In my role as a child custody lawyer I’ve had several clients whose child was resistant to visiting the other parent, and the preferred parent was accused by the other of ‘parental alienation’ and threatened with aggressive legal action to modify custody. ‘Parental alienation’ is a theory which grew out of the ‘men’s rights’ movements in family law during the 1990s when mothers who refused visitation with fathers due to suspected sexual abuse were accused
Governor Hogan’s March 30th Stay-At-Home Order is already causing confusion among divorced parents who share custody of children. While the Order generally prohibits travel away from home except for essential activities (e.g. grocery shopping, medical care), travel required by a court custody order is implicitly protected, consistent with the March 27th Maryland Judiciary Statement on Matters Concerning Children and Family, which affirmed that “All court orders for a child’s custody, parenting time, and child support