To the House of Commons,

The petition of residents of the United Kingdom,

Declares that Parental Alienation is a pattern of behaviour that impacts on the emotional development, welfare and prospects of thousands of children in the UK each year. It is, therefore, a child protection issue; further that children benefit from a relationship with both parents. The parental bond is not replaceable or interchangeable and no child chooses to lose a parent. In the UK about 30 000 applications for contact are made to Family Courts each year which involve about 45 000 children; further that many cases take years to resolve with about 81 000 children included on court orders for contact each year, in a majority of cases this is completely unnecessary and at great expense to the tax payer; further that parents are under considerable emotional and financial strain to maintain relationships with their children; further that emotional and therapeutic support available to children going through the court process is currently ineffective in dealing with the root problem; further that early intervention is required to stop the escalation of Parental Alienation and the damage it does to children; and further that existing legislation does not sufficiently recognise Parental Alienation.

The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to perform an urgent review of child protection practices in court proceedings for child arrangements orders to ensure Parental Alienation is understood, correctly and quickly identified and dealt with effectively ;further that changes are made to the Children Act 1989 to make it clearer that Parental Alienation is a welfare concern and should have greater consideration than a child's stated wishes and feelings to cut off all ties with an emotionally available, normal range parent i.e. a parent who is neither neglectful nor severely abusive ; further that changes are made to Section 76 and 66 of the Serious Crimes Act 2015 and the forthcoming Domestic Abuse Bill to provide examples of alienating behaviour and make it a criminal offence for anyone to break contact orders or make, or encourage a child to make, false and/or exaggerated accusations against a parent ;and further that a child's right to a relationship with both parents be enshrined in law with a principle of shared parenting along with their right to a relationship with extended family.