Families experience discord and emotional upheaval before, during, and after divorce. Children are especially vulnerable to the rollercoaster of emotions that impact them at every turn. What they do not need is extra turmoil from parents.

Sadly, parents in some divorces increase the drama by bad-mouthing the other parent to their child or children, leading to parental alienation.

What Is Parental Alienation?

Parental alienation occurs when one parent attempts to turn the child against the other parent in one way or another. Because children are mentally malleable, attempts at alienating a child from the other parent are often successful to some degree or completely.

Keep in mind that discussing negative facts about the other parent with a child may be considered parental alienation and is highly frowned upon. For example, a father telling his child or children that their mother is an addict or in rehab for drugs may be parental alienation, especially if it is part of a greater effort to the other parent in a negative light.

Also important to consider is that parental alienation may also occur unintentionally. Words a parent says can be and are interpreted differently by children than by adults.

For instance, a parent may cause alienation by speaking of mature affairs before immature ears. The immature ears of the child can easily misinterpret or exaggerate as negativity due to lack of life experience.

Bad-Mouthing

Exes and soon-to-be exes may commonly talk badly about each other, both to their faces and to other people. While it is to be expected, it is not appropriate when the child or children are present. When a child is present, the bad-mouthing influences their perception of the alleged bad parent. When a parent directly bad-mouths the other to their child, the influence is often greater.

Limiting or Preventing Contact

Parents can limit or prevent another parent’s contact with the child or children in a number of devious ways, including:

  • Lying about conflicts with the parenting plan
  • Creating work conflicts
  • Feigning illness
  • Sabotaging visitation, such as by blaming car troubles, traffic, etc.
  • Ghosting

These types of behaviors interrupt the growth of the relationship between a parent and their child.

Spoiling

Spoiling occurs when a parent spoils high points in the relationship between the other parent and the child. Failing to have a child ready on time for a special vacation trip with the other parent is an example. The result in this case could be simple frustration or even a missed flight.

How to Recognize Parental Alienation

It is now recognized that children do best in school and life when they have healthy relationships with both parents. When one parent poisons the mind of a child with hate and other negativity, the child’s relationship with the other parent suffers, which means the child suffers. As a parent, you must learn how to recognize parental alienation in order to address it.

Common signs or clues of parental alienation include:

  • Polarization toward the alienating parent
  • Expressed negative feelings toward the parent to be alienated
  • Animosity toward the alienated parent’s relatives
  • Denial of positive experiences once shared with the alienated parent

Without justification, these behaviors are typically the result of attempts at parental alienation.

Do You Suspect Parental Alienation?

If you suspect parental alienation, you can take steps to put an end to it. If the alienation is truly taking place, the law is on your side. However, you must prove that the other parent is negatively affecting your relationship with your child.

An experienced Maryland child custody attorney can walk you through your options, which include:

  • Custody evaluation with social workers, counselors, or psychologists
  • Custody modification to allow more time with your child
  • Mediation or parent coordination to address the underlying animosity with the help of a third party

To support your efforts, you will want to document everything you can.

For instance, make sure you document the following:

  • Parenting plan violations
  • Emails, texts, and phone calls
  • Statements from your child indicating parental alienation

When it’s time to convince a family law judge to act, your attorney will need hard proof to back up your claims and requests.

The Effective Family Law Representation You Deserve

When you have important family law issues to deal with, Blattner Family Law Group can serve as your trusted guide and advocate. Whether the issue is parental alienation and child custody or property division of and support, our team can listen and help you get to the other side of the issue in as best of a position as possible.

Contact our office for a free consultation with a seasoned family law attorney from Blattner Family Law Group today.