Contested child custody provides many challenges for alternate dispute resolution. With no-fault divorce, and a standard for determining custody in light of the child's best interest, judges are besieged with a backlog of disputed custody cases without clear and concrete guidelines to follow in deciding whether to favor the mother or the father. Many experts in family law- both from the legal and mental health arenas have observed an increase in deceptive and manipulative tactics used by divorcing couples.

The surge in divorce rates during the past two decades along with major judicial reforms since the 1970's has led to several significant changes in the ways that courts handle family law cases. Divorce and custody laws have been widely revised by states, and alternatives to litigation have emerged and gained prominence. Mediation has become a popular option, and in some states, mediation is mandatory for divorcing couples. Judicial systems in California, Minnesota and Wisconsin were early experimenters with the concept of conciliation courts, where parents were encouraged to work out divorce and custody conflicts. States that have introduced ma

Commonly the children will accept as 100 percent valid the allegations of the loved parent against the hated one, even after seeing evidence that the loved parent was lying.

There is a need for training to teach mediators how to detect and deal with PAS families; again there is no research to date indicating that family mediators are trained in PAS. A thorough literature review for this research paper showed no such training procedures reported at the time of this writing, although there are several researchers that call for training to help all family interveners deal effectively with brainwashing, programming and alienation tactics by separated parents (Cartwright, 1993; Clawar & Rivlin, 1991; Dunne & Hedrick, Gardner, 1992; Hysjulien et al., 1994, Lund, 1995; Turkat, 1994; Walsh & Bone, 1997). In their 1994 review of methods for child custody evaluation used in litigation and alternate dispute resolution Hysjulien, Wood and Benjamin concluded that models for training competent evaluators or for educating attorneys and the judiciary about custody evaluation issues are lacking (p.485).

Issues of abuse and violence are prevalent in custody disputes. It has been argued that mediation may not be appropriate for couples who have experienced domestic violence because it may place women and children at risk for ongoing intimidation (Hysjulien, Wood & Benjamin, 1994). The mediation process can and has allowed an abusive spouse to maintain control and domination with the sanction of the courts (Geffner & Pagelow, 1990). At least three states recognize the paradox of mediating in abusive relationships, and in North Dakota, Oregon, and Minnesota, mediation is waived where parties allege domestic violence or child abuse. (Bruch, 1988 and Sun & Thomas, 1987 in Geffner & Pagelow, 1990) While PAS has never been formally linked with domestic violence or spouse abuse cases, the issues of control, domination and emotional abuse are present in both types of cases. PAS and child brainwashing are forms of child abuse (Chessler, 1986; Clawar & Rivlin, 1991; Gardner, 1992; Herman!

The co-mediation team process advocated by the American Association for Mediated Divorce (AAMD) would consist of an impartial lawyer and an impartial mental health professional meeting with the divorcing couple. The model also uses a process to screen couples prior to mediation as well as the pre-mediation agreement mentioned earlier. The couple understands that they are working toward a three part agreement: 1) part one reaffirms the need for both parents to be actively involved with their children after the divorce and the need for mutual cooperation toward this goal; 2) in part two, both parents agree how to share the duties of parenting and how to cooperate when decisions are made; 3) part three includes a foundation for agreement about financial issues and provides for future mediation should problems arise (Herman, 1990, p. 48). Parties who cannot agree to this type of openness and cooperation would be screened out to bypass the option of mediating an agreement.

of child abuse, which comes about when one parent is intent upon driving away the other parent (Carper, 1995). Cases where PAS is suspected require a diagnosis from a mental health expert prior to being referred for mediation.

of child abuse, which comes about when one parent is intent upon driving away the other parent (Carper, 1995). Cases where PAS is suspected require a diagnosis from a mental health expert prior to being referred for mediation.

Need for Swift, Clear Judicial Action

Spread of the animosity to the extended family of the hated parent

Weak, frivolous, or absurd rationalizations for the deprecation

Issues of abuse and violence are prevalent in custody disputes. It has been argued that mediation may not be appropriate for couples who have experienced domestic violence because it may place women and children at risk for ongoing intimidation (Hysjulien, Wood & Benjamin, 1

Some common words found in the essay are:
Clawar Rivlin, Walsh Bone, Pearson Thoennes, Custody Mediation, Secondly PAS, Description Behavior, Divorce AAMD, Dunne Hedrick, California Davis, Alienation Syndrome, mental health, alienating parent, herman 1990, gardner 1992, walsh bone, child custody, parental alienation, walsh bone 1997, bone 1997, clawar rivlin 1991, custody disputes, rivlin 1991, parental alienation syndrome, dunne hedrick 1994, alienation syndrome pas,
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Approximate Pages = 42 (250 words per page double spaced)