Understanding Parental Alienation: A Confusing but Real Issue in Oklahoma
Hi, I’m Tulsa divorce attorney Clint Hastings. I practice in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and I focus on father’s rights. I got a question about parental alienation. And they were asking, is it really a thing in Oklahoma? And they had read something along these lines or heard it from another person. And it caused them some confusion because they’ve heard of parental alienation quite a bit. And it is confusing sometimes.
Understanding Parental Alienation
What that is really getting at is whether or not there is actually a diagnosis of some sort that a therapist could make that parental alienation is going on. And arguably, not exactly. There’s not exactly that diagnosis that they could make. However, they can testify to it and call it parental alienation. But the bottom line is the same. If one parent is unjustifiably withholding the child from another parent just to create a distance and rift in the relationship, or they are telling that child things to poison them against the other parent or make the child feel uncomfortable around the other parent, you know, those are things that are not in the best interest of the children. And the judge will take action on those things and make orders appropriately.
Focus on Behavior, Not Terminology
It doesn’t really matter whether they call it parental alienation or they just say because of conduct X, conduct Y, conduct Z, I am putting these orders in place. Either way, it’s the same result. So I wouldn’t focus on the term parental alienation and whether you’re hearing some contradictory language about whether that’s a true thing. I would focus on the result of that type of behavior. You don’t want to do that type of behavior and get caught up in that. And you want to do something about it if they’re doing that type of behavior.
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Give us a call at 918-962-0900 for a free consult or to have us represent you in your divorce case. Thanks for watching, I’m Tulsa family attorney Clint Hastings.
