Unfortunately, during many divorces and afterward, one parent might attempt to alienate their child against you. They might use emotional manipulation or tell your child selective facts to make your child not want to have anything to do with you. This is especially a problem when you do not have custody and your child depends on your ex for resources and love. Parental alienation can also occur on its own without the meddling of your spouse. Fortunately, there are ways you can fight parental alienation and protect your relationship with your child.
The Effects of Alienation
Children who feel alienated from their parents will sometimes suffer from social dysfunction. They might fall behind in school and might also become depressed. For this reason, a judge will always try to take into consideration the best interests of the child when making decisions and will take action if they believe they can prevent parental alienation.
Shared Parenting Plans
As you are going through your divorce, the focus should be on creating a shared parenting plan. When both parents are involved in the child's life, your child will be able to develop a relationship with you that is not filtered through the other parent. The other parent should not denigrate you and should also not prevent your child from seeing you. Because the mental health of a child tends to be better with a parenting plan than without one, it will be difficult to not end up with this arrangement unless the courts believe that you are a danger to your child.
Fighting Back
If you feel like you're being prevented from seeing your child during the divorce process, speak with a divorce representative as soon as possible. Your representative will use parental alienation laws against your other partner. Courts can impose sanctions and can also change the legal and physical custody of your child. The courts might also argue that you and your child undergo reunification therapy.
Make sure to write down each time that your ex tried to prevent you from seeing your child in a journal. Reach out to the other parent through text messages, email, or other written forms of communication. Then, your partner will not be able to misconstrue what you said and your partner's response will be recorded. These records can be used in court by your divorce lawyer to prove that your ex is guilty of violating parental alienation laws.
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