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Full-Text Articles in Law
Harman And Lorandos’ False Critique Of Meier Et Al.’S Family Court Study, Joan S. Meier, Sean Dickson, Chris S. O'Sullivan, Leora N. Rosen
Harman And Lorandos’ False Critique Of Meier Et Al.’S Family Court Study, Joan S. Meier, Sean Dickson, Chris S. O'Sullivan, Leora N. Rosen
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
Jennifer Harman and Demosthenes Lorandos purport to have identified numerous methodological flaws in our 2019 study of family court outcomes in cases involving abuse and alienation allegations (“FCO study”; Meier et al., 2019). At least half of the supposed flaws they itemized relate to one claim - that they were unable to access our methods and data. They treat the claimed lack of public access as evidence that our study is unreliable, while speculating about other potential flaws. Yet we note - and they acknowledge - that most of the methodological information they sought was in fact available before publication …
Getting Real About Abuse And Alienation: A Critique Of Drozd And Olesen's Decision Tree, Joan S. Meier
Getting Real About Abuse And Alienation: A Critique Of Drozd And Olesen's Decision Tree, Joan S. Meier
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
Specialists in abuse and alienation have long taken opposing positions on the legitimacy of the concept of alienation in custody cases where abuse is alleged. One increasingly popular response that appears to carve a middle path is acknowledge that both alienation and abuse may co-exist, and to focus on "hybrid" cases, i.e., those in which there are cross-allegations of abuse and alienation. This article discusses and critiques, from the perspective of an expert on abuse, one of the earliest and most significant approaches to the hybrid case: Drozd and Olesen’s "Decision Tree." The author concludes that, while the Decision Tree …
A Historical Perspective On Parental Alienation Syndrome And Parental Alienation, Joan S. Meier
A Historical Perspective On Parental Alienation Syndrome And Parental Alienation, Joan S. Meier
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
Claims of parental alienation syndrome (PAS) and parental alienation have come to dominate custody litigation, especially where abuse is alleged. While much psychological and legal literature has critiqued PAS, and leading researchers as well as most professional institutions have renounced the syndrome concept, alienation as a parental behavior or child’s condition continues to be extensively investigated and credited in research and forensic contexts. This article reviews the history of PAS, both as posited by its inventor, Richard Gardner, and as used and applied in courts, suggesting that it not only lacks empirical basis or objective merit, but that it derives …
Domestic Violence, Child Custody, And Child Protection: Understanding Judicial Resistance And Imagining The Solutions, Joan S. Meier
Domestic Violence, Child Custody, And Child Protection: Understanding Judicial Resistance And Imagining The Solutions, Joan S. Meier
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
This 2003 article seeks to take on what was then conventional wisdom, that myriad law reforms over the prior two decades have improved and corrected the law's response to domestic violence. It focuses on family courts' failure to credit and respond appropriately to protective mothers' - mostly battered women's - allegations that fathers are unsafe for the children. It unpacks several "neutral" principles that seem to guide family courts' responses to abuse allegations, arguing that they are mis-guided, and distort the realities of battering and child abuse in these cases. While not seeking to explain family court culture simply in …