The first Family Bridges programme for Alienated Children and Families (FBAC) has been conducted in Australia under the orders of a Family Court in Australia. For this family, children can now enjoy a loving relationship with the parent from whom they were alienated, for the first time in many years.
A team of accredited facilitators is available in Australia to administer and run this programme under the appropriate orders of the Family Court. We can work with clients, single expert witnesses and family consultants to assess suitability for the program, and with legal counsel to place the rationale and conditions for the program before the Family Court.
Family Bridges™ is an evidence based educational and experiential program that helps reform a relationship between severely alienated children (adolescents and teenagers) with the parent whom they unreasonable and irrationally reject. The Family Court orders the FBAC program where there has been a determination of severe and extreme alienation, where it is considered to be in the best interests of the children to have a relationship with the parent whom they have rejected and where this can be best effected by transferring parental responsibility and residence to the formerly rejected/alienated parent. By court order the FBAC helps the children adjust to the court orders to live with their formerly rejected/alienated parent. A mandatory exclusion period is implemented in which the formerly favoured/alienating parent is restricted from contact with the children.
With respect to alienation:
“Severe PA—means that the child persistently and adamantly refuses contact and may hide or run away to avoid being with the target parent…. the alienating parent is usually obsessed with the goal of destroying the child’s relationship with the target parent. The alienating parent has little or no insight and is convinced of their righteousness of his or her behaviour. It is usually necessary to protect the child from the influence of the alienating parent by removing the child from his or her custody…” (Lorandos, Bernet & Sauber 2014, p. 22).
Children may reject, refuse or resist contact with a ‘good enough’, normative parent, characterised by extreme withdrawal or contempt and based upon irrational reasons caused by the alienation processes and behaviours of the favoured/alienating parent. A defining feature of parental alienation is that the “…child’s rejection of the target [rejected/alienated] parent is far out of proportion to anything that parent has done to justify the rejection” (Lorandos, Bernet & Sauber 2014, p. 6). For further information please visit http://www.warshak.com/services/family-bridges.html .
This program may also be suitable where the parent-child relationship has been damaged because of the abduction of a child or by other causes. However, not all family situations will be suitable for FBAC. There is an intake and consultation process to establish suitability and consultation will be required with legal counsel to assist them in making the case for appropriate family court orders under which the FBAC program will be executed. Appropriate family reports assessing severe alienation and recommending FBAC need to be obtained to support the case for participation in the FBAC program. Appropriate legal advice is mandatory for the family Court to order this intervention.
References
Lorandos, D, Bernet, W & Sauber, RS 2014, ‘Overview of Parental Alienation’, in D Lorandos, W Bernet & SR Sauber (eds), Parental Alienation The Handbook for Mental Health and Legal Professionals, : Charles C Thomas, pp. 20-1.
I Was a stay at home father and my children have been severely alienated from me . Not only have they been mentally abused , the spousal abuse to me has been horrific , including financial abuse harassment intimidation tracking and stalking with my 2 teenage children in the car on several occasions.
In my view the system is drawn out and allows this to happen with the use of unhanded tactics and dirty tricks . Making false vandicative allegations to gain control of the children to isolate the children from the other parent
I have fought long and hard…with money that I don’t have…
I have now given up as the system is ignorant of the factual truth , biased and does not want to hear it and has failed my children.
I am a loving mother of 2 beautiful children who also has been severely alienated. My ex partner uses my children as pawn to get to me and punishes me from having left a 19 year abusive relationship. He has taken my children away from me by grooming them over the years with coercion manipulation and abuse.
Parental Alienation in other countries is taken seriously and it is a criminal offence but it doesn’t seem to be the case in Australia. The system continues to fail us and our loving children.
As I am suffering greatly, I desperately would like to connect with a support group that can help. If you know any please let me know. Good luck and hope you get to have a loving relationship with your children soon.
Regrettably, FBAC appears to be just another re-worked and rebranded band- aid ‘tool’ of a court system that is devoid of any justice whatsoever when it comes to dealing with clear cases of Parental Alienation.
Until such time that magistrates are directed by the law makers to apply the law and remove magistrates discretion powers, alienating parents will continue to prevail and children will continue to suffer.
So happy to have found this web page full of Australian info help etc.
Hi Stan,
I’m interested in providing evidence based therapy/group work with newly separated parents who a engaging in alienating behaviours. Hoping you might be able to steer me in the right direction.
I work in the area of post-separation as a family counsellor under the Family Law Act.
Linda
God bless you Stan
…We as grandparents have been refused contact with our grandchildren as well. We haven’t seen them for 3 months. We were aware of the tactics used [to alienate them] over a long period and saw the effect it was having on the children. The children showed feelings of guilt and unease when leaving their favoured parent for access visits. They always looked for their approval and were often torn between staying with them and coming with us. They were afraid to show us affection in their favoured parent’s presence but always showed us privately, just how much they loved us… It is time parental alienation was taken seriously by the family court system, and a penalty should apply. It can cause emotional scarring and have a lasting effect on children’s lives.
This program which is aimed at cases of “severely alienated” children/adults, may be in some cases life-changing.
However, … intervention should begin immediately that the alienation begins; why wait until it is “severe”?
How can it be that one parent can ‘intern’ a child in their home, and through continued coercion, manipulation and abuse (Coercive Control: the reason for the separation), severely restrict the other parent’s access to the child, and immediately begin to alienate the child from the other parent.
How can we wake the legal system and family courts up to the fact that early intervention will save thousands of children from being denied the care of a loving parent in the formative years of their lives.
It is very interesting and helpful to read all of this information, definitions and lived experiences of parents who have and are suffering parental alienation. The concept of parental alienation describes my situation exactly. It has been an ongoing insidious process of alienating my children against me, by me ex. It has been going on for 6 years. We have been separated for 7 years & 8.5 months. I am resilient and strong, but it is taking it’s toll on me. I cannot afford legal assistance. I cannot afford to pay my bills, but I earn a decent income. I live 500km from a capital city, interstate….and psychological services are not available and legal services very limited. A no-win situation for me on numerous levels, ie emotionally regarding alienation from my children, financially, legally etc etc
I live in Adelaide. The existing reunification therapist that my children are seeing to have my letters read to is completely ignorant of the Mothers alienation tactics the girls are now 8 and 12years old I have not seen or spoken to them for 4yrs and 9months how can I find someone that can help to curb this as the girls now do not want to hear my letters read to them …they were orderd by judge Kauri on the 5thNovember 2019 it’s now Feb 2021 they have been taken only 5 times ?