17 Parental Alienation Strategies

Beyond the High Road: Responding to 17 Parental Alienation Strategies without Compromising Your Morals or Harming Your Child. Amy Baker & Paul Fine, May 2008

If you have been affected by a number of the strategies below, it is potentially a case of Parental Alienation.
We provide therapeutic support for those affected by Parental Alienation, please feel free to contact us to discuss our support services (Please note there is a fee for our therapy services)

Strategy 1: Badmouthing
Strategy 2: Limiting Contact
Strategy 3: Interfering with Communication
Strategy 4: Interfering with Symbolic Communication
Strategy 5: Withdrawal of Love
Strategy 6: Telling Child Targeted Parent Does Not Love Him or Her
Strategy 7: Forcing Child to Choose
Strategy 8: Creating the Impression that the Targeted Parent is Dangerous
Strategy 9: Confiding in Child
Strategy 10: Forcing Child to Reject Targeted Parent
Strategy 11: Asking Child to Spy on Targeted Parent
Strategy 12: Asking Child to Keep Secrets from Targeted Parent
Strategy 13: Referring to Targeted Parent by First Name
Strategy 14: Referring to a Stepparent as “Mom” or “Dad” and Encouraging Child to Do the Same
Strategy 15: Withholding Medical, Academic, and Other Important Information from Targeted Parent/ Keeping Targeted Parent’s Name off of Medical, Academic, and Other Relevant Documents
Strategy 16: Changing Child’s Name to Remove Association with Targeted Parent
Strategy 17: Cultivating Dependency

If you are a health or legal professional and would like to learn more about Parental Alienation please see our Education section or for published papers and articles on Parental Alienation please see our FREE Reference Materials Member Area.