Caught between warring parents

[blinkandimgone]

Interesting ruling, especially given the age of the child.

Alienated child of divorce ordered to attend 'family reunification' program

[YoungDad23]

Interesting ruling, especially given the age of the child.

Alienated child of divorce ordered to attend 'family reunification' program

Here is the case on CanLII:

https://www.canlii.org/en/bc/bcsc/do...?resultIndex=1

Interesting read and sad for kids to have been put through this.

[Beachnana]

What a nasty way to live. 9 years of fighting cannot be good for anyone. The children have lost part of their childhood due both these adults behaviour.

Such a shame.

[rockscan]

No 12 year old can reach such levels of disgust for their parent on their own. This father (and his mother) is disgusting. He emotionally abused that poor child (and the other two moderately) for his own benefit. I hope this boy is able to get better.

[arabian]

Wow Blink - Well that was a spectacular summary of parental alienation. I think we hear about this sort of thing frequently on the forum but rarely get to read the nitty-gritty about how a judge view this in court. Usually the consensus is (on here anyway) is that once kid is 14 yrs old it's too late to do anything.....

Anyone contemplating alienation should read the actual case. https://www.canlii.org/en/bc/bcsc/do...?resultIndex=1 (thanks Youngdad23 for the CanLii link). We often hear the term "alienation" thrown around loosely but this case lays out the parameters quite clearly.

X - being the 16 yr old teenager...


"[409] By reason of s. 37(2)(b) of the FLA I am duty-bound to consider X’s views, “unless it would be inappropriate to do so”. I have no hesitation in saying that in the ordinary case of a recalcitrant teenager the views of the child might well carry considerable weight. This is not the situation here. While I do not consider it “inappropriate” to consider X’s views, it will be apparent from my reasons that I consider his views to be, in large part, the product of alienation and the associated enmeshment with his father and with his father’s views. I am satisfied X’s views are based on a distorted view of past events.

[410] In addition to X’s views I am also required to consider, among other things, X’s emotional well-being (FLA, s. 37(2)(a)) and the “impact of any family violence on the child’s … well-being” (s. 37(2)(g)). “Family violence” includes “psychological and emotional abuse” (see FLA, s. 1(1) “family violence”). Here, the experts all say that alienation is a form of psychological abuse. For that reason I consider that these are the most significant factors in this case and they are much more important than X’s stated views."