European Journal of Parental Alienation Practice Issue 1 - No Subscription (Download & Hard Copy)

On behalf of the editorial board and ourselves, Dr Charlie Azzopardi and Brian O’Sullivan would like to extend a warm welcome to this much needed very first issue of the European Journal of Parental Alienation Practice (EJPAP).

This is the first and only academic peer-reviewed journal devoted to the exploration of the phenomenon of parental alienation. It is the result of a collaboration between Parental Alienation Europe and the Institute of Family Therapy and Systemic Practice - Malta.

The European Journal of Parental Alienation Practice seeks to promote knowledge and understanding of this significant theme of Parental Alienation in different contexts such as the legal, clinical, academic, child development and justice contexts. Our hope is that this journal serves as a meeting ground for professionals to come together to develop and improve the practice and intervention in Parental Alienation and to promote such practice to wider contexts and groups.

EJPAP will publish articles on theory, research, practice, and training, written in language that is accessible to social, legal, and mental health professionals working with afflicted families and individuals. It arrives in the current context of renewed debate regarding parental alienation. A key aim of the EJPAP is to provide an accurate, measured, and empirical voice to clinicians, researchers, and practitioners across the social, mental and legal spectrum, navigating the dynamics of PA in their efforts to optimise the psychological, social and physical outcomes for children across their lifespan.

The high-profile editorial board includes leading academics, researchers, and professionals from around the world, in keeping with an intention to attract a high standard of international contributions, which will have global reach and influence.

This first issue of the European Journal of Parental Alienation Practice explores a variety of significant themes.

Prof William Bernet (USA) and Dr. Demosthenes Lorandos (USA) provide a paper titled “Milestones, a concise history of Parental Alienation” where they deconstruct 12 important themes This article identifies themes such as parental alienation from 1804 to 1985, the contributions of Richard A. Gardner, M.D, between 1985 to 2006, criteria for the diagnosis of parental alienation, books regarding parental alienation by professionals and by alienated parents, child and family advocacy organisations, international developments regarding parental alienation, 35 years of legal developments regarding parental alienation, interventions for mild/moderate/severe parental alienation, important publications in peer-reviewed journals, the epidemic of misinformation regarding parental alienation, as well as recent landmark events in parental alienation scholarship.

Dr. Charlie Azzopardi’s (Malta) paper is titled “Developing the Risk Assessment & Management of Parental Alienation Tool” where he invites us to consider the development of a risk assessment and management protocol in the context of early identification and intervention with families and young people before PA dynamics progress along the spectrum from mild to severe alienation.

Dr. Alan Blotky (Australia) shares his paper titled “A Framework of Motivational Beliefs Behind Parental Alienation” where he provides a cogent summary of his recent study exploring the motivations of alienating parents. This exciting paper contributes to a much under-researched area of alienation.

Dr. Sandra Feitor (Portugal) adds an interesting paper setting out the circumstances of a case in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) where foster parents had been alienating a mother for 10 years from her twin children, as well as exploring the ECHR’s findings regarding the inertia of the national courts contributing to the alienating dynamics in that case.

Kelsey Green (Canada) contributes a paper exploring the theme of suicide for targeted parents navigating the dynamics of alienation, giving a voice to this often-silent aspect of parental alienation.

Stanley K. Korosi (Australia), Stewart P. Graham (U.K), William Bernet (U.S) Dyann Ross (Australia) provide us with their paper titled “Parental Alienation - A Violent and Potentially Lethal Social & Psychological Phenomenon” which deconstructs publicly documented cases of murder and suicide in the context of parental alienation.

Dr. Weiskopff (Israel) contributes a paper titled “A Response to Alsalem et al (2022) Brazil: UN Experts Urge New Government to Target Violence Against Women and Girls, Repeal Parental Alienation Law” where he deconstructs Alsalem et al, (2022) call on Brazilian authorities to repeal Law 12,318 (2010) designed to protect children from parental alienation.

Here at the EJPAP we are excited to bring you this first issue and look forward to perpetuate this publication in the years to come. The next issue is scheduled for Autumn 2023 and will focus upon case studies regarding parental alienation. If you wish to submit a paper on this very special theme we would love to hear from you.