Our researchers have started to widen the net with their research on Parental Alienation beyond Cafcass and the Courts to the support services that surround children in everyday life.

In the main these will be schools, Local Authorities, Local Authority Safeguarding Boards, and of course the NHS in the form of GPs, Nurses, and the Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).

Our first response is in from Hertfordshire NHS Trust.

Our researcher’s questions are shown below with the the responses from Hertfordshire NHS shown inline:

1. Please could you provide copies of your policies and procedures for reported incidents of parental alienation. No specific policy but HCT safeguarding policy does address emotional abuse (see attached) 2. Please confirm whether you provide or recommend any specific parental alienation CPD learning or development for CAMHS employees HCT does not have CAMHS employees. [EDITOR’S NOTE: finding who CAMHS staff “belong to’ is proving a challenge] 3. Please provide copies of your policies and procedures that address onward referrals of cases that involve emotional abuse to children Incorporated within safeguarding Policy attached 4. Please provide copies of your safe guarding policy for children referred to you Incorporated within safeguarding Policy attached

The attached Safeguarding Policy that they refer to in their response can be viewed here:

This is only the beginning.

We’ll update this post as more and more Trusts reply.