Alienating Behaviours & Enforcement Issues in Private Children Law

Introduction

Private children law disputes will invariably involve allegations raised as to alienating behaviours, what was previously referred to by many as ‘parental alienation’.

Children practitioners working in private children law will often come across high conflict contact and child arrangements matters.

In many disputes, blame is attributed to the other party and, unfortunately, the child often gets caught in the middle of what is a dispute between the adults. What should you do in situations relating to alienating behaviour cases?

This webinar will consider the various options available and the development of this area of children law.

What You Will Learn

This webinar will cover the following:

• Enforcement of Orders and the use of s.11 CA 1989
• ,i>H-B (Contact) - is to ‘make available’ to simply allow, to encourage, or to ensure?
• CH v CT,/i> - steps to take in applying to enforce contact, by way of committal - the correct procedure
• Is switching of live with arrangements a possibility?
• What about the threat of costs? Can this discourage allegations being made? Consideration of Re E (Children: Costs) [2025]
• How does enforcement work under the Pathfinder Pilot?
• Developments in the Pathfinder Pilot and enforcement in 2026
• Consideration of Re H (Parental Alienation)
• Implications of Re S (Parental Alienation: Cult: Transfer of Primary Care)
• Alienating Behaviours, costs and transfer of live with arrangements following Re A and B (Children: ‘Parental Alienation’) (No. 1-5)
• How does the court deal with alienating behaviour cases - are fact findings required and what about experts? Consideration of AM v RF and The Children G and B
• The Family Justice Council Guidance: ‘Guidance on responding to a child’s unexplained reluctance, resistance or refusal to spend time with a parent and allegations of alienating behaviour’ - how does this apply in practice?

This pre-recorded webinar will be available to view from Monday 6th July 2026

Alternatively, you can gain access to this webinar and 2,101 others via the MBL Webinar Subscription. Please email webinarsubscription@mblseminars.com for more details.