Achimovich, Lois. (2003). Parental Alienation Syndrome Revisited. Paper presented at the Child Sexual Abuse: Justice Response or Alternative Resolution Conference convened by the Australian Institute of Criminology and held in Adelaide, 1-2 May 2003.

Achimovich, Lois. (2003). Parental Alienation Syndrome Revisited. Paper presented at the Child Sexual Abuse: Justice Response or Alternative Resolution Conference convened by the Australian Institute of Criminology and held in Adelaide, 1-2 May 2003.

Following critiques of Richard Gardner's Parent Alienation Syndrome (PAS) by Faller, Berliner and Conte, Jenkins and others, this paper addresses recent attempts by academics to reach a kind of detente with these ideas, which have extraordinary influence in family courts around the world. The paper considers the work of Kelly, Johnston, Berns, Zirogiannis and others as well as recent publications by Gardner. It is contended that these efforts at reframing are not leading to better outcomes either in the quality of expert witness testimony or in the welfare of children. It is also contended that the changes to the Family Law Act in 1995-6 have encouraged inadvertently the use of the PAS diagnosis, thus engendering an increase in adversarial cases and a trend towards the neglect of issues of child development and attachment. The Act's emphasis on the child's right to contact has created a transference of this 'right' from the child to the parent, which has more than counterbalanced the Act's increased recognition of the effects of violence upon children. The paper concludes by arguing that we need more studies in this area, including longer and broader outcome studies regarding the effects on the child and the protective parent of forced contact and change of residence.
http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/pas/2.html