New Ways for Families: A Court-Orderable Method
New Ways for Families is a short, structured skills method from Bill Eddy and the High Conflict Institute that a court can order for both parents. Learn what it teaches, how it differs from one-sided interventions, and the honest state of the evidence.
Parental Alienation Anonymous: 12-Step Support
Parental Alienation Anonymous is a free, peer-run 12-step fellowship for people affected by alienation. Modeled on Al-Anon, it is a place to recover a relationship with yourself, not a place to get your child back. Peer support, not therapy, reunification, or legal help.
Parental Alienation and the Hague Convention
A plain-language guide to parental alienation and the 1980 Hague Convention: how a return petition works, what wrongful removal and habitual residence mean, how ICARA implements the treaty in the US, and how the Article 13(b) grave-risk exception protects a child from genuine harm.
Estrangement vs. Parental Alienation: the Difference
The clearest difference between estrangement and parental alienation is ambivalence. An estranged child, even one truly harmed, keeps mixed feelings and proportion. An alienated child shows an all-good, all-bad split with almost no ambivalence.
Measuring Parental Alienation: the PARQ
The PARQ is the one peer-reviewed instrument built to quantify the splitting that marks parental alienation. Its PARQ-Gap separates alienation-driven rejection from justified estrangement by measuring a child’s lost ambivalence. Strong evidence, one input among many, never a standalone verdict.
Hanson v. Spolnik: Animosity and Custody Change
Hanson v. Spolnik, an Indiana appellate case where one parent’s sustained animosity and obstruction, tied to harm to the child, supported changing joint custody to sole custody, and what the decision does and does not mean.
Sharp v. Keeler: Alienation as a Custody Change
A plain-language look at Sharp v. Keeler, the Arkansas appellate case where a parent’s documented pattern of alienating behavior was treated as a material change of circumstances supporting a custody transfer, and what the holding does and does not mean.
Parental Alienation in Family Court: An Evidence Guide
Family courts can address parental alienation, but only through evidence: a documented pattern, presented under state rules, weighed against the child’s best interests. This hub maps what courts can and cannot do, the evidence path, evaluations and experts, the remedy ladder, the contested science, and Kayden’s Law.
Appealing a Custody Decision in Alienation Cases
An appeal asks a higher court to find legal error in how a custody decision was made, not to rehear the facts. Most custody rulings are reviewed deferentially for abuse of discretion, so reversals are uncommon. This page explains preservation of error, realistic timelines, and the modification alternative.
Can a Parent Lose Custody for Alienating a Child?
Can a parent lose custody for alienating a child? Yes, but only in serious, well-documented cases, and never automatically. Courts act on proven behavior rather than the parental alienation label, and treat a custody change as a cautious, child-protective remedy. Here is what a court weighs before a custody loss.