WHY IS THERE SO MUCH CONTROVERSY AROUND ACCEPTING THE P.A.S. AS A VALID PHENOMENON?
To properly understand the controvery surrounding the P.A.S. and its acceptance in court as a valid pheonomenon, it is also important to understand the history of its development. The P.A.S. is a relatively new pheonomenon which first became recognized in the mid 1970’s and was not written about until almost 10 years later. The emergence of the P.A.S. not surpringly coincided with the change in divorce laws. These new laws recognized joint custody as s legal parenting option following divorce. They also acknowledged both both parents’ responsibility in providing financially for the care of their children. These changes to the divorce laws upset the status quo which until that point saw mothers as almost always being awarded sole custody of their children and receiving child support from the fathers. The courts’ recognition of fathers as “legal parents” suddenly posed a threat to mothers. And it is for this reason that when the P.A.S. was first identified, it was primarily mothers who w
