#parental-alienation

#parental-alienation

Rory sat in her car, dreading what lay ahead. Another day off work and another day in court with her whispered who was fighting her for custody of their son. An hour later, the judge looked from Rory to her ex. She could practically hear him saying, "What now?" in his sigh. Her ex's lawyer rose and began a long soliloquy about his "poor client," now saddled with debt he can't pay off: "Ruining his credit, no doubt." Then, there was "this woman," who insisted on painting his "poor client" as a bad father. "All he wants to do is love his son," his lawyer continued. "What she is attempting is parental alienation."

"Nichole" was 10 when I started seeing her at her school. The school counselor reported that Nicole was talking about wanting to "cut myself in half," prompting concern. During our first session, she reported that she lives with her mom during the week and visits her dad every other weekend. This is common for many kids whom I see, as we live in a time of many diverse examples of family and parenting. In therapy, she began to talk about feeling scared to mention her dad around her mom. When asked why, she shrugged and said, "Because it'll make her mad."