What Is Parental Alienation and How Can It Affect Custody?

The Nature of Parental Alienation occurs when one parent attempts to manipulate their child into developing an antagonistic relationship with the other parent.

The parent may do this by sharing personal details about their divorce or former relationship, making derogatory remarks about the other parent, or claiming that the other parent doesn't love or care about the child.

There are several ways that one parent can alienate the other, including: Insulting the other parent in front of the child. Sharing details about the parents' relationship with the child Preventing the child from seeing or speaking to the other parent Excluding the other parent from extracurricular activities Lying about the other parent or making false claims Making the child feel guilty for spending time with the other parent Coercing the child into spending more time with him/her by offering gifts It is important to understand that alienation is different from estrangement.

Alienation, on the other hand, is caused by one parent acting to destroy the relationship between the other parent and the child.

There is general agreement that children should have healthy relationships with both parents, and the psychological manipulation used by one parent to harm the other parent through the child is damaging.

If a child is being coerced by one parent to alienate the other parent, then the court may step in.

A judge may modify the custody agreement to limit the child's amount of time with the manipulative parent, require court-ordered counseling to repair the alienated parent-child relationship, and order the manipulative parent to attend therapy.

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