​A former mediator in California's family courts who says she was fired after criticizing court procedures has been cleared to pursue legal claims as a whistle-blower against her former bosses.

Emily Gallup, who was fired from her job as a mediator in Nevada County Family Court last year, asserts that she was retaliated against by superiors for complaining about court officials' methods for adjudicating disputed child-custody cases. Records show Gallup was reprimanded for digging too deeply into parents' backgrounds -- including requesting criminal-history checks -- before making recommendations for custody plans to judges.

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​We've written before about growing concerns over the competence, ethics, and eccentricities of psychological experts tasked with making decisions in California's family courts. These experts make enormously consequential recommendations to judges in disputed child-custody cases, but some question whether the decisions they make are always based on sound methods.

Over the weekend, the Seattle Times published an excellent account of the failings of one such professional: Stuart Greenberg, a forensic psychologist who frequently appeared in criminal trials and child-custody hearings to offer his views. As the Times reports, Greenberg, despite his stature in Washington state courts, had been disciplined years ago for being "incompetent and unethical" by state regulators. He was ultimately arrested for placing a hidden camera in his office bathroom so he could spy on employees for sexual stimulation.

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Richard Gardner, father of PAS

​A scientific task force evaluating psychological conditions for formal inclusion in the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders will recommend that the controversial theory known as "Parental Alienation Syndrome" (PAS) or "Parental Alienation" not be included in the manual, according to early reports.

Writing in Psychology Today, psychologist Paula J. Caplan states that she has received a letter from American Psychiatric Association DSM-5 Task Force chair David Kupfer and Task Force public representative James McNulty indicating that the disorder will not be recommended for inclusion:

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PAS: Mad science?

​Slate published an excellent story this week on the battle over whether to include the theory of "Parental Alienation Syndrome" in the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Like almost every other informed and disinterested observer who has assessed the validity of PAS, Slate senior editor Dahlia Lithwick takes a very dim view of the theory.

She also gracefully articulates the many reasons that the theory, as currently used as "scientific evidence" in family courts across the country, is pernicious. In a March cover story, SF Weekly described how PAS -- and its virtually identical variant, "Parental Alienation" or PA -- can be used by abusive fathers to win custody of children from protective mothers.

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​The California Board of Behavioral Science and California Attorney General's office have filed formal accusations of misconduct against a Sacramento family-court therapist.

The therapist, Janelle Burrill, is a clinical social worker who works with children and parents as ordered by family courts in Sacramento and elsewhere. Burrill has been the subject of multiple complaints by families unhappy with her work.

Documents filed against her by the Behavioral Sciences board and the office of Attorney General Kamala Harris allege that Burrill "committed acts that fall sufficiently below the standard of conduct of the profession as to constitute acts of gross negligence."

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​A former mediator in Nevada County Family Court is suing court administrators over her dismissal after a labor arbitrator decided she raised valid concerns about whether the courts were operating properly and following state law.

Emily Gallup, a Stanford graduate, was fired after her superiors criticized her for reviewing parents' backgrounds too thoroughly -- and, in particular, seeking to conduct criminal background checks -- before making child custody recommendations to judges. In a March 2010 written reprimand, obtained by SF Weekly, Court Executive Office Sean Metroka wrote to Gallup, "I admonished you not to take the role of a court investigator."

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Richard Gardner

​One of the more controversial topics addressed in our recent coverage of problems in California's family courts is the legitimacy of 'Parental Alienation Syndrome.'

Invented by the late Richard Gardner -- a psychiatrist who argued that society treated pedophiles too harshly before he stabbed himself to death with a steak knife in 2003 -- the theory of PAS asserts that mothers brainwash children to believe that estranged fathers have sexually molested them.

As a practical matter, PAS has frequently been used in court to discredit abuse accusations. In one California case we examined, the theory was successfully invoked by a pedophile father to get custody of his daughter.

Some fathers' rights advocates and psychologists defend the legitimacy of PAS, and argue it should be included in the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. SF Weekly recently interviewed Sacramento Superior Court Judge Jerilyn Borack, who served on a statewide task force that studied family-court reform, and asked whether she believed PAS should be admissible in court.

Her answer: Nope.

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​This week's SF Weekly cover story examined the sometimes disastrous child-welfare decisions made by officials in California's family courts. In one of those cases -- and in many others not discussed in the story -- a court-appointed psychological expert helped determine which parent would get child custody after a divorce.

Many court-reform advocates question the fitness of some of these custody evaluators to be making decisions about child welfare. Such concerns have been stoked by a Los Angeles Times article this week about a prominent family-court psychiatrist who was thrown off a case after a client discovered his "lewd" Facebook photos and postings "allegedly promoting illegal drug use, unprotected sex, and male prostitution."

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Convicted child molesters Rex Anderson (left) and Henry Parson were awarded custody of their daughters in family court

​In this week's cover story, SF Weekly takes a look at some of the tragic results of mistakes by California's family courts. These courts' insufficient provisions for investigating child abuse and spousal battery have led, in multiple instances, to children being placed with dangerous parents.More >>