When you are going through a divorce, your partner might not take it well and may even wish to retaliate by trying to undermine your relationship with your child. This process is known as parental alienation, and it might affect both your divorce and your custody arrangement. You will want to discuss parental alienation with your divorce lawyer.

How to Know If Your Child Is the Victim of Parental Alienation

Parental alienation hurts both you and your child. Your ex-partner will often make negative statements about you that are disparaging. This is meant to sour your relationship with your child. Your partner might tell your child some of the negative details of the divorce or may even say that you no longer love your child. 

The purpose of parental alienation might be to punish you for the divorce or may be used to encourage your child to want to be in the custody of the other parent. A single disparaging remark is usually not enough to be classified as parental alienation, but you will want to record every incident that you think is relevant. If you're not sure, make sure to bring the incident up with your divorce lawyer.

Undermining Your Authority

An important part of being a parent is that you have the authority to make decisions. For example, you should have a say in how your child's healthcare needs are handled and what your child's curfew should be. However, the other parent should not undermine your child's authority by contradicting what you say or ridiculing it. 

One way of undermining your authority is to put your child in charge of decisions that they shouldn't be in charge of. For example, the other parent might allow your child to make decisions such as whether or not to come home and go to bed on a school night. Then, when you attempt to parent your child, the other parent might use this against you.

Parental Replacement

You will always have a special relationship with your child as one of their parents. However, the other parent might decide to try to replace you with another parent such as a step-parent. They may encourage your child to refer to that individual as "mom" or "dad." With the help of a divorce lawyer, you may be able to persuade the judge that actions must be taken to prevent the other parent from damaging your relationship with your child.