Not all children who reject a parent are alienated. It is essential for proper management and treatment of cases of child alignment that alienated children be identified and differentiated from estranged children. Dr. Baker will review the Four-Factor Model for identifying parental alienation from estrangement. According to the model, children should be considered alienated only when all four factors are present: (1) there was a prior positive attachment between the child and the now rejected parent; (2) the rejected parent did not engage in abuse or neglect or seriously deficient parenting; (3) the favored parent engaged in multiple parental alienation behaviors; and (4) the child exhibits most if not all of the behavioral manifestations of alienation.
Dr. Baker also talks about the attitudes of abused children and if they exhibit the Eight Behavioral Manifestations of Parental Alienation. A survey study was conducted in which over 300 mental health professionals with experience with physically abused children answered a series of questions about the actions and attitudes of abused children towards their maltreating parents and how abused children become “bonded to the abuser”. Amy J. L. Baker, Ph.D., has a doctorate in developmental psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University. She has provided trainings on parental alienation and psychological maltreatment to legal and mental health professionals around the world.
She is the author or co-author of over 100 articles and eight books including Adult Children of Parental Alienation Syndrome, Co-parenting with a Toxic Ex, and Bonded to the Abuser. She provides parent coaching for targeted parents and has worked with hundreds of parents to assist them in developing more effective interactions with their children.
She has conducted seminal research on the long-term effects of parental alienation. The interview was filmed on location at the PASG 2019 International Conference (Parental Alienation Study Group) in Philadelphia, USA, in September 2019.
The video is produced by Equal Parenting Rights Association, Iceland, www.foreldrajafnretti.is.