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2025_PASG_SK_The End of Genderered Policy_Public Policy for Alienation in Familes_V2.2_Final10.22 MB
PresentationCC BY V4.0, Open Access
From the beginning in the 1980s, parental alienation was a clinical presentation. Its strongest detractors began in the 1960s-70s gendered violence movement, which was and remains a political concept. Following these different pathways, proponents of parental alienation theory continue the evidence-based campaign for recognition as a form of non-gendered coercive controlling family violence and assessable mental health conditions.
Yet, its extreme detractors use political means to successfully advocate for structural changes, policies and legislation that defeat the concept and prevent remediations. Is a pivot required to orient the parental alienation field towards public policy?
Australia and the USA achieved the same political outcome of undermining the family and family relationships using different means. Australia's 2024 Family Law reforms annul the significance of a child's relationship with both parents. In the USA and Canada, Kayden's, Picqui's, and Kyra's Laws "ban the solution, rather than
the problem", prohibiting remediation of alienated parent-child relationships on allegations alone. These changes prioritise child safety above the children's families.
The changes in the USA and Australia used targeted political and public campaigns to construct a dominant social dialogue about violence against women and children. They disguise the real purpose to radically dismantle and alter the nature and structure of families and the State's role in children's lives. Parental alienating behaviours exploit power and relationships and are a political tool to fulfil this purpose.
This presentation discusses how parental alienation theory and practice counters such covert strategies and how policy advocacy can achieve family-oriented political outcomes.