What is Parental Alienation?

Parental alienation is where one parent continually tries to turn their children against the other parent. This can occur where one parent makes untrue allegations of abuse, nasty comments about the other parent or uses manipulation in an attempt to influence the children to hate the other parent or refuse spending time with them.

Parental alienation can lead to the breakdown of the relationship between the children and the other parent. There is no evidence to support either gender being more likely to be responsible for parental alienation, however it is more likely to be the person who is the primary carer of the children as they may have more “influence”.

Research has shown that parental alienation is a form of child abuse, and/or family violence. The psychological effects on the children can last well into adulthood and prevent them from having healthy adult relationships.

Some signs of parental alienation include:

👉🏻 Your ex prevents you from seeing or talking to the children. Your ex might say the children don’t want to talk or see you

👉🏻 Your ex controls how the children communicate with you, including monitoring text messages and phone calls

👉🏻 Your ex plans events that clash with the time the children are supposed to spend time with you

👉🏻 Your ex breaks conditions of parenting plans or Consent Orders and will not be flexible with the arrangements

👉🏻 Your ex withholds information about your children, including medical information or school reports, which results in you gradually losing knowledge of your children

If you are having difficulty negotiating with your ex to spend time with your children and need specialist advice, Smoke Family Law are available to assist you. Call 0499 004 555 for a free confidential 15 minute chat