strong adjacent evidence / careful inference
Official Peer Reviewed Research Public Report
Family-court delay can function as a harm multiplier when it extends children’s time inside conflict, uncertainty, unstable routines, economic strain, or unresolved safety questions.
Source / basis: Family Court Delay and Intergenerational Harm; CDC ACEs; NCSC family justice performance measures; NBER divorce timing research; HHS/ACF permanency materials.
Limitation: There is no single public all-state private custody-delay dataset proving the exact harm of each additional month in every case.
Safe wording: Delay can multiply harm when it prolongs known child-risk conditions; safety fact-finding and urgent protection still matter.
Used on: /sources/family-court-delay-intergenerational-harm/, /sources/visual-explainers/, /sources/what-we-know/
strong adjacent evidence
Official Peer Reviewed Research
Early childhood instability can be especially developmentally expensive because attachment, co-regulation, sleep, and predictable caregiving are still forming.
Source / basis: Family Court Delay and Intergenerational Harm; CDC toxic-stress framework; NBER divorce timing research.
Limitation: General developmental research cannot decide what schedule or order is safest in a private family.
Safe wording: Young children often need extra predictability, safe routines, and careful transition support.
Used on: /sources/family-court-delay-intergenerational-harm/, /family-tools/routines-transitions/
moderate / safety-critical synthesis
Professional Guidance Peer Reviewed Research Official
Restoration work after disparagement or contact refusal must start with safety screening and differential assessment, not a presumption that one label explains the child’s response.
Source / basis: Restoring Parent-Child Relationships After Disparagement and Contact Refusal; AFCC guidance; AACAP policy; child-welfare family-time guidance.
Limitation: This cannot diagnose alienation, estrangement, abuse, coercive control, fear, or trauma in a private family.
Safe wording: Relationship repair should be safety-first, staged, developmentally appropriate, and monitored.
Used on: /sources/restoring-parent-child-relationships-after-disparagement-contact-refusal/, /sources/visual-explainers/, /sources/what-we-know/
research limitation / careful synthesis
Peer Reviewed Research Professional Guidance
Alienation-specific intervention evidence is weaker than the evidence for component treatments such as parenting interventions, trauma treatment, dyadic attachment work, and family attachment work.
Source / basis: Restoring Parent-Child Relationships After Disparagement and Contact Refusal; PubMed-indexed treatment literature; WHO parenting guideline; TF-CBT/PCIT/ABFT/ABC/CPP sources.
Limitation: Component-treatment evidence is clinically useful but still indirect for court-referred alienation/contact-refusal cases.
Safe wording: Use evidence-supported components and do not oversell named reunification methods beyond the evidence.
Used on: /sources/restoring-parent-child-relationships-after-disparagement-contact-refusal/, /sources/what-we-know/
official/legal process grounding with public-language synthesis
Official Plain Language Explainer
Maine public education pages should frame parent-child relationship, best interest, due process, and official process information neutrally rather than as parent-vs-parent messaging.
Source / basis: Maine Parental Rights, Best Interest, and Family Court Process; Maine statutes and Maine Judicial Branch public resources.
Limitation: FOCaF cannot provide legal advice, strategy, or case-specific interpretation.
Safe wording: Use neutral parent-child contact, fit-parent, child safety, due-process, and official/legal-information framing.
Used on: /sources/maine-parental-rights-best-interest-family-court-process/, /official-doors/, /maine/start-here/
child-first public-education principle
Plain Language Explainer Professional Guidance
Children should not be used as messengers, evidence carriers, record keepers, or decision makers in adult conflict.
Source / basis: FOCaF child-burden boundary; child development and support-first public education principles.
Limitation: Individual safety plans may require professional guidance and specific boundaries.
Safe wording: Adults handle adult problems; children and teens can use safe support without carrying the dispute.
Used on: /kids/, /kids/grades-9-12/rights-roles-explorer/, /resources/, /family-tools/routines-transitions/
program design / public utility principle
Plain Language Explainer
Support-first tools should be easier to find than court-first escalation when there is no immediate safety emergency or legal deadline.
Source / basis: FOCaF support-first public education plan and practical family support materials.
Limitation: Support-first does not mean ignoring emergencies, abuse, coercive control, active orders, or real deadlines.
Safe wording: Start with the least escalated safe step; use official/legal doors when safety, orders, or deadlines require it.
Used on: /, /maine/start-here/, /resources/, /family-tools/own-records/
site governance rule
Plain Language Explainer
Municipality and county pages must provide unique local value before publication.
Source / basis: FOCaF no-doorway SEO governance standard.
Limitation: Local pages still require source review and local utility before full statewide scaling.
Safe wording: Local pages should include real official/support routing and county context, not swapped-town boilerplate.
Used on: /maine/, /maine/counties/, /sources/claim-matrix/
boundary rule
Modeled Estimate Advocacy Opinion
ProSe or reform projections should be clearly labeled as modeled, proposal-based, or advocacy estimates unless they are proven live court outcomes.
Source / basis: FOCaF campaign-boundary and source-strength policy.
Limitation: Modeled estimates are not proof of current court outcomes or guaranteed savings.
Safe wording: Describe projections as modeled or proposed unless they are verified with live outcome data.
Used on: /sources/claim-matrix/, /campaign-boundary/, /rfc/
