What concerns it has over the reported effects of Parental Alienation Syndrome.

The Executive is concerned about the effects on children of acrimonious separations, and provides financial support to various voluntary organisations offering mediation or other help to families in transition. The Executive accepts that children can suffer harmful effects where one or both parents deliberately set out to use the children as a weapon. However, it does not believe that Parental Alienation Syndrome is a sufficiently well defined medical term to make its diagnosis certain or its use appropriate in legislation. The existing law of Scotland can already deal with such behaviour.