Developing the Risk Assessment & Management of Parental Alienation Tool (Download)

Children are referred to the Institute of Family Therapy - Malta from various settings, most already carrying a diagnosis of ADHD, ADD, ODD, deliberate self-harm, or suicide contemplation. Our work has consistently revealed that most of these children concurrently experience marital/parental discord and fearfully anticipate marital separation. Occasionally a child vehemently refuses to see a previously loved parent. In the field of Parental Alienation, attention has been focused on crisis management, reunification programs, assessment tools, and legal interventions. Research and literature on the very early signs of Parental Alienation (PA) is ignored. Both clinical experience and literature have taught us that the process of marital separation sets off much earlier than the actual legal filing of the request (Dominion 1979, Gottman, 2000), and in a much calmer space. Most of the children’s presentations are systemic metaphorical homeostatic self-protective representations of their worries about their family’s impending doom and can potentially be indicative of the risk of eventual parental alienation. Early detection of signs can help identify and predict the risk of PA. The development of a Risk Assessment tool is now inevitably needed to guide frontline professionals to intervene timely to prevent Parental Alienation.