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Beyond the Psycho-Legal Paradigm: A Social and Public Health Policy Framework for Alienation in Families Anti-alienation, de-alienation and evidence-sensitive family policy White Paper No. 2
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Beyond the Psycho-Legal Paradigm: A Social and Public Health Policy Framework for Alienation in Families Anti-alienation, de-alienation and evidence-sensitive family policy White Paper No. 2

Stan Korosi
Social Science Research Network (SSRN) , Vol.10 May 2026
Elsevier
2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.6742500
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Abstract

Public health Sociology of family and relationships Family law Public health (excl. specific population health) Social class and inequalities family law family violence parental alienation relational harm family separation coercive control suicide risk evidence governance and the social-policy conditions shaping post-separation families parental alienation alienation in families public health critical social policy social alienation human rights evidence-based public health
Alienation in families, commonly discussed as parental alienation, is usually treated as a clinical, forensic or family-law problem. That psycho-legal framing is necessary but insufficient. Parental alienating behaviours also constitute relational, social and public health harms. They reorganise children’s family relationships through narratives of fear, contempt, rejection and exclusion; undermine parental identity; impose economic and legal burdens on targeted and rejected parents; and may contribute to adverse mental health outcomes, including suicidality. This White Paper proposes a multidimensional social and public health policy framework for alienation in families, while retaining the necessary contribution of clinical and legal responses. It argues that policy should address interacting domains of relational power, child safety and development, human rights and family life, misinformation and evidentiary governance, socio-economic access to remediation, and anti-alienation and de-alienation practice. The paper does not replace clinical or legal responses. It situates them within a broader public policy framework capable of prevention, early identification, timely intervention, relational repair and institutional accountability.

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