How can you stop parental alienation?

Answer 1

It is essential to take immediate action in your child custody case as soon as you recognize any form of parental alienation, even the mildest forms. The difficulties in remedying a parental alienation case dramatically increase as the behavior of the obsessed parent escalates. From a legal standpoint, your actions should be swift and direct:

1. It is essential to have a very detailed Parenting Plan approved by the Court so that you have every possible event anticipated, with penalties in place for violations. For the Ultimate Parenting Plan. See related links for the ultimate parenting plan.

2. Document everything:

• Document in detail each instance of parental alienation, mild or severe. Write down what the other parent said, and what you said, whenever any disagreements or "incident's" occur. Also note whether the children were present and, if so, how did they react.
• Keep of log of any statements and behavior of the children, which show that parental alienation is having an impact upon them.

3. Take your documentation to your family law attorney and tell him or her that you want immediately relief from the court. Often attorneys will want you to wait for 60 to 90 days or longer before they file any documents seeking relief. This could be too late for your children to recover from the acts of parental alienation.

4. Ask for very specific child custody court orders to eliminate wrongful behavior, such as:

• Neither parent will make or allow others to make negative or disparaging comments about the other parent, or the other parent's past or present relationships, family, or friends within hearing distance of the children.
• Each parent shall encourage and see that the children exercise their time with the other parent.
• Children shall exercise their time with each parent regardless of the circumstances, unless the children are ill and have a Doctor's Note to that effect.
• Therapy shall commence immediately for the children and the parents to assist in understanding parental alienation and its detrimental impact upon children.

5. Make certain the aforementioned court orders have "teeth." You want swift and specific remedies if the order is violated, for example:

• The guilty parent shall lose time with the children
• The guilty parent shall have supervised visitation
• Primary Custody of the Children shall be changed to the innocent parent.
• The guilty parent shall immediately engage in mandatory parental alienation therapy.

6. If the court has the facilities for a "case coordinator" or "case management" ask that this procedure be implemented. Ask that the coordinator have the power to:

• Report directly to the child custody evaluator or to the court about inappropriate actions and activities of the guilty parent
• Be able to ask the court for remedial orders to stop the actions and/or activities without delay.

7. Continue to return to court with each violation of a court order by the opposing parent. You need to establish right from the beginning, that you are not going to sit back and passively allow this type of behavior to continue. Unless you are consistent in your attach on the inappropriate behavior of the other parent, you will not be taken seriously.

8. Ask for primary custody in each instance in which you return to court. Discuss the fact that the more time the children spend with the obsessive parent, the more likely the parental alienation will worsen to the point that it will be irremediable.