Parenting plans can be difficult agreements to craft even when Colorado co-parents agree about the best interests of their kids. Sharing time with children and coming to terms with compromises over their upbringing can be hard when co-parents can no longer remain in their relationships. In some child custody cases, co-parenting challenges can break down channels of communication and result in detrimental behavior engaged in by the parents.
Detrimental behavior can take many forms that directly and indirectly involve the co-parents’ shared children. For example, a parent may intentionally arrive late to a pick-up/drop-off meeting to change over parental custody of a child, thus disrupting the schedule of the other co-parent. Similarly, a co-parent may fail to notify the other of a game, performance, or other activity of the child, thus resulting in the co-parent’s failure to participate due to lack of knowledge.
In some cases, parents may use their words to impact the relationships between their kids and their co-parents. A parent may say disparaging things about their co-parent or tell their children information about their co-parent to cause their children to lose respect or confidence in them. These actions, both overt and covert, can amount to parenting time interference and parental alienation, two serious problems that can erode the relationships between parents and their kids.
When a parent discovers that their co-parent is interfering in or influencing the relationship that they have with their children, it may be possible for them to take legal action to stop it. This post does not provide any legal advice or guidance to its readers. Parents caught facing these painful custody problems can speak with knowledgeable family law attorneys about their options for recourse.