Policy Analysis: UK Parental Alienation Practice, Domestic-Abuse Primacy, and the Problem of Conceptual Equity: Procedure, Policy, and International Implications

Stan Korosi

doi:10.31235/osf.io/5fzgy_v1

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Policy Analysis: UK Parental Alienation Practice, Domestic-Abuse Primacy, and the Problem of Conceptual Equity: Procedure, Policy, and International Implications

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Policy Analysis: UK Parental Alienation Practice, Domestic-Abuse Primacy, and the Problem of Conceptual Equity: Procedure, Policy, and International Implications

Stan Korosi

SocArXiv, Vol.7 April 2026

Center for Open Science

2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/5fzgy_v1

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Abstract

Crime and social justice

Sociology of family and relationships

Health policy evaluation

Families and family services

parental alienation

family law

family violence

domestic abuse

policy

public health

The recent UK position on parental alienation (PA) is clearer in procedure than in principle. Recent guidance and family-law case law reorient the field toward a more disciplined model in which allegations of parental alienating behaviour (PAB) are treated as matters for judicial fact-finding rather than psychological diagnosis or expert-made fact. In that respect, the Re Y “modern approach” is an advance. This article argues, however, that the same framework also embeds a substantive hierarchy in which domestic abuse (DA) is given conceptual, analytical, and sequencing priority, and allegations of PAB are reviewed through a DA-first lens. The article contends that Re Y is correct to reject expert substitution for fact-finding, the current scientific literature does not establish a reliable comparative basis for treating DA as the dominant causal frame, as a general rule, in mixed DA/PA cases, and the hierarchy is better understood as a statutory and safeguarding choice than as a conclusion compelled by settled comparative science. The result is a framework that is statutorily authorised and procedurally improved, but conceptually incomplete and analytically contestable. The article concludes by considering the implications of this position for current UK practice and for the international uptake of UK family-law models.

Details

Title: Policy Analysis: UK Parental Alienation Practice, Domestic-Abuse Primacy, and the Problem of Conceptual Equity: Procedure, Policy, and International Implications
Authors: Stan Korosi - University of the Sunshine Coast
Publication details: SocArXiv, Vol.7 April 2026
Publisher: Center for Open Science
Date published: 2026
DOI: 10.31235/osf.io/5fzgy_v1
Organisation Unit: University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991220430502621
Output Type: Preprint

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