A group of mothers, lawyers and psychiatrists from various Latin American countries are leading a fight against the use of the false parental alienation syndrome (PAS) as an argument for giving custody of children to parents accused of family violence or sexual abuse. They call them crazy, complaining, jealous and accuse them of taking out their frustration on their children. They are determined to highlight the danger of judges using this theory to delegitimize complaints.
You have just experienced a conquest in Colombia. The Constitutional Court banned other judges from “using the diagnostic tool known as SAP” because, according to its ruling, “it is not currently scientifically recognized as it violates the applicable rights of children and young people; “Reproduces gender stereotypes and leads to discrimination and therefore violence against women based on gender.”
In fact, the so-called parental alienation has no scientific validity and is not recognized by health or mental health authorities around the world, but in the region it has found its way into legislation to favor men who commit gender-based violence and it has been used by Judges who decide on custody of the child. This was also warned by the Committee of Experts of the Follow-up Mechanism of the Belém do Pará Convention (Mesecvi) of the OAS and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women. In the court's decision, reporting judge Diana Fajardo returned to these warnings.
The court analyzed the case, which occurred after the breakup of a ten-year relationship. The woman, who had a minor child, claimed she was a victim of domestic violence and initiated joint custody proceedings. She had a protective measure in place to prevent attacks from her ex-husband, but a family police station overturned the measure and ordered her son, then a child, to spend time with his father. And this despite the fact that the same police station had found the man to be a child abuser. After years of legal disputes, the man filed a criminal complaint against the woman “for alleged arbitrary exercise of custody” and argued with the alleged SAP.
The term was introduced in the 1980s by American psychiatrist Richard Gardner, who noted that there was a syndrome that could cause children experiencing custody conflicts to falsely accuse a parent of abuse. Gardner, whose theory provoked scientific rejection from the start, claimed that children suffering from the syndrome were taught in a vindictive manner by one parent and compulsively denigrated the other for no reason; in other words, that it was possible “” Brainwashing.” To a child. The psychiatrist who committed suicide in 2003 recommended to the courts before which he testified that the child be removed from the alleged alienating parent's home and placed in the care of the person accused of abuse.
A regional problem
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The use of this instrument is very popular in the region. “We began to show that this pseudo-theory was used in cases of incestuous sexual violence involving touching. “In this theory, the attackers seem to have found a lot of gold to continue with,” said one of the mothers, who belongs to the Yo si te CREO movement and prefers not to reveal her name.
“We collected evidence and saw that the attackers defended themselves in the same way in different countries. “We found out that it was regulated in Spain, Brazil and Mexico and they reversed it,” another mother added during the talk “Unscientific theories that violate the rights of boys, girls and their mothers” in late 2023 .
The meeting was attended by psychiatrist Isabel Cuadros Ferrer. He puts it bluntly: “You can't plant perceptual memories,” he explained, giving an extreme example based on his experience dealing with sexual violence cases. “For example, if a child tells me that sperm tastes bad, it is impossible for a mother to implant such a memory. It is also not possible to implant the post-traumatic stress that the victims have. When they arrive with a forensic investigator, one can see if there is indoctrination, but it is not possible to implant perceptual memories.
One of Mesecvi's most dire warnings is that SAP has even been used in cases of sexual violence. “It becomes a path to impunity and unprovability of the crime. The seriousness lies in handing over property to abusive people,” says Marcela Huaita Alegre, lawyer and president of the mechanism.
They point out that there are economic reasons for using this false theory. “It's a business for experts, lawyers and people who defend abusers,” adds Huaita, who makes it clear that they are not against joint custody. “It is that this figure of the supposed syndrome is used in cases where violence is committed against women. They reported this and in response to this act of violence, the man argues the woman's parental alienation and the request for custody,” he explained.
The regional panorama shows attempts to include SAP under different names in various legislations. This emerges from a United Nations report published in April 2023. “The contributions from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Uruguay show how men use parental alienation syndrome to suppress complaints of physical, sexual or emotional abuse” through legal means. “A contribution from France describes cases in which the mother, who had reported sexual abuse corroborated by psychological examinations, was deprived of custody and given to the father (the aggressor) after he invoked parental alienation,” says the rapporteur in the report.
In Chile an attempt was made to include it in the Family Commission of the Chamber of Deputies. The Minister for Women had to reject the idea of “legislation to include parental alienation syndrome as domestic violence” and therefore avoid discussing “a bill without scientific or legal basis”. In Uruguay, a law on “shared responsibility in parenthood” was passed, which, after complaints from women's organizations, was based on parental alienation syndrome but given a benevolent name. In Brazil, on the other hand, it was passed into law in 2010 and later amended, but feminists are calling for its complete repeal; in contrast to Peru, where the SAP was confirmed in an article of a children's law.
Journalist and childhood researcher Alexandra Cardona says that in the case of Colombia there is a serious problem because many psychologists assume the existence of SAP. “The experts have misled the family courts by selling them this theory that has no basis in fact, and they have caused mothers to lose their children.” The mother of the “I believe you” movement has it lived. “Sexual violence is reported here and, first of all, it is ruled out whether (the minor) was estranged from his mother and not that he was not a victim of violence. The world is upside down.”
Colombian forensic and clinical psychologist María Paula Chicurel affirms that the use of this supposed syndrome ignores the voices of children. “We cannot silence it through pseudo-theories and put adults and the patriarchy first,” he says, adding that there are no effective sanctions for psychologists who are reported for using the SAP, they will not convicted in ethics courts and that is another reason for the large gaps.
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