Parental Contact Rights: Alienated Father Loses Legal Battle

Wednesday 3 June 2020

In a recent Case concerning parental alienation, Judge Stephen Wildblood QC told the father he was “truly sorry” when delivering judgment in relation to his parental contact rights. The judgment can be read ­here.

Sadly though, the alienation of children against one parent (usually the non-resident parent) is quite common in proceedings concerning children.

The Case

In this Case, which was heard in October 2019, the mother had alienated the children from their father in what the Judge described as a campaign to “demonise” the father.

The effects of alienation can present itself in varying degrees of severity.

In this Case the children wouldn’t even acknowledge cards or letters written by their father, which was described as “unjustified” and “illogical”. The children also refused to engage with their father and the Judge said that the fault for this lay “squarely with the mother”.

Attempts to relocate the children from their mother’s home (to their father’s) failed and the father, who the Judge described as intelligent and a man who “plainly” loved his children, ended his eight year legal battle for contact with his children.

In this particular Case the mother was heavily criticised by the Judge who said she had failed to act in the best interests of the children, and that they would suffer long-term consequences as a result of the mother’s actions.

Despite these criticisms, the circumstances of this Case meant that the children were too entrenched in their views of their father for them to have any kind of meaningful relationship with him.

But what does this mean for other parents who believe that they have been alienated from their children by the other parent?

There is a presumption that the involvement of both parents in a child’s life will further the child’s welfare, provided that such involvement wouldn’t put the child at risk of suffering harm.

In this Case though, there was no evidence that the father posed any kind of threat to the children. In fact, the Judge commented that there had been “consistent recommendations throughout the eight-year history of these proceedings from a wide spectrum of professionals that contact should take place between the child and father”.

This Case therefore highlights the damage that can be caused by a resident parent who is hostile towards the other parent and, whilst no names were published for legal reasons, the Judge said the public needed to be aware of the Case as an example of how “badly wrong things can go”.

If you have concerns about parental alienation or need advice about your parental contact rights, please contact one of our family law solicitors today for a no obligation discussion.