“Any forensic psychologist will say it’s possible for a child to be turned away from a loving parent”

The San Antonio Express-News article “Baldwin case underscores argument about PAS” (5/4/07) has quotes from three of the leading authorities on Parental Alienation Syndrome–J. Michael Bone, Richard Warshak and Amy J.L. Baker, author of Adult Children of Parental Alienation Syndrome: Breaking the Ties that Bind.

According to the article:

“‘Anyone who works in the field of forensic psychology in the context of divorce will say, yes, it’s possible for a child to be turned away from a loving parent,’ says Michael Bone, a noted custody consultant in cases where PAS is involved. ‘Everybody knows that happens’…

“There’s an academic debate about whether PAS constitutes a true ‘syndrome.’ Some mental health experts and legal professionals have deemed it ‘junk science,’ not backed up by the kind of double-blind studies that constitute scientific veracity. Some claim PAS just is a ploy for abusive fathers to get custody of their kids.

“‘Parental alienation happens, but there’s no clinical syndrome you can say in court and get away with,’ argues Paul Jay Fink, professor of psychiatry at Temple University School of Medicine. ‘Richard Gardner was a charlatan and hundreds of women and children across the country have been damaged because of his crazy idea. PAS is not in the DSM-IV (psychiatry’s bible) and it never will be.’

“But experts like Demosthenes Lorandos, a clinical psychologist and lawyer who has co-written the definitive manual on PAS — ‘The International Handbook of PAS’ — says the phenomenon has been well-studied and documented in more than 160 peer-reviewed articles from around the globe…

“‘In some cases, it’s clear that the child is actively being taught to hate the parent,’ says Richard Warshak, author of ‘Divorce Poison.’ Younger children are particularly vulnerable to this kind of emotional manipulation, he says.”

Read the full article here. Paul Jay Fink, the PAS critic cited above, was one of the leading opponents of our Campaign Against PBS’s Father-Bashing Breaking the Silence in 2005-2006. Fink slammed me in his co-authored newspaper column Critics of Child Abuse Film Miss the Point in Rush to Defend Fathers (Los Angeles Daily Journal, San Francisco Daily Journal, 11/1/05),

The American Coalition for Fathers and Children The American Coalition for Fathers and Children is dedicated to creating a family law system which promotes equal rights for all parties affected by divorce. Contact the ACFC at 1-800-978-3237 or visit them on the web at www.acfc.org.