WE SEPARATED & NOW MY CHILD WON’T SEE ME
REUNIFICATION THERAPY WILL HELP YOU AND YOUR KIDS
Does this sound familiar? You get married to someone with whom you believe that you can raise a family. Sure enough, a child is born to the marriage. Over time, love fades, arguments take place, and the relationship hits rocky times. The marriage begins to crumble, and all hell breaks loose when your spouse becomes vindictive and calls the police on you, alleging physical assault. The next thing you know, you have been removed from the house by the police, charged with an assault that you didn’t commit. You are not allowed to return to the house or communicate with your spouse because of a recognizance of bail. You have a serious problem in that your young child is left in the home, and you have no way to see your child. You cannot communicate about your contact rights with your spouse (who now hates you and will do anything to keep you out of the picture). Even if you are permitted to communicate with your spouse through counsel, your spouse says the child does not want to see you. Your child replies to calls and texts messages occasionally. The child is afraid to see you or speak to you.
You are emotionally overwhelmed. Everything important in your life has changed. Your home, your lifestyle, and your relationship with your child(ren) are all gone in a flash. You wonder if you are in a movie. Pinch me. Get me out of this awful dream.
Before you know it, communication between yourself and your child (if your child is old enough to communicate with you independently) is gone. Your child refuses your phone calls and will not reply to your text messages. No one on your behalf has intervened to set up a visitation (contact) schedule. The weeks and months are clicking away, and you have not seen your child since the police escorted you from home.
You previously enjoyed a very close relationship with your child. You received handmade cards from your child on Mother’s Day or Father’s Day saying that you are the best parent ever. You have photographs of you, and your child embraced in a loving bond. You are convinced that your spouse is saying things about you to the child (or within earshot of the child) to influence your relationship with your child negatively. You may be right! Your spouse may be telling your child that you “cheated” or that “daddy/mommy left US“.
Your spouse says that he or she is doing nothing to influence your child negatively, and the child independently wishes to have nothing to do with you. You fear that foul play is afoot. What are you to do? Your next step is to see Marlene Kazman for an assessment of your legal rights. In the circumstances like the ones described above, you need decisive action. If the court process has begun, your spouse may be trying to delay the court process or refuse to participate in it. If the court process has not been started, you need someone acting to get it started the right way.
Each day matters in the disintegrating relationship between your child and you.
Marlene Kazman of Garfin Zeidenberg LLP changed the law in Ontario to help parents who are alienated from their children. In September 2016, Marlene won a hearing granting an Order for REUNIFICATION THERAPY in favour of a father who had been denied access (now contact) with his 13-year old child for over 1 year. Now, on the strength of this case, under appropriate circumstances, the Court need not rely upon its parens patriae (“parental”) jurisdiction to create an order aimed at quickly rehabilitating a shattered parent/child relationship. Now, the Court can rely on the case won by Marlene Kazman to order the needed REUNIFICATION THERAPY and hopefully rebuild the shattered parent/child relationship.
If any of this sounds familiar, you should contact Marlene Kazman at kazman@gzlegal or at 416-642-5416 (direct dial) or use the form below for more information and an assessment of how she can assist you to obtain an order for REUNIFICATION THERAPY under appropriate circumstances.