AMEN. I will join you in lobbying to change this... By the time my kids can "choose" to not see him, the damage will be done-- it already is... I feel like we have lived similar lives Lillamy... Only your kids are older and I see what the future looks like for mine when I read your posts... Because the judicial system believes the rights of parents matter infinitely more than the rights of kids to be safe... THIS is precisely why I stayed so long... In a bizarre way I felt I could protect them more being with them all the time-- even if it was in dysfunction with xAH... Poor kids...
Originally Posted by
lillamy 
This is that thing in the judicial system that I want to lobby to change, once I'm not spending all my free time shuttling my children to and from therapy appointments to deal with the abuse they suffered during their court-ordered time with their father that was supposed to be "best for them"...
I understand that there are parents who undermine the Other Parent's relationship with the children. And there is a special place in hell for those people. But when a kid absolutely does not want to see the OP, legally forcing them "because it's better for them" is cruel and unusual punishment of an innocent person.
Does it ever occur to the legal community that when a kid doesn't want to spend time with a parent there is probably something wrong with that parent? It's unnatural for a kid to not love their parent at 9. Why can't the courts see that maybe, just maybe, the kid has a point? A reason?