Parental Alienation: How It Affects Custody and Legal Remedies

What is Parental Alienation?

Parental alienation is the act of intentionally isolating or alienating a parent from their children. Parents hoping to alienate the other parent often achieve parental alienation through planned and malicious actions, either through words or conduct, with the intent of creating division, estrangement, and sometimes even hostility between the other parent and their children. 

An intentional campaign of behavior with malicious intent by one parent with the aim of breaking down the relationship between the other parent and their children is an awful thing to see unfold. Parental alienation not only hurts the impacted parent, but it has several harmful effects on the children, especially if there is no justification for supposed alienation. The only instances where parental alienation could ever be considered justified would include examples of child abandonment, domestic violence or abuse, substantial substance abuse, or other serious issues. 

Parental alienation is unfortunately common in some divorce proceedings, especially in high-conflict divorces. If one parent believes they can get an advantage in child custody or alimony, they may employ various parental alienation tactics to achieve this objective. 

In some cases, a pattern of severe parental alienation tactics could even rise to the level of emotional child abuse. If you believe that your soon-to-be ex-spouse or ex-partner is utilizing parental alienation tactics against you and your relationship with your children, California family law attorneys can help put a stop to this damaging behavior and protect your parental rights. 

What Are the Negative Effects of Parental Alienation on Children?

Not only is parental alienation and emotional manipulation unfair to a parent who has done nothing wrong, but it can also negatively affect the children. The California Welfare and Institutions Code officially recognizes the harm of parental alienation on young children. 

Parental alienation can take several forms, each with different symptoms that could be noticeable in children. Some of the symptoms of parental alienation may include the following behaviors or characteristics: loyalty guilt, inexplicable rejection or even hatred for one parent, the children resisting or refusing to see one of the parents, a child repeating the other parent’s comments and beliefs, and even signs of fear have been noticed in some parental alienation cases. 

When a parent engages in such negative behavior as isolating their child from the other parent, this can have a tremendous impact on the child’s well-being and growth. Negative effects on children could include the following:

• Apparent internal conflict over the loyalty shown to either parent
• Behavioral issues and acting out at school
• Children exhibit signs of abandonment, guilt, or loss
• Decreased self-esteem or self-worth
• Identity confusion
• Inexplicable inconsistency in a parent-child relationship
• Long-term emotional and psychological effects
• Lost respect for authority
• Signs of emotional distress in the children

If these problems are not addressed promptly, the alienation a child experiences in their youth could have lasting effects throughout their lives. 

Is Parental Alienation Illegal in California?

The law provides California family courts the power to protect children whom a judge believes to be at substantial risk of suffering emotional trauma, evidenced by depression, anxiety, withdrawal, or aggressive behavior because of the conduct of a parent or guardian. 

California does not consider parental alienation to be a criminal offense, however. Just the same, though, if evidence of parental alienation can be provided to the courts, that evidence could substantially impact child custody and visitation rights. A family law judge can change court orders or modify existing orders if they believe that a parent has been unfairly alienated against their children. (If a parent commits a crime, such as domestic violence, while in the practice of parental alienation, they may face criminal charges for that offense, but not for alienation.) 

Many family law judges consider parental alienation a major factor when determining child custody arrangements. A judge will always attempt to act in the children’s best interests, which may mean providing more favorable visitation and custody rights to the alienated parent. 

How Does a Parent Prove Parental Alienation in a California Family Law Court?

If you hope to obtain justice and achieve a more favorable custody arrangement, it may be necessary to provide substantial evidence that proves parental alienation has taken place. 

Valuable evidence that could be used to prove parental alienation may include the following:

• A diary of interactions with your children and any behavior that you believed was concerning or inexplicable
• Digital communications, such as text messages, emails, and voicemails, that provide an idea of the other parent’s negative beliefs about you and how your child repeats those thoughts
• Social media posts written by the other parent that are negative toward you
• Testimony from a professional, such as a mental health therapist or counselor, who can speak about the changes in your child’s behavior
• Witnesses and their testimonies about the other parent’s negative talk or complete fabrications shared in the presence of children

Sometimes, a parent may consider involving Child Protective Services (CPS). However, CPS involvement can sometimes have a negative effect on the children, introducing more stress into their lives. In severe cases of parental alienation, though, contacting CPS may be considered necessary. Speak with our California law firm for legal guidance. 

How Can Parental Alienation Impact Child Custody?

When there are allegations of parental alienation, the parents must perform intensive investigations and evaluations of the situation. Such evaluations may involve appointing therapists, child custody evaluators, and counselors to assess the well-being of the children and the impact of the alienating behavior.

In California courts, parental alienation can have a far-reaching impact on child custody decision-making. If a family law court believes that one parent is intentionally alienating the children from the other parent, the court has the right to intervene and modify any existing custody arrangements to serve the child’s best interests. 

Court intervention can occur in various ways, such as reducing the alienating parent’s time with the children or even changing the custody arrangement and providing the alienated parent with sole custody. Additionally, a court may require the parents to address the root causes of the alienating behavior. For example, a judge may require that both parents attend therapy or counseling sessions, either together or individually, to confront underlying issues that led to these manipulative acts. 

What Are Some Possible Solutions to Parental Alienation in Your Family Law Case?

The non-alienating parent can seek various legal remedies to address the occurrence of alienation, including petitioning for modifications to visitation rights, requesting child custody modifications, or seeking court-ordered mental health therapy for the child who was affected. 

Legal remedies to fight parental alienation in California include the following:

• Although parental alienation is not a crime, interfering with a parent’s right to custody or maliciously depriving a lawful custodian of access to their children is a criminal offense. If you can prove that the other parent went so far as to violate an existing custody order, they may face extreme consequences
• Child custody orders can be modified if the co-parent is guilty of parental alienation. The previous child custody order could either be reversed or permanently modified, potentially resulting in the alienating parent losing custody or being forced to have supervised visitation
• Family law courts have the authority to impose sanctions and civil remedies, such as contempt of court orders, costly fines, and even short periods of incarceration
• In some cases, instead of emphasizing punishment for wrongful actions, a court may opt for a more therapeutic approach, requiring the co-parent to undergo a psychiatric evaluation or attend court-imposed therapy sessions

In many parental alienation matters, employing the professional legal counsel of an experienced family law attorney is necessary. If you suspect parental alienation, contact our law office immediately. 

Schedule Your Initial Consultation with Our Compassionate Legal Team Today

Parental alienation can take many forms, including lying to the children about the other parent, accusing the other parent of false motives, undermining the other parent’s teachings, ignoring custody orders, sharing intimate personal information with a child, and refusing to cooperate with parenting plans. These manipulative actions can hurt both the other parent and the children. 

In extreme cases of parental alienation, a family law judge may decide to alter child custody orders in favor of the targeted parent — this could even result in the alienating parent losing custody or visitation rights. 

To better understand how parental alienation affects child custody and what some potential legal remedies to parental alienation might be in your case, please contact our law firm to speak with a lawyer. 

Schedule a no-obligation case evaluation with our California law firm by calling us at 408-688-9153.