Parental Alienation
Parental alienation is a rapidly growing concern that has become very common in family law litigation proceedings.
Put simply, it is when one parent denigrates the other parent, causing the child to express negative behaviors towards the parent. This not only diminishes the parent-child connection, it is also detrimental to the child’s wellbeing.
Malhotra v. Henhoeffer, 2018 ONSC 6472, established that that parental alienation is a legal concept, and not just a mental health issue.
Per Fielding v. Fielding, 2013 ONSC 5102, 39 R.F.L. 7th 59, parental alienation arises when:
there was a prior positive relationship with the targeted parent;
there is an absence of abuse by the targeted parent;
the alienating parent uses many of the alienating strategies; and
the child exhibits most of the alienated child behaviors.
