There are many voices that criticize or defend the parental alienation syndrome (PAS), and almost always, the same question arises: does this term exist, or not? The nomenclature as such was coined by the psychiatrist Richard Gardner in 1985 to refer to a psychopathological disorder in which a child permanently denigrates and insults without justification one of his parents, usually the father, and refuses to have contact with he. Over the years, the SAP began to see the light through another denomination: malicious mother syndrome, by which the parents were identified as those who influenced the children against their ex-partner. Although this expression remained in the past, still today there are some voices that defend it as true,despite the fact that at present this syndrome is not recognized by the World Health Organization or the American Psychological Association and, therefore, its scientific rigor is more than questioned.
Delia María Rodríguez, lawyer at Vestalia Abogados de Familia.
“It is a reality that these situations that reach, on many occasions, the category of child abuse, occur regardless of the gender of the parent.
In any of the cases, the psychological damage inflicted on children is devastating and, on many occasions, difficult to repair, ”explains Delia María Rodríguez, a lawyer at Vestalia Abogados de Familia.
Rodríguez assures that the appearance of the SAP has not gone unnoticed by the critics: “And the debate between multidisciplinary experts managing, despite this, to survive over time until it becomes a concept that is not alien to family lawyers within the framework of custody and custody procedures, especially the most warlike and conflictive ones ”.
As he maintains, this has a simple explanation: this phenomenon is highly damaging to children regardless of who and how they were baptized, or if they like their name more or less, it has its own entity, it exists.
“It would be hypocritical to ignore that there are family contexts in which continuous parental interference occurs that, depending on its intensity and severity, end up destroying the affective bond between the other parent and their offspring.
However, there also seems to be a sinister interest on the part of some groups when it comes to making this type of child abuse invisible ”.
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The Spanish Association of Neuropsychiatry has stated that "SAP is a serious attempt to medicalize what is actually a power struggle for the custody of a child," adds Rodríguez. "I can only agree with these statements that perfectly define the origin of this type of abuse," he continues, "leaving the terminology aside, we must start from the premise that this type of abuse is not a disease, but facts that are undeniable, and that violate the most fundamental rights of children by those who should protect them the most, leading to devastating psychological consequences ”.
However, instead of moving forward, it seems that we are going backwards. Recently, the Congress of Deputies has approved an Organic Law Project for the comprehensive protection of children and adolescents against violence, which, although it is a success in some points, in others it leaves much to be desired. Specifically, its new article 10 bis III reads:
The public authorities will take the necessary measures to prevent theoretical approaches or criteria without scientific endorsement that presume interference or adult manipulation, such as the so-called parental alienation syndrome, from being taken into consideration
.
“Frankly, this new article seems to me a dangerous weapon in favor of parents who carry out this type of manipulation against children;
the perfect excuse to continue their malicious performances.
The first step to make this child abuse visible is to overcome the “social goodness” that leads us to think that there are no parents (both mothers and fathers) capable of carrying out such atrocious behaviors to the detriment of their children ”, he says.
Any emotional separation denotes a strong impact on the children
For the expert, the next objective is to analyze the problem, the statistics of fathers and mothers who have seen and are in this terrible situation after a separation, and who feel completely abandoned by the judicial system: “Listening to them will not return them to your children or lost time, but it will allow other children not to be forced to grow up without the company of a parent. It is a priority to reach a national consensus as to how to name this phenomenon, assuming its existence, and legislating the appropriate measures to guarantee correct protection of children ”.
The right of minors to be heard can be a double-edged sword in situations of child manipulation. “Without a doubt, the parent who interferes in the relationship with the other always requests the judicial examination of the children (during which the Judge and the Public Prosecutor interview them alone), since they trust that the minor will be an ally to achieve their ends (avoid joint custody, suspend visits, etc.). But it is not easy for the Court to detect in a simple judicial examination when a child is manipulated by one of his parents, or if he does not feel free to express his opinions ”.
As he maintains, "any emotional separation denotes a strong impact on the children in common and, therefore, it is expected that there is a resentment about one of the parents, resolving this mourning with the passage of time." “However,” he continues, “in some family contexts this natural transit stagnates for various reasons, causing different situations in which minors are directly involved (and harmed). It ends in a real nightmare for children who are caught, by the will of one or both parents, in cruel conflicts of loyalties. This, and not the emotional separation from their parents per se, is what is truly traumatic for children, let's give it whatever name we give it ”. For the expert, it is essential to act as soon as possible, to try to take the appropriate measures,because the judicial delays do not play in favor of the children or the injured parents.
Change of behavior of parents and children in conflictive separations
Regarding the attitude of the parents, “they change radically in front of the other, instrumentalizing the minor for their own purposes and personal interests (revenge, economic, possession with respect to the minor).
To do this, they adopt a behavior by which they continually insult and devalue the other (alluding to relationship issues that do not concern the children), prevent the right of visits with the other, involve the family and friends in the attacks on the ex-partner , underestimate or ridicule the minor's feelings towards the other parent, and encourage or reward derogatory behavior towards the father or mother ”.
As Rodríguez explains, regarding children, “abuse can be detected when we perceive a series of behaviors in them, such as irrational rejection of the figure of the other parent, the sudden and unjustified desire not to want to see their father or mother , the repetition of arguments typical of adults to justify the above, or the creation of childhood memories, among others ”.
“Although it would be desirable to say otherwise, as family lawyers we are more than used to seeing this type of behavior in minors.
Unfortunately, public services such as the Family Meeting Point or the Child Care Center are, in practice, insufficient to address the conflict and, over time, the form and intensity required by family situations as critical as those that We testify as professionals and that, on many occasions, they have a fatal and irreversible outcome ”, he concludes.
Prove the mistreatment of children in court
According to Delia Rodríguez, a family lawyer, it is very difficult to prove this type of abuse of children, “because the behavior of those who exercise them is subtle, measured and sibylline, which makes the act itself even more cruel ”. The expert criticizes the lack of specialization of all the courts dedicated to family law. “It also does not help that the public authorities look the other way, as well as the delays due to the lack of sufficient human resources to guarantee adequate protection of children. Within the family processes we have the practice of the expert report of the family unit, although the waiting lists do not allow us to obtain quick answers to this problem that represents a real social scourge. What's more,The interviews of the expert professionals with the parents, and with the minors themselves, do not sometimes allow, due to their short duration, to detect this type of behavior in the parents, nor the terrible consequences that they entail for the children in common. Other times they are detected and collected, but they have no consequences on the parent who acts harming the child. "
Given the lack of resources in Justice, and the absence of a specialized family jurisdiction, "lawyers are forced to resort to the desperate search for other types of evidence": "In our professional experience we have managed to prove critical child manipulation situations through spontaneous recordings, diaries, drawings, confidences to children's teachers, these being the last resources to be used because they are an intrusion into their privacy ”. “In cases in which the minor is at objective and real risk,” he continues, “a psychological expert may be carried out on the part. When there is no other option to let the Court know that a boy or a girl is being literally beaten up by one of their parents, providing this type of evidence can be very relevant ".
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