Post Separation Abuse

• Undermines the safe parent’s parenting abilities and decisions

• Denies or withholds consent/care for child’s medical or therapeutic needs

• Seeks to impose opposing values in the child to spite the safe parent

• Child favors the safe parent and rejects the abusive parent leading to false allegations of alienation

• Parental alienation claims lodged against the safe parent as a legal strategy to cast doubt on their credibility

• Valid claims of abuse labeled as alienation by the abusive parent as a defensive tactic

• Exposes children to unsafe content, situations, or people, which creates concern and fear in the safe parent

• Uses violence, intimidation, threats, manipulation, and ridicule to gain compliance from the children

• Abusive parent places their own needs above the needs of the child

• Spreads lies and rumors to family, friends, teachers, and community relationships to discredit the safe parent and destroy their support system and reputation in order to isolate

• Paints a false narrative, projecting their own issues to discredit the safe parent 

• Withholds child’s social interactions and/or reasonable communication with healthy parent to maintain sphere of control. 

• Bombards the healthy parent with an overwhelming number of emails, phone calls, and manipulative, threatening, and abusive messages

• Monitors whereabouts, social interactions, social media, etc. via devices, online communications tools, spyware, stalking, and false social media profiles.

• Terrorizes and intimidates safe parent with threats without rising to the level of involving law enforcement

• Misuse of court proceedings to control, harass, intimidate, coerce, and exhaust the financial and emotional resources of the safe parent

• Disregards court orders, makes false reports, deliberately stonewalls and causes delays in court proceedings, and makes legal threats to assert power and control over the safe parent

• Seeks a change in custody only as a means of revenge, punishment, and continued control over the safe parent

• Withholds, mismanages, or delays support payments and court-ordered expense reimbursements 

• Blocks access to bank accounts and other financial resources

• Interferes or jeopardizes job interviews, employment, or career advancement of the safe parent utilizing smear campaign tactics and "flying monkeys"

• Misuse of litigation to disadvantage the safe parent financially

• Creates a sense of fear that pervades all elements of the safe parent’s life

• Consistently belittles, undermines, shames, and criticizes the safe parent to abuse emotionally

• Strategically manipulates family, friends, or community into conflict with the safe parent to remain in control and gain an advantage (triangulation)

• Imposes a false narrative to make the safe parent doubt their reality, memory, and perceptions (gaslighting)