Dozens of children in the UK have been forced to come into contact with their parents after they were accused of abuse, an investigation has found.
In some of the cases investigated, revealed for the first time by the BBC, the parents had even been convicted of pedophilia.
In all cases, the parents brought to court a controversial concept known as “parental alienation.”
The same concept was cited in the deaths of several women after family courts allowed parents accused of abuse to request contact with their children.
The BBC investigation found that five women had died; some by suicide and one after suffering a heart attack.
All of the fathers in the England-wide study, carried out by the University of Manchester and reported by the BBC, had responded in court to the accusation of abuse with the concept of parental alienation, in which they alleged that the mothers had put their children against them without just cause.
Dr. Elizabeth Dalgarno, who conducted the study, says the concept is a “useful tool for abusers” and its acceptance by the courts is a “national scandal.”
Family lawyer Lucy Reed points out that the concept is being used “more and more frequently”, but it does not always mean the same thing. “It is frequently used by parents to refer to almost anything that opposes their demands to have some contact” with their children.
The 45 mothers of minors who took part in the University of Manchester study reported serious health problems that they believed were associated with the stress of the court process. These included miscarriages, heart attacks and suicidal thoughts.
Due to laws that regulate journalistic reporting on judicial proceedings in England with the intention of protecting minors, the names of the women and some details that may identify them have been changed.
Nicole Jacobs, domestic abuse commissioner, says the “heartbreaking” cases exposed by the BBC show there is a need for “urgent and wide-ranging reform” of the family courts.
According to Jacobs, Abusers, assisted by unregulated experts, are using “so-called parental alienation” to “divert attention from their own abusive behavior.”
Since the BBC presented its investigation to the British Ministry of Justice, we have learned that the government in London is considering whether it needs to take action regarding the abuse of the concept of “alienation.”
Grace and the child rapist
Grace was madly in love with her partner at the beginning, her friends told the BBC, but then she discovered that he had previously been imprisoned for raping a minor. Her friends also said that she was abused by him.
After Grace and her partner separated, he refused to return the child they had together and accused her of being mentally ill. He said there was a risk she would turn her son against her.
The family court was aware of the father’s conviction, but believed the risk to the child could be controlled.
A friend said that during the judicial process Grace felt that she was not believed and that “her soul disappeared.”
In one of her last messages to a group of friends, seen by the BBC, Grace wrote: “I can’t eat or sleep, it’s a disaster, I hate family court. Dead, dead, dead.”
Her health worsened and she died after her final court hearing, in which her son was ordered to live with his abusive ex-partner.
Another friend told the BBC: “When you give up emotionally and mentally, I guess the body comes next. It was almost as if they had signed a death warrant. It was 100% (the responsibility of) the family court.”
Sarah’s story
The case of another mother who committed suicide after two years of family court proceedings highlights the effect that a drawn-out legal process can have on the mental health of a vulnerable person.
A ruling in the case of the woman we will call Sarah details extreme abuse.
Before her death, the judge determined in a recognition hearing that she had been raped by her partner, that he drank excessively and had become aggressive. He punched her in the chest, slapped her and pushed her against a banister.
He set up CCTV to monitor Sarah and her two children and wouldn’t even let them go to the bathroom without keeping the door open. He also threatened Sarah, saying he would release recordings of her in her bedroom.
After she abandoned him, he also placed trackers on her car, the judge concluded.
Parental alienation was addressed during the court process, when the father asked to have contact with his children. In the end she was denied contact, but by then Sarah had already committed suicide.
The judge stated that she “extremely regretted” that the process had lasted so long and that “it had obviously been very difficult for the mother.”
Medical emergencies
When another mother died while waiting outside family court, a doctor told the inquest into her death that the heart attack she suffered may have been related to “broken heart syndrome” and the emotional distress of the court process.
According to forensic documents seen by the BBC, the mother claimed to be a victim of domestic violence. We understand that parental alienation did not figure in the case and that control of her children was removed.
In another case, friends of a mother who had spent time in a domestic abuse shelter told the BBC that she had been so traumatized when her health history had been discussed during the case that she later refused to go. to the doctor when he felt bad.
A friend said that the mother had felt as if “her ex (partner), an abuser, had control” in court, because he had classified her as mentally ill and accused of parental alienation, of turning her son against him. .
After the son was ordered to live with the father, the mother feared she would have to appear in family court again and lose what little contact she had with the father.said another friend.
The mother fell ill with a treatable illness but went to the doctor too late and ultimately died of sepsis.
Sheila: ‘He never recovered’
A family court judge addressed the issue of parental alienation at Sheila’s first hearing as a warning against her.
Those close to her say that for years she had suffered from the coercive and controlling behavior of her abusive partner, who had bombarded her with emails, calls and messages at all hours, even after they were separated.
When the former couple asked for more access to their son, those close to the mother urged her to view family court as friendly, but they now say they bitterly regret that recommendation.
Before any expert reports had been commissioned, the judge ruled that in his view the case involved parental alienation and the court treated this with extreme seriousness.
People who knew the mother well said she was traumatized by the hearing, which favored the father.
“I felt[ia que la enviarían a la cárcel si decía algo equivocado”, le contaron a la BBC. “Nunca se recuperó. Estaba controlada por el tribunal familiar y por su abusador”.
Un año después, se quitó la vida.
Samaritans, organización benéfica de prevención del suicidio en Reino Unido, señala que las causas de suicidio suelen ser complejas y puede ser que no haya una sola que sea identificable. Pero la justicia en Inglaterra y Gales encargó un informe para examinar el “riesgo potencialmente alto de suicidio” tras la participación de los progenitores en un proceso en un tribunal familiar.
Un síndrome polémico
Los investigadores que estudian los tribunales familiares dicen estar preocupados porque los reclamos de alienación parental parecen ir en aumento en casos como estos, en los que un padre lleva a su pareja o expareja a juicio, en lugar de que haya una intervención por parte de los servicios sociales.
La doctora Dalgarno, investigadora principal Universidad de Manchester, dice que las madres en estos casos no recibieron apoyo en el tribunal. “La evidencia creíble de abuso fue disminuida o ignorada completamente, y cuando digo evidencia creíble, hablo de condenas criminales”, expresó.
Debería haber “medidas de emergencia” para enfrentar el uso de la alienación parental en los tribunales, afirma. “Tiene impactos de salud catastróficos en niños y en adultos víctimas de abuso que están considerando o intentando suicidarse”.
El Síndrome de alienación parental fue acuñado por primera vez por el controvertido psiquiatra estadounidense Richard Gardner.
Gardner afirmó que las madres en un divorcio complicado lavaban el cerebro de sus hijos para hacerles creer que habían sido abusados por sus padres.
Este síndrome ha sido criticado por la falta de evidencia sobre su existencia, pero algunos denuncian que ahora está siendo usado simplemente como “alienación parental” y que, con el apoyo de algunos psicólogos, frecuentemente ha sido usado en los tribunales familiares.
A comienzos de este año, la Relatoría Especial sobre la violencia contra la mujer de la ONU hizo un llamado para la prohibición global del uso de la alienación parental.
*Reportería adicional de Adam Walker
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BBC-NEWS-SRC: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/articles/cp61y43jjw5o, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-09-19 08:10:06
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