Divorce isn’t easy on anybody, but when one parent deliberately turns the kids against the other, things get really ugly. Unfortunately, parental alienation is a real problem – and if you suspect it’s happening to your children before, during or after your divorce, you’ll need to talk to your Milwaukee divorce attorney right away.
Parental Alienation: The Cold, Hard Facts
Parental alienation is, briefly, when one parent turns the kids against the other parent deliberately or unintentionally. While many parents don’t realize the psychological harm they’re causing their children, some parents do it on purpose and use the children as tools to hurt their former spouse.
Children who are victims of parental alienation often exhibit these symptoms:
- Anger directed at one parent without being able to explain their feelings or without having any valid reason at all
- Stubborn refusal to recognize positive events associated with one parent
- Rejection of the alienated parent’s extended family, including grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins that they were formerly close to
- Refusal to visit the alienated parent
Kids whose parents have literally brainwashed them into this situation often insist that there hasn’t been any pressure to get them to feel this way. They’ll often say that their feelings don’t have anything to do with the alienating parent. Many children exhibit no guilt for treating the alienated parent poorly, which has led many psychologists to suggest that parental alienation should be considered a mental disorder.
Parental alienation includes the act of convincing kids that their other parent doesn’t care for them while the alienating parent does; that the other parent is an unsafe person, but the alienating parent is safe; and that the other parent is worthless.
It’s incredibly important that you talk to your Milwaukee family law attorney if you suspect that your children are the victims of parental alienation. He or she may be able to follow a legal path that can help you repair some of the damage done by the other parent. It’s shockingly common for both alienated parents and children to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of parental alienation, so please, let your lawyer help you before it’s too late.
