To all the mums out there trapped in family court proceedings and contact arrangements with a coercively controlling, narcissistic ex. I know you are suffering right now. I know how frustrating it is when no one believes you and no one can see what you see. It’s torturous when you are forced you to have a constant evil in your life.
Read moreGardner's Parental Alienation Syndrome: The Shameful Golden Goose of the Family Courts
Earlier this year, parental alienation proponents petitioned the Scottish Government to recognise Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) as a severe form of psychological child abuse. The syndrome has been rejected several times in legislation and was swiftly rejected once again, as was its surreptitious sister, Parental Alienation (PA)
Read moreHow The Family Courts Contribute to Gender-Based Violence
Research published by the University of Edinburgh this year shows how the family courts contribute to the pandemic of violence against women. Inequality in the family courts has caused decades of harm and suffering; the structure of the family courts allowed it to become a target, and once it got captured the harm compounded.
Read moreScottish Government Rejects Predatory American Family Court Association
Not many people in Scotland will have heard of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC); their members don’t tend to advertise the acronym on their business card. In America, they get described as a family court cartel; a cabal. Their members include professionals who work in the family court industry; judges, lawyers, and those offering services such as contact centres, parenting education providers and expert witnesses. Delegates from well-known father’s rights groups are also in the networking association. Their members hold enormous power in family court disputes in the USA.
Read moreScotland Leads The Way: Parental Alienation Plot Foiled
Scotland is currently in the process of ground-breaking family justice modernisation. Yesterday, Minister Ash Denham passed the Children (Scotland) Bill with a unanimous vote. The government listened to charities, and survivors of domestic abuse and their children, and they are making radical reforms to help protect the vulnerable and to make the family justice system a fairer, kinder and safer world to enter. Ministers from all parties worked together with their focus firmly set on the best interests and welfare of the child; something survivors have desperately sought from those working in the family court system.
Read moreThe Children (Scotland) Bill: Welfare Reporters & Shared Parenting
Liam McArthur MSP has proposed well-intentioned amendments to the Children (Scotland) Bill for the debate timetabled for the 25th August. His amendments are concerning shared parenting and child welfare reporters in particular. The amendments sound reasonable, at first, but let me explain why they would, in fact, be harmful to victims of abuse, particularly mothers and children.
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