wives as there are unfaithful husbands. Research generally estimates that for every five unfaithful husbands, there are four unfaithful wives.”
    Source: Maggie Scarf, “Intimate Partners: An examination of the underlying architecture of love relationships—the influence of the past, the causes of infidelity, and the systems that couples create,” The Atlantic Monthly, November 1986. The article can be viewed here.  Look for “Emotional Triangles: Infidelity.”
    Source: John Przybys, “Unfaithfully Yours: Men, women have differing ideas about fidelity,” Las Vegas Review‑Journal, March 29, 1998. The article can be found here. Look for “Paul Wulkan.”
    Source: Jennifer P. Schneider, Richard R. Irons, and M. Deborah Corley, “Disclosure of Extramarital Sexual Activities by Sexually Exploitative Professionals and Other Persons with Addictive or Compulsive Sexual Disorders,” Journal of Sex Education and Therapy 24:277‑287, 1999. The article can be found here. Search in the text for the word “infidelity.”

    #5: “Domestic violence research overwhelmingly shows that women are just as likely as men to initiate and engage in domestic violence, and that only a small percentage of women's domestic violence is committed in self‑defense.  Studies show that women often compensate for their smaller size by their significantly greater use of weapons and the element of surprise.”
    Source: Richard J. Gelles, Ph.D., “The Missing Persons of Domestic Violence: Male Victims,” The Women’s Quarterly, Fall, 1999. See Gelles.
    Source: References Examining Assaults by Women on Their Spouses or Male Partners: An Annotated Bibliography by Martin S. Fiebert, Department of Psychology, California State University, Long Beach. See http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm.
    Source: Patricia Pearson, When She Was Bad: Violent Women & the Myth of Innocence, Penguin Books, 1998, pp. 119‑123.
    Source: David Fontes, “Violent Touch: Breaking Through the Stereotype,” David L. Fontes, Psy.D., CEAP See http://www.safe4all.org/essays/vtbreak.pdf.
    Source: Cathy Young, Ceasefire!: Why Women and Men Must Join Forces to Achieve True Equality, The Free Press, 1999, pp. 91‑96.

    #    6: “Official Department of Justice statistics show that men commit 70% of all murder of intimates. However, when other factors are accounted for, including unsolved murders, poisonings mistakenly classified as heart attacks, and contract killings classified as "multiple offender killings," women have been shown to be at least as likely as men to murder their current or former spouses or intimates.”
    Source: Dershowitz, Alan M. 1994. The Abuse Excuse: And Other Cop‑outs, Sob Stories and Evasions of Responsibility. Boston: Little Brown, pp. 311‑313. See the pages "Wives Also Kill Husbands‑‑Quite Often" at http://www.uiowa.edu/~030116/158/articles/dershowitz3.htm.
    Source:  1994‑95 U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics Publications Catalog, publication #. NCJ 43498, “Murder in Families.”
    Source: Warren Farrell, Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say, Penguin Putnam Inc, 1999, pp 150‑151.
    Source: This is also explained in detail in my column "Let's not 'Learn' the Same Lessons From Blake That We Learned From OJ" which can be found at http://www.glennsacks.com/lets_not_learn.htm.

    #7: Most child abuse and parental murder of children is committed by mothers, not  fathers.
    Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children, Youth, and Families, Child Maltreatment 1997: Reports from the States to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (Washington DC, :GPO, 1999). See: http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/cb/publications/ncands97/s7.htm. Child abuse perpetrators are 62.3% female.  Child fatality perpetrators are 62.8% female. The mother/father ratio is actually greater than this, because many of the male abusers counted are not the biological fathers but instead step‑fathers, boyfriends, etc.
    Source on murders of children by single parents: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, Third National Incidence Study Of Child Abuse and Neglect: Final Report Appendices (Washington D.C., U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, 1997, pp. A‑63‑A‑64.  The estimated total is 264 parental murders of children committed by single custodial mothers and 11 by single custodial fathers.  There are roughly five times as many single custodial mothers as single custodial fathers.
    Source: Warren Farrell, Father and Child Reunion: How to Bring the Dads We Need to the Children We Love, Penguin Putnam Inc, 2001, pp 75-77.

    #8: Access and Visitation Denial     Three-quarters of divorced fathers surveyed maintain that their ex-spouses have substantially interfered with their visitation rights.
    Source: Joyce A. Arditti, "Factors Related to Custody, Visitation, and Child Support for Divorced Fathers: An Exploratory Analysis," Journal of Divorce and Remarriage 17, 1992, pp. 34, 39.
    A study of children of divorce found that 42% of children who lived solely with their mother reported that their mother tried to prevent them from seeing their fathers after the divorce. However, only 16% of children who lived solely with their father reported similar obstruction.
    Source: Glynnis Walker, Solomon's Children: Exploding the Myths of Divorce (New York: Arbor House, 1986), p. 83
    Source: Cathy Young, Ceasefire!: Why Women and Men Must Join Forces to Achieve True Equality, The Free Press, 1999, p. 209.
    In another study, 40% of divorced mothers admitted that they had interfered with their ex-husband's access or visitation, and that their motives were punitive in nature and not due to safety considerations.
    Source: p. 449, col. II, lines 3-6, (citing Fulton) "Frequency of visitation by Divorced Fathers; Differences in Reports by Fathers and Mothers," Sanford Braver et al, American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 1991.
    Source: J.A. Fulton, "Parental Reports of Children’s Post-Divorce Adjustment,” Journal of Social Issues 35, 1979, pp. 126-139.
    Source: Cathy Young, Ceasefire!: Why Women and Men Must Join Forces to Achieve True Equality, The Free Press, 1999, p. 209.
    #9: Prosecutions of fathers who violate child support mandates are common, whereas prosecutions of mothers who violate visitation orders are rare.
    Source: Neil Chethik, “Law Backs the Right to Parental Visits,” Detroit Free Press, May 28, 1995, p.2J.
    Source: Cathy Young, Ceasefire!: Why Women and Men Must Join Forces to Achieve True Equality, The Free Press, 1999, page 209.


    #10: The vast majority of accusations of child sexual abuse made during custody battles are false, unfounded or unsubstantiated. Source: Douglas J. Besharov and Lisa A. Laumann, "Child Abuse Reporting,” Social Science and Modern Society, Vol. 33, May/June, 1996, p. 42.
    Source: Blush, Gordon & Ross, Karol, 1986, The SAID Syndrome. Sterling Heights, MI: Family and Conciliation Courts Review.

    #11: Nationwide divorced fathers are ten times as likely to commit suicide as divorced mothers, and more than twice as likely to commit suicide as married fathers.
    Source for divorced fathers vs. married fathers: Augustine J. Kposowa, Ph.D., "Marital Status and Suicide in the National Longitudinal Mortality Study," Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, March, 2000, Volume 54, No. 4, pages 254‑261 See http://wizard.ucr.edu/~akposowa/Status.pdf. Search for "divorced men."
    Source for "10 times as likely" is Warren Farrell, Father and Child Reunion: How to Bring the Dads We Need to the Children We Love, Penguin Putnam Inc, 2001, pg. 174 & 279.

    #12: The rates of juvenile crime, teen pregnancy, teen drug abuse, and school dropouts are tightly correlated with fatherlessness, often more so than with any other socioeconomic factor.
    Source: The largest predictor of juvenile crime is the presence of a father is from, among others,  “Douglas A. Smith and G. Roger Jajoura, “Social Structure and Criminal Victimization,” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Vol. 25, Number 1, February 1988, pages 27-52.  In this study children of poor and wealthy families had equal juvenile crime rates if there was a father in the home.
    Source: The largest predictor of drug use is from, among others, Robert H. Coombs and John Landsverk, “Parenting Styles and Substance Abuse During Childhood and Adolescence,” Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 50, May 1988, p. 479, Table 4.  The study considered various factors, including race, social class, gender, etc.,  and father presence was five times more important than any other factor.
    Source: The teenage pregnancy statistic is from, among others, Frank F Furstenberg, Jr. and Kathleen Mullan Harris, “When and Why Fathers Matter: Impact of Father Involvement on the Children of Adolescent Mothers.”
    Source: Father presence and education is discussed in Warren Farrell, Father and Child Reunion: How to Bring the Dads We Need to the Children We Love, Penguin Putnam Inc, 2001, pp 31-34.  The presence of a father in a child’s life has more impact on a child’s educational achievement, beginning, in early elementary school, than race, social class, gender, etc.

    #13: Children are 88% more likely to be seriously injured from abuse or neglect by their mothers than by their fathers.
    Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children, Youth, and Families, Child Maltreatment 1997: Reports from the States to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (Washington DC, :GPO, 1999).  It is discussed in Father and Child Reunion by Warren Farrell, page 76.

    #14: “Prosecutions of fathers who violate child support mandates are common, whereas prosecutions of mothers who violate visitation orders are rare.”
    Source: Neil Chethik, “Law Backs the Right to Parental Visits,” Detroit Free Press, May 28, 1995, p.2J.
    Source: Cathy Young, Ceasefire!: Why Women and Men Must Join Forces to Achieve True Equality, The Free Press, 1999, page 209.

    #15: “Fathers have a much better record of paying court-ordered child support than mothers do.”
    Source: John Siegmund, “Preliminary Analysis of the Database of the DC Office of Paternity and Child Support Enforcement” compiled for the Children's Rights Council, November 9, 1999.

    #16: “The government spends $340 on enforcing child support for every $1 it spends on enforcing visitation rights.” 
    Source: The actual numbers are $3.4 billion on child support enforcement and $10 million on visitation enforcement.  The $3.4 billion figure comes from “Child Support Enforcement is Working Better than We Think” by Elain Sorensen and Ariel Halpern, The Urban Institute, Series A, No 31-A, March 1999, page 4.
    The $10 million figure comes from The Department of Health and Human Services, “93.597 Grants to States for Access and Visitation Programs.” (http://www.cfda.gov/static/93597.asp)
    Source: Warren Farrell, Father and Child Reunion: How to Bring the Dads We Need to the Children We Love, Penguin Putnam Inc, 2001, pp 182-183.

    #17: Other fathers have suffered at the hands of "move‑away moms" who permit or even use geography to drive fathers out of their children's lives.
    Source: Maura Dolan, Legal Affairs Writer, "Justices Ease Relocation of Children in Divorce Cases,"  Los Angeles Times, April 16, 1996, p. 1.  Three out of every four custodial mothers move within four years of divorce, for various reasons.

    #18: "Men win custody in only 10% of contested custody cases"
    (Note: To avoid confusion: the sources below do not all indicate 10%--some indicate 15 or 20%, some indicate less than 5%.  As a whole, the average is around 10%.)
    Source: Eleanor E. Maccoby and Robert H. Mnookin, Dividing the Child (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1992), pp. 104-105, 149-150.
    Source: Stephen J. Bahr, J.D. Howe, M. Morrill Mann, "Trends in Custody Awards: Has the Removal of Maternal Preference Made a Difference?", Family Law Quarterly, Vol, pp. 247-267, Summer 1994.
    Source: Wendy Reiboldt and Sharon Seiling, "Factors Related to Men's Award of Custody," Family Advocate, Winter 1993, pp. 42-44. Published by the Family Law Section of the American Bar Association.
    Source: William T. K. Dolan, Esq., Empirical Study of Child Custody in Divorce Decrees in Arlington County, Virginia: July 1, 1989--December 30, 1990, © 1991.
    Source: Rich Blake, "Father Says System is Unfair to Men in Custody Battles," Alexander (VA) Gazette Packet, October 22, 1992 .
    Source: Robert Seidenberg, The Father's Emergency Guide to Divorce-Custody Battle, JES Books, 1997, pp. 11-15, 60-61.
    John P. McCahey, J.D., LL.M, et al., Child Custody and Visitation Law and Practice. Matthew Bender, New York. Volume 3, 1983, Section 13.01.

    #19: The commonly cited factoid that “men win custody half of the time or more when they contest it” is a myth.
    Source: "Do fathers have the edge in divorce?," Cathy Young,  Detroit News, December 10, 1996. See: http://www.vix.com/menmag/youngdet.htm.
    Source: Robert Seidenberg,  The Father's Emergency Guide to Divorce-Custody Battle, JES Books, 1997, pp. 11-15, 60-61.
    #20: "According to a long-term study conducted in the United States and in New Zealand and published in Child Development, a father’s absence greatly increases the risk of teen pregnancy. The study found that it mattered little whether the child was rich or poor, black or white, born to a teen mother or an adult mother, or raised by parents with functional or dysfunctional marriages. What mattered was dad."
    Source: "Father's Absence Increases Daughter's Risk of Teen Pregnancy," Health Behavior News Service, May 26, 2003
    #21: "When Arizona State University psychology professor William Fabricius conducted a study of college students who had experienced their parents’ divorces while they were children, he found that over two-thirds believed that 'living equal amounts of time with each parent is the best arrangement for children.' His findings were published in Family Relations in 2003."
    Source: Fabricius, W. V. (2003).  Listening to children of divorce: New findings on living arrangements, college support and relocation that rebut Wallerstein, Lewis and Blakeslee (2000).  Family Relations, 52, 385 – 396.
    #22: "The new report, What About the Dads? Child Welfare Agencies’ Efforts to Identify, Locate, and Involve Nonresident Fathers, examines the foster care systems of four states. The report contains a shocking finding: when fathers inform child welfare officials that they would like their children to live with them, the agencies seek to place the children with their fathers in only 8% of cases."
    Source: What About the Dads? Child Welfare Agencies’ Efforts to Identify, Locate, and Involve Nonresident Fathers, The Urban Institute, April 2006. Under the heading “Father Involvement” the Institute notes that half of the nonresident fathers with whom they had been in contact were interested in having their kids live with them, but that in only “4% of cases the child's case goal was placement with the father.”
    #23: "According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' new report Child Maltreatment 2004, when one parent is acting without the involvement of the other parent, mothers are almost three times as likely to kill their children as fathers are, and are more than twice as likely to abuse them."
    Source: Child Maltreatment 2004, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. According to Figure 4-2 “Perpetrator Relationships of Fatalities, 2004 Child Maltreatment 2004” here, child fatalities perpetrated by mothers or by “mother and other [not father]” comprise 40.6% of all child fatalities. Figure 4-2 also shows that fatalities perpetrated by fathers or by “father and other [not mother]” comprise 15.6% of all child fatalities. According to Figure 3-6 “Victims by Perpetrator Relationship, 2004 Child Maltreatment 2004,” here child abuse perpetrated by mothers or by “mother and other [not father]” comprise 45.6% of all child abuse. Figure 3-6 also shows that abuse perpetrated by fathers or by “father and other [not mother]” comprise 19.5% of all child abuse.

    #24: "What About the Dads? makes it clear that many child welfare workers treat fathers as an afterthought. The report found that even when a caseworker had been in contact with a child’s father, the caseworker was still five times less likely to know basic information about the father than about the mother. And 20% of the fathers whose identity and location were known by the child welfare agencies from the opening of the case were never even contacted."
    Source: What About the Dads? Child Welfare Agencies’ Efforts to Identify, Locate, and Involve Nonresident Fathers, The Urban Institute, April 2006. In the research summary here the Institute says “One in five fathers whose identity and location were known at case opening were nonetheless never contacted by the child welfare agency.” The Institute also compared the caseworkers’ knowledge of information about the mothers and about the fathers with whom they had been in contact.  They write “Caseworkers much more often answered ‘don't know’ to questions about a child's father when they had readily available similar information on the mother. Typically, caseworkers reported not knowing information about mothers 1% to 5% of the time, depending on the item, while for fathers with whom they had been in contact, ‘don't know’ responses were more often around 15%." Since the range they gave for mothers was 1% to 5%, I took the middle--3%--and compared it with the figure for fathers, 15%.
    "According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' new report Child Maltreatment 2004, when one parent is acting without the involvement of the other parent, mothers are almost three times as likely to kill their children as fathers are, and are more than twice as likely to abuse them."
    Source: Child Maltreatment 2004, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. According to Figure 4-2 “Perpetrator Relationships of Fatalities, 2004 Child Maltreatment 2004” here, child fatalities perpetrated by mothers or by “mother and other [not father]” comprise 40.6% of all child fatalities. Figure 4-2 also shows that fatalities perpetrated by fathers or by “father and other [not mother]” comprise 15.6% of all child fatalities. According to Figure 3-6 “Victims by Perpetrator Relationship, 2004 Child Maltreatment 2004,” here child abuse perpetrated by mothers or by “mother and other [not father]” comprise 45.6% of all child abuse. Figure 3-6 also shows that abuse perpetrated by fathers or by “father and other [not mother]” comprise 19.5% of all child abuse.

    #25: "A study by psychologist Joan Kelly, published in the Family and Conciliation Courts Review,  found that children of divorce 'express higher levels of satisfaction with joint physical custody than with sole custody arrangements,' and cite the 'benefit of remaining close to both parents” as an important factor.'"
    Source: Kelly, J., Current research on children's postdivorce adjustment. Family and Conciliation Courts Review, 31.29-49, 1993

    #26: "A Harvard University study of 517 families conducted across a four-and-a-half year period measured depression, deviance, school effort, and school grades in children ranging in age from 10 to 18. The researchers found that the children in joint custody settings fared better on these indices than those in sole custody."
    Source: Buchanan, C., Maccoby, and Dornbusch, Adolescents After Divorce, Harvard University Press, 1996.

    #27: "According to psychologist Robert Bauserman's meta-analysis of 33 studies of children of divorce, which was published in the American Psychological Association‘s Journal of Family Psychology, children in shared custody settings had fewer behavior and emotional problems, higher self-esteem, better family relations, and better school performance than children in sole custody arrangements."
    Source: Bauserman, R., "Child Adjustment in Joint-Custody Versus Sole-Custody Arrangements:  A Meta-Analytic Review", Journal of Family Psychology, Vol. 16, No. 1, (2002) 91-102.

    #28: "Even after controlling for all major socioeconomic factors, including income, teens not living with their fathers were twice as likely to abuse drugs as those living in intact, two-parent married families."
    Source: Hoffmann, John P., and Robert A. Johnson. "A National Portrait of Family Structure and Adolescent Drug Use." Journal of Marriage and the Family 60 (August 1998): 633-645.

    #29: "A published Harvard review of four major studies found that, accounting for all major socioeconomic factors, children without a father in the home are twice as likely to drop out of high school or repeat a grade as children who live with their fathers."
    Source: Sara McLanahan and Gary Sandefur, Growing Up with a Single Parent (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994), p. 41. The four national surveys reviewed were: The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the High School and Beyond Study, and the National Survey of Families and Households.
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    Sunday, May 4, 2008

    References Relevant to Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS)



    Before referring to this document, please read the explanation here. Originally this page was reproduced here as a courtesy. Nevertheless, as errors are located the page is updated. Suggested changes are welcome. (Last update: 04/05/2008)
    213 items (total)

    SECTION 1

    Articles by Richard A. Gardner, M.D. on parental alienation syndrome that have been published or accepted for publication in professional outlets. (23 items)

      1. Gardner, R. A. (1985), Recent trends in divorce and custody litigation. The Academy Forum, 29(2)3-7. New York: The American Academy of Psychoanalysis.
      2. Gardner, R. A. (1987), Child Custody. In Basic Handbook of Child Psychiatry, ed. J.Noshpitz, Vol. V, pp. 637- 646. New York: Basic Books, Inc.
      3. Gardner, R. A. (1987), Judges interviewing children in custody/visitation litigation. New Jersey Family Lawyer, 7(2):26ff.
      4. Gardner, R. A. (1991), Legal and psychotherapeutic approaches to the three types of parental alienation syndrome families: when psychiatry and the law join forces. Court Review, 28(l):14-21.
      5. Gardner, R. A. (1994), The Detrimental Effects on Women of the Misguided Gender Egalitarianism of Child-Custody Dispute Resolution Guidelines. The Academy Forum. 38 (1/2): 10-13. New York: The American Academy of Psychoanalysis.
      6. Gardner, R. A. (1997), Recommendations for Dealing with Parents Who Induce a Parental Alienation Syndrome in Their Children. Issues in Child Abuse Accusations, 8(3):174-178.
      7. Gardner, R. A. (1998), Recommendations for Dealing with Parents Who Induce a Parental Alienation Syndrome in Their Children. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage , 28 (3/4):1-23.
      8. Gardner, R. A. (1999), Differentiating between the parental alienation syndrome and bona fide abuse/neglect . American Journal of Family Therapy, 27(2):97-107.
      9. Gardner, R.A.(1999), Family Therapy of the Moderate Type of parental Alienation Syndrome. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 27(3):195-212.
      10. Gardner, R.A.(1999), Guidelines for Assessing Parental Preference in Child-Custody Disputes. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 30(1/2):1-9.
      11. Gardner, R.A.(2001), The Parental Alienation Syndrome: Sixteen Years Later. The Academy Forum. New York: The American Academy of Psychoanalysis, 45(1):10-12.
      12. Gardner, R.A.(2001), Should Courts Order PAS Children to Visit/Reside with the Alienated Parent? A Follow-up Study. American Journal of Forensic Psychology. 19(3):61-106. <Abstract and Article Excerpts >
        1. Gardner, R.A. (2002), Sollten Gerichte anordnen, daß an PAS leindende Kinder den antfremdeten Elternteil besuchen bzw. bei ihm wohnen? In: Das elterliche Entfremdungssyndrom. Anregungen für gerichtliche Sorge- und Umgangsregelungen. Berlin: Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung, pp.23-95.
      13. Gardner, R.A. (2002), The Empowerment of Children in the Development of the Parental Alienation Syndrome. The American Journal of Forensic Psychology , 20(2):5-29
      14. Gardner, R.A. (2002), Parental Alienation Syndrome vs. Parental Alienation: Which Diagnosis Should Evaluators Use in Child-Custody Litigation? The American Journal of Family Therapy, 30(2):101-123.
      15. Gardner, R.A. (2002), Denial of the Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) Also Harms Women. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 30(3):191-202.
      16. Gardner, R.A. (2002), Does DSM-IV Have Equivalents for the Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) Diagnosis? American Journal of Family Therapy, 31(1):1-21.
      17. Gardner, R.A. (2003), The Judiciary's Role in the Etiology, Symptom Development, and Treatment of The Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS). American Journal of of Forensic Psychology, 21(1):39-64.
      18. Gardner, R.A. (2003), The Parental Alienation Syndrome: Past, Present, and Future. In The Parental Alienation Syndrome: An Interdisciplinary Challenge for Professionals Involved in Divorce., eds. W. von Boch-Gallhau, U. Kodjoe, W Andritsky, and P. Koeppel, pp. 89-125. Berlin, Germany: VWB-Verlag für Wissenshaft and Bildung.
      19. Gardner, R.A. (2003), How Denying and Discrediting the Parental Alienation Syndrome Harms Women., eds. W. von Boch-Gallhau, U. Kodjoe, W Andritsky, and P. Koeppel, pp. 121-142. Berlin, Germany: VWB-Verlag für Wissenshaft and Bildung.
      20. Gardner R.A. (2004), The Relationship Between the Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) and the False Memory Syndrome (FMS), American Journal of Family Therapy, 32, 79-99.
      21. Gardner, R.A. (2004), The Three Levels of Parental Alienation Syndrome Alienators, American Journal of Forensic Psychiatry, 25, 41.
      22. Gardner, R.A. (2004), Commentary on Kelly and Johnston's "The Alienated Child: A Reformulation of Parental Alienation Syndrome." Family Court Review, 42, 622-628.
      23. Gardner, R.A. (2006), The Parental Alienation Syndrome and the Corruptive Power of Anger. In The International Handbook of Parental Alienation Syndrome, eds. R. A. Gardner, S. R. Sauber, D. Lorandos, pp. 33-48, Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.

    SECTION 2

    Articles and chapters in edited books, by authors other than Dr. Gardner, that discuss parental alienation syndrome. (131 items)

      1. Palmer, N.R. (1988), Legal Recognition of the Parental Alienation Syndrome. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 16(4):361-363.
      2. Byrne, K. (1989), Brainwashing in Custody Cases: The Parental Alienation Syndrome. Australian Family Lawyer, 4(3):1-4.
      3. Goldwater, A. (1991). Le Syndrome D'aliénation Parentale (in English). In Développements récents en droight familial (pp. 121-145). Cowansville, Quebec: Les Editions Yvon Blais.
      4. Clawar, S. S. and Riviin, B. V. (1991), Children Held Hostage: Dealing with Programmed and Brainwashed Children. Chicago, Illinois: American Bar Association.
      5. Cartwright, G.F. (1993). Expanding the Parameters of Parental Alienation Syndrome. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 21(3):205-215.
      6. Dunne, J. and Hedrick, (1994), The Parental Alienation Syndrome: An Analysis of Sixteen Selected Cases. Journal of Divorce and Remarriage, 21(3/4):21-38.
      7. Price, J. and Pioske, K, (1994), Parental Alienation Syndrome: A Developmental Analysis of a Vulnerable Population . Journal of Psychosocial Nursing, 32(11):9-12.
      8. Lund, M. (1995), A Therapist's View of Parental Alienation Syndrome. Family and Conciliation Courts Review, 33(3):308-316.
      9. Cooke, L. (1995), Parental Alienation Syndrome: A "Hidden" Facet of Custody Disputes, First Place: Canadian Bar Association 1995 Lieff Award.
      10. Bergman, Z.B. and Weitzman, E. (1995) Parental Kidnapping and Parental Alienation Syndrome. Sichot (Hebrew) 9(2): 115-130.
      11. Waldron, K.H. and Joanis, D.E. (1996), Understanding and Collaboratively Treating Parental Alienation Syndrome, Journal of Family Law, 10:121-133.
      12. Garber, B.D. (1996), Alternatives to Parental Alienation Syndrome: Acknowledging the Broader Scope of Children's Emotional Difficulties During Parental Separation and Divorce. New Hampshire Bar Journal, March 1996:51-54.
      13. Klenner, W. (1996). Rituale der Umangsvereitalung bei getrennt lebenden oder geschiedenen Eltern, FamRZ Heft 24, page 1529-1535.
      14. Walsh, M. R. and Bone, J. M. (1997), Parental Alienation Syndrome: An Age-old Custody Problem. The Florida Bar Journal, LXXI(6):93-96.
      15. Rand, D.C. (1997a), The Spectrum of Parental Alienation Syndrome (part I). American Journal of Forensic Psychology. 15(3):23-51.
      16. Rand, D.C. (1997b), The Spectrum of Parental Alienation Syndrome (part II). American Journal of Forensic Psychology. 15(4):39-92.
      17. Turkat, I.D. (1997), Management of Visitation Interference.The Judges Journal 36:2:17-47.
      18. Borris, E.B. (1997), Interference with Parental Rights of Noncustodial parent as Grounds for Modification of Child Custody, Divorce Litigation, January 1997, p. 1-13.
      19. Willbourne, C. and Cull, L. (1997), The Emerging Problem of Parental Alienation. Family Law (British Publication) December, 1997, p. 807-808.
      20. Levita Z. et al (1997) Contact Refusal: Parent-Child Conflict in Separation and Divorce Sichot, (Hebrew) 11(2).
      21. Gould, J. W. (1998), ?Conducting Scientifically Crafted Child Custody Evaluations.Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.
      22. Gordon, R. M. (1998), The medea complex and the parental alienation syndrome: when mothers damage their daughters' ability to love a man. In The Mother-Daughter Relationship: Echoes Through Time, ed. G. G. Fenchel, pp. 207-225. Northvale, New Jersey: Jason Aronson, Inc.
      23. Kodjoe, von U.O. and Koeppel, P. (1998), The Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS). Der Amtsvormund, Heidelberg, Germany. January 1998, pp. 9-26. and 135-140.
      24. von Leitner, W. and Schoeler, R. (1998), Maßnahmen und Empfehlungen für das Umgangsverfahren im Blickfeld einer Differentialdiagnose bei Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) unterschiedlicher Ausprägung in Anlehnung an Gardner (1992/1997), (translation: Measurement and Reccommendations for Access Proceedings in accordance with the Differential Diagnosis in different degrees of PAS according to Gardner {1992/1997}). Der Amtsvormund, Heidelberg, Germany. November/December, 1998, pp. 849-868.
      25. Kodjoe, U. (1998). Ein Fall von PAS, KindPrax , 6/1998, pp. 172-174.
      26. Kodjoe, U. & Koeppel, P. (1998). Fruherkennung von PAS - Möglichkeiten psychologischer und rechtlicher Interventionen, KindPrax., 5/98, pages 138-144.
      27. Fischer, W. (1998). Das Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) und die Interessenvertretung des Kindes - Ein Interventionsmodell für Jugendhilfe und Gericht - Teil 1, Nachrichten Dienst-des Deutschen Veriens für öffentliche und private Fürsorge, Heft 10/98, pages 306-309.
      28. Fischer, W. (1998). Das Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) und die Interessenvertretung des Kindes - Ein Interventionsmodell für Jugendhilfe und Gericht - Teil 2, Nachrichten Dienst-des Deutschen Veriens für öffentliche und private Fürsorge, Heft 11/98, pages 343-348.
      29. Maidment, S. (1998), Parental Alienation Syndrome-A Judicial Response? Family Law, May 1998, pp. 264-266. (U.K.)
      30. Kopetski, L. (1998), Identifying Cases of Parental Alienation Syndrome-Part I. The Colorado Lawyer , 27(2):65-68.
      31. Kopetski, L. (1998), Identifying Cases of Parental Alienation Syndrome-Part II. The Colorado Lawyer , 27(3):61-64.
      32. Lowenstein, L. F. (1998), Parent Alienation Syndrome: a two-step approach toward a solution. Contemporary Family Therapy, 20(4): 505-520.
      33. Lowenstein, L. F. (1998), Parent Alienation Syndrome: a two-step approach toward a solution. In Paedophilia: The Sexual Abuse of Children. ed L.F. Lowenstein, Great Britain: Able Publishing.
      34. Salzgeber, J. and Stadler, M. (1998), Beziehung kontra Erziehung. Kritische Anmerkungen zur aktuellen Rezeption von PAS. KindPrax 6/98, pp. 167-171.
      35. Siegel, J. C. and Langford, J. S. (1998), MMPI-2 Validity Scales and Suspected Parental Alienation Syndrome. American Journal of Forensic Psychology, 16(4): 5-14.
      36. Lowenstein, L. F. (1998), Parental Alienation Syndrome: What the Legal Profession Should Know. Medico-Legal Journal 66(4):151-161.
      37. Zander, J., Theunissen, W. and van Aliena (1999), Het Ouderverstotingssyndroom in de Nederlandse (The Parental Alienation Syndrome in the Netherlands). Servo Assen.
      38. Lowenstein, L. F. (1999), Parental Alienation Syndrome. Justice of the Peace (U.K.), 163(3):446-450.
      39. Stadler, M. and Salzgeber, J. (1999), Parental Alienation Syndrom (PAS)-alter Wein in Neuen Schläuchen? FPR 4/99, pp 231-235.
      40. Bakalar, E. (1998), Das Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) in der Tschechischen Republic; Zentralblatt für Jugendrecht (Zfj Jhg. 85, Nr. 6/98, S. 268).
      41. Leitner, W. G. (1999), Intervention-guided single case-help and parental alienation syndrome (PAS): differential diagnosis and treatment approaches. In Identity and Self-Esteem: Interactions of Students, Teachers, Family and Society, eds. S. Sebre, M. Rascevska, and S. Miezite, pp. 253-260. Riga: SIA, "Macibu Apgadj NT"
      42. Boch-Galhau, W.V., (1999) Das Parental Alienation Syndrom, Das Wohl und die Interessenvertretung des Kindes. Vortrag beim Interessenverband Unterhalt und Familienrecht (ISV/VDU) am 26. März 1999 in Würzburg; ISUV Report Nr. 80 (1999)4-5 und Nr. 81:6-8.
      43. Lowenstein, L.F. (1999), Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS). Justice of the Peace, 163 (Jan 16):47-50.
      44. Bone, J.M. and Walsh, M.R. (1999). Parental Alienation Syndrome: How to Detect It and What to Do About It. The Florida Bar Journal, 73(3):44-48.
      45. Lamontagne, P. (1999), Syndrome dâ Alienation Parentale: Contexte et Piges de lâ Intervention. In: Gyseghem, H. van (1999) Us et Abus de la mise en mots en matire dâabus sexuel, MontrŽal, MŽridien, pp. 177 ö 200.
      46. Major, J.A. (1999), Parents Who Have Successfully Fought Parental Alienation Syndrome. Aspen Family Law Journal. (in press).
      47. Vestal, A. (1999), Mediation and Parental Alienation Syndrome. Family and Conciliation Courts Review, 37(4): 487-503.
      48. Warshak, R.A. (1999), Psychological Syndromes:Parental Alienation Syndrome. Expert Witness Manual, Chapter 3-32. Dallas, TX: State Bar of Texas, Family Law Section.
      49. Salzgeber, J., Stadler, M., Schmidt, S.M., Partale, C.,(1999), Umgangsprobleme-Ursachen des Kontaktabbruchs durch das Kind jenseits des Parental Alienation Syndrome; Kind-Prax 4/99, S. 107-111.
      50. Warshak, R.A. (2000), Remarriage as a Trigger of Parental Alienation Syndrome," American Journal of Family Therapy, 28: 229-241.
      51. Ellils, E. M. (2000), Divorce Wars Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
      52. Brandes, J.R. (2000), Parental Alienation. New York Law Journal, March 26, 2000, pp. 3 ff.
      53. Kodjoe, U (2000), Auswirkungen des Vater-Kind-Kontaktverlustes: der immaterielle Schaden aus psychologischer Sicht Anmerkungen zur Elsholz-Entscheidung des Europ. Gerichtschofs für Menschenrechte. Der Amtsvormund 8/2000, pp. 641-643.
      54. Weidenbach, J.(2000), Dein Papa is ganz böse. Psychologie Heute 2/2000, pp 40-45.
      55. Jopt, U. J./Behrend, K. (2000) Das Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) ö Ein Zwei-Phasen-Modell, Zentralblatt für Jugendrecht (ZfJ) 87 (6) 2000, S. 223 ö 231, ZfJ 87 (7) 2000, S. 258 - 271.
      56. Ellis, E.M. (2000), Parental Alienation Syndrome: A new challenge for family courts. In E. M. Ellis (Ed.), Divorce wars : Interventions with families in conflict (pp.205-234). Washington DC: APA Books.
      57. Schršder, U. (2000): Umgangsrecht und falsch verstandenes Wohlverhaltensgebot Auswirkungen auf Trennungskinder und Entstehen des so genannten PA-Syndroms (English Translation: Visitation rights and missunderstanding of the rule to cooperate Effects on children of divorce and the development of the
        PA-syndrome) Zeitschrift fŸr das gesamte Familienrecht (FamRZ) 47 (10): 592 596.
      58. Von Boch-Galhau, W., (2001), Trennung und Scheidung im Hinblick auf die Kinder und die Auswirkungen auf das Erwachsenleben, unter besonderer Berüucksichtigung des Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS). In: Eltern sägen ihr Kind entzwei: Trennungserfahrungen und Entfremdung von einem Elternteil. Ed. S. Bäuerle and H. Moll-Strobel, Donauwörth, Germany: Auer Verlag. pp. 37-64.
      59. Kodjoe, U. (2001), Die feindselige Ablehnung eines Elternteils durch sein Kind (psychologischer Aspekt). In: Eltern sägen ihr Kind entzwei: Trennungserfahrungen und Entfremdung von einem Elternteil. Ed. S. Bäuerle and H. Moll-Strobel, Donauwörth, Germany: Auer Verlag. pp. 26-36.
      60. Koeppel, P. (2001), PAS und das deutsche Kindschaftsrecht (juristischer Aspekt). In: Eltern sägen ihr Kind entzwei: Trennungserfahrungen und Entfremdung von einem Elternteil. Ed. S. Bäuerle and H. Moll-Strobel, Donauwörth, Germany: Auer Verlag. pp. 65-78.
      61. Moll-Strobel, H. (2001), Die Bedeutung von Mutter, Vater und Geschwistern für das heranwaschsende Kind und das Triangulierungskonzept. In: Eltern sägen ihr Kind entzwei: Trennungserfahrungen und Entfremdung von einem Elternteil. Ed. S. Bäuerle and H. Moll-Strobel, Donauwörth, Germany: Auer Verlag. pp. 108-115.
      62. Moll-Strobel, H. (2001), Pädagogische Handlungsperspektiven und schulische sowie unterrichtliche Interventionsmöglichkeiten. In: Eltern sägen ihr Kind entzwei: Trennungserfahrungen und Entfremdung von einem Elternteil. Ed. S. Bäuerle and H. Moll-Strobel, Donauwörth, Germany: Auer Verlag. pp. 116-124.
      63. Warshak, R.A. (2001), Current Controversies Regarding Parental Alienation Syndrome. American Journal of Forensic Psychology, 19(3):29-59.
      64. Fischer, W.(2001), Funktion des Verhfahrenspflegers bei Umgangsstreitigkeiten (sozial pädagogischer und mediatorischer Aspekt). In: Eltern sägen ihr Kind entzwei: Trennungserfahrungen und Entfremdung von einem Elternteil. Ed. S. Bäuerle and H. Moll-Strobel, Donauwörth, Germany: Auer Verlag. pp. 79-95.
      65. Vassiliou, D. and Cartwright, G.F. (2001), The Lost Parent's Perspective on Parental Alienation Syndrome. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 29(3): 181-191.
      66. Berns, S. (2001), Parents Behaving Badly: Parental Alienation Syndrome in the Family Court Magic Bullet or Poisoned Chalice? Australian Journal of Family Law. 15(3): 191-214.
      67. Fegert, J.M., (2001), Parental Alienation oder Parental Accusation Syndrome? Die Frage der Suggestibilität, Beeinflussung und Induktion in Umgangsrechsgutachten. KindPrax 1/2001, pp. 3-7.
      68. Burrill-O'Donnell, J. (2001), Parental Alienation Syndrome in Court Referred Custody Cases. Dissertation.(www.dissertation.com/library/1121490a.htm)
      69. Binckli, J. (2001), Trennung von Kindern und Geschwistern (soziologischer und politischer Aspekt)-Eine Fallgeschichte. In: Eltern sägen ihr Kind entzwei: Trennungserfahrungen und Entfremdung von einem Elternteil. Ed. S. Bäuerle and H. Moll-Strobel, Donauwörth, Germany: Auer Verlag. pp. 96-107.
      70. Suren, A.: Das Parental Alienation Syndrom (PAS) Belastungsreaktionen und BewŠltigungsstrategien betroffener MŸtter [english translation: The Parental Alienation Syndrome(PAS): Stress Reactions and Coping Strategies of Afflicted Mothers] (Diplomarbeit an der FakultŠt fŸr Psychologie und Sportwissenschaften, Abteilung fŸr Psychologie der UniversitŠt Bielefeld, Germany, Nov. 2001)
      71. Warshak, R.A. (2002), Misdiagnosis of Parental Alienation Syndrome. American Journal of Forensic Psychology, 20(1):31-52.
      72. Spangenberg, B and Spangenberg, E. (2002), Induszerte Umgangsverweigerung (PAS) Und Richterliche KreativitŠt. Familie, Partnerschaft Und Recht (FPR) 6 (2002): 256-257.
      73. Andritzky, W. (2002) Zur Problematik kinderärztlicher Atteste bei Umgangs- und Sorgerechtsstreitigkeiten - Mit Ergebnissen einer Befragung. Befragung Der Kinder- und Jugendarzt 33 (11): 885-889 and 33 (12): 984-990.
      74. Sobal, B. (2002) Article 13(b) of the Hague Convention Treaty: Does It Create a Loophole for Parental Alienation Syndrome--An Insidious Abduction? The International Lawyer, Fall 2001, Vol. 35, No. 3, pp. 997-1025.
      75. Hobbs, T. (2002) 'Parental Alienation Syndrome & UK Family Courts, The Dilemna, Pt. 1, Family Law 32:182-189.
      76. Hobbs, T. (2002) 'Parental Alienation Syndrome & UK Family Courts, The Dilemna Pt. 2, Family Law 32:381-387.
      77. Klenner, W. (2002) Szenarien der Entfremdung im elterlichen Trennungsprozess-Entwurf eines Handlungskonzepts von Prävention und Intervention, Jugendamt 89(2):48-57.
      78. Krause, M. (2002) PAS und seine Geschwister - Strukturell-systemische Überlegungen zur Gefährdung des Kindwohls durch sechs verschiedene Muster pathologischer Trennungsbewältigung, Zentralblatt für Jugendrecht (ZfJ) 75(1):2-6.
      79. Birchler-Hoop, U.: Elternentfremdung; in: Und Kinder, 21 (69) 2002: 37-52.
      80. Boch-Galhau, W.V. (2002), Le PAS: Impacts de la Séparation et du Divorce sur les Enfants et sur Leur Vie D'adulte, Synapse: Journal de Psychiatrie et Système Nerveux Central, No. 188, Septembre 2002.
      81. Andritzky, W. (2002), Verhaltensmuster und Persönlichkeitsstruktur entfremdender Eltern: Psychosoziale Diagnostik und Orientierungskriterien für Interventionen. (english title: Behavioral Patterns and Personality Structure of Alienating Parents: Psychosocial and Diagnostic Criteria for Intervention) Psychotherapie in Psychiatrie , Psychotherapeutischer medizin und Klnischer Psychologie 7 (4): 166-182.
      82. Jopt, U. J./ZŸtphen, J.(2002) Elterliche PASsivitŠt nach Trennung ö Zur Bedeutung des betreuenden Elternteils fŸr die PAS-Genese, in: Fabian, T., Jacobs, Nowara S., Rode, I. (Hrsg.); QualitŠtssicherung in der Rechtspsychologie, MŸnster, 2002.
      83. Boch-Galhau, W.V. (2002), Sindrome de Alienación Parental (PAS): Influencia de la seapración y el divorcio sobre la vida adulta de los hijos. Revista Argentina de Clinica Psicologica, XI, 113-138.
      84. Rybicki, D. (2003), Parental Alienation Syndrome. In: Childhood Disorders Diagnostic Desk Reference. Ed. E. Fletcher-Janzen and C.R. Reynolds, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
      85. Camps, A. (2003), Psychiatrische und psychosomatische Konsequenzen für PAS-Kinder (english title: Psychiatric and Psychosomatic Consequences for PAS-Children) In The Parental Alienation Syndrome: An Interdisciplinary Challange for Professionals Involved in Divorce., eds. W. von Boch-Gallhau, U. Kodjoe, W Andritsky, and P. Koeppel, pp. 143-156. Berlin, Germany: VWB-Verlag für Wissenshaft and Bildung.
      86. von Boch, W. (2003), Folgen der PAS-Indoktrinierung für betroffene erwachsene Scheidungskinder (english title: Consequences of PAS-Indoctrination for Children of Divorce as Adults) In The Parental Alienation Syndrome: An Interdisciplinary Challange for Professionals Involved in Divorce., eds. W. von Boch-Gallhau, U. Kodjoe, W Andritsky, and P. Koeppel, pp. 157-162. Berlin, Germany: VWB-Verlag für Wissenshaft and Bildung.
      87. Kodjoe, U. (2003), Die Auswirkungen von Entfremdung und Kontaktabbruch auf betroffene Eltern (english title: Consequences of Alienation and Interruption of Contact for Alienated Parents) In The Parental Alienation Syndrome: An Interdisciplinary Challange for Professionals Involved in Divorce. eds. W. von Boch-Gallhau, U. Kodjoe, W Andritsky, and P. Koeppel, pp. 163-166. Berlin, Germany: VWB-Verlag für Wissenshaft and Bildung.
      88. von Boch, W. and Kodjoe, U. (2003), Zwei Fallvorstellungen: Interviews mit einem entfremdeten erwachsenen Scheidungskind und einer entfremdeten Mutter (english title: Two Case Demonstrations: Interviews with an Alienated Child of Divorce as Adult and an Alienated Mother) In The Parental Alienation Syndrome: An Interdisciplinary Challange for Professionals Involved in Divorce., eds. W. von Boch-Gallhau, U. Kodjoe, W Andritsky, and P. Koeppel, pp. 167-174. Berlin, Germany: VWB-Verlag für Wissenshaft and Bildung.
      89. Finkelstein, C. (2003), The Heart of an Abducted and Alienated Child In The Parental Alienation Syndrome: An Interdisciplinary Challange for Professionals Involved in Divorce., eds. W. von Boch-Gallhau, U. Kodjoe, W Andritsky, and P. Koeppel, pp. 175-179. Berlin, Germany: VWB-Verlag für Wissenshaft and Bildung.
      90. Warshak, R. (2003), Current Controversies Regarding the Parental Alienation Syndrome In The Parental Alienation Syndrome: An Interdisciplinary Challange for Professionals Involved in Divorce., eds. W. von Boch-Gallhau, U. Kodjoe, W Andritsky, and P. Koeppel, pp. 207-234. Berlin, Germany: VWB-Verlag für Wissenshaft and Bildung.
      91. Sjorgen, L.H. (2003), Einen Elternteil gefährlich machen: PAS in Schweden und Norwegen (english title: Making a Parent Dangerous :PAS in Sweden and Norway) In The Parental Alienation Syndrome: An Interdisciplinary Challange for Professionals Involved in Divorce., eds. W. von Boch-Gallhau, U. Kodjoe, W Andritsky, and P. Koeppel, pp. 235-248. Berlin, Germany: VWB-Verlag für Wissenshaft and Bildung.
      92. Andritsky, W. (2003), Entfremdungsstrategien im Sorgerechts- und Umgangsstreit: Zur Rolle von (kinder)ärztlichen und -psychiatrischen Attesten (english title: Alienation strategies in custody and visitation litigations: The role of pediatricians, physicians and psychiatrists.) In The Parental Alienation Syndrome: An Interdisciplinary Challange for Professionals Involved in Divorce., eds. W. von Boch-Gallhau, U. Kodjoe, W Andritsky, and P. Koeppel, pp. 249-282. Berlin, Germany: VWB-Verlag für Wissenshaft and Bildung.
      93. Andritsky, W. (2003), Verhaltensmuster und Persönlichkeitsstruktur entfremdender Eltern: Psychosoziale Diagnostik und Orientierungskriterien für Interventionen (english title: Alienating Parents: Psychosocial Diagnostics and Orientation Criteria for Intervention) In The Parental Alienation Syndrome: An Interdisciplinary Challange for Professionals Involved in Divorce., eds. W. von Boch-Gallhau, U. Kodjoe, W Andritsky, and P. Koeppel, pp. 283-314. Berlin, Germany: VWB-Verlag für Wissenshaft and Bildung.
      94. Fischer, W. (2003), Möglichkeiten von Verfahrenspflegern in der Arbeit mit PAS-Fällen Grundsätzliche Aspekte (english title: Working Strategies with PAS Cases for Guardians Ad Litem Fundamental Aspects) In The Parental Alienation Syndrome: An Interdisciplinary Challange for Professionals Involved in Divorce., eds. W. von Boch-Gallhau, U. Kodjoe, W Andritsky, and P. Koeppel, pp. 315-322. Berlin, Germany: VWB-Verlag für Wissenshaft and Bildung.
      95. Strohe, J. (2003), Möglichkeiten von Verfahrenspflegern in der Arbeit mit PAS-Fällen Eine Fallgeschichte (english title: Working Strategies with PAS Cases for Guardians Ad Litem:A Case History) In The Parental Alienation Syndrome: An Interdisciplinary Challange for Professionals Involved in Divorce., eds. W. von Boch-Gallhau, U. Kodjoe, W Andritsky, and P. Koeppel, pp. 323-332. Berlin, Germany: VWB-Verlag für Wissenshaft and Bildung.
      96. Knappert, C. (2003), Frühe Interventionsstrategien als Möglichkeiten der Jugendamtsmitarbeiter in der Arbeit mit PAS-Fällen (english title: Possible Early Intervention Strategies Implemented by Social Institutions Dealing with PAS Cases) In The Parental Alienation Syndrome: An Interdisciplinary Challange for Professionals Involved in Divorce., eds. W. von Boch-Gallhau, U. Kodjoe, W Andritsky, and P. Koeppel, pp. 333-342. Berlin, Germany: VWB-Verlag für Wissenshaft and Bildung.
      97. Blank, M. (2003), Anmerkungen zur Persönlichkeitsstruktur des betreuenden Elternteils als mögliche zentrale Ursache für die Entstehung eines elterlichen Entfremdungssyndroms (english title: Remarks on the Personality Structure of the Caring Parent as a Possible Central Cause for the Development of a Parental Alienation Syndrome) In The Parental Alienation Syndrome: An Interdisciplinary Challange for Professionals Involved in Divorce., eds. W. von Boch-Gallhau, U. Kodjoe, W Andritsky, and P. Koeppel, pp. 243-252. Berlin, Germany: VWB-Verlag für Wissenshaft and Bildung.
      98. Stuart-Mills-Hoch, P. and Hoch, R. (2003), Successful Reintegration of Severely Alienated Children and Their Parents In The Parental Alienation Syndrome: An Interdisciplinary Challange for Professionals Involved in Divorce., eds. W. von Boch-Gallhau, U. Kodjoe, W Andritsky, and P. Koeppel, pp. 253-266. Berlin, Germany: VWB-Verlag für Wissenshaft and Bildung.
      99. Finkelstein, C. (2003), PAS Perspectives: An Adult, Parentally Abducted and Alienated as a Child, Reflects on Current PAS Treatment Modules In The Parental Alienation Syndrome: An Interdisciplinary Challange for Professionals Involved in Divorce., eds. W. von Boch-Gallhau, U. Kodjoe, W Andritsky, and P. Koeppel, pp. 267-372. Berlin, Germany: VWB-Verlag für Wissenshaft and Bildung.
      100. Barden, R. C. (2003), Building Multi-Disciplinary Legal-Scientific Teams in PAS and Child Custody Cases In The Parental Alienation Syndrome: An Interdisciplinary Challange for Professionals Involved in Divorce., eds. W. von Boch-Gallhau, U. Kodjoe, W Andritsky, and P. Koeppel, pp. 373-382. Berlin, Germany: VWB-Verlag für Wissenshaft and Bildung.
      101. Dum, C.T. (2003), Begutachtete Aufsätze in Fachzeitschriften und das Parental Alienation Syndrom (english title: Peer-Reviewed Articles in Professional Journals Dealing with the Parental Alienation Syndrome) In The Parental Alienation Syndrome: An Interdisciplinary Challange for Professionals Involved in Divorce., eds. W. von Boch-Gallhau, U. Kodjoe, W Andritsky, and P. Koeppel, pp. 383-390. Berlin, Germany: VWB-Verlag für Wissenshaft and Bildung.
      102. ten Hövel, G. (2003), Liebe Mama, böser Papa: Eltern-Kind_entfremdung nach Trennung und Scheidung: Das PAS-Syndrom, Munich, Germany: Kösel Verlag.
      103. Warshak, R. A. (2003), Bringing Sense to Parental Alienation: A Look At the Disputes and the Evidence. Family Law Quarterly, 37(2): 273-301.
      104. Rueda, C. (2004), An Inter-rater Reliability Study of Parental Alienation Syndrome. American Journal of Family Therapy, 32(5) 391-403.
      105. Andre, K. (2004), Parental Alienation Syndrome. Annals of the American Psychotherapy Association, Winter 7-11.
      106. Aguilar, J. M. (2004), Síndrome de Alienación Parental. Hijos manipulados por un cónyuge para odiar al otro, Cordoba, Spain: Almuzara Editorial.
      107. Baurain, M. (2005), Pour Poser Les Terms Du Débat, Divorce et Séparation, 3, 5-12.
      108. Van Gijseghem, H. (2005), L'aliénation parentale: points controversés, Divorce et Séparation, 3, 19-28.
      109. Gagné, M. and Darpeau, S. (2005), L'aliénation parentale est-elle une forme de maltraitance psychologique?, Divorce et Séparation, 3, 29-42.
      110. Rault, F. (2005), Séparation et allégations d'abus sexuels, Divorce et Séparation, 3, 43-56.
      111. Rathmes, J. (2005), L'heur de l'enfant - Leurre du juge, Divorce et Séparation, 3, 57-76.
      112. Bensussan, P. (2005), Intervieuw du Docteur Bensussan, Divorce et Séparation, 3, 77-90.
      113. Boch-Galhau, W. von and Kodjoe, U. (2005), Syndrome d'aliénation parentale: une forme de maltraitance psychologique des enfants en ca de séparation ou de divorce conflictuel des parents, Divorce et Séparation, 3, 91-116.
      114. Erwoine, D. (2005), Les traitements du syndrome d'aliénation parentale, Divorce et Séparation, 3, 117-126.
      115. Odyniec, H. (2005), De l'enfant-otage à l'enfant-soldat: chroniques de guerres familiales, Divorce et Séparation, 3, 127-137.
      116. Baker, A.J.L. (2005), The long-Term Effects of Parental Aienation on Adult Children: A Qualitative Research Study, American Journal of Family Therapy, 33, 289-302.
      117. Spruijt, E., Eikelenbook, B., Harmeling, J., Stokkers, R. and Kormos, H. (2005), Parental Alienation Syndrome in the Netherlands, American Journal of Family Therapy, 33, 303-318.
      118. Campbell, T. (2005), Why Doesn't Parental Alienation Occur More Frequently? The Significance of Role Discrimination, American Journal of Family Therapy, 33, 365-378.
      119. Ellis, E.M. (2005), Help for the Alienated Parent, American Journal of Family Therapy, 33, 415-426.
      120. Warshak R.A. (2005), Eltern-Kind-Entfremdung und Sozialwissenschaften - Sachlichkeit statt Polemik, Zentralblatt für Jugendrecht (ZfJ) No.5, May (2005): 186-200.
      121. Baker, A.J.L. (2005), The Cult of Parenthood: A Qualitative Study of Parental Alienation, Cultic Studies Review,4, [page #s not yet available]
      122. Baker A.J.L. (2005), Parental Alienation Strategies: A Qualitative Study of Adults Who Experienced Parental Alienation As a Child, American Journal of Forensic Psychology,23, [page #s not yet available]
      123. Delfieu, J.-M. (2005), Expert près la cour d’appel de Nimes: Syndrome d’aliénation parentale Diagnostic et prise en charge médico-juridique, Experts, No. 67, 24-30.
      124. Napp-Peters, A. (2005), Mehrelternfamilien als „Normal“-Familien – Ausgrenzung und Eltern-Kind-Entfremdung nach Trennung und Scheidung. In: Praxis der Kinderpsychologie und Kinderpsychiatrie, 54 (10), 792–801.
      125. Rand, D., Rand, R., and Kopetski, L. (2005), The Spectrum of Parental Alienation Syndrome (part III): The Kopetski Follow Up Study, American Journal of Forensic Psychology, 23(1): 15-43.
      126. Baker, A.J.L. (2006, in press), Patterns of Parental Alienation: A Qualitative Research Study, American Journal of Family Therapy,34, 1-16.
      127. Baker, A.J.L. (2006), in press), Behaviors and Strategies of Parental Alienation: A Survey of Parental Experiences, Journal of Divorce and Remarriage, 45(1/2), [page #s not yet available].
      128. Baker, A.J.L. (in press), The Power of Stories: Stories About Power. Why Therapists and Clients Should Read Stories About the Parental Alienation Syndrome, American Journal of Family Therapy.
      129. Steinberger, C. (2006), Father? What Father? Parental Alienation and Its Effect on Children, Family Law Review, 38 (1).
      130. Gardner, R.A., Sauber, S. R., and Lorandos, D. (2006), The International Handbook of Parental Alienation Syndrome, Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas. This book consists of 34 chapters. The chapters will be listed separately when time permits.
      131. Weigel, D.J. and Donovan, K.A. (2006), Parental Alienation Syndrome: Diagnostic and Triadic Perspectives, The Family Journal,14(3), 274-282.

    SECTION 3

    Additional publications with material relevant to pathological alienation. (48 items)

      1. Huntingon, D. S. (1986), The Forgotten Figures in Divorce, and Fatherhood: the Struggle for Parental Identity. Ed. Jacobs, J.W.Washington, D.C.: The American Psychiatric Association Press
      2. Lampel, A. (1986), Post-divorce therapy with high conflict families. The Independent Practioner, Bulletin of the Division of Psychologists in Independent Practice, Division 42 of the American Psychological Association, 6(3):22-6.
      3. Jacobs, J. W. (1988), Euripidies' Medea: a psychodynamic model of severe divorce pathology. American Journal of Psychotherapy, XLII(2):308-319.
      4. Johnston, J. R. and Campbell, L. E. (1988), Impasses of Divorce: The Dynamics and Resolution of Family Conflict. New York: The Free Press.
      5. Blush, G. J. and Ross, K. L. (1990), Investigation and case management issues and strategies. Issues in Child Abuse Accusations. 2(3): 152-160.
      6. Wakefield, H. and Underwager, R. (1990), Personality characteristics of parents making false accusations of sexual abuse in custody disputes. Issues in Child Abuse Accusations, 2(3):121-136.
      7. Ross, K.L. and Blush, G.J. (1990), Sexual Abuse validity discriminators in the divorced or divorcing family. Issues in Child Abuse Accusations, 2(1):1-6.
      8. Theonnes, N. and Tjaden, P.G. (1990), The extent, nature, and validity of sexual abuse allegations in custody visitation disputes. Child Abuse & Neglect, 12:151-163.
      9. The California Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Law: Issues and Answers for Health Practitioners. State of California, 1991.
      10. Wakefield, H  and Underwager, R. (1991), Sexual abuse allegations in divorce and custody disputes. Behavioral Sciences and the Law,9:451-468.
      11. Patterson, D. (1991-92), The other victim: the falsely accused parent in a sexual abuse and custody case. Journal of Family Law, 30:919-941.
      12. Maccoby, E. E. and Mnookin, R. H. (1992), Dividing the Child: Social and Legal Dilemmas of Custody. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
      13. Rogers, M. (1992), Delusional disorder and the evolution of mistaken sexual allegations in child custody cases. American Journal of Forensic Psychology, 10(l):47-69.
      14. Ceci, S. J  and Bruck, M. (1993), Suggestibility of the child witness: a historical review and synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 113(3):403-439.
      15. Johnston, J. R. (1993), Children of Divorce Who Refuse Visitation. In Nonresidential Parenting: New Vistas in Family Living, ed. Depner, C. E. and Bray, J.H. London: Sage Publications.
      16. Rand, D. C. (1993), Munchausen syndrome by proxy: a complex type of emotional abuse responsible for some false allegations of child abuse in divorce. Issues in Child Abuse Accusations, 5(3)135-55.
      17. Johnston, J.R. and Campbell, L. E. (1993), Parent-Child Relationships in Domestic Violence Families Disputing Custody. Family & Conciliation Courts Review,31(3):2S2-298.
      18. Ackerman, M.J. and Kane, A.W. (1993), Psychological Experts in Divorce, Personal Injury, and Other Civil Actions, Second Edition Vol. 1, New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. §4.31 Parental Alienation Syndrome, pp142-147.
      19. Holstein-Sanders, C. (1993), When You Suspect the Worst. Family Advocate, Winter 1993:54-56.
      20. Byrne, K and Maloney, L. (1993), Intractable Access: Is There a Cure? Australian Family Lawyer 8(4):22-27.
      21. Sanders, C. H. (1993), When You Suspect the Worst: Bad-Faith Relocation, Fabricated Child Sexual Abuse and Parental Alienation. Family Advocate, winter:54-56.
      22. Ward, P. and Harvey, J. C. (1993), Family Wars: The Alienation of Children. New Hampshire Bar Journal,. March:30.
        1. Ward P. and Harvey, J.C., Familienkriege, die Entfremdung von Kindern. ZfJ Jhg. 85, Nr. 6/98, pp 237-245 (aus dem Amerikanischen übersetzt von C.T. Dum mit Vorbemerkungen von W. Klenner).
      23. Garrity, C.B. and Baris, M.A. (1994), Caught in the Middle: Protecting the Children of High-Conflict Divorce. New York: Lexington Books (an Imprint of Macmillan, Inc.).
      24. Guidelines for Child Custody Evaluations in Divorce Proceeding (1994). American Psychologist, 49(7)677-680.
      25. Hysjulien, C  Wood, B., and Benjamin, G.A.H. (1994), Child Custody Evaluations: A Review of Methods Used in Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution. Family and Conciliation Courts Review, 32(4):466-489.
      26. Feinberg, J. M. and Loeb, L. S. (1994), Custody and visitation interference: alternative remedies . American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers Journal, 12(2):271-284.
      27. Feinberg, J. M. and Loeb, L.S. (1994), Custody and Visitation Interference: Alternative Remedies. American Academy of matrimonial Lawyers, 12(2):271-284.
      28. Turkat, I.D. (1994). Child Visitation Interference in Divorce. Clinical Psychology Review, 14(8):737-742.
      29. Ackerman, M.J. (1995), Clinician's Guide to Child Custody Evaluations. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York.
      30. Bricklin, B. (1995), The Custody Evaluation Handbook: Research-Based Solutions and Applications. Brunner-Mazel, Inc. Bristol, PA.
      31. Ehrenberg, M. F. and Eiterman, M.F. (1995), Evaluating Allegations of Sexual Abuse in the Context of Divorce, Child Custody and Access Disputes. In True and False Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse: Assessment and Case Management. ed. Ncy, T. New York: Brunner/Mazel Publishers.
      32. Klenner, W., (1995), Rituale der Umgangsvereitelung bei Getrenntlebenden oder Geschiedenen Eltern. FamRZ, Jhg. 42, Heft 24, 15. Dez 1995, S. 1529-1535.
      33. Mapes, B. E. (1995), Child Eyewitness Testimony in Sexual Abuse Investigations. Brandon, Vermont: Clinical Psychology Publishing Co., Inc.
      34. Turkat, 1. D. (1995), Divorce Related Malicious Mother Syndrome. Journal of Family Violence, 10(3):253-264.
      35. Adams, J. K. (1996), Investigation and Interviews in Cases of Alleged Child Sexual Abuse: A Look at the Scientific Evidence. Issues in Child Abuse Accusations, 8(3/4):120-138.
      36. Jones, M.M. and Sullivan, M. (1996), Dealing with Parental Alienation in High Conflict Custody Cases. Presentation at Conference of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, San Antonio, TX.
      37. Lampel, A. (1996), Children's Alignment with Parents in Highly Conflicted Custody Cases. Family and Conciliation Courts Review, 34(2):229-239.
      38. Turkat, I.D. (1996), Relocation as a Strategy to Interfere with the Child-Parent Relationship, American Journal of Family Law, (11): 39-41.
      39. Campbell, T.W. (1997), Psychotherapy with Children of Divorce: the Pitfalls of Triangulated Relationships. Psychotherapy 29(4):646-652.
      40. Rooney, S. A. and Walker, T. F. (1999), Identification and treatment of alienated children in high-conflict divorce. In Innovations in Clinical Practice: A Source Book, Vol. 17, eds VandeCreek, L. and Jackson, T. L. et al., pp. 331-341. Sarasota, Florida: Professional Resource Press/Professional Resource Exchange, Inc.
      41. Stahl, P. M. (1999), Alienation and alignment of children. The California Psychologist , XXXII(3):23-29.
      42. Stahl, P. M. (1999), Complex Issues in Child Custody Evaluations. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.
      43. Lowenstein, L.F. (1999), Parental Alienation and the Judiciary, Medico-Legal Joiurnal, 67(3):121-123.
      44. Koeppel, P. (2000), Zur Bedeutung der Elscholz-Entscheidung  für die Fortentwicklung des deutchen Kindschaftrechts, Der Amtsvormund , 8/2000, pp 639-641.
      45. Büte, D. (2001), Das Umgangsrecht bei Kindern Geschiedner Oder Getrennt Lebender Eltern: Ausgestaltung - Verfahren - Vollstreckung. Bielefeld, Germany: Erich Schmidt Verlag.
      46. Bow, J.N., Quinell, F.A., Zaroff, M. and Assemony, A. (2002), Assessment of Sexual Abuse Allegations in Child Custody Cases. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 33(6):566-575.
      47. Warshak, R. A. (2003), Payoffs and Pitfalls of Listening to Children. Family Relations, 52(4), 373-384.
      48. Darnall, D. and Steinberg, B. (2008), Motivational Models for Spointaneous Reunification With the Alienated Child: Part I, American Journal of Family Therapy, 36(2), 107-115.

    SECTION 4 Book Reviews

    Reviews of Dr. Gardner's books on parental alienation syndrome. (11 items)

      1. Krivacska, J. J. (1989), The Parental Alienation Syndrome and the Differentiation Between Fabricated and Genuine Child Sex Abuse. Book Review. Issues in Child Abuse Accusations, 1(1):55-56.
      2. Levy, D. (1992), The Parental Alienation Syndrome: A Guide for Mental Health and Legal Professionals. Book Review. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 20(3):276-277.
      3. Underwager, R. (1992), The Parental Alienation Syndrome: A Guide for Mental Health and Legal Professionals. Book Review. Issues in Child Abuse Accusations, 4(2):108-109.
      4. Levy, D. (1992), Review of Parental Alienation Syndrome: A Guide for Mental Health and Legal Professionals. American Journal of Family Therapy, 20(3):276-277.
      5. Etemad, J. (1999), The Parental Alienation Syndrome, Second Edition. Book Review. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,38 (2): 223-225.
      6. Underwager, R. (1998), The Parental Alienation Syndrome: Second Edition.. Book Review. Issues in Child Abuse Accusations, 10:178.
      7. Reischer, H. (1999), The Parental Alienation Syndrome: A Guide for Mental Health and Legal Professionals. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law , 27(3): 504-506.
      8. Utesch, W. (1999), The Parental Alienation Syndrome, Second Edition. Book Review. The American Journal of Family Therapy,(in press).
      9. Turkel, A. (2001) Therapeutic Interventions for Children with Parental Alienation Syndrome Book Review. News for Women in Psychiatry, 19(4):17.
      10. Deming, J. (2001) Therapeutic Inteventions for Children with Parental Alienation Syndrome. Book Review. American Journal of Psychiatry and the Law, 29(4):505.
      11. Meister, R. (2001) Therapeutic Inteventions for Children with Parental Alienation Syndrome. Book Review. American Journal of Family Therapy, 31(4):351-354.

    SECTION 5 Frye and Mohan Rulings

    The Frye Test is the standard by which a court can determine whether a scientific contribution has gained enough general acceptance in the scientific community to be admissable in a court of law. The Frye Test criteria for admissability were applied to The Parental Alienation Syndrome in the following cases:

    • Kilgore v. Boyd, 13th Circuit Court, Hillsborough County, FL., Case No. 94-7573, 733 So. 2d 546 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000) Jan 30, 2001.
      • Boyd v. Kilgore, 773 So. 2d 546 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000) (Prohibition Denied)
      • Court ruling that the Parental Alienation Syndrome has gained general acceptance in the scientific community and thereby satisfies Frye Test criteria for admissibility.
    • Bates v. Bates 18th Judicial Circuit, Dupage County, IL Case No. 99D958, Jan 17, 2002.
      • Court ruling that the Parental Alienation Syndrome has gained general acceptance in the scientific community and thereby satisfies Frye Test criteria for admissibility.[excerpt]

    In Canada, the Mohan Test is applied to assess admissablity. It is more stringent than the Frye Test in that it employs more criteria than Frye. The Mohan Test was applied to the Parental Alienation Syndrome in the following case(s):

    • Her Majesty the Queen vs. K.C. Superior Court of Justice, Ontario, County of Durham, Central-East Region, Court File No. 9520/01. August, 9, 2002

    SECTION 6 Additional Publications Not Referenced Above

    The American Psychological Association has published guidelines* for child-custody evaluations in divorce proceedings. These are the guidelines The American Psychological Association proposes that examiners use when conducting such examinations. The Guidelines provide another index of the value of the PAS concept to child custody evaluators. The Guidelines conclude with a highly selective reference section titled "Pertinent Literature." Three of the 39 references are books by Dr. Gardner; one is titled "The Parental Alienation Syndrome" and the other two include discussions about PAS.

    • Gardner, R.A. (1989), Family Evaluation in Child Custody Mediation, Arbitration, and Litigation. Cresskill, NJ: Creative Therapeutics,Inc.
    • Gardner, R. A. (1992), The Parental Alienation Syndrome: A Guide for Mental Health and Legal Professionals. Cresskill, NJ: Creative Therapeutics,Inc.
    • Gardner, R. A. (1992), True and False Accusations of Child Sex Abuse. Cresskill, NJ: Creative Therapeutics, Inc.
    * Guidelines for Child Custody Evaluation in Divorce Proceedings. Washington, D.C.: American
    Psychological Association     (1994).

    The Family Law Section of the American Bar Association published Clawar and Rivlin's book Children Held Hostage: Dealing with Programmed and Brainwashed Children.** The following book by Dr. Gardner is referenced:

    • Gardner, R.A. (1987),The Parental Alienation Syndrome and the Differentiation Between Fabricated and Genuine Child Sex Abuse Cresskill, NJ: Creative Therapeutics, Inc.

    **Clawar, S. and Rivlin, B.V. (1991), Children Held Hostage: Dealing with Programmed and Brainwashed Children . Chicago, IL:Division of Family Law, American Bar Association.

    The State Bar of Texas, Family Law Section, published in 1999 its Expert Witness Manual. The section: Psychological Syndromes includes a chapter entitled Psychological Syndromes: Parental Alienation Syndrome (Chapter 3-32). The purpose of this chapter is to provide guidelines for mental health and legal professionals who work in courts of law.

    • Warshak, R.A. (1999), Psychological Syndromes:Parental Alienation Syndrome. Expert Witness Manual, Chapter 3-32. Dallas, TX: State Bar of Texas, Family Law Section.

    The State Bar of Texas published in 2002 its Family Law Course. Chapter 22 is entitled Parental Alienation: Syndrome or Symptom.

    • Warshak, R.A. (2002), Divorce Poison: Protecting the Parent-Child Bond From a Vindictive Ex. New York: ReganBooks.

      Family Law Quarterly 35(3):527-552, 2001

      Comments on Carol S. Bruch’s Article
      "Parental Alienation Syndrome and Parental Alienation:
      Getting it Wrong in Child Custody Cases"

      Richard A. Gardner. M.D.

      All truth passes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Second it is violently opposed. Third it is accepted as self-evident.

      Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

      Before addressing myself to the numerous misperceptions, distortions, and even fabrications that are to be found in this article, it is important to make a few comments about the author herself, especially with regard to her qualifications for writing this article. She is a research professor of law. From the biographical information provided about her on the University of California at Davis website, it is clear that she is a woman of accomplishment who has involved herself in many areas of the law. However, as important as her contributions may have been, there is nothing in her biographical information to indicate that she has spent significant time in family courts working directly with clients involved in child-custody disputes. Accordingly, she is very remote from the lawyers who are directly working with families involved in high conflict child-custody disputes. In short, she has not had significant experiences "in the trenches."

      In a footnote on the first page of the article (page 527) Bruch gives credit to three reference librarians at her law school. Again, we have three assistants who are operating in the cloistered environment of the law library, far from the reality of the outside world, especially the divorce courts, where the real PAS action is taking place. Furthermore, it is clear that she has not properly differentiated among the sources of her information, specifically, whether it be a learned journal or some newspaper article written by someone on assignment that day to become an "expert" on the subject. She has not properly concerned herself with the validity or credibility of her sources. Most important, the article is not balanced. Either she ignores a significant body of data that supports my work in the PAS realm, or dismisses it perfunctorily.

      In footnote #2 she states:

      "Errors or omissions are her own."

      Although the article appears in the reputable Family Law Quarterly and is written in a scholarly style, it is not a balanced article. Bruch makes consistent choices by quoting professionals and articles with only one point of view, and does not vary from this. She does not consider documents advancing a point of view that opposes her own, despite the widespread availability of these numerous articles and cases. Courts of law must deal with two sides of an issue. This article does not.

      The number of misrepresentations in this article is so great that it would take an article of equal length, if not longer, to attempt to correct them all. What I will do here is comment on the most egregious of the various distortions, misrepresentations, and even fabrications.

      First, Bruch focuses on false sex-abuse accusations in PAS and assumes that one equals the other. Nowhere in my writings is there any confirmation of this. What I do say in my writings is that a false sex-abuse accusation can be a spin-off of the PAS and my own experience has been that this occurs in about ten percent of cases. I have also stated that in my clinical experience the vast majority of these are generally false, but that still, on occasion, one sees a true sex-abuse accusation along with a PAS.

      Page 528, footnote 3. Bruch quotes studies that describe one-to-two percent true sex-abuse accusations. What is misleading here is that these studies are dated 1990 and 1992, based on data from the 1980s, a time when the false sex-abuse accusation was not as generally appreciated. It is likely that studies from the same sources conducted today, 15 years later, would provide a higher percentage. That said, Bruch is still confirming the existence of the false sex-abuse accusation phenomenon. Our only difference is the percentage of cases in which this occurs. From the vantage point of the innocent victim, it does not matter whether he (she) is in the one-percent group, the twenty-percent group, or any other percent group; that individual is still being falsely accused and may very well be sentenced to jail (as some such unfortunate people actually are).

      Page 528, footnote 3. Bruch quotes a single article by K. Faller that Bruch repeatedly references throughout her article. However, Bruch selectively ignores my response article, which was published in the next issue (Child Maltreatment, 3(4):309-312) (Gardner, 1998a). Furthermore, Bruch fails to mention that the Faller article was published after I had testified in support of the plaintiff in a malpractice suit against her in Michigan (see Champney v. Faller et al., Washtenaw County #95-4760-CK).

      Bruch states (p. 528-529):

      "Although Dr. Gardner sometimes states that his analysis does not apply to cases of actual abuse, the focus of his attention is directed at discerning whether the beloved parent and child are lying, not whether the target parent is untruthful or has behaved in a way that might explain the child’s aversion."

      This quote is another example of the limitations of Bruch’s research. She states that I "sometimes state" that my analysis (of PAS, presumably) does not apply to cases of actual abuse. In fact, I routinely state that the diagnosis of PAS does not apply to cases of actual abuse (Gardner, 1992a, 1998b, 1999). She continues with the criticism that I am not evaluating for any weaknesses in the target parent’s behavior. In every case I assess the target parent as to whether or not he (she) has abused or neglected the children, or exhibited any other behavior that might contribute to their alienation. Chapter Nine of my 1998 book on the PAS is devoted to my techniques for making this differentiation (Gardner, 1998b). In addition, I have been involved in many cases in which, after an evaluation, I informed the client engaging my services that I could not support his (her) position because the children’s rejection was grounded in real abuse/neglect that became apparent in the course of the evaluation.

      In addition, it is important to note that prior to being retained by a client to conduct an evaluation, I require the prospective client to sign my contract which confirms recognition "that Dr. Gardner may not ultimately support my position in the litigation." In practice, this is not an uncommon outcome. When it occurs, the client usually elects, in one way or another, not to have me testify or submit my findings to the litigation at hand and my involvement with the matter ends then and there. Accordingly, my negative findings (e.g. no PAS but rather abuse) remain effectively off the record.

      What then is on the record are the cases in which my findings support and coincide with the client’s position. My detractors shrewdly exploit this by accusing me of being a "hired gun," fully available to absolve anyone who is willing to pay me. This contention couldn’t be further from the truth, but the rules of doctor/patient confidentiality prevent me from countering this accusation by citing those cases in which my evaluations failed to support the clients allegations of PAS or failed to exculpate them from accusations of abuse.

      Bruch states (p. 529, footnote 6):

      "Two examples are his efforts to distinguish true from false allegations and his blanket advice to judges that they should refrain from taking abuse allegations seriously, even when supported by a therapist who has seen the child."

      Once again, Bruch overstates her thesis. Her use of the word blanket implies that she has comprehensively looked at every case in which I have testified, and that in every possible case of sex abuse that arises in the context of divorce, I recommend that judges ignore the sex-abuse accusation. This is simply not true. I have taken care to make the proviso that only after a thorough evaluation has been conducted can one determine whether or not sex abuse has occurred. The elaborate protocols I use, generally requiring three or four hours of interviewing with the child alone, are described in two of my books (Gardner, 1992b, 1995). They also describe the detailed evaluation I conduct of the accused party, especially with regard to the presence or absence of pedophilic tendencies. This inquiry, of course, takes even more time. If, after this extensive evaluation, I find that bona-fide sex-abuse is extremely unlikely and that the child’s complaints are not related to the target parent’s behavior, but to the alienating parent’s and the child’s behavior (PAS manifestations), then I do advise that the children’s complaints not be taken seriously, because they are the products of fabrications and/or delusions-a result of their programming.

      Unfortunately there are therapists who take PAS children’s allegations seriously, much to the detriment of all family members. This does not mean that I do not first make the differentiation between true and false accusations. I do so in every case. Furthermore, I am very much aware of the fact that there are bona fide abusers who claim that they are innocent of abuse and that the children’s accusations are the products of the other parent’s PAS manipulations. As mentioned, Chapter Nine of my 1998 PAS book is devoted completely to differentiating the true from false accusations in such cases. One of the purposes of this chapter is to "smoke out" these bona fide abusers who try to claim that they are merely innocent victims of PAS indoctrinations.

      Bruch states (page 530):

      "First, Gardner confounds a child’s developmentally related reaction to divorce and high parental conflict (including violence) with psychosis."

      Again, we see another gross misrepresentation. What I do state is that my experience has been that severe PAS represents about ten percent of the cases I have personally seen. Furthermore, I state that in some of those cases we do see paranoia in the accusing parent, which is a form of psychosis. In such cases, what one most often sees is a circumscribed delusional system centering on the victim parent. The DSM-IV diagnosis Delusional Disorder is often applicable here. In those cases, I do consider the indoctrinating parent to be suffering with this circumscribed paranoid delusional system centering on the target parent-a delusion that warrants the term psychosis. The children get swept up in this delusion and the dyad justifiably warrants the DSM-IV diagnosis, Shared Psychotic Disorder (Folie-à-Deux). When an unskilled therapist does not recognize the PAS, he (she) may join in with the parent-child dyad. In such cases the folie-à-trois designation is warranted. I believe that most family court lawyers, as well as mental health professionals who work with these families, have seen this phenomenon.

      Bruch states (page 531) that my work has the "practical effect of impugning all abuse allegations, allegations which Gardner asserts are usually false in the divorce context." PAS children routinely allege physical, verbal, and emotional abuse. In the context of the PAS, such accusations are usually false. Furthermore, if my clinical findings are representative, about ten percent of PAS children may allege sexual abuse. Bruch is correct in stating that I consider most of these PAS derived sexual-abuse accusations to be false. (In contrast, I consider most intrafamilial accusations to be true). There is a vast amount of scientific literature describing the phenomenon of false accusations occurring in the context of child-custody disputes. These omissions reveal the bias that pervades Bruch’s argument.

      Bruch states (p. 532):

      "Worse yet, if therapists agree that danger exists, Gardner asserts that they are almost always man-hating women who have entered into a folie-à-trois with the complaining child and concerned parent."

      Once again, Bruch overstates her case. Her phrase "if therapists agree that danger exists, Gardner asserts…" is in itself misleading. She implies that whenever a therapist-any therapist, or group of therapists-concludes that abuse has taken place it must have happened. This is an overly credulous position. Those in the field know well that many errors are made in the typical evaluation, that there are many levels of evaluator competency, and that nothing conclusive can be said about their findings unless their findings have been thoroughly critiqued for proper evaluation methodology.

      Moreover, the word always is a very dangerous word to use, especially in a learned document. I rarely use that word, whether in speaking or writing. Bruch will have a long search if she is looking to find that word in any of my publications, especially with regard to the folie-à-trois phenomenon. Yes, there are man-hating women who do join in with PAS programmers to victimize and scapegoat a target father. However, there are also male therapists who do this, and there are women therapists who do this who are not man-haters.

      Bruch states (p. 534):

      "In sum, children’s reluctance or refusal to visit noncustodial parents can probably be better explained without resorting to Gardner’s theory. Studies that followed families over several years, for example, report that visits may cease or be resisted when a variety of reasons cause custodial parents and children to be angry or uncomfortable with the other parent."

      Bruch would have the reader believe that I have no appreciation of alternative reasons for children’s alienation from a parent other than PAS. Such a statement is ludicrous. It indicates complete ignorance of my publications, books and articles that were written long before I wrote my first article on the PAS in 1985. I describe in these publications many other reasons why children are antagonistic toward one of the parents, reasons that have nothing to do with PAS. Even in my books on the PAS I advise examiners to be vigilant and explore alternative explanations for the children’s alienation. I have repeatedly stated that when bona fide abuse exists, the PAS diagnosis is not applicable. Furthermore, for each of the diagnostic criteria delineated in my books on sex abuse I detail the manifestations when the accusation is true and the manifestations when the accusation is false (Gardner, 1992b, 1995). Bruch completely ignores this pervasive principle in my diagnostic protocols.

      Bruch continues (p. 534-535):

      "First, Gardner is broadly (but mistakenly) believed to be a full professor at a prestigious university."

      Bruch is basically stating here that I misrepresent myself when I claim that I am Clinical Professor of Child Psychiatry at Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons. If Bruch is correct here, then I have somehow duped the university and the medical school into listing my name for over 39 years on their rosters of faculty members, as well as convincing them to biannually reconfirm my appointment. And this occurs only after their review of extensive documentation, which I am required to submit to determine that I am still worthy of holding the appointment. The fact is that I was the first clinician in private practice to achieve full professorial rank in the Child Psychiatry Department at Columbia. In alleged confirmation of this fabrication, Bruch quotes from Newsweek (she has no hesitation using as references newspapers and magazines, giving them equal status with learned publications) that "the title Gardner enjoys indicates neither full faculty membership nor research accomplishment." In reality, I had to satisfy the same rigorous qualifications as the full-time academicians to achieve full professorship rank at Columbia University Medical School, including: review of my peer-reviewed published articles, my books, comments by student evaluators, contributions to the field of child psychiatry, invited lectures throughout the U.S. and abroad, research accomplishments, and anonymous letters of recommendation from faculty members from other medical schools. Bruch would give the impression that the Columbia University Medical School frivolously dispenses its professorships. This is absurd, and is an important example of the kind of serious factual inaccuracies that underlie her scholarly style.

      Bruch continues (page 535):

      "Because this aura of expertise accompanies his work, few suspect that it is mostly self-published."

      This is a fabrication. As a research professor, Bruch knows full well that articles published in learned peer-review journals are not self-published. In contrast, books can be self-published. I have over 150 articles published in scholarly peer-review journals. In addition, prior to 1978 I published 16 books with major publishers (Doubleday, G.P. Putnam’s, Prentice-Hall, Avon Books, Bantam Books, and Jason Aronson) before I began publishing through Creative Therapeutics. I still get invitations from more well-known publishers to write books, and I last accepted an invitation from Bantam Books to do so in 1991.

      Bruch states (p. 535-536):

      ". . . receives referrals from the websites of fathers’ organizations, and provides packaged continuing education courses for professionals."

      It is true that I receive referrals from fathers’ organizations. The implication here is that there is something wrong with this. Many of these men have been victimized terribly by PAS accusations. However, I also receive many referrals from mothers, even mothers who belong to women’s organizations, who also have been victimized by PAS. And this has been even more the case in the last few years. Most of the PAS examiners with whom I have been in contact have observed, as have I, that men are now as likely to become PAS indoctrinators as women. Elsewhere I have described this gender shift (Gardner, 2001a, 2002a).

      The statement that I "provide packaged continuing education courses for professionals" is a blatant fabrication. I do not provide packaged continuing education courses for professionals. Bruch does not provide the names of these so-called packages and/or courses. She cannot do this because they do not exist, either on my website or anywhere else. We see here yet another example of her irresponsibility. However, even if I did provide such packages, is there something wrong with that? Professional organizations are always encouraging their members to enhance their knowledge of their fields and continue their education.

      Bruch continues (p. 536):

      "Finally, he often inaccurately represents or suggests that PAS is consistent with or endorsed by the accepted work of others."

      My website (www.rgardner.com/refs) currently lists 137 peer-reviewed articles by over 150 authors. This indicates acceptance. On the same website I list 66 courts of law that have recognized the PAS. These important lists provide compelling proof that PAS is accepted by the professionals who wrote those articles and the peer reviewers who accepted them for publication. It also indicates that PAS was accepted by at least 66 judges in courts of law who saw fit to mention the full term PAS in their rulings and ruled accordingly. Therefore, there is nothing "inaccurate" about my representation. What is accurate is her misrepresentation of me.

      Bruch states (page 537):

      "...whenever child sexual abuse allegations or disrupted visitation patterns arise in the United States, one must now be prepared to confront a claim asserting that PAS is at work, not abuse or other difficulties."

      An unseverable part of any PAS evaluation is to assess for the presence of (parental) "abuse or other difficulties." Her argument goes on to say that a database search of reported (emphasis mine) cases between 1985 and 2001 reveal numerous mental health professionals in addition to Gardner having testified as to the presence of PAS within a custody dispute, "although far fewer were willing to recommend that custody be transferred and contact with the primary (alienating) custodian terminated." The author’s implication is that even evaluators advocating PAS are unwilling to follow Gardner fully by recommending a change of custody. This is a distortion, in that most PAS experts agree with me that change of custody is appropriate only in severe cases of PAS, and severe cases are but a small subset of PAS cases as a whole. I will agree, however, that I am more likely to recommend custodial transfer in the severe cases than many other evaluators, because they have more commitment to the therapeutic treatment of such cases than I. I believe, however, that my follow-up study of 99 children (Gardner 2001b) provides strong support for my position regarding these cases and that ultimately other such studies will confirm that reduction of access to the alienator is the only hope for children in the severe category of PAS.

      Bruch than professes to be "profoundly disturbed" by the degree to which expert witnesses, judges and attorneys have been invoking PAS, and the almost total absense of inquiries into its scientific validity. She then launches into a footnote which asserts that a compiled list of PAS positive caselaw on the Gardner website is misleading because it consists "most(ly) of cases unchallenged as to scientific validity of PAS." (fn39). Bruch’s footnote is itself misleading in its own right in that she then cites four cases as examples of how the list is misleading. She fails to point out that two of her four case examples are not even found on Gardner’s list (Crews v. McKenna and Loll v. Loll). Basically, what she has done here is claim that my list includes cases in which the court did not recognize PAS and then cites as examples of such cases two cases that were never on my list. Equally reprehensible is her claim that in the other two cases the court did not recognize the PAS. In actuality, the court did recognize the PAS in these cases: one is even an appellate ruling (Truax v. Truax). Again we see gross misrepresentation.

      Bruch would have the reader believe that in 66 different courts of law-spread across almost as many jurisdictions in the U.S., Canada, Australia and Germany-judges, attorneys, and mental health professionals, after careful review of the facts in the case, subscribe to PAS but that this trend is no measure of validity unless it has been subjected to a Frye or Daubert hearing.

      With regard to PAS Frye tests, Bruch belies her underlying bias, devoting a substantial footnote (19 lines) to discussing an older case in which PAS did not survive the Frye challenge, and begrudgingly adding a passing reference (2 lines) to Kilgore v. Boyd, a more recent case in which PAS was found to satisfy the Frye Test requirements. The court’s decision followed a two-day hearing in which both Richard A. Warshak, Ph.D. and I testified. This case was appealed and the appellate court declined to even reconsider the trial court’s Frye test decision.

      It may be of interest to the reader to know, that in January 2002 a court in Wheaton, Illinois-in a case in which I testified along with Christopher Barden, Ph.D., L.L.D.-ruled that the PAS does satisfy Frye Test criteria for admissibility (see Bates v. Bates, 18th Judicial Circuit, Dupage County Il. Case No 99D958, January 17, 2002). One cannot fault Bruch for not including the second Frye Tests decision because it was probably handed down too late for inclusion in her article.

      Page 538. Bruch speaks here about reported cases in which the PAS has not been accepted and footnotes only one case to support her statement. She does not speak about reported cases in which the PAS has been accepted. In most of the cases in which I have testified on the PAS, the court has admitted my testimony and has not denied the existence of the disorder. However, more important, she would lead the reader to believe that reported cases represent the majority of, if not all, family court cases. This is not true. Only a small percentage of family court cases ever get reported. Most readers would not generally appreciate this misrepresentation. The word usually is important here. She gives no percentages.

      With regard to my Sex Abuse Legitimacy Scale (SAL Scale) Bruch states (p. 539):

      "Following considerable scientific criticism, Gardner withdrew the test he had constructed to determine whether sexual abuse had taken place."

      Again, Bruch is wrong here. The SAL Scale was published in 1987. I withdrew it in 1989, two years later, predominantly because too many evaluators were ignoring the requirement that it only be used when all three parties (mother, father, and alleged child victim) were interviewed. Bruch is again quoting here newspaper articles as her source of information, making no differentiation between learned publications and articles written by journalists-thus compromising her research.

      Page 541. Here Bruch refers to the PAS as a "street myth." I consider this a very revealing statement. It provides confirmation that Bruch has absolutely no experience "in the street," "in the trenches," where family lawyers and mental health professionals daily see the PAS. From her "ivory tower," she somehow views it as a street myth. She would do well to go into the streets herself and see whether or not PAS exists.

      On the same page, Bruch expresses some puzzlement and even amazement that the American Bar Association’s section on Alternate Dispute Resolution gave its annual prize to an article on the PAS. Apparently, the American Bar Association knows something she doesn’t. More importantly, as far back as 1991, the American Bar Association commissioned Clawar and Rivlin to write their now classic, Children Held Hostage: Dealing with Programmed and Brainwashed Children. The authors describe therein hundreds of cases of PAS, and references my book on the subject (Gardner, 1987). Lawyers all over the country and even abroad, continually refer to their seminal work.

      Page 541ff Bruch makes reference to the work of Johnston, Kelly, and Sullivan. She somehow has the idea that these people have improved upon my work. A careful reading of their material and mine will confirm that we are both seeing the same cases, the same range of alienated children from mild, to moderate, to severe. The only difference is that they are giving the disorder a different name. This produces some confusion for Bruch who needs to maintain the delusion that PAS does not exist. Kelly and Sullivan even recommend custodial transfer in the severe cases, which is what I have been criticized for. Workers in the field know well that this is the only hope for children who have been severely alienated. Changing the name from PAS to PA does not cause the disorder to evaporate. PAS has been written on by professionals around the world. My website lists articles in English, French, Dutch, and German. At this point I am co-editing a volume completely devoted to the parental alienation syndrome. Submissions are coming in from authors in at least eight different countries: the U.S., Australia, Canada, The U.K., Sweden, Germany, The Czech Republic, and Israel. If we are to believe Bruch, all these people have been swept up in my delusion that PAS exists. Along these lines Bruch states (549):

      "Until she provides further clarification, Johnston’s apparent support for forced contact between the members of high-conflict families should be construed narrowly, given her many publications questioning the wisdom of or need for such approaches."

      Johnston, for all her criticisms of me, has come to recognize that forced contact may be the only hope for children with severe PAS, whether or not she wants to call the disorder PAS. Since Bruch has cited her so frequently, she cannot dismiss Johnston’s work, but tries to minimize the direction her work has inexorably taken as Johnston continues to work "in the trenches."

      Page 547 Bruch quotes Wallerstein:

      "Most dramatically, Wallerstein reveals that these children’s alignments were transient, with every child later abandoning his or her harsh position, mostly within one or two years and all before the age of eighteen."

      This is reported as having been stated in a telephone conversation with Judith Wallerstein. My own follow-up study of 99 PAS children, statistically analyzed and not anecdotally reported, provides very different conclusions. The study provides compelling evidence that the vast majority of severe PAS cases (91%) will not return to a good relationship with the target parent if the court does not force it. The summary of that article is found here: (http://www.rgardner.com/refs/ar8-excerpt.html. Bruch gratuitously dismisses this peer-reviewed article, giving it absolutely no credibility. This difference between Wallerstein’s experiences and my own is easily explained. Wallerstein saw her original group in the 1960s and 1970s. At that time, under the tender-years-presumption, mothers almost automatically gained custody of their children. High-conflict divorce, at that time, was less related to custody than to property and even as to whether or not divorce would be granted. In the 1970s, when the tender-years-presumption was replaced with the best interests of the child presumption, and preference for mothers was generally considered "sexist," courts were required to be gender-blind with regard to assigning primary custodial status. It was in this setting that parents began to program their children to gain leverage in courts of law-thus the birth of the PAS. Therefore, comparison between Wallerstein’s population and my group is not possible, and the conclusions that Bruch presents here are therefore moot.

      Page 547, footnote 73. Bruch again makes reference here to a telephone conversation with Dr. Judith Wallerstein on April 10, 2001. There was no telephone conversation with me, the person who is named on practically every page of her article, the person who is the primary target of her diatribe. We see here another example of Bruch’s extreme bias, her selectively ignoring data that might shake and even tumble the house of cards she has built in this article.

      Page 549. Bruch states:

      "It is puzzling that Johnston expressly endorses many coercive aspects of Sullivan and Kelly’s legal framework"

      Although Johnston, Sullivan, and Kelly are very critical of my work, they are seeing the same children-so ubiquitous is the PAS, "out in the streets"-and recognize that in severe cases coercive techniques are the only hope for the children and the target parent. She is puzzled here because these authorities, whom she is citing to discredit me, are making recommendations that are strikingly similar to my own, and thus could be seen as supporting my position.

      Page 550-551 Bruch refers to the specious argument that PAS is not to be taken seriously because it is not in DSM-IV. In response to the absurdity in this statement I quote here a segment from my article Parental Alienation Syndrome vs. Parental Alienation: Which Diagnosis Should Evaluators Use in Child-Custody Disputes (Gardner, 2002b) that addresses itself to this point:

      To say that PAS does not exist because it is not listed in DSM-IV is like saying in 1980 that AIDS (Autoimmune Deficiency Syndrome) does not exist because it was not then listed in standard diagnostic medical textbooks. DSM-IV was published in 1994. From 1991 to 1993, when DSM committees were meeting to consider the inclusion of additional disorders, there were too few articles in the literature to warrant submission of the PAS for consideration. That is no longer the case. It is my understanding that committees will begin to meet for the next edition of the DSM (probably to be called DSM-V) in 2002 or 2003. Considering the fact that there are now at least 135 articles in peer-review journals on the PAS, it is highly likely that by that time there will be even more articles. (The list of peer-reviewed PAS articles is to be found on my website, www.rgardner.com/refs, a list that is continually being updated.)

      It is important to note that DSM-IV does not frivolously accept every new proposal. Their requirements are very stringent with regard to the inclusion of newly described clinical entities. The committees require many years of research and numerous publications in peer-review scientific journals before considering the inclusion of a disorder, and justifiably so. Gille de La Tourette first described his syndrome in 1885. It was not until 1980, 95 years later, that the disorder found its way into the DSM. It is important to note that at that point, Tourette’s Syndrome became Tourette’s Disorder. Asperger first described his syndrome in 1957. It was not until 1994, 37 years later, that it was accepted into DSM-IV and Asperger’s Syndrome became Asperger’s Disorder.

      Bruch criticizes PAS because it conforms to the "medical model" and ignores the family systems model. The implication here is that the medical model cannot be applied to family issues. Somewhat paradoxically, however, she believes that inclusion of PAS in DSM-IV would indicate that PAS has greater credibility as a disorder. Yet each diagnosis in DSM-IV follows the medical model. In order to make a diagnosis, the physician must compare the patient’s symptoms with those listed in the book. The DSM committees have repeatedly rejected family systems diagnoses because they are nebulous and speculative. They are almost impossible to subject to controlled studies, especially studies in which statistical verification is warranted. Again, the implication is that I do not concern myself with family interrelationships. An unbiased reader can examine any page of any of my books on the PAS and see mention of family relationships and family systems. Last, I am certain that Bruch would want her doctor to follow the medical model when diagnosing any illness that she may have.

      There are many other criticisms I have of the Bruch article, which is not the disinterested, comprehensive survey of the material available on PAS that it represents itself to be. My final conclusion is that it is not I who am biased and misrepresenting the material; it is clearly Bruck herself.

      Last, I believe that all of Bruck’s attempts to discredit and deny PAS will prove futile, her obvious great labors toward that goal notwithstanding. PAS exists, and corroboration of that is the 66 judges who have cited it, and the over 150 authors who have written about it. Whether one wants to call it alignments, PA or PAS, we are all describing the same phenomenon, and this alone argues for the fact that we are describing a problem that is real. It is a syndrome in every sense of the word. In fact, it is "purer" than many of the syndromes described in DSM-IV. The phenomenon whereby, in the context of a high-conflict child-custody dispute one parent programs the child against the other, and the child joins in with his or her own contributions, has repeatedly been seen in courts of law in the last twenty years. Mental health professionals, lawyers, and judges will ultimately agree that the only hope for most of the children in the severe category is significant reduction of the children’s access to the programming parent (now approximately 50 percent fathers) and that if this is not done, the vast majority of these children will suffer lifelong alienation from a good, loving parent.

      Richard A. Gardner, M.D.
      Clinical Professor of Child Psychiatry
      Columbia University
      College of Physicians and Surgeons

      references

      Champney v. Faller et al., Washtenaw County #95-4760-CK.

      Gardner, R. A. (1987), The Parental Alienation Syndrome and the Differentiation Between Fabricated and Genuine Child Sex Abuse. Cresskill, New Jersey: Creative Therapeutics, Inc.

      _______ (1992a), The Parental Alienation Syndrome: A Guide for Mental Health Professionals. Cresskill, New Jersey: Creative Therapeutics, Inc.

      _______ (1992b), True and False Accusations of Child Sex Abuse. Cresskill, New Jersey: Creative Therapeutics, Inc.

      _______ (1995), Protocols for the Sex-Abuse Evaluation. Cresskill, New Jersey: Creative Therapeutics, Inc.

      _______ (1998a), Response to Faller article. Child Maltreatment, 3(4):309-312.

      _______ (1998b), The Parental Alienation Syndrome (Second Edition), Cresskill, New Jersey: Creative Therapeutics, Inc.

      _______ (1999), Differentiating between the parental alienation syndrome and bona fide abuse/neglect. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 11127(2):97-107

      _______ (2001a), The recent gender shift in PAS indoctrinators. News for Women in Psychiatry (A publication for the Association for Women Psychiatrists), 19(4):11-13.

      _______ (2001b), Should courts order PAS children to visit/reside with the alienated parent? A follow-up study. American Journal of Forensic Psychology, 19(3):61-106.

      _______ (2002a), Denial of the parental alienation syndrome (PAS) harms women also. (in press)

      _______ (2002b), Parental Alienation Syndrome vs. Parental Alienation: Which diagnosis should evaluators use in child-custody disputes? The American Journal of Family Therapy, 30(2):101-123.


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