What is a Parental Alienation and Parental Alienation Syndrome?
The Divorce Act indicates that a child of the marriage should have as much contact with each spouse as is consistent with the best interests of the child and a Court shall take into consideration the willingness of the person for whom custody is sought to facilitate such contact. The fact that one parent discourages access is a relevant consideration in a custody case. If a parent continues to interfere with the access parent’s relationship with a child, custody may change. These deliberate attempts to interfere with access and the relationship with the child can be deemed, parental alienation. Should the parent be successful in alienating the child from the other parent, and the child develops the behaviour of the alienating parent towards the other parent, then the parental alienation syndrome (PAS) has developed. Changes in custody are made on the basis that persistent conduct demonstrating a lack of understanding for the best interests of the child makes the parent unfit to have cu
