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Written question asked by Baroness Helic (Conservative) on Tuesday, 14 November 2023, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 28 November 2023. It was answered by Lord Bellamy (Conservative) on Thursday, 30 November 2023 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

Residence Orders

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government how many transfers of residency orders have been issued by family courts in the past two years; and of those, (1) how many were issued following findings or allegations of parental alienation, and (2) how many were made in favour of a parent previously accused of child sexual abuse.

Answer

Transfers of residency orders, incidences of findings of child sexual abuse in private law proceedings, and cases involving allegations of parental alienation or alienating behaviours are not recorded centrally. Such information could only be obtained by analysis of individual case files at disproportionate costs.

Regarding the term “parental alienation”: as part of his judgment in the case of Re C, the President of the Family Division outlined that most family judges regard the label of “parental alienation”, and the idea that it “may be a diagnosable syndrome” as being “unhelpful”. He noted that instead the courts should focus on identifying any specific “alienating behaviours”.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL282
Session
2023-24
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Children Abuse Family courts Parents Residence orders
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk