Do parents who have visitation rights have the right to see their children no matter what?

Question

my mom and dad got divorced and my dad is allowed to have the kids for a certain amount of time each week or whatever right? but my mom is literally insane, and she tells my little brothers that "dad wants to have you today" at inconvenient times (aka right before its time to go) and she subtly convinces them they dont want to go, and assures them that they dont have to go if they dont want to. my dad isnt a bad person and he works hard to try to support our family even though my mom spends/ hoards all our money and spends it on things she wants (the food we have is crackers and my brother has welfare bar soap to wash himself with and she gets hair products from salons and new straightener etc) she takes decent care of us and all but she just doesnt care, and she doesnt care that he works so hard, so she convinces my bros that its just a chore to go see him, and he really misses them! they are young, 7 and 11, so its easy for her to convince them. PLUS every time they do go she interrogates them about every little thing and tries to get every last detail about everything he might have said about her and just makes the whole thing miserable, so my dad hasnt seen them in weeks! and whenever i say to my bros, hey i bet he misses you, you really ought to go see him tonight it would be fun, its a movie.. my mom comes up and says dont tell them what to do HE can choose what he wants to do and if he doesnt want to go he doesnt have to. this just seems wrong to me... is there a law against it?

Answer 1

Their divorce papers should spell out the visitation rights and he can take her to court- you may have to be a witness for him

Answer 2

This is called "Parental Alienation Syndome" and in some states it's recognized and in others, it isn't.  I'm not even sure that the Mental Health society recognizes it yet as a true disorder, usually one parent interferes with the relationship with the other parent and turns the kids against that parent.  If you are concerned about this, talk to your dad and see if he wants to hire an attorney to fight for custody-but it's not a guarantee that it will work.  Your mom is probably also in violation of custody visitation, which is something that your dad would have to talk to an attorney about as well.  You would probably be called to testify against your mother.  Be sure to keep telling your brothers how much your dad loves and misses them and how much fun you have.  It's a tough spot to be in, but hopefully when your brothers get older they will see what your mom is doing and choose to go visit with your dad.