Oceanport Parental Alienation

If you are the noncustodial parent of a child (that is, your child lives with his or her other parent the bulk of the time), you are no stranger to the physical and emotional struggles that can accompany not having your child in your presence whenever you desire to spend time with him or her. Rituals and habits you may have developed with your child while you and the child’s other parent were together – routines such as a walk or playing in the park every Saturday morning or ice cream after school – must be adjusted or abandoned altogether. The struggles you experience as a noncustodial parent following a divorce or separation with your child’s other parent are only amplified when your child’s other parent is actively attempting to drive you and your child further apart.

These efforts – sometimes referred to as “parental alienation” – can catch you in a state of surprise and shock. No parent is truly prepared to learn that his or her relationship with his or her child is being undermined by the very person who is also charged with promoting the child’s welfare and wellbeing. Take action: with the help of an experienced and knowledgeable Oceanport family law attorney like the legal team at Aretsky Law Group, P.C., you can help protect your child’s wellbeing and preserve your rights as a parent.

Efforts at parental alienation are often quite subtle at first: you may not even have reason to know that the other parent of your child has been working to alienate your child from you until the strain in your relationship with your child begins to show. You may first learn of parental alienation efforts when your child asks you about an incident in your past and/or repeats what the other parent has said about you. However, parental alienation is not limited to words alone: some parents commit acts designed to alienate the child from the other parent, such as:

• Physically restraining or preventing the child from using the phone or computer to contact the other parent or leaving the house to visit with the other parent;
• Scheduling the child’s extracurricular activities in such a way that the child has no meaningful time to spend with the other parent;
• Moving away from the other parent in an effort to make it more difficult for the other parent to exercise his or her visitation time; and/or
• Disciplining the child for speaking well of the other parent or expressing any preference for the other parent.

While parental alienation efforts are usually committed by the custodial parent and directed toward the noncustodial parent, this is not always the case. Any person who commits acts or speaks words with the intention that the child’s relationship with one parent or the other would become more strained can be said to be engaging in parental alienation. Regardless of the source of these efforts, your first concern ought to be protecting and preserving your relationship with your child.

New Jersey Revised Statues Section 9:2-4 states as follows: “[I]t is in the public policy of this State to assure minor children of frequent and continuing contact with both parents after the parents have separated or dissolved their marriage.” In other words, judges presiding over Oceanport divorce and child custody proceedings will generally presume and prefer that a child have as much access as possible to both parents and that both parents be afforded as much opportunity as possible to develop a meaningful relationship with the child (except, of course, in cases where one parent is engaged in behavior that is harmful or detrimental to the child’s wellbeing).

When you are the victim of parental alienation efforts and you retain the services of Aretsky Law Group, P.C., our firm will expeditiously file the appropriate legal motions to put the court on notice that parental alienation is occurring. These allegations of parental alienation must be proven, however, and so our firm will also locate important witnesses and physical evidence – phone logs, teachers, neighbors, and others – which taken together can paint an accurate picture of how the parental alienation is affecting you as well as your child. Because a prompt resolution to these events is usually necessary in order to prevent your relationship with your child from suffering too greatly, our firm works as quickly as possible to get the matter before a judge.

The longer you wait to contact Aretsky Law Group, P.C. about the parental alienation efforts occurring between you and your child’s other parent, the greater the harm that can be inflicted on you, your child, and the relationship between the two of you. Contact Aretsky Law Group, P.C. today to discuss your case with us: call 800-537-4154 to schedule your Consultation at our Monmouth County meeting location by appointment only.