Domestic Abuse: Children

(asked on 14th November 2023) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many cases involving allegations of parental alienation or alienating behaviours have been heard in private law family proceedings in each of the past five years; and how many findings of parental alienation or alienating behaviours were made in those proceedings.


Answered by
Lord Bellamy Portrait
Lord Bellamy
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This question was answered on 30th November 2023

Transfers of residency orders, incidences of findings of child sexual abuse in private law proceedings, and cases involving allegations of parental alienation or alienating behaviours are not recorded centrally. Such information could only be obtained by analysis of individual case files at disproportionate costs.

Regarding the term “parental alienation”: as part of his judgment in the case of Re C, the President of the Family Division outlined that most family judges regard the label of “parental alienation”, and the idea that it “may be a diagnosable syndrome” as being “unhelpful”. He noted that instead the courts should focus on identifying any specific “alienating behaviours”.

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