Business Insider video wins award from the Institute on Violence, Abuse, and Trauma

Last year, a video went viral of two children being violently forced into an SUV. Viewers wondered: Where exactly were they being taken? And how was this legal?

The shocking abduction, it turned out, was related to what proponents refer to as "parental alienation."

Business Insider brought on freelance journalist Olivia Gentile and teamed up with Retro Report and Type Investigations to investigate how the pseudoscientific theory, rejected by major medical organizations, has led to kids like these being sent against their will to reunification camps with a parent they've accused of abuse.

"Our reporting found a network of therapists, lawyers, and expert witnesses who will, for a price, convince judges to order experimental therapy meant to repair children's relationships with parents they've accused of abuse," said Esther Kaplan, who edited the project with Cassi Feldman at Type. "Nearly every child Olivia spoke with was traumatized by the experience."

Our video and series of articles contributed to the momentum that led to the passage of a law in California — only the second in the nation — that will limit judges' ability to order kids into these programs. The video investigation, directed and executive produced by Erica Berenstein, just won an Excellence in Media and Film Award from the Institute on Violence, Abuse, and Trauma. The organization also plans to use the video in training family court officials.

The video was created by a team of journalists that also included Retro Report's Kyra Darnton, Business Insider's deputy executive producer Barbara Corbellini Duarte, and cinematographer Mark Adam Miller. The project was also honored with a Headliner Award and was named a finalist for an Investigative Reporters & Editors Award.