The essential needs of children in situations of parental alienation:A responsibility-based approach to policy and practice

Edward Kruk, Ph.D.,

Professor Emeritus, The University of British Columbia

The concept of the “best interests of the child from the perspective of the child,” based on an enumeration of children’s essential needs and corresponding parental responsibilities to those needs, and the responsibilities of social institutions to support parents in that regard, provides a more child- and responsibility-focused approach to policy and practice in the arena of parental alienation. This presentation will discuss the full range of children’s biopsychosocial and metaphysical needs in situations of parental alienation; and detail best practices to address those needs, as part of a four-pillar approach to fighting the epidemic of parental alienation, including harm reduction, treatment, prevention and enforcement strategies. For each need there is a corresponding set of responsibilities; case examples will be used to illustrate the use of each of these strategies.