The Co-Occurrence of Parental Alienation Claims & IPV in Family Court: Theory & Practice

Описание: The past decade has seen an unprecedented increase in parenting disputes in family court. On one hand, there is a growing recognition of family violence as a gender-based crime and a legislated factor for judges to consider in parenting decisions. On the other hand, the concept of alienation has been increasingly misused to blame protective parents and their children's resistance or reluctance to have parenting time with perpetrators of family violence. Some of these cases represent litigation abuse as an extension of coercive control in the intimate partner relationship. The presentation outlines the controversies in the field and the inappropriate use of alienation. The multiple factors that may lie behind a child refusing or resisting parenting are discussed as well as the dilemmas for the family justice system to find differentiated parenting plans in these cases.

Justice Mirwaldt discusses the many reforms that the Court of Queen’s Bench has made in the past three years to address systemic court delays that had created a barrier to justice for Manitoba families. Under the new court rules family violence is addressed at the outset of a family case through a system of robust triage conferencing and case management. Timely and meaningful interactions with a family court judge under a one-judge model has led to early resolution of the majority of the court’s cases, even those involving allegations of parental alienation and family violence.