Mom loses custody of kids for alienating dad

[Jetsfan]

In a stunning and unusual family law decision, a Toronto judge has stripped a mother of custody of her three children after the woman spent more than a decade trying to alienate them from their father.

http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/article/576619

[HelloHockeyFans]

The mother's "consistent and overwhelming" campaign to brainwash the children into thinking their father was a bad person was nothing short of emotional abuse, Justice Faye McWatt of the Superior Court of Justice wrote in her decision.

Totally agree with the above. I grew up with two kids who were the children of family friends of my parents. Their parents went through a bitter divorce, the courts gave custody to the mother as per normal, and we never heard from those kids ever again after about 6 months of continued contact when they first divorced.

The mother would constantly berate the father in front of her kids, making him out to be the biggest slimeball in the world. Our family has continued friendship with the father, and he's been unable to find his kids for over 10 years now.

Sad stuff, and horrible when adults do this kind of crap to the children of the relationship.

[troutman]

I recommend this CBC documenatary (How To Divorce And Not Wreck The Kids):

http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/docz.../howtodivorce/

You can watch it on-line. The trend in family law is towards collaborative family law, and joint custody. Years of research shows that children that have maximum contact with both parents, will do just as well as children of married parents.

The "divorce from hell" stories grab headlines: couples who spend hundreds of thousands of dollars destroying each other and, incidentally, their children. But in this country, there is another reality. Grassroots Canadians are at the heart of a quiet revolution - couples working on "good" divorces, which acknowledge that the end of a marriage isn't the end of a family. Because research says: separating parents who co-operate can raise children who are as emotionally healthy as kids from intact families.

[Ice]

I would really like to see this happen more often. Unless it is proven that one of the parents is abusive, it is critical that children maintain a relationship with both parents. If more parents knew that their constant negative comments about the other parent would jeapordize their visitation, it might force them into being mature and responsible and finding a way to coparent even in an challenging situation like divorce.

[Blaster86]

Good decision is good.

[HOZ]

This is the first time I have seen this happen. Hopefully it will be a trend towards a more balanced look at divorce and parenting arrangements. I think this guy will have a tough time with his kids thanks to the cow.

I think one of the big problems we have is that the court system is overwhelmingly biased towards the mother. Therefore a woman inclined to abuse the system can do so almost at will.

I think this statement reflects quite a few realities

"It is remarkable that A.L. has not given in to the respondent's persistence in keeping his children from him over the last fourteen years and simply gone on with his life without the children as, no doubt many other parents in the same situation would have and, indeed, have done," McWatt said.