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Submission information
Submission Number: 213
Submission ID: 1362
Submission UUID: c30c2a59-1f97-4eca-b9c0-5cc73d47e437
Submission URI: /2025/abstracts
Created: Sat, 06/28/2025 - 14:00
Completed: Sat, 06/28/2025 - 14:15
Changed: Mon, 07/14/2025 - 09:21
Remote IP address: 102.132.58.130
Submitted by: Anonymous
Language: English
Is draft: No
Current page: Complete
Webform: Abstract
Presenters
Ms.
Siaga
Livhuwani
North west university
Ms Livhuwani Siaga
Ms Livhuwani Siaga is a junior lecturer in Social Work at North-West University (South Africa), where her work focuses on child protection, trauma, and social justice. With a background in statutory social work, she brings frontline experience into her teaching, bridging practice and pedagogy. As an emerging researcher, her work explores parental rights, parental alienation, and the psychological impact of trauma on children. Livhuwani is committed to empowering future practitioners through ethical, child-centred, and socially responsive social work education. She also engages in community-based practice and research, advocating for the protection and well-being of vulnerable populations across both academic and professional spheres.
Ms Livhuwani Siaga is a junior lecturer in Social Work at North-West University (South Africa), where her work focuses on child protection, trauma, and social justice. With a background in statutory social work, she brings frontline experience into her teaching, bridging practice and pedagogy. As an emerging researcher, her work explores parental rights, parental alienation, and the psychological impact of trauma on children. Livhuwani is committed to empowering future practitioners through ethical, child-centred, and socially responsive social work education. She also engages in community-based practice and research, advocating for the protection and well-being of vulnerable populations across both academic and professional spheres.
No
Abstract
Unresolved Trauma fueling Parental Alienation: A Social-Work Lens on Mental-Health, Equity and SDG Progress in South Africa
THEME 2: Social Work and the Achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
SUB 2.2 Research and practice strategies pertaining to health, mental health and wellbeing including poverty eradication, quality education, gender equality, decent work and economic growth.
Poster Presentation
Authors: Livhuwani Siaga*
Institution: North-West University
Contact details: 0768655844
Email: livhuwani.siaga@nwu.ac.za
Unresolved Trauma fueling Parental Alienation: A Social-Work Lens on Mental-Health, Equity and SDG Progress in South Africa
Parental alienation, where a child rejects one parent due to the other parent’s influence, is seen as emotional abuse in South Africa. Its roots in unresolved trauma remain overlooked, harming children's health (SDG 3), reinforcing gender biases in custody (SDG 5), and blocking peaceful family systems (SDG 16). The proposed presentation will highlight social work as a solution. Using trauma-informed theory, it explores estranged families in Gauteng. Interviews with accused parents reveal how childhood abuse, violence, and socio-historical stressors cause mechanisms like hyper-vigilance, projection, and parentification, leading children to choose sides. Analysis shows courts often unintentionally reinforce alienation by using adversarial procedures that punish or hinder healing rather than promoting it.
In my proposed presentation will summarize these three practical strategies: (1) a rapid trauma-screening protocol for social workers at the first sign of high-conflict separation; (2) guidelines for incorporating trauma histories into custody evaluations without pathologizing either parent; and (3) a collaborative, gender-sensitive intervention model combining mental health treatment with restorative family mediation. By translating lived experiences into actionable strategies, this will advance social work’s role in protecting children, restoring parental capacities, and accelerating South Africa’s progress toward SDGs 3, 5, and 16. Ultimately, it encourages delegates to view parental alienation not merely as malevolence but as a solvable public health challenge, one that can be addressed through empathetic, evidence-based, and culturally sensitive social work practices.
Institution: North-West University
Contact details: 0768655844
Email: livhuwani.siaga@nwu.ac.za
Unresolved Trauma fueling Parental Alienation: A Social-Work Lens on Mental-Health, Equity and SDG Progress in South Africa
Parental alienation, where a child rejects one parent due to the other parent’s influence, is seen as emotional abuse in South Africa. Its roots in unresolved trauma remain overlooked, harming children's health (SDG 3), reinforcing gender biases in custody (SDG 5), and blocking peaceful family systems (SDG 16). The proposed presentation will highlight social work as a solution. Using trauma-informed theory, it explores estranged families in Gauteng. Interviews with accused parents reveal how childhood abuse, violence, and socio-historical stressors cause mechanisms like hyper-vigilance, projection, and parentification, leading children to choose sides. Analysis shows courts often unintentionally reinforce alienation by using adversarial procedures that punish or hinder healing rather than promoting it.
In my proposed presentation will summarize these three practical strategies: (1) a rapid trauma-screening protocol for social workers at the first sign of high-conflict separation; (2) guidelines for incorporating trauma histories into custody evaluations without pathologizing either parent; and (3) a collaborative, gender-sensitive intervention model combining mental health treatment with restorative family mediation. By translating lived experiences into actionable strategies, this will advance social work’s role in protecting children, restoring parental capacities, and accelerating South Africa’s progress toward SDGs 3, 5, and 16. Ultimately, it encourages delegates to view parental alienation not merely as malevolence but as a solvable public health challenge, one that can be addressed through empathetic, evidence-based, and culturally sensitive social work practices.
Reviewer ONE Feedback
Dr
Mariette
van Straaten
Yes
Empirical Research
Accepted
Reviewer TWO Feedback
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Pending Review