Richard Warshak

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Richard Warshak
Born1949
NationalityAmerican
EducationPh.D., Clinical psychology
Alma mater University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Known for Child custody, Shared parenting, Parental alienation
Scientific career
Institutions University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Thesis The Effects of Father Custody and Mother Custody on Children's Personality Development (1978)

Richard A. Warshak (born December 18, 1949) is an American clinical and research psychologist and author. He is best known for his research and advocacy in the areas of child custody, shared parenting, and claims of parental alienation in the context of divorce. Warshak has written two books, The Custody Revolution, [1] and Divorce Poison: Protecting the Parent-Child Bond From a Vindictive Ex, [2] and the updated edition, Divorce Poison: How to Protect Your Family from Bad-mouthing and Brainwashing. [3]

Contents

Education

Warshak graduated from Brooklyn's Midwood High School [4] in 1966 and received his B.S. degree from Cornell University in 1971. Warshak received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in 1978 where he stayed to eventually become Clinical Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry. [5]

Research

Warshak's research has focused on issues relating to child custody. His doctoral dissertation, The Effects of Father Custody and Mother Custody on Children's Personality Development, compared children growing up in father-custody homes to children growing up in mother-custody homes. [6] He later collaborated with John Santrock on the Texas Custody Research Project on a series of studies on the effects of different custody dispositions and stepfamilies. [7] [8]

Warshak's subsequent research in this area has focused on remarriage, relocation, parenting plans for young children, the American Law Institute's approximation rule and children's preferences in custody disputes.

Parental alienation

In 2003, Warshak published an article that discussed the controversy about whether a child's alienation from a parent could be diagnosed as a syndrome and presented arguments both for and against the use of the term parental alienation syndrome . [9] His article about a program he helped develop, Family Bridges: Using Insights from Social Science to Reconnect Parents and Alienated Children, led to a 2010 special issue of the Family Court Review dedicated to the controversy surrounding claims of parental alienation. [10]

Warshak takes the position that a child's alienation from a parent may be the result of many causes, including the behavior of the rejected parent. [3] : 61–63  Warshak asserts that courts must rapidly and effectively enforce orders related to children's contact with both parents. [11]

Warshak asserts that the emotional and financial costs of severe alienation and the difficulties in repairing that damage make it important to identify children who are at risk and to educate judges. His educational video, Welcome Back, Pluto: Understanding, Preventing, and Overcoming Parental Alienation, is directed at children, teens, and young adults who are alienated or at risk for becoming alienated. [12]

Consensus report on shared parenting

In 2014 Warshak's article Social Science and Parenting Plans for Young Children: A Consensus Report, was published by the American Psychological Association in the journal Psychology, Public Policy, and Law. [13] The article summarized research on different child custody arrangements after divorce, recommending shared parenting in the vast majority of cases. Warshak's conclusions were endorsed by 110 other researchers and practitioners, many of whom held prominent academic and research positions. [14]

Positions and roles

Warshak was a founding member and past president of the Dallas Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology and was the founding editor of the Dallas Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology Bulletin. [15]

Media

Warshak has written several op-ed columns published in U.S. newspapers and online publications. [16] He was one of the five initial contributors to the Child and Family Blog co-sponsored by Princeton University, Brookings Institution, University of Cambridge, and the Jacobs Foundation. [17]

Warshak has been interviewed on television programs, including ABC 20/20, [18] and the PBS documentary TV Special, Kids & Divorce: For Better or Worse.. [19] His work and opinions have been discussed in newspaper and magazine articles. [20]

Controversy

Warshak helped develop the Family Bridges workshop programs for children and rejected parents. [21] This type of program is controversial due to questions as to whether children should be forced to live with the rejected parent or be required to participate in any program or therapy predicated upon the belief that their rejection of a parent is unreasonable, or whether such mandates may be beneficial. [22] [23]

Some children who participated programs associated with Warshak have complained about the experience. [24] [25] According to a 2018 peer-reviewed study authored by Warshak, most workshop leaders, parents and children in the Family Bridges program reported positive experiences. [26] Warshak's conclusions have been called into question based upon his not being a neutral observer, the study's lack of follow-up, [27] his claimed evidentiary basis for the Family Bridges program, and his reliance upon before-and-after studies instead of controlled studies. [22]

Selected publications

Books

Selected articles

Selected Book chapters

Related Research Articles

Divorce is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the bonds of matrimony between a married couple under the rule of law of the particular country or state. Divorce laws vary considerably around the world, but in most countries, divorce requires the sanction of a court or other authority in a legal process, which may involve issues of distribution of property, child custody, alimony, child visitation / access, parenting time, child support, and division of debt. In most countries, monogamy is required by law, so divorce allows each former partner to marry another person.

Shared parenting, shared residence, joint residence, shared custody, joint physical custody, equal parenting time (EPT) is a child custody arrangement after divorce or separation, in which both parents share the responsibility of raising their child(ren), with equal or close to equal parenting time. A regime of shared parenting is based on the idea that children have the right to and benefit from a close relationship with both their parents, and that no child should be separated from a parent.

The fathers' rights movement is a social movement whose members are primarily interested in issues related to family law, including child custody and child support, that affect fathers and their children. Many of its members are fathers who desire to share the parenting of their children equally with their children's mothers—either after divorce or as unwed fathers—and the children of the terminated marriage. The movement includes men as well as women, often the second wives of divorced fathers or other family members of men who have had some engagement with family law. Many members of the movement are self-educated in family law, including child custody and support, as they believe that equally-shared parenting time was being unjustly negated by family courts.

Parental alienation is a theorized process through which a child becomes estranged from one parent as the result of the psychological manipulation of another parent. The child's estrangement may manifest itself as fear, disrespect or hostility toward the distant parent, and may extend to additional relatives or parties. The child's estrangement is disproportionate to any acts or conduct attributable to the alienated parent. Parental alienation can occur in any family unit, but is claimed to occur most often within the context of family separation, particularly when legal proceedings are involved, although the participation of professionals such as lawyers, judges and psychologists may also contribute to conflict.

Parental alienation syndrome (PAS) is a term introduced by child psychiatrist Richard Gardner in 1985 to describe signs and symptoms he believed to be exhibited by children who have been alienated from one parent through manipulation by the other parent. Proposed symptoms included extreme but unwarranted fear, and disrespect or hostility towards a parent. Gardner believed that a set of behaviors that he observed in some families involved in child custody litigation could be used to diagnose psychological manipulation or undue influence of a child by a parent, typically by the other parent who may be attempting to prevent an ongoing relationship between a child and other family members after family separation or divorce. Use of the term "syndrome" has not been accepted by either the medical or legal communities and Gardner's research has been broadly criticized by legal and mental health scholars for lacking scientific validity and reliability.

Richard Alan Gardner was an American child psychiatrist known for his work in psychotherapy with children, parental alienation and child custody evaluations. Based on his clinical work with children and families, Gardner introduced the term Parental alienation syndrome (PAS), which is now "largely rejected by most credible professionals." He wrote 41 books and more than 200 journal articles and book chapters, although most of his work was self-published, non-peer-reviewed, and anecdotal. He developed child play therapy and test materials which he published through his company Creative Therapeutics. Gardner was an expert witness in child custody cases.

Joint custody is a court order whereby custody of a child is awarded to both parties. In the United States, there are two forms of joint custody, joint physical custody and joint legal custody. In joint physical custody, the lodging and care of the child is shared according to a court-ordered parenting schedule with equal or close to equal parenting time. In joint legal custody, both parents share the ability to make decisions about the child, regarding e.g. education, medical care and religion, and both can access their children's educational and health records.

Child custody is a legal term regarding guardianship which is used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent or guardian and a child in that person's care. Child custody consists of legal custody, which is the right to make decisions about the child, and physical custody, which is the right and duty to house, provide and care for the child. Married parents normally have joint legal and physical custody of their children. Decisions about child custody typically arise in proceedings involving divorce, annulment, separation, adoption or parental death. In most jurisdictions child custody is determined in accordance with the best interests of the child standard.

The National Parents Organization (NPO) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable and educational organization in the United States that promotes shared parenting. The organization focuses on family court reform, research, and public education with the goal to make shared parenting the general norm for separated parenting.

Co-parenting is an enterprise undertaken by parents who together take on the socialization, care, and upbringing of children for whom they share equal responsibility. The co-parent relationship differs from an intimate relationship between adults in that it focuses solely on the child. The equivalent term in evolutionary biology is bi-parental care, where parental investment is provided by both the mother and father.

The fathers' rights movement has simultaneously evolved in many countries, advocating for shared parenting after divorce or separation, and the right of children and fathers to have close and meaningful relationships. This article provides details about the fathers' rights movement in specific countries.

A gatekeeper parent, in legal setting, is a parent who appoints themself the power to decide what relationship is acceptable between the other parent and the child(ren). The term is broad and may include power dynamics within a marriage or may describe the behaviors of divorced or never married parents.

Michael E. Lamb is a professor and former Head of the then Department of Social and Developmental Psychology at the University of Cambridge. In 2003 Lamb was the recipient of the 2003–2004 James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award from the Association for Psychological Science.

Sole custody is a child custody arrangement whereby only one parent has custody of a child. In the most common use of the term, sole custody refers to a context in which one parent has sole physical custody of a child.

Joint custody is a form of child custody pursuant to which custody rights are awarded to both parents. Joint custody may refer to joint physical custody, joint legal custody, or both combined.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Families Need Fathers</span>

Families Need Fathers - Both Parents Matter (FNF), founded in 1974, is a registered charitable social care organization in the United Kingdom that offers information, advice, and support to parents whose children's relationship with them is under threat during or after divorce or separation, or who have been alienated or estranged from their children. FNF also advocates for shared parenting, more time for children with their non-resident parent, and stronger court actions when a resident parent defies court orders requiring them to allow their children a relationship with the other parent. The organization's goal is that children of divorce or separation should not lose the love and care of one of their parents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carol S. Bruch</span>

Carol Sophie Bruch is an American legal scholar and professor emerita of the law school at the University of California, Davis. A recognized authority on family marital property law, and private international law, she has influenced and worked on the drafting of family law statutes in California and other US states, and also international agreements. She holds a JD from UC Berkeley School of Law and an AB from Shimer College.

Linda Nielsen is a professor of adolescent and educational psychology in the Department of Education at Wake Forest University. She has conducted research on the effects of shared parenting and on father–daughter relationships.

Edward Kruk is a Canadian sociologist and social worker. He has conducted internationally recognized research on child custody, shared parenting, family mediation, divorced fathers, parental alienation, parental addiction, child protection, and grandparent access to their grandchildren. Kruk is an associate professor of social work at the University of British Columbia. He is the founding president of the International Council on Shared Parenting.

The Family Justice System of England and Wales is a branch of the Courts of England and Wales that deals with disputes within families through Family law. Disputes are resolved in the family magistrates court and in the Family Division of the High Court. The matters considered by the court include those arising from marriage, divorce, financial payments following divorce, protection from domestic abuse and the risk of domestic abuse, child custody matters, adoption cases, cases surrounding artificial insemination, and the medical treatment of children.

References

  1. ↑ Warshak, Richard Ades (1992). The custody revolution : the father factor and the motherhood mystique. New York: Poseidon Press. ISBN   9780671746940.
  2. ↑ Warshak, Richard Ades (2001). Divorce poison : protecting the parent-child bond from a vindictive ex (1st ed.). New York: ReganBooks. ISBN   9780060188993.
  3. 1 2 Warshak, Richard Ades (2010). Divorce poison : how to protect your family from bad-mouthing and brainwashing ([Rev.] ed.). New York: Harper. ISBN   9780061863264.
  4. ↑ Midwood High School Brooklyn, NY Alumni List
  5. ↑ UT Southwestern Clinical Psychology Faculty
  6. ↑ Warshak, R. A. (1978). The Effects of Father Custody and Mother Custody on Children’s Personality Development. Doctoral dissertation, University of Texas Health Science Center, Dallas, TX.
  7. ↑ Behavior: Woe Is One. (1980, September 8).Time, 116 (10).
  8. ↑ Warshak, Richard A.; Santrock, John W. (March 1983). "The impact of divorce in father-custody and mother-custody homes: The child's perspective". New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development. 1983 (19): 29–46. doi: 10.1002/cd.23219831905 .
  9. ↑ Warshak, R. A. (2003). Bringing Sense to Parental Alienation: a Look at the Disputes and the Evidence. Family Law Quarterly, 37, 273-301.
  10. ↑ Fidler, Barbara Jo; Bala, Nicholas (January 2010). "Guest Editors' Introduction to Special Issue on Alienated Children in Divorce and Separation: Emerging Approaches for Families and Courts". Family Court Review. 48 (1): 6–9. doi:10.1111/j.1744-1617.2009.01286.x.
  11. ↑ Pigg, S. (2010, February 9). Tough Love From Texas. Toronto Star.
  12. ↑ Levy, D. L., & Sauber, S. R. (2011). Review of the DVD Welcome Back, Pluto: Understanding, Preventing, and Overcoming Parental Alienation. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 39, 77-85.
  13. ↑ Warshak, Richard A. (February 2014). "Social science and parenting plans for young children: A consensus report" (PDF). Psychology, Public Policy, and Law. 20 (1): 46–67. doi:10.1037/law0000005.
  14. ↑ Nielsen, Linda (December 2, 2015). "Pop Goes the Woozle: Being Misled by Research on Child Custody and Parenting Plans". Journal of Divorce & Remarriage. 56 (8): 595–633. doi:10.1080/10502556.2015.1092349. S2CID   146201146.
  15. ↑ Brix, D. J.(1994). Dallas Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology: A brief history Archived 2011-11-13 at the Wayback Machine . In R. C. Lane and M. Meisels (Eds.), A History of the Division of Psychoanalysis of the American Psychological Association. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  16. ↑ See, e.g., Warshak, Richard A. (April 8, 2016). "Making kids choose not wise in custody battles". San Diego Union Tribune. Retrieved January 21, 2020., "Richard Warshak". Huffington Post. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
  17. ↑ "Future of Children Launches Child and Family Blog". Woodrow Wilson School of Public & International Affairs. Princeton University. July 18, 2014. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
  18. ↑ Sancho, Miguel; Cuomo, Chris (September 10, 2009). "Fighting for Liam: Michael McCarty Rails Against Italian Courts for Not Protecting Son". ABC News. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
  19. ↑ Kane, Erin. "Kids & Divorce: For Better or Worse" (PDF) (Press release). Twin Cities Public Television and PBS. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  20. ↑ See, e.g., Arndt, Bettina (April 28, 2015). "Empty days, lonely nights". The Age. Retrieved January 21, 2020., Rochmann, Bonnie (May 19, 2011). "The Schwarzenegger Kids: Coping with Parental Betrayal in the Public Eye". Time. Retrieved January 21, 2020., Paul, Pamela (August 30, 2004). "Joint Custody Blues". Time. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
  21. ↑ Warshak, Richard A. (January 2010). "Family Bridges: Using Insights from Social Science to Reconnect Parents and Alienated Children". Family Court Review. 48 (1): 48–80. doi:10.1111/j.1744-1617.2009.01288.x.
  22. 1 2 Mercer, Jean (June 3, 2019). "Examining Parental Alienation Treatments: Problems of Principles and Practices". Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal. 36 (4): 355–357. doi:10.1007/s10560-019-00625-8. S2CID   254380668.
  23. ↑ Fidler, Barbara Jo; Bala, Nicholas (2010). "Children Resisting Postseparation Contact with a Parent: Concepts, Controversies, and Conundrums". Family Court Review. 48: 10–47. doi:10.1111/j.1744-1617.2009.01287.x.
  24. ↑ Bundy, Trey (March 9, 2019). "Bitter custody". The Center for Investigative Reporting. Reveal. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  25. ↑ Tabachnick, Cara (May 11, 2017). "They were taken from their mom to rebond with their dad. It didn't go well". Washington Post. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
  26. ↑ Warshak, Richard A. (2019). "Reclaiming Parent–Child Relationships: Outcomes of Family Bridges with Alienated Children". Journal of Divorce & Remarriage. 60 (8): 645–667. doi:10.1080/10502556.2018.1529505. S2CID   149812670.
  27. ↑ Hagerty, Barbara Bradley (November 24, 2020). "Can Children Be Persuaded to Love a Parent They Hate?". The Atlantic. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
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