Divorced Fathers at Risk of Parental Alienation: Practice and Policy Guidelines for Enhancing Paternal Responsibility
Abstract
A significant proportion of non-residential separated and divorced fathers find themselves at risk of parental alienation and absence from their children's lives, despite increasing levels of paternal involvement in child rearing in two-parent families. This article briefly reports the results of a study of divorced fathers lived experiences, and their perceptions regarding their children's needs, paternal responsibilities to those needs, and the responsibilities of social institutions to support fathers during and after the divorce transitionâ€setting the stage for a broader discussion of (1) needed reforms in socio-legal policy to maintain and enhance paternal involvement in children's lives post- divorce, including the feasibility of a rebuttable legal presumption of shared parental responsibility in contested child custody cases, and (2) practice guidelines to engage this at-risk and under-served population in a constructive clinical process. Above all, the key to engaging divorced fathers is to validate their parental identity, and combine advocacy efforts with counseling focused on enhancing their role as active and responsible parents.
