The Child Attachment Pathology Assessment. A structured clinical instrument for identifying attachment pathology in a child turned against a parent. DSM-5 V995.51.
Begin the Assessment“Parental alienation” hid it. Child Psychological Abuse names it. DSM-5 V995.51.
Name It CorrectlyParents describe textbook indicators and are told it’s a custody dispute. Children are treated for anxiety while the cause goes unnamed.
The Clinical RealityMost clinicians never learned to recognize Child Psychological Abuse in a child turned against a parent. We teach it, and certify it.
Clinical TrainingUS Psychology Organization is the only professional organization in America dedicated to the recognition, clinical assessment, and mandatory reporting of Child Psychological Abuse — the abuse the APA defined, documented — and then actively suppressed, gaslighted targeted parents about, and enabled to continue destroying children, parents, and entire families.
The Crisis in Numbers
The American Psychological Association's own research confirms that childhood psychological abuse is as harmful as physical or sexual abuse. These are the numbers they refuse to act on.
22 million targeted parents in the United States — documented by Harmon, Colorado State University. The largest unacknowledged public health crisis in American family law.
Children in high-conflict custody situations every year — exposed to Child Psychological Abuse that is being systematically mislabeled, misdiagnosed, and unreported.
The APA's own diagnostic code for Child Psychological Abuse — published, peer-reviewed, and carrying mandatory reporting obligations in all 50 states. Actively suppressed by the APA — through gaslighting, deliberate mislabeling, and the protection of institutional interests over the safety of children.
Judges and court officials documented on ChildAbusiveJudges.com as credibly accused of facilitating or enabling Child Psychological Abuse in family court proceedings.
Of children subjected to Child Psychological Abuse permanently lose their relationship with the targeted loving parent — producing lifelong trauma, identity disruption, and relational pathology.
Suicides personally witnessed by US Psychology Organization Founder Kenneth R. Gottfried within targeted parent communities — representing a fraction of a fraction of the actual toll.
The Clinical Definition
Child Psychological Abuse is formally defined under DSM-5 diagnostic code V995.51 — the American Psychological Association's own publication. It is not a theory. It is not contested. It is the APA's own diagnostic standard.
In family court settings, Child Psychological Abuse occurs when one parent conditions a child to reject the other parent — through Shared Persecutory Delusion and Factitious Disorder Imposed on Another. Dr. C.A. Childress, Psy.D. documented three specific clinical indicators:
The child's attachment bond to the targeted parent has been severed without normal-range justification from that parent's behavior.
The child exhibits narcissistic and borderline features directed at the targeted parent — splitting, absence of empathy, manufactured fear.
The child holds a fixed, intransigent false belief about the targeted parent — transmitted from the allied parent — that cannot be supported with specific factual examples.
“Childhood Psychological Abuse as Harmful as Sexual or Physical Abuse.”— American Psychological Association Press Release
The Documented Failures
Every institution with the authority and obligation to protect children from Child Psychological Abuse has produced the same outcome. This is not coincidence. This is Institutional Capture.
The APA published DSM-5 V995.51 and confirmed in their own press release that psychological abuse is as harmful as physical abuse. When targeted parents came to them with that same research — applied to 22 million American children — the APA did not simply fail to act. They actively gaslighted every person who came to them.
“I ask that you cease sending APA — including our elected officers — emails on this topic.”— Kim Mills, APA Sr. Director, March 12, 2024
Sheriff's departments across all 50 states uniformly refuse to file mandatory child abuse reports when the abuse is psychological rather than physical. When pressed with NC General Statute 7B-301(b):
“Wow, I am at wit's end about your plight, as all avenues I have thought of have run aground — schools, DSS, health department, DA, Attorney General, SBI, NC Bar.”— Sheriff Len Hagaman, Watauga County, March 13, 2019
The California Board of Psychology stripped Dr. C.A. Childress of his license. When asked in writing whether they recognize DSM-5 V995.51 as mandatorily reportable child abuse under California law:
“The Board is unable to provide further clarification or response to the questions presented in your correspondence.”— California Board of Psychology, March 16, 2026
Dr. Childress Framework
Dr. C.A. Childress, Psy.D. identified the mechanism that explains why every institutional avenue produces the same result. The people who profit from the problem are the same people who define what the problem is — and define it in a way that ensures it is never solved.
Institutional Capture took Dr. Childress's license. It did not take the truth. His framework is the foundation of CAPA. His three indicators are the clinical core of every US Psychology Organization certification program.
Ask about mandatory reporting for Child Psychological Abuse
Present documented clinical evidence — request mandatory report
Report Child Psychological Abuse under DSM-5 V995.51
Submit documented evidence involving 250+ judges
This is Institutional Capture. And it is why US Psychology Organization was built outside the captured system entirely.
What We Do
The only structured clinical assessment tool in existence specifically designed to identify Child Psychological Abuse using the Childress three-indicator framework — with encrypted R2 evidence packages, SHA-256 tamper-proof hashing, and multi-clinician independent review.
Learn About CAPA →CAPA Certified Clinicians. USP Certified Attorneys. Certified Guardians ad Litem. Certified Counselors. Judicial CLE Education. Every track includes state-specific mandatory reporting law and the complete Childress clinical framework.
View Certification Tracks →A directory of USP Certified attorneys, clinicians, and guardians ad litem in every state — with state-specific mandatory reporting statutes, civil liability frameworks, and support resources for targeted parents in crisis.
Find Help in Your State →The complete documented record of every institutional failure — the APA, the AFCC, the FBI, DSS directors, sheriff's departments, regulatory boards — named officials, exact dates, direct quotes. Submitted to the DOJ, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Read the Full Report →This is not an accusation. This is a statement of professional obligation grounded in the APA's own Ethics Code. Standards 2.01a, 2.03, 2.04, and 3.04 require competence, currency of knowledge, and avoidance of harm.
If you are working with children in high-conflict custody situations and you have not been trained in the Childress three-indicator framework — you may be missing Child Psychological Abuse in your caseload right now.
DSM-5 V995.51 carries the same mandatory reporting obligation as physical or sexual abuse in every state. Failure to report is a criminal violation. Every session without a report is documented exposure.
The DOJ classifies coercive control — including damaging a parent's relationship with their children — as domestic violence. A clinician who gives clinical cover to an abuser is not a neutral evaluator. They are a participant in the abuse.
From the Founder
“Our recent email exchanges have amounted to more communication than I've had with my daughters in the past 10 years.”
Kenneth R. Gottfried founded US Psychology Organization because he has not seen his three daughters since 2014. Because he has personally witnessed over 400 suicides in targeted parent communities. Because the APA, the FBI, the sheriffs, the DSS directors, and the county attorneys all told him — in writing — that there was nothing more they could do. He built this organization because someone had to.
Every membership directly funds the clinical tools, legal infrastructure, and documented accountability that is forcing Child Psychological Abuse into the light — and forcing institutions to act.
Become a Member →Documented institutional failures, clinical developments, and CAPA updates — delivered to your inbox. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.