The Therapist Accuser – Parental Alienation by Ambush

Psychotherapists are mandated reporters in California, which means that if they suspect child abuse is happening they have to report it to the local child protective services. In Los Angeles County that is the Department of Child and Family Services (http://dcfs.co.la.ca.us/)

A common trick for those parents who are setting up the other parent is to make some comment to a therapist, or have the child make some comment, in the therapeutic environment that will trigger this mandated reporting. The Targeted Parent is then the subject of an investigation, and the DCFS orders the “safe parent” to get a restraining order to “protect the child” from the abusive parent.

This allows the Alienating Parent to use that old standby defense of “they made me do it… I wouldn’t have but I had no choice.” So now the Target Parent has to defend themselves against false allegations of child abuse, and has been kept away from their child for a minimum of 3 weeks. This has the added benefit for the Alienating Parent of being able to say in all future declarations that they “had to get a restraining order to protect my child” which makes them look good and the Target Parent look bad.