If your ex-spouse uses her or his ill will towards you to impact your relationship with your child, parental alienation could be a bad outcome to divorce. A parent can cause a child to become estranged from the other parent through psychological manipulation. This is a serious problem that can have a lasting impact on the relationship between child and parent. You have rights if you suspect parental alienation in your family following a divorce or separation. You might be able to present evidence of parental alienation against your spouse in a child custody hearing.
IMITATIVE LEARNING
- You can identify parental alienation by watching your child’s behavior and actions. You may notice a change in your child’s behavior toward you. Many people mistakenly interpret this as a general emotional change in your child due to divorce. However, it could be a sign of parental alienation. You could see signs of imitation learning in your child.
- Children learn social behavior by imitating their parents. Your child might begin to copy the negative behavior of an abusive parent.
CONTACT RESISTING
- A common sign of parental abandonment is your child refusing to have contact with you, or becoming dependent on your spouse. These signs could indicate a deeper emotional trauma, but it could also be an indicator of parental alienation.
- This could be a sign that your spouse is encouraging you to behave in this manner. They may be shaming you, lying about what you did, blaming you for the divorce, or making false claims about how you don’t want to be around the children.
- This kind of psychological manipulation can cause your child to withdraw from you, while making your ex-spouse closer.
PUSHING FOR PRIMARY CUSOTY WITH THE OTHER PARENT
- If your child has an extreme polarized view of each parent, or a biased view of the split, it could be psychological manipulation.
- Your ex-spouse may be manipulating the situation if your child appears to have a rewritten version.
- This could cause serious problems, including your child supporting your ex-spouse in a custody dispute. You could be facing parental alienation if your child is trying help your ex-spouse to get full custody by speaking to a judge, defying joint custodial orders, or avoiding all contact,
EXTREME HOSTILITY
In extreme cases, your child may suddenly show hostility and hatred towards you. These behaviors should not be interpreted as a sign of emotional distress. Your ex-spouse may have reacted negatively to you and passed it on to your child. Extreme parental alienation could manifest as open disrespect, aggression, or threats to you.
WHAT TO DO ABOUT PARENTAL ALENATION
Document parental alienation by providing proof. This could include conversations between you and your child about your ex-spouse’s behavior behind your back or comparisons between the healthy relationship you had with your child before and after the divorce. You could also bring your child to a psychologist for an official diagnosis. Your case could be helped by any evidence that can prove parental alienation or psychological manipulation.
Summarized from an article by Boyd Law.
