Continuation from Part IV...
Alienated Parents Who are Falsely Accused
An allegation of child abuse, particularly molestation, quickly cuts off an alienated parent's access to the child, pending investigation which can take from months to several years, and if not addressed properly and with early intervention where deliberate eradication of a safe, loving and affectional parent that once was, can inevitably destroy victimised parent in the process and have devastating & destructive impact on the child.
Sex abuse is often difficult, if not impossible to disprove and the accused parent may spend months and years trying without success to refute with only supervised visitation with their child. Involvement of multiple agencies and lack of coordination between agencies and the courts leads to confusion and delays. (Rand, 1997).
If the accused parent successfully refutes the accusing parent's allegation, that parent has lost valuable time with the child which may damage the parent-child relationship forever (Rand, 1997).
Patterson stated:
"We can never serve a child's best interests by denying him or her the love and affection of a parent who has been victimised by a lie". (Patterson, 1991, p.941).
Summary:
The Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) has been, misunderstood, and at times highly criticised. Legal, psychological and psychiatric and court professionals still "cringe" when PAS is suggested outright or as a part of court report.
Could it be that PAS is pervasive in high conflict custody disputes, or it could be that court professionals simply do not have the knowledge and or capacity to deal with high complex cases thus some cases take years to be "resolved".
Could it be that alienating parent already gained "an upper hand" during these times and simply playing the system knowing that if odd allegations are thrown into the spin it would simply prolong the case and create a vortex that court must navigate through.
In the end, is the child who is a real victim here as it is the norm for children of divorce to love and long for both parents despite the passage of time.
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