Parental Alienation Sydrome as it's known in America would probably be described here as badmouthing your ex-partner in front of your children. The intention is to turn them against the other parent.
Last month an appeal was granted against a high court decision to bar contact between a father and his son because insufficient consideration had been given to the possibility that the mother had 'alienated' the son against her ex-husband.
Only the second time that the Court of Appeal has even mentioned alienation in a ruling, it gives hope to some ex-partners that the phenomenon is beginning to be taken seriously and that it will make contact easier. Others worry that contact will be forced on children despite them saying that they don't want it.
Kim Normanton talks to a woman who left her husband and children six years ago and no longer has contact with her children. She claims they were turned against her by their father.
