Parents could lose custody if they try to turn child against other parent

Mums and dads who pit kids against the other parent may face losing custody in the UK.

It’s a scary prospect but parents who are divorcing, and who try and turn their kids against mum or dad, could face serious consequences under the rules of a new pilot scheme in the UK. An independent organisation known as Cafcass, who strive to represent the child’s needs in family court cases say the problem of ‘parental alienation’ is widespread as they alone deal with 125,000 cases per year. Parental alienation is the psychological manipulation of a child into showing disrespect, a dislike or unwarranted fear against a parent or family member. Cafcass’ plan is that from Spring 2018, they will be developing guidelines for social workers on how best to tackle the issue. From here, social workers will be able to identify when a child may need to be removed from a parent who is responsible for the child’s estrangement from the other parent. According to the Independent, Sarah Parsons, assistant director of Cafcass, said;

“We are increasingly recognising that parental alienation is a feature of many of our cases and have realised that it’s absolutely vital that we take the initiative. “Our new approach is groundbreaking.”