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34 J. Am. Acad. Matrimonial Law. 97 (2021-2022)
The Dynamics of Enmeshed Family System Ten Years Later: Family Court and Contemporary Understanding of Adultification, Parentification, and Infantilization

handle is hein.journals/jaaml34 and id is 109 raw text is: Vol. 34, 2021 Adultification, Parentification, & Infantilization 97 The Dynamics of the Enmeshed Family System Ten Years Later: Family Court and Contemporary Understanding of Adultification, Parentification, and Infantilization by Benjamin D. Garber* Abstract Time, experience, experimentation, and case law have to- gether moved family law practice forward from a primitive and inflammatory binary view of high conflict family dynamics to a much more nuanced, ecological perspective. The field has in- vested enormous resources struggling to understand alienation in its larger relationship ecology, while largely failing to invest in understanding concurrent family system dynamics including en- meshment. This is a ten-year follow up and elaboration upon a seminal discussion of enmeshment in the context of high conflict divorce. Far more nuanced descriptions of three forms of en- meshment (i.e., adultification, parentification, and infantiliza- tion) are offered, including previously overlooked gender, cultural, religious, and language considerations. Case illustrations are provided. Discussion includes consideration of how these de- structive dynamics can be recognized and remedied. These dis- tinctions are described as among the necessary components of every family law professional's field guide to understanding and responding to the dynamics of the conflicted family system.1 * Dr. Garber is a licensed psychologist practicing in Nashua, New Hamp- shire, at Family Law Consulting. The author is indebted to Dana Prescott, JD, MSW, PhD and Chris Mulchay for invaluable insight relevant to this work. He can be reached at bdgarberphd@FamilyLawConsulting.org. 1 The use of names or gender are intended to be neutral and for pur- poses of illustration only.

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