Identifying and evaluating “Critical” Risk Behaviours/Indicators of HAP:
1. There is compelling evidence to suggest that the HAP parent is currently covertly planning to take a child into hiding or is attempting to flee to another country, province, state or jurisdiction without ample notice to the other parent and prior to seeking the court’s permission to do this, which will if implemented likely result in a child’s relationship with another parent or other family members being adversely affected.
2. The HAP parent has coached, attempted to coach or has used threats, intimidation or terror to make the child to provide false or misleading information to authorities and there is compelling evidence to show this.
3. The HAP parent has abducted a child and is currently in hiding with the whereabouts of the custodial parent and the child is being kept secret from the other parent and extended family members without reasonable explanation. This has resulted in a child’s relationship with another parent and other family friends being interfered with.
4. The HAP parent has currently moved away from their current place of residence and has taken the child with them and has located the child more in another country, province, state or jurisdiction more than 50 km away without a court Order authorizing this and without the prior knowledge or consent of the other parent which has resulted in a child’s relationship with another parent, family and friends being currently interfered with.
5. The HAP parent has exhibited a gross unwillingness or inability to reduce the child’s exposure to HAP influences by failing to follow recommendations intended to reduce HAP influences after being formally cautioned about the harm that these behaviours could cause the child.
6. The HAP parent has within threatened to kill, to seriously harm, or to use a weapon or firearm against any child, or the HAP parent has physically or sexually assaulted ANY child in the household or any child under his/her care, including stepchildren (not to be confused with minor physical discipline necessary to correct a child’s behaviour) and there is credible evidence or testimony to support this claim.
7. The parent has placed the child into foster care or in a group home facility for children because of behaviour problems when there was suitable alternate care available with another parent or other family members at the time.
8. The HAP parent has attempted suicide, threatened suicide or has overdosed on drugs as part of a suicide attempt while acting in capacity as parent to any child and is currently in a hospital or under a doctor’s care outside of a hospital setting as a result of this recent attempted suicide.
9. Any child in the HAP parent’s household has attempted suicide, threatened suicide or has overdosed on drugs as part of a suicide attempt while under the care and control of the HAP parent within the past 3 months and evidence would seem to support that HAP related influences may have been a factor leading up to the child’s actions.
10. The HAP parent is currently or attempted to extort or to blackmail another parent into signing court documents relating to any issue and has used denial of access to children as a weapon to extort or blackmail the other parent and the other parent’s access with the child has been interfered with.
11. There is compelling evidence to suggest that the HAP parent may be currently planning to murder or physically injure the other parent.
12. Any child in the HAP parent’s household has reported being physically or sexually assaulted by the HAP parent’s current boyfriend, girlfriend or spouse and collateral information would support this as being a reasonable possibility and either
a) the HAP parent continues in a relationship with that person or
b) the HAP parent has failed address the legal or emotion issues of the assault to the expectations of the child’s family and community.
13. A child of the HAP parent has indicated being physically or sexually assaulted by a step sibling or one of the children of the parent’s current boyfriend, girlfriend or spouse and either
a) the HAP parent continues in a relationship with that person or
b) the issue of the assault remains unaddressed legally or emotionally to the expectations of the child’s family and community.
14. The HAP parent has engaged in incest or been involved with intimate or sexual activities with any child within the household and the issue remains unaddressed legally or emotionally to the expectations of the child’s family and community.
15. The HAP parent has exposed the child to situations involving excessive consumption of alcohol or use of drugs by anyone in the home to the point of intoxication or rowdiness or where any child has been made to feel uncomfortable or afraid in that situation.
16. The HAP parent has refused to promptly submit to a drug test when it has been found that any child of the parent under the age of 16 years of age has been taking illegal drugs and it is alleged that the HAP parent has been influencing or encouraging his/her child to take the drugs.
17. The HAP parent has allowed the child to be exposed to smoke in the home which has been identified as being a possible or likely contributor to respiratory related problems that the child has been diagnosed as having (eg asthma) when the parent should have known that the exposure of the child to the smoke could cause further health related problems for the child.
18. The HAP parent currently or has failed to obtain appropriate medical attention for a child who is in need of medical attention.
19. The HAP parent has been evaluated using this risk assessment protocol as being a high risk of harm to the child and has also been recently diagnosed as suffering from some form of long term mental illness which can be directly linked to the HAP parent’s HAP behaviour, which in the written opinion a qualified health care professional, the prognosis is not good for the parent being able to return to a normal state of mental health and stability within the next 24 months from the date of this risk assessment evaluation.
20. The HAP parent has encouraged his/her child to engage in the purchase or sale of illegal drugs, alcohol or other banned substances.
21. The parent has encouraged his/her child to engage in criminal activities such as shoplifting, theft or fraud or has condoned such criminal activities.
22. The HAP parent is or has physically locked a child in a room using a lock or other mechanical device, contrary to the wishes of the child with the intent of punishing the child or to keep the child from contacting the other parent by phone or to keep the child from escaping in order to be with the other parent.
23. The HAP parent has left a child who is 12 years of age or younger alone in the home without anyone in the home to supervise and prior to leaving the home the HAP parent deliberately locked up the phones in the home with the purpose of preventing the children from communicating with anyone by telephone in the event of an emergency.
24. The HAP parent has left any young child in the household unattended while the HAP parent has gone out without ensuring that the child is in the care of an appropriate child care provider.
25. The HAP parent has been found in the illegal possession of a gun, explosive or other restricted weapon and it would appear that the HAP parent was intentionally trying to conceal these restricted items from being discovered by authorities.
26. The HAP parent has been involved in an automobile accident when the child was present in the vehicle and the consumption of alcohol by the HAP parent appears to have been a factor in the accident.
27. The HAP parent has helped to foster alienation between a child and another parent by allowing a child to cut off reasonable communication between themselves and another parent because of minor issues or disagreements with the other parent, rather than encouraging the child to deal with the issues between himself/herself and the other parent. The HAP parent has, in effect, allowed a child to punish the other parent over what would considered as unreasonable reasons.
28. Any child of the HAP parent is currently not involved in a meaningful relationship with his/her other parent or is currently refusing to spend a reasonable amount of time with the other parent without and it would appear that the child may exhibiting the early signs of Parental Alienation (PAS) induced by the HAP parent’s behaviour.
29. The HAP parent has made allegations of assault or abuse against his/her own child or has attempted to have police or child welfare protection agencies take action against the child and the parent has not tried to deal with this problem with the other parent before contacting outside agencies.
30. The HAP parent has administered psychiatric prescription drugs to a child without a doctor’s prescription.
Taken from: Risk assessment protocol to evaluate the risk of harm to children caused by Hostile-Aggressive Parenting (HAP) (including recommended intervention strategies) Published by: Family Conflict Resolution Services
1. There is compelling evidence to suggest that the HAP parent is currently covertly planning to take a child into hiding or is attempting to flee to another country, province, state or jurisdiction without ample notice to the other parent and prior to seeking the court’s permission to do this, which will if implemented likely result in a child’s relationship with another parent or other family members being adversely affected.
2. The HAP parent has coached, attempted to coach or has used threats, intimidation or terror to make the child to provide false or misleading information to authorities and there is compelling evidence to show this.
3. The HAP parent has abducted a child and is currently in hiding with the whereabouts of the custodial parent and the child is being kept secret from the other parent and extended family members without reasonable explanation. This has resulted in a child’s relationship with another parent and other family friends being interfered with.
4. The HAP parent has currently moved away from their current place of residence and has taken the child with them and has located the child more in another country, province, state or jurisdiction more than 50 km away without a court Order authorizing this and without the prior knowledge or consent of the other parent which has resulted in a child’s relationship with another parent, family and friends being currently interfered with.
5. The HAP parent has exhibited a gross unwillingness or inability to reduce the child’s exposure to HAP influences by failing to follow recommendations intended to reduce HAP influences after being formally cautioned about the harm that these behaviours could cause the child.
6. The HAP parent has within threatened to kill, to seriously harm, or to use a weapon or firearm against any child, or the HAP parent has physically or sexually assaulted ANY child in the household or any child under his/her care, including stepchildren (not to be confused with minor physical discipline necessary to correct a child’s behaviour) and there is credible evidence or testimony to support this claim.
7. The parent has placed the child into foster care or in a group home facility for children because of behaviour problems when there was suitable alternate care available with another parent or other family members at the time.
8. The HAP parent has attempted suicide, threatened suicide or has overdosed on drugs as part of a suicide attempt while acting in capacity as parent to any child and is currently in a hospital or under a doctor’s care outside of a hospital setting as a result of this recent attempted suicide.
9. Any child in the HAP parent’s household has attempted suicide, threatened suicide or has overdosed on drugs as part of a suicide attempt while under the care and control of the HAP parent within the past 3 months and evidence would seem to support that HAP related influences may have been a factor leading up to the child’s actions.
10. The HAP parent is currently or attempted to extort or to blackmail another parent into signing court documents relating to any issue and has used denial of access to children as a weapon to extort or blackmail the other parent and the other parent’s access with the child has been interfered with.
11. There is compelling evidence to suggest that the HAP parent may be currently planning to murder or physically injure the other parent.
12. Any child in the HAP parent’s household has reported being physically or sexually assaulted by the HAP parent’s current boyfriend, girlfriend or spouse and collateral information would support this as being a reasonable possibility and either
a) the HAP parent continues in a relationship with that person or
b) the HAP parent has failed address the legal or emotion issues of the assault to the expectations of the child’s family and community.
13. A child of the HAP parent has indicated being physically or sexually assaulted by a step sibling or one of the children of the parent’s current boyfriend, girlfriend or spouse and either
a) the HAP parent continues in a relationship with that person or
b) the issue of the assault remains unaddressed legally or emotionally to the expectations of the child’s family and community.
14. The HAP parent has engaged in incest or been involved with intimate or sexual activities with any child within the household and the issue remains unaddressed legally or emotionally to the expectations of the child’s family and community.
15. The HAP parent has exposed the child to situations involving excessive consumption of alcohol or use of drugs by anyone in the home to the point of intoxication or rowdiness or where any child has been made to feel uncomfortable or afraid in that situation.
16. The HAP parent has refused to promptly submit to a drug test when it has been found that any child of the parent under the age of 16 years of age has been taking illegal drugs and it is alleged that the HAP parent has been influencing or encouraging his/her child to take the drugs.
17. The HAP parent has allowed the child to be exposed to smoke in the home which has been identified as being a possible or likely contributor to respiratory related problems that the child has been diagnosed as having (eg asthma) when the parent should have known that the exposure of the child to the smoke could cause further health related problems for the child.
18. The HAP parent currently or has failed to obtain appropriate medical attention for a child who is in need of medical attention.
19. The HAP parent has been evaluated using this risk assessment protocol as being a high risk of harm to the child and has also been recently diagnosed as suffering from some form of long term mental illness which can be directly linked to the HAP parent’s HAP behaviour, which in the written opinion a qualified health care professional, the prognosis is not good for the parent being able to return to a normal state of mental health and stability within the next 24 months from the date of this risk assessment evaluation.
20. The HAP parent has encouraged his/her child to engage in the purchase or sale of illegal drugs, alcohol or other banned substances.
21. The parent has encouraged his/her child to engage in criminal activities such as shoplifting, theft or fraud or has condoned such criminal activities.
22. The HAP parent is or has physically locked a child in a room using a lock or other mechanical device, contrary to the wishes of the child with the intent of punishing the child or to keep the child from contacting the other parent by phone or to keep the child from escaping in order to be with the other parent.
23. The HAP parent has left a child who is 12 years of age or younger alone in the home without anyone in the home to supervise and prior to leaving the home the HAP parent deliberately locked up the phones in the home with the purpose of preventing the children from communicating with anyone by telephone in the event of an emergency.
24. The HAP parent has left any young child in the household unattended while the HAP parent has gone out without ensuring that the child is in the care of an appropriate child care provider.
25. The HAP parent has been found in the illegal possession of a gun, explosive or other restricted weapon and it would appear that the HAP parent was intentionally trying to conceal these restricted items from being discovered by authorities.
26. The HAP parent has been involved in an automobile accident when the child was present in the vehicle and the consumption of alcohol by the HAP parent appears to have been a factor in the accident.
27. The HAP parent has helped to foster alienation between a child and another parent by allowing a child to cut off reasonable communication between themselves and another parent because of minor issues or disagreements with the other parent, rather than encouraging the child to deal with the issues between himself/herself and the other parent. The HAP parent has, in effect, allowed a child to punish the other parent over what would considered as unreasonable reasons.
28. Any child of the HAP parent is currently not involved in a meaningful relationship with his/her other parent or is currently refusing to spend a reasonable amount of time with the other parent without and it would appear that the child may exhibiting the early signs of Parental Alienation (PAS) induced by the HAP parent’s behaviour.
29. The HAP parent has made allegations of assault or abuse against his/her own child or has attempted to have police or child welfare protection agencies take action against the child and the parent has not tried to deal with this problem with the other parent before contacting outside agencies.
30. The HAP parent has administered psychiatric prescription drugs to a child without a doctor’s prescription.
Taken from: Risk assessment protocol to evaluate the risk of harm to children caused by Hostile-Aggressive Parenting (HAP) (including recommended intervention strategies) Published by: Family Conflict Resolution Services