UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences, Reem Alsalem, has expressed serious concern over what she described as a troubling pattern in Israeli family courts and child-protection systems involving the use of the “parental alienation” theory.
Alsalem said mothers who report domestic violence, child abuse or sexual abuse are often undermined through the application of what she described as a discredited and harmful concept. In some cases, she said, the consequences include children being separated from their protective parent and being required to maintain unsupervised contact with an alleged abusing parent.
“The information I have received suggests mothers who seek to protect their children from violence, including sexual violence, are too often disbelieved and portrayed as alienating the children from their fathers, unstable or manipulative,” Alsalem said. “At the same time, serious allegations of abuse are minimised or ignored.”
Her concerns are based on credible testimonies provided by 18 Israeli mothers. According to those accounts, allegations involving intimate partner violence, child sexual abuse, substance abuse and other serious safeguarding concerns are not consistently treated as decisive factors in custody and visitation decisions by family court judges.
“Instead, Israeli courts appear to rely on claims of parental alienation to challenge the credibility of mothers raising such protection concerns,” Alsalem said.
The Special Rapporteur said several mothers had reported being threatened with the transfer of custody or the institutionalisation of their children, while some had effectively lost custody after continuing to raise concerns about alleged abuse. The accounts also raised concerns about how children’s own statements and behaviour are treated in such proceedings.
Alsalem said children who disclosed violence, expressed fear of a parent or displayed indicators of trauma had also reportedly been disbelieved. In some cases, they were allegedly compelled to maintain contact with those accused of perpetrating violence and required to undergo “reunification therapy”.
“The consequences are immense, resulting in protective mothers being threatened, sanctioned, including through the loss of custody of their children which seriously violate the rights of the child,” she said.
The UN expert warned that claims of parental alienation should not be used to silence allegations of violence or divert attention from the responsibility to investigate abuse claims thoroughly and impartially. “Parental alienation claims should never be weaponised to silence reports of violence or to divert attention from the duty to investigate allegations of abuse thoroughly and impartially,” Alsalem said. “The safety, dignity and rights of mothers and children must remain paramount.”
She reiterated her previous calls on the Israeli Government and family courts in Israel to repeal laws and policies that rely on what she described as the discredited concept of parental alienation. According to Alsalem, such practices can discredit legitimate safeguarding concerns raised by women and undermine access to justice, protection and freedom from violence for both mothers and their children.
The expert also recalled the responsibility of States to modify legal or customary practices that sustain the persistence and tolerance of violence against women. She stressed that the best interests of the child must remain central to all processes affecting children, including custody decisions.
“Children must be heard and abuse allegations taken seriously, and mothers must never be punished for wanting to protect their children,” Alsalem said.
Alsalem is in contact with the Government on the concerns she has raised.
