Karen Woodall – Psychotherapist, Writer, Researcher, Trainer

This week the Family Separation Clinic is hosting a seminar in the Palace of Westminster which will articulate the lived experience of children who were removed from parents who caused them psychological and emotional harm. Sponsored by Baroness Catherine Meyer, a long time advocate for awareness of the harms that are caused when children are abducted or alienated from a parent, the seminar will hear directly from three young people whose experience of being harmed by a parent and then removed from that parent’s care to be placed in the care of their other parent, (known as residence transfer) is mischaracterised by campaigners around the world.

The importance of this seminar to the young people concerned cannot be over estimated because the efforts by campaigners to deny their experience and to portray this issue as only that which is used by abusive fathers to control protective mothers, is a cruel misrepresentation of the facts of their lives. The widespread misinformation which has been spread amongst MPs about this issue, is fully and properly challenged by the articulation by young people themselves, of the harm that they suffered and the importance of the intervention of professionals, including Judges, who recognised that harm and protected these young people who are now over the age of 18.

The seminar is by invitation only and is the first in a series of events which will amplify the voices of emotionally and psychologically abused children who have been removed by the family court and/or a local authority from a harmful parent and placed in the care of a parent who has been shown to be healthy and protective. The long term outcomes which are shown in the way that these young people articulate their experience, are significant in terms of understanding the welfare best interests of children who align with a parent and reject the other in divorce and separation.

These events are the first in a series of outputs from the Family Separation Clinic in which the work we have done over the past decade will be disseminated in the form of evidence based outcomes of the child protection approach used by the Clinic in its work with children and families affected by a child’s disorganised attachment relationships (also known as alienation), in divorce and separation.

A full seminar report, including the transcripts of the young people’s presentations is being sent to all MPs and policy makers, CAFCASS and Local Authorities and a link to this will be made available shortly on the Family Separation Clinic website and here.

Further events to disseminate outcomes will be open to the public in 2024.