Children Resisting Contact with a Parent Due to Abuse, Alienation, or Other Causes: Can a Proactive Role for Lawyers Contribute to Better Outcomes?

• Author: Jacqueline Campbell
• Date: 01 April 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12482
• Published date: 01 April 2020

CHILDREN RESISTING CONTACT WITH A PARENT DUE TO ABUSE,

ALIENATION, OR OTHER CAUSES: CAN A PROACTIVE ROLE FOR

LAWYERS CONTRIBUTE TO BETTER OUTCOMES?

Jacqueline Campbell

Lawyers have a significant role to play in cases where children are resisting contact with a parent, or the family appears to be

going down that path, in the context of parental alienation, family violence or other factors. These cases pose great challenges

for lawyers dealing with parents, as their clients are often anxiety-ridden, angry, scared, and may havedifficulty focussing on

the long-term interests of their children or themselves. A lawyer may be one of the first professionals encountered by the par-

ents; lawyers for parents are advocates, but they are also in a position to provide wise counsel, to help triage the situation,

provide practical advice, and early, helpful solutions. This article sets out practical suggestions for lawyers acting for parents.

What can and should lawyers do to ensure they are part of the solution, not part of the problem? Lawyers need to be able to

identify the potential problems and provide practical help to the family –whether they are acting for the “preferred”parent,

the “rejected”parent, or the involved children.

Practitioner’sKey Point:

Practical strategies for lawyers acting for a client who is the preferred parent or the rejected parent, particularly when

the behaviours are just starting.

Keywords: Family Law; Family Violence; ParentalAlienation.

I. THE LEGAL PERSPECTIVE

This article is written from the perspective of a family lawyer who acts for parents who have

engaged in alienating behaviour, or are alleged to have done so, and for parents who blame the

behaviour of their former par tner for damage to their relationship with their children.

1

The legisla-

tive background in Australia is explained, and Australian case examples and practical strategies are

discussed. Lawyers may be one of the first professionals to see parents after separation. The behav-

iours and dynamics which may result in a parent being rejected or preferred by the children may be

just starting. At this early time, the lawyer has the opportunity to intervene and to help ease or assist

in resolving the situation. Alternatively, by their advice and conduct of the matter, the lawyer may

exacerbate the problems and entrench the behaviours.

Parental alienation in the Australian context can be best understood in the light of the back-

ground to the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) (“FLA”) and the jurisprudence. Parental alienation is

often used as a pejorative term which labels the preferred parent as having deliberately orchestrated

the breakdown of the relationship between the rejected parent and the children, and assumes that

there is no risk to a child when spending time with an alleged perpetrator of violence or abuse.

There is a lack of awareness among legal professionals, and perhaps the judiciary, that children can

also be estranged from a parent with justification because, for example, the parent has been abusive

to the children or the other parent in front of the children, or because the rejected parent has given

the message to the children that a new partner and the new partner’s family are more important than

the children.

Corresponding: jcampbell@fortefamilylawyers.com.au

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 58 No. 2, April 2020 456–469

© 2020 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts