It doesn’t take much for a child custody dispute to become heated. You and your child’s other parent may have differing views of what type of upbringing is in your child’s best interests, and your priorities may clash. While you can each have your day in court to present your proposed child custody arrangement to a judge, the alleged facts that are shown during a custody hearing can be skewed when parental alienation is in play.
What is parental alienation?
In basic terms, parental alienation is the manipulation of a child in hopes of distancing that child from their other parent. For example, one parent might feed the child false information in hopes of warping the child’s perception of the other parent so that they can then use the child’s misshapen opinion about that other parent to their advantage during a custody battle.
There are many ways in which parental alienation can occur, too. Alienating parents can restrict the other parent’s access to the child, share with the child intimate details of their relationship with the other parent, keep the other parent uninformed about medical appointments and extracurricular activities, and lie to the child about who the other parent is and what sort of involvement they want with the child. In some instances, parental alienation becomes so severe that the child ends up believing that they’ve been abused or neglected by the other parent when no abuse or neglect has occurred.
Can you stop parental alienation?
Maybe. But doing so is going to require a lot of work on your part to build a compelling child custody and parental alienation case. If you’re in a high asset divorce, then you may have the resources needed to hire an expert to help you inform the court of what parental alienation looks like, the harm that can be caused by alienation and how alienation can be rectified. Additionally, you should focus on showing the following:
- Your bond with your child: Your own testimony and the testimony of other witnesses can help establish the bond that you have with your child. This, in turn, can demonstrate that the proposed custody arrangement, which probably seeks to limit your time with your child, is not in the child’s best interests.
- The communications you’ve had with the other parent: By reducing all contact to writing, you develop a track record of your attempts to play a meaningful role in your child’s life. It can also help you show how challenging the other parent has been and how they’ve gone out of their way to try to cut you out of your child’s life.
- Your child’s mental state: If possible, you should try to have your child’s mental health evaluated. A mental health professional should be able to pick up on signs of alienation as well as the harm that it’s causing to your child. You might have to ask the court to order this so that the evaluation is completed prior to the final hearing on your custody dispute.
Your child’s safety and well-being are on the line when parental alienation is in play. But the only way to protect your child is to present a well thought out case that demonstrates the existence and the true impact of the alienation that’s occurring. If that’s something that you need assistance building, then now is the time to think through the various avenues you can explore and to seek out any support that you may need along the way.