The Kids Are Not All Right: Using the Best Interest Standard to Prevent Parental Alienation and a Therapeutic Intervention Approach to Provide Relief

Abstract

Parental alienation, when one parent engages in behaviors to turn a child against the other parent, is a serious problem. Such behavior can manifest following a parents’ divorce or separation and can have long-lasting and damaging effects on children. Although both family law and tort law offer various remedies for parental alienation, this Note argues that parental alienation is best handled through family law. Accordingly, the best interest of the child standard should be modified to include parental alienation to prevent it from occurring in the first place. Additionally, courts should utilize the therapeutic intervention approach to mitigate the harms of parental alienation when it has already occurred instead of automatically modifying custody.