Child custody disputes can be hard fought, with each parent making serious allegations against the other. While these issues can be hashed out in court, sometimes a parent manipulates their child to weaponize the child against the other parent. As a result, a wedge is driven between the child and their other parent, thereby harming their relationship and giving the manipulating parent more evidence to seek a custody modification. This manipulation is difficult for a court to pick up on unless the aggrieved party can demonstrate that parental alienation has occurred.
What are the signs of parental alienation?
To prove parental alienation, you have to be able to pick up on signs of its existence. In many instances, parental alienation results in the following behaviors:
- Your child unrelentingly criticizing you and your family members without proper justification.
- Your child providing the manipulating parent with unwavering support regardless of the facts.
- Your child’s use of language that seems borrowed or beyond their common use of language considering their age.
- Your child believing facts about you that are false.
- Your child knowing intimate details about you and your relationship with the other parent.
- The other parent criticizing you in front of the child.
- The other parent blocking you from having contact with the child.
- The other parent lying to your child, which could include indicating that you don’t love your child or even going so far as to say that you previously abused your child.
- The other parent preventing you from learning about your child’s medical conditions, schooling, and extracurricular activities.
As you can see, then, parental alienation changes the dynamics of your relationship with your child and can even go so far as to cut you out of your child’s life. This can be devastating and difficult to overcome, but there is hope for salvaging your relationship and putting parental alienation to a stop if you take legal action.