Parental Alienation: Everything You Need to Know

Those who use parental alienation claim they use it to protect the child, but that’s not true. Generally, the conduct is motivated by a parent’s desire to win full custody.

One of the most common issues during child custody proceedings is parental alienation. What is parental alienation?

Let’s take a closer look at parental alienation, explaining what it is, some hallmark signs of parental alienation, and what to do if you recognize them in your custody case.

What Is Parental Alienation?

This is the act of psychologically manipulating or brainwashing a child against the other parent. In other words, it’s when one parent (mostly the custodial parent) makes false, hateful statements about the other parent in front of the child, causing the child to hate, fear, and reject the targeted parent without a valid reason. The alienating parent may deny the other parent parenting time to make their lie or accusations more believable.

Those who use parental alienation claim they use it to protect the child, but that’s not true. Generally, the conduct is motivated by a parent’s desire to win full custody.

It’s worth noting that parental alienation can cause children severe trauma and emotional distress. And sometimes, the physiological damages caused by parental manipulation and alienation may spill into adulthood.

Signs of Parental Alienation

If your child custody case has been contentious and your child has been extremely hostile towards you, you could be looking at parental alienation. Here are common signs to look out for:

• Your child is rejecting or destroying gifts from you
• Your child has cut all communications in the middle of your child custody case
• Your child is surprisingly disrespectful, especially when your spouse is around
• Your child does not want to spend time with you
• Your child is eavesdropping on your calls monitoring your phone messages and reporting to your spouse

Addressing Parental Alienation

Sometimes the sign of parental alienation can be obvious to pinpoint and prove. But in most cases, the court can miss the signs and unintentionally allow your spouse to get away with it.

To improve the chances of winning custody in a case involving parental alienation, you need to have an attorney by your side. The attorney will help you gather evidence and use it to demonstrate how your ex is using manipulation and alienation to paint you as a ‘bad” parent. The attorney will also help you convince the judge to allow your child to move to a neutral place until the final hearing.

When choosing an attorney, select someone well-versed with child custody laws and proceedings. Also, make sure they have enough experience.

We Can Help You!

Proving parental alienation can be challenging. But our family attorneys at The Betz Law Firm are here to help you every step of the way. We will help you gather solid evidence to help prove your case. Contact us today to schedule an appointment.