On Monday, September 30, 2024, the Autonomous Women's Center held a presentation at the Media Center in Belgrade, attended by members of the expert public and media, where they presented the findings of an overview of international standards, comparative solutions, and domestic legal framework, as well as research on judicial practices regarding the use of the concept of "parental alienation" in the context of domestic violence in custody and visitation cases involving a child and the parent they do not live with.

The presentation began with a lecture by professor Anita Lauri Korajlija from the Department of Psychology at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, who spoke about the pseudoscientific nature of the "parental alienation" concept created by American psychiatrist Richard Gardner and rejected by the scientific community due to its empirical and scientific baselessness.

"If we don't know what it is, how it looks, and how to distinguish it from other behaviors, then we cannot use it as a diagnostic, scientific, and psychological construct in clinical assessments and evaluations upon which we base long-term decisions about people's lives," said Lauri Korajlija, supporting the need for the concept of "alienation" to stop being used in judicial practice and social protection services.

The findings of the legal analysis Implementation of the concept of "parental alienation" in parenting capacity assessment and the best interest of the child in situations of domestic violence, by authors Tanja Drobnjak, Dijana Malbaša, and Marija Lukić, were presented by lawyer Tanja Drobnjak, one of the authors. She emphasized the obligation of family law courts to, when deciding on custody and visitation arrangements for a child and the parent they do not live with, consider all issues related to the existence of domestic violence, as well as the state's obligation to recognize that the best interests of the child are threatened when the child witnesses violence.

"The right of a child to maintain contact with the parent they do not live with should not be seen as an absolute right of the parent, but as a right of the child, which is also not absolute and can be limited if required by the child's best interests," Drobnjak emphasized.

The findings of the research on judicial practices in custody and visitation cases involving the parent the child does not live with were presented by psychologist Tanja Ignjatović PhD from the Autonomous Women's Center, who, together with Tanja Pavlov and Marija Lukić, co-authored the research. The study covers 24 court cases concerning the custody of children and determining visitation models between the child and the parent they do not live with, where there is resistance or refusal by the child to have contact with the parent and/or claims of "parental alienation" or potential alienation, in cases where domestic violence is mentioned. The limitations of the conducted analysis—such as the sample size, available documentation, and indirect knowledge of the examined phenomenon (through expert assessments and court decisions)—do not allow for generalization of the findings and conclusions. Still, they provide insight into the characteristics and trends of the phenomenon, including the use of the scientifically unproven concept of "parental alienation" in Serbian professional and judicial practice.

The research will be available in printed and electronic form in the coming period.

The discussion was moderated by Aleksandra Aksentijević, project coordinator of the project STORM – STrOng Resistance Movement of women human rights defenders for protecting women victims/survivors of gender-based violence and their children, funded by the European Union, within which the presented legal analysis and research were conducted.

You can watch the recording of the presentation held in the Media Center (in Serbian) HERE.

You can read Anita Lauri Korajlija's article Should We Alienate Ourselves from “Parental Alienation”? HERE.

You can read the legal analysis Implementation of the concept of "parental alienation" in parenting capacity assessment and the best interest of the child in situations of domestic violence HERE.

Infographics of the research findings on judicial practices in custody and visitation cases involving the parent the child does not live with are available HERE.