Parental Alienation and Autism: Gatekeeping Behaviors and Neurodivergent Children

To best serve families in an unbiased and fair manner, family courts must appreciate and acknowledge diversity in its many forms, such as gender, ethnic, race, cultural, sexual orientation, and neurodivergence. Despite there being a stigma against neurodiversity, increasing attention has been paid by the family courts to the unique considerations of children with special needs in families undergoing divorce and separation. While the default option in most jurisdictions is joint physical custody and family law judges primarily rely on developmentally-based time-share arrangements, these otherwise laudable goals may not serve the neurodiverse (ND) child well. For many ND children, the need for sameness, routine, and structure may supersede the need for “equal” or “equivalent” time with both parents.

A tension could arise here. On the one hand, the parent who is best attuned to the shifts in the ND child’s moods, who can best supervise the ND child (who may engage in self-harm or suicidal behaviors) should have the lion’s share or primary parenting opportunities and responsibility. On the other hand, such decisions could also lead to a ND child being weaponized or maladaptive restrictive gatekeeping behaviors (“only I can parent this ND child”).

The issue of neurodivergence in family law is not limited to ND child(ren); ND parents add a layer of complexity to these cases. They face the risk in family court of being caricatured for their psychiatric condition, instead of their strengths. In litigation, diagnostic information is often misapplied or misunderstood and the fact of neurodiversity is seen as a “risk” or shortcoming without an analysis of whether the ND parent, despite his or her psychiatric condition, has the ability to parent a child effectively.

Key topics to be discussed:

• Neurodiversity in Family Courts
• Best Interests of the Neurodivergent Child
• Balancing Parental Rights and the Child’s Needs
• Assessing Parental Fitness and Bias in the Courtroom
• Judicial and Practitioner Education on Neurodiversity
• Integrating Mental Health and Legal Frameworks

This course is co-sponsored with myLawCLE.

Date / Time: January 13, 2026

• 2:00 pm – 4:10 pm Eastern
• 1:00 pm – 3:10 pm Central
• 12:00 pm – 2:10 pm Mountain
• 11:00 am – 1:10 pm Pacific

Closed-captioning available