NAWL applauds new bill ending parental alienation accusations and protecting children from family violence

Anishinaabe Territory / OTTAWA, September 18, 2025 : The National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL) welcomes the introduction of the Keeping Children Safe Act, a private member’s bill tabled by Liberal Member of Parliament Lisa Hepfner to strengthen protections for women and children experiencing family violence and post-separation abuse. The legislation marks a renewed call from nearly 300 women’s organizations across Canada for urgent reform to end the use of harmful “parental alienation” accusations in family court. 

Bill C-223 seeks to amend the Divorce Act to ensure lawyers screen for signs of family violence, provide judges with the tools to recognize the impact of coercive control on children, ensure children’s voices are heard, and prevent parenting decisions from being influenced by myths or stereotypes about domestic violence. 

Key measures in the bill: 

• Clarify that there is no presumption of shared parenting, with each decision based on the best interests of the child. 
• Prevent courts from blaming women who are victims of domestic violence for not actively working to improve their children’s relationship with their abuser. 
• Stop the practice of disregarding children’s views and preferences under the pretense that they have been “manipulated” or “alienated” by a parent. 
• Prevent judges from issuing orders that restrict parenting time with a parent to whom the child is bonded in order to improve the child’s relationship with the other parent. 
• Prohibit courts from forcing a child to attend reunification therapy. 

“Research demonstrates that domestic violence is the rule, not the exception, in parental alienation cases. Protective mothers are labeled ‘alienating’ and punished for stating that an ex-partner is abusive or voicing concern for their children’s security. 

Judges often issue orders that reverse parenting time not because a child is neglected, but to force a closer relationship with an abusive parent. Alarmingly, these measures are imposed even when family violence is well documented.

Instead of prioritizing children’s best interests, courts too often focus on enforcing equal parenting rights. This is why law reform is urgently needed: to ensure that decisions about children are guided solely by their safety and well-being, free from myths and stereotypes about family violence.”

– Suzanne Zaccour, Director of Legal Affairs

Broad national support: 

Nearly 300 organizations across Canada have joined NAWL in calling for a reform of the Divorce Act to ensure that decisions about children are guided solely by their best interests, free from myths and stereotypes about family violence. This recommendation is grounded in extensive research and echoes the conclusions of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes, and its consequences and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.