Is Reunification Therapy an Effective Antidote to Parental Alienation?

Fathers and mothers who have been the victims of parental alienation often feel frustrated in their attempts to restore their relationships with their children. When your co-parent has been filling your child’s head with negative, untrue comments about you, there might not be any easy answers. When you desperately try to reverse the damage that has been done, sometimes it can seem like your concerted efforts to spend time with a son or daughter just pushes them farther away. 

One potential solution to parental alienation is reunification therapy, in which a therapist can utilize one or more methods to re-establish communication and attachment between a child and a victimized parent. This might involve sessions with one or both parents and the child, as well as individual meetings. Many experts believe that this should be a process that moves at a pace directed by the child. Accordingly, true reunification might take quite a long time and is heavily dependent on how the parents get along with each other. 

There are cases of court-ordered reunification treatment where a judge requires a child to stay with the party who has been a victim of parental alienation. While this sometimes is intended to last only a few days, it could run much longer if the judge does not see improvement in the parent-child bond. This approach has been controversial, particularly when the son or daughter is barred against their will from seeing or communicating with the allegedly alienating parent for weeks or months. In some situations, children have fled the home where they were placed and have lashed out in other ways. 

Most experts prefer a gradual path to reunification, which might start with activities that take place in public or with other family members, until the child is comfortable with one-on-one visits. During therapy sessions, the child should be counseled on ways to resist or ignore the alienating parent’s attempts to demonize their former partner. Even humor can be used to deflect negative, untrue statements. A child can chuckle “there they go again” to themselves when the destructive comments begin rather than taking them to heart.

As parental alienation harms both the victimized parent and the child, there usually is not an instant solution. Working with an attorney who has handled parental alienation cases can help you pursue an order that mandates extensive reunification therapy and gives you the best chance to rebuild a loving, trusting parent-child relationship.

Bryan L. Salamone & Associates, P.C. assist clients throughout Long Island who have been the victims of parental alienation. For a consultation with a New York family lawyer to learn about your legal options on this type of issue or another child custody concern, please call 1.631.479.3839 or contact us online.