Parental Alienation: Risk Factors of Alienation:
During a separation or a divorce, there are a number of factors that can put you and your children at risk for parental alienation. Early recognition of these factors is important so you can intervene and protect your relationship with your children.
Visits are withheld.
Children are frequently not returned on time (later than a half-hour).
A parent threatens to abduct the children.
Suggestions of sexual, physical, and/or mental abuse.
Alcohol or drug abuse.
A parent having a severe mental disorder.
A parent interferes with a reasonable number of phone calls.
Children begin refusing to visit.
This list is not intended to be a list of symptoms, these are risk factors that you should be aware of that can lead to alienation.
Parental Alienation
Parental alienation varies in the degree of severity, as seen in the behaviors and attitudes of both the parents and the children. The severity can be of such little consequence as a parent occasionally calling the other parent a derogatory name; or it could be as overwhelming as the parent's campaign of consciously destroying the children's relationship with the other parent. Most children are able to brush off a parent's off hand comment about the other parent that is made in frustration. On the other hand, children may not be able to resist a parent's persistent campaign of hatred and alienation.
