In Re C (‘Parental Alienation; Instruction of Expert), Sir Andrew McFarlane adopted the definition proffered by the Association of Clinical Psychologists (ACP-UK) that ‘parental alienation’ is not a syndrome capable of being diagnosed, but a process of manipulation of children perpetrated by one parent against the other through what are termed as alienating behaviours. He observed that what is important is the particular behaviour that is found to have taken place within the individual family before the court, and the impact that that behaviour may have had on the relationship of a child with either or both of his/her parents.
A court would therefore need to be satisfied that three elements are established
before it could conclude that Alienating Behaviours had occurred:
- the child is reluctant, resisting or refusing to engage in, a relationship with a parent or carer; and
- the reluctance, resistance or refusal is not consequent on the actions of that parent towards the child or the other parent, which may therefore be an appropriate justified rejection by the child, or is not caused by any other factor such as the child’s alignment, affinity or attachment; and
- the other parent has engaged in behaviours that have directly or indirectly impacted on the child, leading to the child’s reluctance, resistance or refusal to engage in a relationship with that parent.
Re C (‘Parental Alienation’; Instruction of Expert) [2023] EWHC 345 (Fam) para 103
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