Resist and Refuse Dynamics: Alienation is Not the Only Answer

October 7, 2024

As family law practitioners, we are often presented with a family dynamic where one parent has a fractured relationship with a child or multiple children. A frequent and quick conclusion is that parental alienation is the cause of the fracture, especially when we perceive that the other parent is engaging in certain harmful behavior, or failing to take action, which we conclude is detrimental to the other parent’s parent-child relationship. As this article details, a fractured parent/child relationship is not a “good guy, bad guy analysis.” It is not a question of “alienation or not alienation.” Fractures to a parent/child relationship must be analyzed as part of the complex family system in which they occur.

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