Couples generally aren’t on good terms when they break up or divorce. Emotions can become skewed and contorted when there are children involved. Some parents may even be so vengeful that they engage in the act of parental alienation.
Parental alienation is when a mom or a dad purposely attempts to turn their child or children against the other parent. They may convince their son or daughter to falsely accuse their parent of domestic violence or child abuse. One parent may continually tell the children negative things about the other one. The son or daughter may grow increasingly distant and not want to see their other parent due to this.
Some of the signs of parental alienation are when children begin acting out in school. They may describe the alienated parent as someone that they dislike or report feeling happy or relieved that they are no longer in the picture. A child may also reveal that there’s tension between their parents in therapy.
Parents, in some cases, will attempt to change the course of history. They will try to convince their children that the other parent has never done anything positive. They may try to make their son or daughter believe that all good resulted from their efforts and not the other parent’s. The extended family of one parent, such as aunts, uncles and grandparents, may also become targets of the other’s alienation campaign.
It can put your custody rights in peril if your ex accuses you of parental alienation. You must know that your child’s other parent can’t simply accuse you of this, but they must have evidence to prove that you engaged in it for it to have an impact on your parental rights. An experienced attorney can advise you what steps you need to take in Florida to prove parental alienation and advise you of the potential that a Fort Myers judge will modify their order based on what’s happening in your kids’ lives.
