The removal of family power in the context of parental alienation by false memories: Risks and challenges

Abstract

From the creation of Law n° 12.318/2010, parental alienation was brought under Brazilian jurisdictional protection. In context, parental alienation is the demerit campaign generally carried out by those who hold custody of the minor, in relation to the other parent, with the aim of weakening the child's or adolescent's affective bond with him/her, removing him/her from their coexistence. This practice may even involve the implantation of false memories in the minor, causing him/her to mistakenly remember traumatic moments that occurred because of the alienated parent, capable of cause various psychological damages to the infants involved, in addition to harming their biopsychosocial development and violating the right to healthy family coexistence, guaranteed in the Magna Carta. From this perspective, it was necessary to assess whether the removal of family power is the best alternative to be applied, under the aegis of the principle of the best interests of the child that governs this order. To this end, we analyzed qualitatively, descriptively and bibliographically, scientific research by scholars in the field of psychology, psychiatry and law, obtaining a multidisciplinary result, about the Parental Alienation Law and its possibilities and applicability.