Bereaved father joins child safety campaigners to urge Government to retain parental alienation within the Domestic Abuse Act 2021

The bereaved father of seven-year-old Archie Spriggs, who was murdered by his mother following false allegations of domestic abuse, has joined with Good Egg Safety CIC and other leading campaigners to urge the Government to retain parental alienation in the statutory guidance for the new Domestic Abuse Act 2021, which received Royal Assent earlier this year.?

Matthew Spriggs made repeated warnings of the abuse Archie was being subjected to by his mother to police, social services, medical practitioners and his son’s school.

None took his increasingly desperate pleas seriously.

The inquest into Archie's death identified serious failings where concerns were not recorded properly, not handled effectively and ‘opportunities missed’ to protect Archie.

Heart-broken Matthew believes this is because he is the father and authorities are trained to believe mothers are only‘victims’. ?

This flawed, gender-biased assumption, contributed directly to the tragic loss of his son.

?His story has been released for the first time since his son was murdered in 2017 and was launched yesterday at an International conference at the Ministry of Justice in Brussels, organised by the global Parental Alienation Study Group.

?Jan James, Chief Executive of Good Egg Safety commented: “We have recorded many tragic stories from bereaved parents over the years yet none as uniquely heartbreaking as this one.

Any parent who can raise false allegations of abuse, in whatever form that manifests, clearly has serious psychological issues which put children at great risk of harm. Matthew paid the ultimate price with the death of his son.”

?The consensus among the vast majority of academic researchers, practitioners in the mental health professions, and judicial officers around the world, is that parental alienation is a form of both child psychological abuse and of domestic abuse; that its effects on children are severe and last into adulthood; that its effects on alienated parents are devastating; and that there are no statistically significant differences between women and men as perpetrators and victims.

?It causes financial ruin for victim parents who are forced to go to family court to regulate parenting time with their own children, and is recognised by the Children and Family Court Advisory Service (CAFCASS), ?yet has been seriously misrepresented as ‘only a tool for abusive fathers’, when clearly it is not.

?Jan James added: “This is a wakeup call to all those with a statutory duty to protect children from harm and we urge Government ministers to retain this within the statutory guidance of our new Domestic Abuse Act 2021.”

Erin Pizzey, founder of Refuge, the first shelter for women and children and global expert on domestic abuse is supporting the campaign and said: “This is an issue of extreme urgency. Parenting behaviours which can ultimately cause a vulnerable child to be emotionally cut off from a safe parent and extended family can psychologically damage them for life.”??

Today’s call to the Government to keep parental alienation as part of the new legislation is aimed at supporting the tens of thousands of?parents, grandparents and wider family members who have been erased from a child’s life.?

More than 25,000 victims signed the Change.org petition making it one of their top petitions for responses and invalidating the false assertion that parental alienation is 'rare'.

?For media enquiries contact Sarah Boult at [email protected] mobile 07557 079955 or Jan James on 07980 851360