‘Just like that, I lost my girls’: the mother who feels betrayed by the family courts

The theory of parental alienation is a ‘harmful pseudo-science’, according to recent official guidance in England and Wales. Yet it led to Sarah’s two daughters being taken away six years ago – and never returned On the afternoon that Sarah’s daughters were taken away from her, they had been due to go to a paddling-pool party. It was July 2020 and, with the easing of lockdown restrictions in England, the girls – then nine and six – were excited about seeing their friends again after months apart. Sarah had just bought them matching swimsuits: blue with sequin unicorns. But the girls never made it to the party. Three days before, Sarah had received a call from her solicitor. “I could not comprehend what I was hearing,” she says. “My legs started shaking.” Her solicitor explained that she had been called a “narcissist” in evidence presented to the family court, which claimed she was an immediate danger to herself and her children. Both of her girls could be removed from her with immediate effect. Continue reading...