Do you want to maintain your relationship with your kids during a custody battle?
It’s every parent’s worst nightmare: fighting for custody of your children only to lose contact with them. A loving parent-child relationship is essential for your kids’ mental health and your future bond with them.
The problem is:
Some parents weaponize the child custody process to alienate kids from their other parent. This calculated act of spite can irreparably damage your relationship with your children and your custody rights.
Left unchecked, parental alienation can tear families apart.
If you’re currently experiencing parental alienation as part of your custody battle, don’t panic. Know that there are legal solutions, and you can protect your parental rights and your children’s best interests with the right legal strategy and a good Arkansas child custody lawyer on your team.
In this guide, you’ll learn exactly how to address parental alienation in child custody battles.
What you’ll discover:
- What Is Parental Alienation in Custody Cases?
- How Courts Handle Alienation Claims
- Proven Strategies to Combat Parental Alienation
- Legal Consequences for Alienating Parents
What Is Parental Alienation in Custody Cases?
Parental alienation is a process where one parent attempts to turn their child against the other parent through a series of manipulative, harmful behaviors.
Parental alienation is not normal conflict or disagreements that come up during a divorce. This behavior involves methodically and intentionally programming a child to fear, distrust, or hate the other parent without good reason.
A successful parental alienation campaign can help the alienating parent to:
- Gain custody advantagesby making the child look like they don’t want to be around the other parent
- Get revengeon the other parent by taking out their emotions on their kids
- Maintain control and importance in the child’s life
The real tragedy is that parental alienation tactics are often covert and subtle at the beginning.
How Courts Handle Alienation Claims
Parental alienation is taken seriously by the family court system because it goes against the best interests of the child standard.
Here’s how judges typically respond to these cases:
Once a parent raises the alarm about parental alienation in custody proceedings, the court looks for evidence of specific behaviors and outcomes.
The state of Texas reports that 44% of mothers lose custody in family court when fathers file for parental alienation. Mothers only lose custody 28% of the time when they accuse fathers of alienation.
This difference shows the power of an alienation argument.
But before you get ahead of yourself, let’s break down the types of evidence a judge will expect to see in these cases.
Recognizing the Warning Signs
Armed with this information from family court cases, I’m going to show you how to spot the exact behaviors that constitute parental alienation. This is the methodology legal experts use to prove cases.
Better still:
I’m going to share the specific warning signs that courts consider most significant.
Common Alienation Tactics
The first step is to know what to look out for, so you can recognize these damaging behaviors before they escalate:
Systematic badmouthing of the other parent in front of the child, inappropriate sharing of adult information, or false accusations
Purposeful interference with communication attempts like phone calls, text messages, or in-person visitation
Creating a child against the other parent by making the child feel like they must choose between their parents (“If you love me, you won’t want to spend time with your dad.”)
Undermining the authority or decisions of the other parent (“You don’t have to listen to your dad. He can’t make you do anything.”)
The Impact on Children
Walk into a family therapy office or mental health center and you’ll see the negative consequences of parental alienation all around you.
Studies have revealed that over 50% of adults who experienced parental alienation as a child report symptoms of depression and anxiety.
It doesn’t stop there, though…
Load The Evidence
- Flip on documentation mode the moment you suspect parental alienation is underway.
- You’ll want to systematically track and record:
- Missed or interfered-with visits
- Inappropriate things your child says to you that were likely said by the other parent
- Negative changes in your child’s mood, behavior, or attitude after being with the alienating parent
Relevant texts, emails, or voicemails that show the pattern
Witness statements from teachers, family members, or friends that corroborate your claims
This creates a detailed timeline that a court can follow.
You have the documentation you need to move to…
Legal Strategies That Work
You’re ready to move forward. Armed with evidence, you’re now looking for legal strategies to protect your rights.
Specifically, you need to know:
How can the court help to address the alienation that is happening?
What orders are available to stop it?
Take the example of if the alienation involves a parent flat out refusing to follow custody orders. The court could find that parent in contempt and restructure the custody order in your favor.
If there are subtle psychological techniques involved, judges may order family therapy or supervised visitation to help rebuild the relationship.
Work with your attorney to pinpoint the most appropriate remedies. Just be sure to present a clear pattern of behavior with documentation.
Court Interventions and Remedies
There are several options available to the court when it comes to parental alienation.
Graduated responses typically include:
- Counseling requirements— Individual therapy, family therapy, and even parenting coordination to help both the alienating parent and the child overcome the issues.
- Modified custody arrangements— The court could reduce the amount of time that the alienating parent has with the child, or require that exchanges or visitations are supervised.
- Contempt citations— Judges can levy fines or other legal penalties against a parent who is found to be alienating in violation of court orders.
- Full custody reversal — In extreme cases, the child could be removed from the custody of the alienating parent entirely.
The judge is concerned with the child’s best interests, and it’s well established that parental alienation is harmful to children’s mental and emotional development.
Why Professional Help Matters
Time — The earlier you take action against alienation, the less damage there is to your relationship with your children.
Money — Hiring professional legal counsel will help you avoid wasted fees and drawn out court proceedings by quickly and efficiently resolving the problem.
Emotional wellbeing — The mental and emotional health of both you and your children will be better if you get the guidance and support of someone who has helped others with the same issue.
By working with the right child custody legal services who understand the dynamics of alienation, you get access to battle-tested strategies that judges will take seriously.
Preventing Future Alienation
The best cure for parental alienation is a good offense. Setting strong boundaries and keeping records from the very beginning will help you avoid escalation and having to go back and prove up the problem.
Key prevention strategies include:
- Sticking to all court orders and custody arrangements to the letter
- Communicating only about matters related to the children, and only through the approved communication channels
- Shielding your children from the negative comments, emotions, and tension of the divorce process and custody battle
- Building a strong network of witnesses such as family members, teachers, coaches, and friends who can vouch for your conduct and relationship with your child
- Working with a family therapist or mental health professional who is experienced in family law issues and understands the dynamics of parental alienation
Wrapping It All Together
Protecting your children and your parent-child relationship from parental alienation during a custody battle is possible. The key is quick, decisive, and strategic legal action. Statistically speaking, 79.9% of custodial parents are mothers, but that doesn’t mean that other parents don’t weaponize the custody system against their former partners.
The reality is that parental alienation cases are always difficult, complex, and emotionally charged. For this reason, you need expert legal counsel on your team who knows how to handle the psychological intricacies of these situations as well as what legal solutions have the best chance of success in family court.
Don’t wait.
Contact a qualified child custody legal services immediately to develop an effective action plan. The more time that passes with alienation continuing to happen, the more difficult it becomes to reverse the damage and hold your child’s other parent accountable.
