Courts Benefit from False Accusations of Abuse

Divorce or separation is a tough situation for any family to deal with. Adjusting to change and learning to cope with a child not being in your home everyday may cause a parent to develop a high level of anxiety. What this often does is lead to badmouthing the other parent or Alienating the parent to keep the child away from them.

Badmouthing another parent to the child is a form of child abuse, which goes unpunished most of the time. During a custody battle, it is quite common for one parent to accuse the other of sexual misconduct, child abuse, drug abuse, or any other act that may present the persona that the person is incapable of dealing with a child. Most of the time, these allegations are unfounded, however it does not mean that they are without consequences for the accused parent.

Parental alienation often begins with a distorted view of the other parent as soon as they are no longer living in the home. While this parent was living in the home, they were the best parent anyone could imagine. The home was flooded with family photos from school events and vacations. The parents were both viewed highly by all of their children. As soon as one parent moves out, these photographs and these views all become an illusion.

Instantly, the parent becomes the bad person. Remember that time she abused you? Remember that time he touched you where he wasn’t supposed to? These parents then begin brainwashing the children. The children, depending on their age, may begin to believe the parent. Suddenly they are filled with memories of events that never happened. And it is time for the parent to file for custody and keep the other parent away because of all the harm they have done.

It is a difficult situation to deal with and it is not one that is new to any court system in the United States. Determining what is real from make believe is often a difficult task for court workers, mediators and psychologists, but there are some key signs they look out for.

Psychologists are educated on how children at different ages act. They know if something they say is what they actually believe or if it is what they were told to believe. The choice of words expressed is often a telling detail in any custody situation where there is an accusation of abuse. This is not always the case though. Sometimes it is far more difficult for court workers to determine truth from make believe, but when they do it is supposed to result in negative repercussions for the parent who made the false accusations.

States all over the United States have a form of “punishment” for those individuals caught making false accusations in order to prevent or frustrate custody and visitation. These laws are incorporated into a family law system, but they are often ignored. This results in a situation where a custodial parent can continue to brainwash a child and completely cut off the noncustodial parent. It is almost as if court systems neglect the best interest of the child and allow this abuse to continue.

Badmouthing another parent is a form of child abuse. Not because it harms the child directly in a physical manner, but because it causes the child to have problems developing mentally. It causes the child to suffer from false memories of abuse or bad parenting, and they begin having problems separating fact from fiction.

These situations should cause a reform in the justice system, or so you would think. But why does the justice system fail to protect the sanctity of a family? Because this form of protection is not beneficial for a court system. Court systems make their money by keeping the parents away from the child. The parent fighting for time with their child is going to spend more money on court hearings, more money on legal support, and more money to implement a psychological evaluation or anything else that is necessary to prove they are a fit parent.

Most of the time, parents give up because it seems like an endless and hopeless battle which makes the court system a winner. Why? Because at this point, the court system is able to award the custodial parent the maximum amount of child support possible. The court system is then provided a “price match” from the federal government for every dollar earned from child support to continue to build up the court system and use these tactics against other good and deserving parents. Then, if the parent is unable to pay the child support, it collects interest. Often, this interest is between 5% and 15%, which is now owed by the noncustodial parent to the state. It is a sick joke and a horrible reason to keep parents out of their children’s lives.