RTL News
It has been a big month in the world of family court, the impacts of which will ripple across the generations for millions of UK families for decades to come.
The abuse and murder of Sara Sharif has shown the danger of listening to a child’s voice contributing to the worst outcome when family courts get it wrong. Sara lost her life at the hands of the people who should have loved her most. Right to Love has highlighted a number of key issues from Sara’s tragic case which feature when psychological control/abuse apply and how good-enough parents will likely continue to pay the price for the failure of professionals to have a safe and effective system in place.
The Family Justice Council has published it’s latest guidance on allegations of “alienating behaviour”. Right to Love is taking time to review the guidance so more on this next month.
As part of our “good-enough” parenting series we have posted information about attachment strategies and “perfect parenting”.
We wish all our readers and supporters a happier, healthier 2025 and love and prosperity to all children in separated families.
Wider News
‘Our former partners abducted our children and Brexit has stopped us getting them back’
Family courts get new guidance on ‘parental alienation’ in family court battles – BBC News
Case Law & Judiciary
M v F & Anor [2024] EWFC 371 (B) (17 December 2024) “Local Authority needs to ensure that any social worker allocated to work with this family has the right level of experience and expertise in working with complex families and with multiple professional and agency input.“
Events
Past
Dr Craig Childress Sunday Coffee Sessions:
- Breach and Repair Sequence
- Emotional Signalling [used by children]
- The Financial Exploitation of Parents
- Diagnosis Series – Chapter 1: DSM-5 Diagnosis
- Using Dr Childress
- Diagnosis Series – Forensic Psychology & a Quasi-Judicial Role
- Attorneys & the Zealous Advocate
Dorcy Pruter CEO of the Conscious Co-Parenting Institute and Parenting Coach:
- Jiu-Jitsu Parenting
- Building Inner Strength: Practices for Resilience
- Trusting Yourself Through the Messiness of Healing
Upcoming
If you have any information about upcoming events which are related to child/partner psychological abuse, contact us at info@righttolove.uk.
Professional Spotlight – Dr Patricia Crittenden
Dr Patricia Crittenden is an American Psychologist who is the lead creator of the Dynamic Maturational Model of Attachment and Adaptation (DMM) and author of Raising Parents: Attachment, representation, and treatment.
In her early career Dr Crittenden worked towards her Phd under the supervision of Mary Ainsworth who developed the Strange Situation procedure and the ABC classification model of attachment. Crittenden and her colleagues refined understanding further to develop the DMM.
Dr Crittenden suggests the pathway for improving outcomes for children lies in the support we give parents to harness the power to become better parents. Working in collaboration with other attachment experts to develop a set of assessments for adults and children to identify their attachment strategies and plan specific interventions that will help parents create a more secure environment where possible and reduce the risk of harm.
The power of the DMM lies in understanding that attachment strategies can change throughout life to heal from trauma.
She has conducted significant research on attachment including:
- Using Parental Attachment in Family Court Proceedings which some analysis of the attachment profiles of the UK public and those in public law proceedings.
- The Effects of Separation from Parents on Children.
Right to Love – Key Links
RTL raises awareness of child/partner psychological abuse in the context of parental separation. Our leaflet provides a brief overview of this issue for busy professionals and families.
Some refer to “parental alienation” but we have outlined Why Right to Love Doesn’t Use the Term as we believe it is unnecessarily leading to difficulties securing mental health solutions. Instead we support the diagnostic model used by Dr Craig Childress to identify cases of child psychological abuse.
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