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Assessing Causes of Children’s Parent Rejection in Child Custody Cases: Differentiating Parental Alienation from Child Sexual Abuse, Psychological Maltreatment, and Bad Parenting

Handbook of Interpersonal Violence and Abuse Across the Lifespan

Abstract

This chapter proposes a schema, the “Multidimensional Assessment of Causes of Parent Rejection in Child Custody Cases” (MAP). The MAP proposes specific assessment factors to analyze allegations of child sexual abuse (CSA), psychological maltreatment (PM), bad parenting (BP), and parental alienation (PA). The CSA factors are taken from scientific research on children’s memory, language, narrative, suggestibility, and trauma. The PM factors are taken from the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children’s Practice Guidelines for assessing psychological maltreatment. The bad parenting (BP) factors are taken from the Society for Research on Child Development’s Policy Report on incompetent parenting. The PA factors are those proposed by alienation scholars and advocates. The specificity of these different causes of parent rejection is often not recognized in practice, especially, but not only, in cases where allegations of CSA are rebutted by allegations of PA. If CSA or PM are in doubt, it is often assumed that alienation has caused the parent rejection. However, CSA, psychological maltreatment, bad parenting, and alienation are all different concepts. Therefore, they require different and specific kinds of evidence to assess them. The factors proposed in the MAP are intended to help child custody evaluators, attorneys, and judges resist making false equivalences based on assumptions and approach these cases in a more evidence-based manner.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychologist, Private Practice, Montalcir, NJ, USA

    Madelyn Simring Milchman

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  1. Madelyn Simring Milchman
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Correspondence to Madelyn Simring Milchman .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma, Alliant International University, San Diego, CA, USA

    Robert Geffner

  2. School of Health and Human Sciences, University of North Carolina at Greensbo, Greensboro, NC, USA

    Jacquelyn W. White

  3. Dept of Family and Community Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    L. Kevin Hamberger

  4. Department of Psychology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA

    Alan Rosenbaum

  5. Ethelyn R. Strong School of Social Work, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA, USA

    Viola Vaughan-Eden

  6. Education and Research, Zero Abuse Project, St. Paul, MN, USA

    Victor I. Vieth

Section Editor information

  1. Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Ernestine Briggs

  2. School of Social Work, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA

    Javonda Williams

  3. Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Eastern Virginia Medical School/Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters, Norfolk, VA, USA

    Michelle Clayton

  4. The UP Institute, CEO, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Stacie LeBlanc

  5. Ethelyn R. Strong School of Social Work, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA, USA

    Viola Vaughan-Eden

  6. Owner/Principle Consultant & Trainer, Russell Consulting Specialists, LLc, Vancouver, Washington, USA

    Amy Russell

  7. Executive Director, Arthur D. Curtis Children's Justice Center http://www.clark.wa.gov/cjc

    Amy Russell

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Milchman, M.S. (2020). Assessing Causes of Children’s Parent Rejection in Child Custody Cases: Differentiating Parental Alienation from Child Sexual Abuse, Psychological Maltreatment, and Bad Parenting. In: Geffner, R., White, J.W., Hamberger, L.K., Rosenbaum, A., Vaughan-Eden, V., Vieth, V.I. (eds) Handbook of Interpersonal Violence and Abuse Across the Lifespan. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62122-7_318-1

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