The National Family Violence Law Center at GW

08/13/2026

NEW INTERVIEW with NFVLC Director, Professor Joan Meier - When Assumptions Hurt: Separating Myths From Evidence In Intimate Partner Domestic Violence. LISTEN here or at the link in our website www.nfvlc.org

Professor Joan Meier examines intimate partner violence myths, child custody decisions, and empirical research in family courts.

08/03/2026

Tonight on PBS News Hour at 6 pm and 7 pm, NFVLC founding director Prof Joan Meier will be talking about some of the claims being made by Max Miller about why his wife could not be telling the truth.

Tune in! https://www.pbs.org/newshour/

07/28/2026

Domestic violence homicides often follow known warning signs and patterns that are overlooked until it is too late.

07/17/2026

Essential resource, a new article by NFVLC founding director Professor Joan Meier at GW Law: Misinformation in parental alienation discourse can mislead courts and endanger children, just published in the Journal of Family Trauma, Child Custody & Child Development and available here for litigants, court professionals, and scholars. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26904586.2026.2678421

Abstract
Common social science assertions by parental alienation proponents—in expert opinions, judicial trainings and scholarship—can persuade judges that parental alienation is both so real and so destructive that it requires the draconian remedies of removal of children from a loving, physically safe parent and/or forcing them into contact with a parent they fear. These assertions are typically stated as though they are research-based or well-established. Review of cited or other relevant research, however, shows that these assertions are misinformation, unsupported by and/or contrary to established research. This article explores two such claims: first, that children’s fear or hostility toward a parent is a sign of alienation, not abuse; and second, that parental alienation causes severe lifelong harms—justifying the traumatic removal of a child from their parent and home. Without these assertions, parental alienation labels would evoke less urgency for draconian interventions and would be less likely to preempt concerns about the risks posed by an allegedly abusive or harmful parent.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26904586.2026.2678421

Common social science assertions by parental alienation proponents—in expert opinions, judicial trainings and scholarship—can persuade judges that parental alienation is both so real and so destruc...

06/23/2026

REGISTER HERE https://americanbar.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_DWIV2wwfQZWtB_YYr1Smsg #/registration

Parental alienation claims in custody disputes remain deeply contested and can have significant implications for survivors of domestic violence, children, and family court outcomes.

Join the ABA Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence for its Write and Tell program, a free, book-club-style discussion series featuring authors Jean Mercer and Margaret Drew discussing Challenging Parental Alienation: New Directions for Professionals and Parents. This conversation will be moderated by Paul Griffin.

📅 June 29, 2026
🕰️ 3:00 PM ET
No reading required.

💡 To learn more and register ➡️ https://ow.ly/Tni450Z7OJT

📘 Interested in the book? Use discount code 26AEV1 via Routledge: https://ow.ly/IVTg50Z7OK0

06/03/2026

Judicial training on domestic abuse used to be a closely guarded state secret. A new step forward in transparency was announced today, with the Judicial College making this information public for the first time. I've long called for better training - and greater transparency on domestic abuse training across the judiciary and legal profession.
Finally some progress has been made! 🥳
"The Right Honourable Lady Justice King DBE, chair of the Judicial College, writes in her foreword: “Alongside the prospectus, we are publishing an overview of training in domestic abuse for magistrates and judges in the family and criminal courts. It explains, for the first time, how training in domestic abuse is embedded across the curriculum."

Judicial College embeds domestic abuse training into 'continuous' curriculum for judges - Today's Family Lawyer https://share.google/OEQjpR0ho1DOyNWcX

https://amzn.eu/d/08poRCW8

05/20/2026

05/16/2026

In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court of Canada has created a new tort of intimate partner violence that will allow people to sue for damages when they have been subject to abuse in a relationship.

04/20/2026

Women are at highest risk of being hurt or killed after separating from a potentially violent partner, but interventions such as taking away the former partner’s fi****ms can protect them.

03/11/2026

Drawing upon multiple case studies, this article examines how parenting double standards are reproduced in situations where women who have experienced domestic violence have been seen as ‘alienating’ mothers, while the men who have perpetrated
the violence have been seem as ‘good’ or ‘good enough’ fathers. In total, 25 cases studies were conducted with women who had experienced domestic violence, had at least one child and had been perceived by at least one professional as ‘engaging in parental
alienation’ at some point within the previous 5 years. Each case study involved at least one semi-structured interview with the woman and the analysis of relevant documents, including family evaluation reports, child protection reports and court decisions.

These double standards were identified when the mothers’ and the fathers’ behaviours and circumstances had been measured or evaluated using a different set of principles. The research findings reveal different main manifestations of parenting double
standards, which relate to the parents’ credibility and the parents’ past and personal histories.

To read the paper by Lapierre et al visit https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/cfs.13260 or search Abused Women as ‘Alienating’ Mothers and Violent Men as ‘Good’ Fathers: Double Standards in Child Protection and Child Custody Proceedings