Parental alienation is a systemic plague infecting the family court system.

Inoculating the courts against this would clear the emotional quagmire brought on by The Court of Emotion’s atrocious toxic waiting queue in a matter of months.

Not only this, the disproportionately high suicide rate among men, as well as domestic violence numbers, would likely nosedive across the board.

Defusing the manipulative device, instead of downplaying its effects, can go a long way in reaching dads who feel powerless and choose senseless self-destruction over drowning in despair.

Sexist

Parental alienation is when ‘a parent drastically undermines the child’s relationship with the other parent.’

This often impacts fathers head-on for two reasons:

1. The conditioning of courts and society automatically sides with the grievances of mothers.
2. The long erosion of due process has betrayed impartiality.

Tipping the scales in favour of torn-to-pieces mum, means a double whammy for an already torn-apart dad.

Presumption of innocence tends to fall one way, until the matter is eventually — if ever — weighed and balanced by the already overwhelmed and unbalanced family court system.

Apply the rough, upwards figure of around AU$200,000 for custody battles, societal abandonment, and the misandrist demonisation of dads, it’s no wonder men snap.

For further evidence of this deadly imbalance (dare we call it gender bias?), look no further than the amount of support that exists for mums, compared to the thread of support offered to dads.

Much of the former is now government-sponsored or taxpayer-funded. (A direct consequence of the slow removal of God, Church, family, and communal care from Western society.)

In the case where a marriage tragically breaks down, men tend to find themselves on the outside looking in.

Broken

Additionally, Australia’s ‘judges are over stressed, and the system overall is beyond capacity’, suggesting the family court system is broken.

In 2019, the Financial Review reported, ‘The average wait for a trial in the Family Court was 17 months,’ and this was for those who were already in the queue.

Writing for the Review, Aaron Patrick explained,

‘Making courts more efficient may not speed them up. Ask almost any lawyer in the game and they’ll tell you why a tiny proportion of cases end in front of a judge.’

Patrick described the Family Court system as ‘a dark hole, where people screw each other after they have stopped sharing beds.’

Hatred being the primary motivator, Family Court filings ‘aren’t renowned for honesty,’ he explained.

A dad visiting his kids might be surrounded by an ‘army of social workers’, based on very little evidence, who assess things as asinine as whether a dad has ‘made sure his child is wearing sunscreen, and a hat.’

Speaking to how weaponised parental alienation has become, the Review cited the example of a Brisbane nurse,

‘Who, in 2016 accused her ex of assaulting their three-year-old son. The father, a tradesman, immediately lost access to the child.’

The tradesman was allocated a 3-day trial to defend himself and fight for access, where his team of lawyers ‘asserted the allegation was a lie’, counter-arguing that ‘the boy’s mother was going to brainwash the boy into believing he had been raped.’

In this case, The Financial Review said, the judge sided with the dad, on the grounds that the child’s mother had convinced herself the lie was true, and presented a risk to the child.

Patrick added, ‘part of the case was fought over’ grammar, and ‘whether the child [who] had woken up upset one night and said “Dad: a monster” or “Dad! A Monster.”

The judge, noting it was a “he said, she said” case, highlighted concerns the ‘mother had falsely made the most heinous allegations against the father for the purpose of keeping him out of the child’s life.’

Providing a few more examples, the Review mentioned one retired judge who said, ‘he once offered to buy a kitchen appliance to stop a couple fighting over the marital kitchen hardware.’

The same article recounted how ‘a lawyer watched as her client’s ex-wife undid the top two buttons of her blouse before addressing the judge, a male. Years later the judge remembered forcing himself to keep his gaze above her chin.’

Psychological Weapon

While parental alienation is often associated with separation and divorce, it’s a mistake to think this form of abuse is only found in broken homes.

Parental alienation can, and does, take place, in homes where parents are not separated, or divorced.

Regardless of the context, the discounting of how often this psychological weapon is used in family disputes is one reason why the infection goes without treatment.

Resolving to end this apparent war on dads — and heartbreak warfare in general — begins with ending parental alienation.

This is the key to freeing up the justice system and securing a better future for our kids.

As 2022 comes to an end, 2023 brings the opportunity for justice. Never give up. Parental Alienation is child abuse!#ParentalAlienation #HappyNewYear pic.twitter.com/bRjUGwJJ2O

— Parental Alienation is Child Abuse (@deathrow_dads) December 31, 2022

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Photo: Evgeny Atamanenko/BigStock