Mapping Gender: Shedding Empirical Light on Family Courts’ Treatment of Cases Involving Abuse and Alienation

Abstract

This article provides an empirical view of family courts' treatment of custody cases involving abuse and/or alienation claims. After a brief literature survey, the article describes the co-authors’ pilot study, which begins empirically mapping family courts’ uses of parental alienation theory in abuse cases. The pilot results provide powerful preliminary empirical validation of the growing number of strong critiques of family court practice in abuse cases.

Keywords: Child Custody, Family Court, Parental Alienation, Abuse

JEL Classification: K36, K40