February 17, 2024 • Virginia E. Griffin, Esq.
Building a Better Way: A Lawyer’s Response to Benjamin D. Garber and Robert A. Simon
ABSTRACT: One of the most complex dilemmas in family courts today is the issue of the conflicted family system that presents itself when a child appears to be strongly aligned with one parent and resistant to having a relationship with the other. ln the interest of understanding and serving these children, family law professionals best serve children (and family systems) when the professionals themselves do not become polarized and jeopardize the best interests of the children involved. The Garber and Simon (2024) article seems to be a wholesale condemnation of the Five Factor Model, ("FFM"), the model under review thereln. However, the authors' analysis seems to resurrect the FFM in their conclusion because they state that the FFM is a "step in the direction toward standardizing family law professionals' assess- ment processes" and could be incorporated into the Ecological Model. The purpose of this article is to consider the critique of the FFM from the perspective of a legal professional working with conflicted family systems. Garber and Simon's article can help advance the best interests of children when the result is collaboration among family law professionals.
February 12, 2024 • Benjamin D. Garber & Robert Simon
Moving Toward Consensus: Joining Bernet and Baker, Emery, and Griffin to Better Understand the Dynamics of Parent-Child Contact Problems (PCCP)
ABSTRACT: The editors of Family Transitions have bravely and graciously invited this dialogue in an effort to clarify the state of the thinking and the science concerned with understanding and responding to the needs of the child who is aligned with Parent A and resists or refuses contact with Parent B1 This article responds to the considered and insightful contributions of Griffin (2024), Emery (2024), and Bernet and Baker (2024). Many points of consensus are highlighted, most notably agreements that (1) the child’s position within her conflicted family system is routinely associated with multiple, convergent contemporary and historical relationship pressures, (2) understanding a child’s position within her conflicted family system requires consideration of the full spectrum of a child’s relationship ecology in a manner consistent with a rubric propounded by Garber (2024), and (3) the Five Factor Model (Bernet & Greenhill, 2022) can only attempt to answer the question “is alienation afoot?” subsidiary to a broader inquiry into the full ecology of the child’s experience.
October 3, 2023 • Benjamin D. Garber & Robert A. Simon
Looking Beyond the Sorting Hat: Deconstructing the “Five Factor Model” of Alienation
ABSTRACT: One of the most common dilemmas encountered in today’s family courts is the child who is strongly aligned with Parent A and rejects parent B. In the interest of supporting these children’s opportunity to enjoy a healthy relationship with both of their caregivers, one can work to determine which parent is to blame or what combination of parent behavior, relationship dynamics, and practical circumstances result in this outcome. The Five Factor Model (FFM) does the former, promoting a stepwise approach to “diagnosing” parental alienation. This paper demonstrates that for all of its appeal, the FFM is deeply flawed and promotes a binary (good guy/bad guy) approach that readily exacerbates family tensions. We reject the FFM and advocate instead for a balanced conceptualization of the child’s larger relationship ecology. A rubric guiding this ecological approach (Garber, in press 2023) is recommended.