41.家庭纠纷

Passage Forty-One

Family dispute

家庭纠纷

【1】A mother accused(charged) of alienating her children from their father has won an appeal to overturn a decision by a district judge to instruct(guide) a psychological(mental) expert in her case.

一位母亲被指控离间孩子与父亲的关系，之后这位母亲进行了上诉，并获胜，推翻了地区法官请心理专家介入其案件的决定。

【2】The lower court had been wrong to make an order inviting the expert to undertake psychological assessments of the parents and two children and for doing so without giving proper(suitable) reasons, according to a more senior judge.

据一位更高级别的法官称，下级法院请专家从事对父母和两个孩子进行心理评估，但没有给出正当理由，这种行为是错误的。

【3】The successful appeal is significant(important) because it follows new guidance from Sir Andrew McFarlane, president of the family division of the high court in England and Wales. This stipulates(rules) that a decision on whether or not a parent has alienated a child should be a question of fact to be resolved by the court – and not a diagnosis offered by a psychologist.

这次上诉获胜意义重大，因为它遵循了英格兰和威尔士高等法院家事法庭庭长安德鲁•麦克法兰爵士的新指导方针。该指导方针规定，关于父母是否疏远孩子的裁定，应该由法院解决，而不是由心理学家提供诊断。

【4】The appeal before Judge Middleton Roy relates to a case concerning children aged nine and 12 who live with their mother and have only indirect contact with their father.

米德尔顿·罗伊法官面前的上诉案件涉及两位与母亲同住的孩子，一个9岁，一个12岁，这两个孩子与父亲只有间接联系。

【5】During earlier proceedings the court heard expert advice in the form of a psychological assessment(evaluation) of the parents in April 2021. They identified that the mother did not have a current mental health disorder and felt the need to protect herself from the father.

在早期的诉讼中，法院听取了专家的意见，即2021年4月对父母进行的心理评估。他们认定母亲目前没有心理健康障碍，这位母亲还觉得有必要保护自己免受孩子父亲的伤害。

【6】Meanwhile the father was “considered to have limited insight into his ability to think reflectively and empathetically about his children” and it was suggested he might use “coercive(compelling) anger to manage his feelings about relationships”, according to Middleton-Roy’s judgment.

与此同时，根据米德尔顿·罗伊的判断，这位父亲“被认为进行深入思考、与孩子产生共鸣的能力有限”，他可能会使用“胁迫性的愤怒来管理自己对人际关系的感受”。

【7】However, the designated children’s guardian put in an application for new expert evidence after the father claimed(declared) the mother had alienated their children from him.

然而，在孩子的父亲声称母亲让孩子们疏远他之后，孩子的指定监护人申请了新的专家证据。

【8】The district judge – who is not named in the judgment-made order in June 2022 permitting(allowing) the instruction of a new expert, and also approved(authorized) questions they should address in their report.

判决书中未提及姓名的地区法官于2022年6月下令允许新专家进行指导，并批准了他们在报告中应解决的问题。

【9】It was suggested the new expert should examine(investigate) whether either parent had tried to alienate the children and, if so, that they should comment on “the impact upon the children, what work the parents will need to undertake to remedy any such negative influence, timescales and cost”. 

有人建议，新专家应审查父母是否有一方试图疏远孩子与另一方的关系，如果是这样，他们应评述“这对孩子的影响、父母需要做什么工作来补救此类负面影响、以及补救所需的时间和费用”。

【10】Parental alienation is commonly described as a child’s unjustified hostility or rejection of one parent for no reason other than that they have been manipulated – whether consciously or not – by the other parent.

父母疏远通常被描述为孩子对父母中的一方产生不当敌意或拒绝，因为他们被父母中的另一方有意或无意地操纵了。

【11】The Observer first reported on the use of parental alienation experts in the family court in June 2022 amid concerns the concept was being used as a litigation tactic(strategy) by perpetrators of abuse – with the result that children were removed from their mothers.

《观察家报》（The Observer）于2022年6月首次报道了家事法庭使用父母疏远专家的情况，同时担心这一概念被虐待者利用为诉讼策略，导致子女被从母亲身边带走。

【12】Middleton-Roy wrote in his judgment, published last week: “The expert was being invited to provide an opinion about parental alienation. In the judgment of this court, that is outside the expert’s remit.” He added: “It is the court’s function to make factual determinations necessary to inform welfare decisions for the child, not to delegate that role to an expert.”

米德尔顿·罗伊在上周发表的判决书中写道：“心里专家就父母疏远问题发表意见，根据本法庭的裁决，这超出了专家的职权范围。”他补充说：“进行必要的事实裁定，以做出维护儿童福利的决策是法庭的职能，不应把这一职责委托给专家。”

【13】The judge had been wrong to order the assessment, according to guidance from McFarlane in a landmark judgment known as ReC published in February, said Middleton-Roy. In it, McFarlane urged that an observation(survey) put to the court by the Association of Clinical Psychologists-UK should be accepted.

米德尔顿·罗伊说，根据麦克法兰在2月发表的一项具有里程碑意义的判决（称为“ReC”），法官决定请专家进行评估的做法是错误的。麦克法兰在信中敦促，ReC向法庭提交的一项观察结果应该被接受。

【14】The professional body had argued that, like domestic abuse, whether or not parental alienation had taken place was a question of fact and that “parental alienation” was not a syndrome capable of being diagnosed. The ACP-UK has complained about the use of unregulated experts, but many of those who describe themselves as specialists in parental alienation are registered(enrolled) with The Health and Care Professions Council.

该协会认为，就像家庭暴力一样，“父母疏离”是否发生，是一个事实问题，而不是能够被诊断的综合征。英国临床心理学协会（ACP-UK ）法庭使用了不受监管的专家，但许多自称是父母疏远问题方面的专家都在健康和护理职业委员会进行了注册。

【15】Allowing the mother’s appeal, Middleton-Roy noted that no facts had been found by the court on the issue of parental alienation and that the experienced district judge had failed to consider a number of factors and failed to give a judgment.

允许这位母亲的上诉时，米德尔顿·罗伊指出，法院在父母疏远的问题上没有发现任何事实，并且经验丰富的地区法官未能考虑到诸多因素，未能作出裁决。

【16】The mother’s barrister Charlotte Proudman, said: “There has been concern about the growing number of experts who advertise as specialising in parental alienation and are used by the family courts to resolve disputed allegations. “The result of this appeal marks a shift away from that trend which has been deemed problematic.”

这位母亲的律师夏洛特·普劳德曼说：“人们一直担心越来越多的专家会做广告，说自己专门从事父母疏远方面的案子，并被家事法庭用来解决有争议的指控。这次上诉的结果标志着扭转了这种被认为有问题的趋势。”